First Rehearsal with the Washburn

            On Tuesday morning I finished posting both “On n’est pas las pour se faire engueuler" by Boris Vian and "Flash Forward" by Serge Gainsbourg on Christian's Translations.

            Since today was my first day of rehearsing with the new guitar I put my camera on the tripod and set the self timer for ten seconds just before every song in order to get a few pictures of me and my new friend. It was a cloudy day and so the light could have been warmer but it was bright enough. The Washburn doesn’t stay perfectly in tune but it certainly doesn’t go off as much by a long shot as the Oscar Schmidt did. Usually it's only the B string that goes slightly off every two or three songs. Because of my fiddling with the camera, song practise took about as long as it did with the constantly detuning old guitar. I wouldn’t know how much time I save with the Washburn until the next day when I’d be rehearsing without a camera.

            Since Monday had been an eventful day it took me more time to write about it in my journal.

            Around midday I organized the books and some of the papers on the mid-level shelves in my bedroom. I’ll probably keep the hard copies of my essays because of the professor's comments and the notebooks from courses that I took before I started digitizing my notes.

            For lunch I had one of the cans of tuna with vegetables that I got from the food bank. I added so me salsa and had it with jalapeno flavoured kettle chips.

            In the afternoon I did my exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. In this story Kingfish has inherited a Great Dane along with $25 a week for the rest of her life to take care of her. He doesn't want to keep her at his place and so he makes a deal with Andy to let her live with him in his room for $10 a week. Meanwhile Andy is dating a girl named Consuela and they want to get married but her uncle is her guardian and he wants to drop in on Andy unannounced in order to assess what kind of man he is. At the same time an inspector from the trust company wants to come to Andy’s to make sure Queenie is living under proper conditions. But when Consuela's uncle arrives Kingfish and Andy think he's the inspector and so when he says “she" in reference to Consuela they think he is talking about the dog. And so when the uncle asks Andy how he will take care of her he says he’ll scratch her behind the ears, take her for walks, spray her once in a while and sometimes toss her a piece of liver. When the uncle declares they are talking about his niece they still think he’s the inspector but that he's crazy and thinks he's a dog. He gets more and more excited and they try to tie him up while they find a psychiatrist. Eventually it gets cleared up but Consuela is so mad that she breaks up with Andy. Kingfish is forced to take care of Queenie at his place and he decides it won’t be so bad until she suddenly has eight puppies.

            For dinner I had a potato, a carrot, a chicken breast and some gravy while watching The Adventures of Robin Hood.

            In the first story Robin’s men capture Sir Hubert, an inept and heartsick knight who is in Sherwood Forest seeking Robin Hood’s help. His love the Lady Rowena has been betrothed against her will by her father to De Vere the Earl of Northwick and Hubert wants Robin to save her. Robin says he can't help out everyone that's forced to marry and he can’t risk the lives of his men storming a castle over a matter of the heart. Suddenly an arrow comes in with a message that there is someone on the road to rob and so Robin tells Hubert they’ll talk when he gets back. On the road is Master Thomas with two men carrying a litter. They reach a crossroad with two signs, one pointing to Northwick Castle and the other to Sherwood Forest. Sir Thomas says his sight is too short and his handlers can’t read and so the passenger, Rowena is asked to read the sign for her father. She lies and tells him that the sign to Sherwood is pointing to Northwick. When Robin stops them Thomas denies he has money but Rowena says Robin can have her dowry if he takes her to Hubert. Robin makes Thomas carry half the litter and Rowena invites Robin to ride with her. Back at the camp they find Hubert has left to single-handedly storm Northwick Castle because he thinks that Rowena is already there. Hubert is captured tries to fight De Vere but he disarms him indifferently with little effort. Hubert is placed in the dungeon. At the camp Robin learns that they can’t open the strongbox containing the dowry because De Vere already has the key and has sent it ahead to the Tower of London. This means that De Vere is a servant of Prince John and therefore an enemy of Robin Hood and so Robin decides to help Rowena after all. Robin and Little John, disguised as litter carriers and accompanied by Tuck bring Rowena to Northwick. The wedding is arranged immediately but Tuck manages to take over its officiation from the other friar and tries to stall as long as he can. Meanwhile Robin and Little John rescue Hubert but in order to prevent him from screwing up their plan they tie him up and hang him outside of a window. Robin interrupts the wedding and fights with de Vere. The swordfight takes a while and travels outside of the castle directly under where Hubert is hanging. Hubert is cutting himself free when de Vere throws dust in Robin’s eyes. Just then Hubert falls on de Vere and knocks him out.

            In the second story Marian’s foppish cousin William comes to Nottingham. He carries with him a scroll with Queen Eleanor’s seal a mission from her to Robin Hood. She pretends to not know Robin Hood but says that they can meet him by being captured by his men. At Robin’s camp William tells Robin that the ransom money has been delivered to the Austrian emperor but King Richard has not been released. The queen is asking Robin to sail to the continent and rescue Richard. William says the ship is waiting in the channel and so Robin agrees to leave at dawn. That night Marian dreams that William is evil and wears a coiled black serpent on his tunic. The next morning Marian rides to see them off but after they row to the ship a serpent flag is raised. On the ship Robin is captured and tied in the hold. He learns that William forged the message from Eleanor by borrowing her signet ring. Marian figures that William must be in the service of Prince John and so she goes to the sheriff of Nottingham to milk him for information. The ship is indeed bound for London where Robin will be hanged. The ship is currently at the mouth of the Thames. As they approach the Tower of London an arrow is shot into the hold. Robin cuts himself free on the head. Attached to the arrow is a cord tied to a rope which Robin pulls into the ship and ties to a post. Robin's men haul the ship to shore and jump aboard, making short work of the crew. Robin fights with William and knocks him out.