Blu del Barrio

            On Tuesday morning I started translating “Mozart avec nous” (Mozart is With Us) by Boris Vian after struggling with a couple of words in the first line. 

            I memorized the first four verses of “Enregistrement" by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            In the late morning I called Harold at The Remenyi House of Music and told him that I wouldn't be bringing my Washburn in to send back to the company until after New Years. I figure that if I wait until after the holidays it won’t take as long to get it back. But I said I would be bringing in my Oscar Schmidt, which has had a stripped machine for the E string coincidentally since I bought the Washburn back in the late spring. I figure something like that should be covered by the lifetime warranty since I’ve never had it happen to any guitar before. I rode downtown and left the guitar with Harold. He photographed the receipt and said he’d have to see first if the company accepts my problem as covered by the warranty. 

            I rode home and for some reason I felt really wiped out from the ride downtown and back. I had a turkey wing and dressing with cranberry sauce for lunch and then took a siesta. I still felt a bit tired when I got up. 

            I called Harold but the Oscar Schmidt people have yet to get back to him about my guitar. He says he doesn’t have a machine for it so it would have to be ordered. 

            I reviewed all of my performances of “The Dancing Snake" from this summer’s recording project and, as has usually been the case, the best one is the last one. That video is from July 3 and I’ve already synchronized the camera and computer audio for that date, so it shouldn't take long to make a movie and upload it to YouTube.

            I scanned several more negatives from the 80s until the scanner was full and uploaded the photos to the folder I’d created the day before. 

            I had a potato, a chicken leg and gravy for dinner while watching Star Trek Discovery. 

            Spoiler alert! 

            Michael recounts how she had been working as a courier for the last year, side by side with Book. Saru offers her to be captain of the Discovery but she says he deserves it more. She is not even sure she wants to be his Number One. She also picked up a message from a Starfleet admiral on Earth. Saru decides the Discovery will go to Earth to seek out this admiral. Michael invites Book to come along and when he beams aboard Georgio is waiting for him. She pries as only she can into his relationship with Michael. She calls her his girlfriend and he bristles, saying, “We haven’t even had …” Unless he’s gay that seems unrealistic considering they’ve been together for a year. Because most of the dilithium in the universe was destroyed by The Burn, that will make the dilithium stores on Discovery a target all over the galaxy. Michael proposes that all the dilithium on Discovery be placed in Book’s ship inside the hold and that way it won’t be scanable by outside ships. They use the spore drive to get to Earth in a matter of minutes but find Earth heavily defended. They are confronted by Earth’s defence forces that are no longer part of the federation. They beam inspectors aboard Discovery without permission to determine if they really are who they say they are. One of the inspectors is a sixteen year old genius. The commander of Earth’s forces tells them the admiral they are looking for died two years ago. She also says that Earth is now entirely out for itself to protect its dilithium from pirates. The main pirate is an alien named Wen who arrives with his forces and threatens to destroy them if he doesn’t get their dilithium. The Earth inspectors can’t beam off because the personal transporters have been sabotaged. Michael and Book sneak away to Book’s ship and leave Discovery with the dilithium. They then offer to beam it to Wen if he’ll lower his shields. The Earth commander is about to have her ships blow Book’s ship up to keep Wen from getting the dilithium. Suddenly Michael and Book enter the bridge with Wen as their prisoner. Saru encourages the Earth commander and Wen to communicate with one another. The two argue until Georgio says, “Diplomacy is boring!” and kicks Wen in the shins, knocking him down so his helmet falls off, revealing to the Earth commander’s surprise that he is human. His people are from the Earth research colony on Titan and they have fallen on hard times. When they tried to get help from Earth after the Burn their ships were blown out of the sky. Earth now agrees to help and they also now welcome Discovery. This was way too easy. 

            The interesting thing about this is that it was the sixteen year old Adira who sabotaged the transporters. She confesses to Paul that she needed more time because she wanted to learn more and to go with Discovery. She says she knows the admiral but later when Saru questions her about it she says she actually is the admiral. It turns out he was carrying a Trill symbiote and now it inhabits her. 

            Adira is played by Blu Del Barrio who is the first non binary actor in the history of Star Trek.

            I felt like I had food poisoning before I went to bed. I don’t know if it was the chicken leg I had for dinner or the turkey wing I had for lunch. It was the turkey last year.