Arlene Golonka

            On Thursday morning it was two days since I found and killed the bedbug that I probably picked up from Vina Pharmacy when I went to get my first covid shot. There was still no sign of another so I have to hope that the one I killed didn't lay eggs. If I don't see any after a week then I can start to stop worrying. 

            I memorized the first verse of "Le java des chaussettes à clous" (The Dance of the Studded Stockings) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished working out the chords "J'ai des locataires" (I Am A Landlord) by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through it in French and English. The last word of my translation doesn't fit however because it has two syllables. I need a one syllable word for some kind of vermin preferably that rhymes with "news". The second to the last line refers to the toilet and what's available for wiping in the rooming house bathroom. The last name has to be of a bug of some sort. Maybe "Turkish toilet, wipe with classifieds / I have flies". 

            I weighed 88.9 before breakfast. 

            In the late morning I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor and on the way back I stopped at Freshco. The seedless red grapes were cheap so I got nine bags. I also bought two pints of strawberries, a half pint of raspberries, a loaf of sliced Bavarian sandwich bread (made by a sliced Bavarian), a bag of tandoori garlic naan, a can of dark coffee, a pack of ground beef, a pack of fresh salmon, a pack of frozen rapini parmigiano sausage, three bags of milk, two boxes of spoon size shredded wheat, two cans of peaches, some Sunlight dish detergent, and a pack of three balls of copper wool and a tub of I Can't Beleive It's Not Butter. It's funny how on the receipt it's listed as "It's not butter." The cashier Catarina gave me a big smile that I could see through her mask. 

            I weighed 88.4 kilos before lunch. I had kettle chips, salsa and yogourt with a glass of orange juice. 

            I took a siesta and slept two hours, which is half an hour more than usual. 

            There's a homeless guy in Parkdale who is probably schizophrenic. He doesn't look much older than thirty and he's not a big person but he wears so many layers of clothing, including several dresses that it makes him look obese. he sometimes walks in the middle of the street and rants. Today he was talking to the voices in his head and repeatedly ordering them to get the fuck out. 

            I went to shut my computer down to refresh it for the remainder of the day but Windows 10 wanted to do updates. I stupidly agreed even while remembering what a hassle the updates caused last month. My computer won't restart by way of the "restart" function and when it tries to restart it stalls at the beginning. Then I have to manually shut down and then the computer needs to self repair. If I use the shut down function and then it starts fine, but as I feared, while updating the computer tried to restart, which caused a repeat of the above mentioned hassles. The computer had to remove the updates and then it restarted again. In the end it took me almost an hour to get my computer back on. It did seem to manage to install some updates or at least said it did while at the same time saying it couldn't. 

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." 

            I searched online for videos of an ECT machine being operated but videos of the machines I've found so far only show their operation after they've been plugged in. There are lots of videos explaining that it's valuable and safe but no doctors speaking say they've actually undergone the procedure. Tomorrow I'll try rewording my search and perhaps find some older footage. 

            I colourized a bit more of my photo of the skateboarder. 

            I had a potato with gravy and four ribs while watching two episodes of Andy Griffith.

            In the first story Opie goes to an upscale Saturday camp and makes friends with some of the rich boys that attend, in particular Billy Hollander, the son of the owner of several banks. Opie is invited for lunch at Billy's place and Aunt Bee picks him up afterwards. The Hollander home is enormous and Opie invites Billy to come to the Taylor house the next day for lunch. Bee tries very hard to live up to her idea of what Billy is used to and serves shrimp and duck on an elaborately set table. When Andy comes home and sees this he has a talk with Bee and Opie about putting on airs and trying to keep up with the Joneses. He urges Opie to be himself. But when Andy is invited by George Hollander to a father and son get together he goes out and buys a new suit. He arrives only to find all of the men dressed casually. He puts on a few airs like he told Opie not to do. Then when Opie comes in the room from playing with the other boys he tells his father that he gave him great advice. When he started being himself he had the best time. Andy drops the airs and realizes that these rich men are all pretty down to earth. He ends up inviting them to go fishing and they have a great time. 

            The Hollanders' maid was played by Canadian actor Monty Margetts, who became a radio star in Los Angeles in 1949 when she hosted the city's first cooking show, even though she couldn't cook. She was one of the actors being considered for the role of Alice on The Brady Bunch. 

            Mrs Hollander was played by Joyce Van Patten, who was auditioning for modelling roles before the age of one. At the age of six in 1941 she performed on Broadway. The same year she and her brother Dick were regulars on a radio show called "Reg'lar Fellers" which was a summer replacement for The Jack Benny Program. She married Thomas King at the age of 16 and gave birth to their son Casey. She appeared on her brother's sitcom "Mama" and was a member of the original cast of "As The World Turns", playing Janice Turner Hughes." She co-starred with Bob Denver in the sitcom The Good Guys in 1968. The same year she co-starred with Peter Sellers in "I Love You Alice B Toklas." She and her brother played a romantic couple in "Making It." She co-starred in "Dial Rat", "Thumb Tripping" and "The Bad News Bears." She played Jennie's mother for two seasons on "Unhappily Ever After." 

            In the second story Howard meets the new counter person at the local bakery. Millie is from out of town and she and Howard become romantically involved. But then her ex-boyfriend Clyde comes to town and threatens to beat Howard up if he doesn't stay away from Millie. Howard has never been in a fight and so he is frightened and starts avoiding Millie. When Andy learns of this he advises Howard that taking a punch in the nose is far less painful than living in fear. Howard stands up to Clyde and Clyde backs down. Now full of confidence, when Howard walks into the bakery he sees a man hassling Millie and he challenges him. The man gives Howard one punch in the stomach and he doubles over. Andy tells Howard it doesn't always work. It's odd that Andy doesn't arrest the guy who punched Howard. I thought assault was against the law even in 1967. 

            Millie was played by Arlene Golonka who just died on May 31, 2021. She started her career at 19 playing on Broadway and in New York films. She was in the play "Take Me Along" with Jackie Gleason and Neil Simon's first Broadway play "Come Blow Your Horn". She was on the hit comedy album "You Don't Have To Be Jewish" but was not available for the sequel and recommended her friend Valerie Harper. She moved to Hollywood in 1967 and began a three decade career of guest appearances on TV series. She played another Millie on Mayberry RFD. She was the voice of Debbie in the cartoon series "Speed Buggy."