Don Diamond

            On Wednesday morning I finished posting my translation of “Rocking Chair” by Serge Gainsbourg and began memorizing his “L’amour prison” (Jailed in Love).

            I got caught up on my journal.

            I had wanted to start work on organizing the overhead storage shelf in my bedroom but discovered that the ladder is no longer on the landing between the second and third floors. I was able to instead roll out my dresser and use a kitchen chair as a step. That made for a much more solid platform than a ladder anyway. I had remembered that there are a couple of things missing up there that prevent me from putting back all the shelving that I took down five years ago when I had bed bugs. There are four brackets missing and I haven’t found them anywhere during any of my cleaning sessions. I decided I would just go to the hardware store to buy four more shelving brackets but that I’d wait until Thursday, since I’d already spent enough time today figuring out what to do.

            I cooked four strips of bacon and a pack of ground chicken to have later on a mini pizza when I got home from work that night.

            For lunch I had the last quarter of the pizza that I’d made on Saturday.

I went online to download my Indigenous Studies assignment for the proposal

that's due on February 10 and the final paper that's due on March 16. There's supposed to be a reflection paper due in February as well but he hasn't posted that yet.

While I was on the U of T website I went over to check out my student account and my academic record and found good news in both places. I saw that I received my grant and my tuition has been paid and I also saw that I got an A-Plus on my Aesthetic and Decadent Movements course.
            Before leaving for work I went across the street to buy a six-pack and just as I was about to go into the liquor store a tall and attractive woman made eyes at me.

            The way to work wasn't too bad. Most of the snow was clear. I went over a patch of ice under the railroad bridge on Brock but it behaved more like a bump than ice and so I didn't slide.

            As I was signing in at work a noticed a tall silhouette looming over my right shoulder and it was Brian Haddon. He listened with a sympathetic ear while I complained about my Indigenous Studies course.

            I worked for Shavon Lewis in the Design department. It was a portrait class and I didn’t have to pose naked.  I did two sets of ten-minute poses. Shavon did a fifteen minute demo, after which he asked if I could do a ten-minute pose. I’m only required to do twenty-minute sets so I smiled and told him, “No”.

            During my breaks I reviewed the instructions for my assignment and thought about what I would like to write about. I think I’ll either do my essay on reserve day schools during the time of residential schools or on why there were no residential schools in New Brunswick.

After the long break I did one twenty-minute pose and then finished the night with two sets on one portrait.

My ride home was somewhat cold and damp but not extremely uncomfortable. Before unlocking the door to my building I read the sign posted on the door of the Coffeetime. It looks like their last full day of business will be on Tuesday January 28. They thanked customers for their business.

When I got home I heated the meat I’d cooked earlier and added the rest of my Bolognaise sauce. I spread half of it on a loaf of naan, put some old cheddar cheese on top and put it in the oven for fifteen minutes. I had it with a beer while watching Zorro.

Still wounded by the humiliation he suffered when Zorro saved him from being hanged, and also because he’s jealous of Anna Maria’s affections for Zorro, Ricardo has decided to challenge Zorro to a duel. He posts a public notice and most people think that the duel will happen because this is 18th Century Spanish California and it would be considered dishonourable to turn down such a challenge. Ricardo’s friend Diego, who is secretly Zorro, finds it all very amusing. Anna Maria thinks it’s ridiculous but she also thinks that Zorro should fight the duel just to teach Ricardo a lesson. She wants to be there for the duel and she wants Diego to escort her. Meanwhile Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Reyes decide that the duel would be a perfect opportunity for them to capture Zorro and to collect the reward. There is a gang of shady civilians that also has the idea of earning the reward. And so Garcia and Reyes and this gang begin following Ricardo so that they will be there when he meets Zorro in battle. Ricardo begins training for the duel and Anna Maria brings a picnic. She and Diego watch while Ricardo defeats one of the greatest fencing instructors of France. He also defeats Bernardo who Diego says is an expert at whips, although that’s the first time we've heard about him being a proficient whipper.  Finally Zorro is curious enough as to whether Ricardo can beat him that he sends him a note to meet him at an abandoned monastery. They duel with swords and Zorro wins but then the bad guys arrive trying get the dead or alive reward for Zorro. Ricardo helps Zorro defeat them before Zorro thanks him and rides away.

 Corporal Reyes was played by Don Diamond who was so good at accents that people thought he was actually Mexican. He had a long career in television, first playing Kit Carson’s sidekick, then as Reyes on Zorro and his most famous role was as the conniving Crazy Cat on F Troop.