Ceil Cabot

            When I went to bed a little after midnight on Friday my arm was still sore from Tuesday's Moderna shot but it had eased back enough so I could sleep on my left side for the first time since then.

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

            I looked for the chords for "Pas long feu" by Serge Gainsbourg but no one had posted any more than the set that I found the day before. The song has the same basic melody as the previous song by him that I worked out and it pretty much fits with the chords posted on Ultimate Guitar, except that I threw an E in with the C and G in the instrumental parts. I ran through the song in French and English and then uploaded it to Christian's Translations. I'll probably have it published in the blog tomorrow. 

            I weighed 88.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            There was an email from Albert Moritz saying he would look into my problem of not being able to submit my manuscript to Exile Editions. 

            I had an appointment with the Midtown Dental Clinic that I thought might be for 11:50 but I wasn't sure and so I was looking forward to the reminder email they always send. It turned out that the appointment was for 12:50 and so that gave me time to shave and shower before leaving. I got there with two minutes to spare but as soon as I arrived the receptionist gave me a hard time about not having confirmed the appointment. She said that next time the appointment will be canceled if I don't confirm. I advised them to change the way they compose their emails, since the one they sent read, "We look forward to seeing you for your upcoming Dental visit Today at 12:50pm" and there was nothing about having to confirm. I said if they want their patients to confirm their appointments their emails should begin with, "Please confirm your appointment." 

            The assistant called me just after I sat down in the waiting area and had just taken out a book to read. She took me to a room and had me swish my mouth with that disgusting hydrogen peroxide. Then she put a digital blood pressure measuring band on my right wrist, but it didn't work. Then she switched it to my left wrist and it began to puff and tighten until the measurement was complete. She claimed that it could tell which wrist it was on but I didn't believe it. She said it might have something to do with which side is closest to the heart. I told her that my bite was high for the crown and that it was sensitive to cold. She said that it's sensitive because it's high but couldn't explain why. 

            Dr Ramlaggan had me grind my teeth on a rubbery strip a few times to determine where the crown was high. He ground it down and we repeated that process about three times. When I said it still felt slightly high he asked me to point to where I felt it but I pointed to a different tooth. He said to give it a couple of weeks. 

           So we were done and he mentioned I should book the appointment for my next procedure. I told him frankly that I wouldn't be coming back because this place was too expensive for me. He gave me the "you get what you pay for speech" that I'd expected. He seemed pretty defensive and said he had twenty five years of experience, which was why he could do a crown in one session. He suggested that I could see his colleague who is a little cheaper than he is. I sat down with one of the receptionists and she told me the next procedure would cost $500. I told her I was going to go back to Smile City where the other poor people go. She also suggested the other dentist at the clinic is cheaper but I told her they would have to be a lot cheaper. I thanked them and left, feeling like I'd just dumped somebody. If they really wanted to keep me they should have tried harder. If I get the Ontario Seniors Dental Plan hopefully a discount dentist like Smile City will be on their list. If not I'll make an appointment with someone else on the list to get my teeth cleaned and all the other things that need to be done. 

            I rode down Yonge Street to Queen and then home. 

            I weighed 87.8 kilos before a late lunch. I had kettle chips and salsa with skyr and a glass of orange juice. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos at 18:00. 

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

            I finished sewing the top right section of the leather covering for my Roland amp towards its role in the video I'm making for my song "Instructions For Electroshock Therapy." I still have to connect vertically in the middle of the front the two largest pieces. After that I'll wrap the left side of the left piece over to the left side of the amp and sew it there. Then I've got to figure out how to best make the dials and switches of the amp show through the leather without them looking too much like the electronics of an amp. 

            I colourized another damage spot in my photo of the skateboarder. 

            I digitally repaired some parts of a photo from 1991 of a co-worker at Mr. Mover. 

            I heated the rest of my frozen french fries and my last chicken leg and had them with gravy while watching two episodes of Mayberry RFD. 

            In the first story a famous sculpture named Rex Alexander comes to relax and seek inspiration in Mayberry. He is so impressed with the town that he decides to make a sculpture inspired by the place and to donate it to the town square. Everyone is very excited about the idea and when the artwork is finished there is a big gathering for the unveiling. But when the cover is pulled off they see a large, abstract piece in stone that no one understands. The title of the sculpture is "The Struggle" and each person has a different view as to what the struggle is between. Rex says it's about Mayberry's resistance to industrialization or more simply, man versus machine. But the citizens still can't figure it out. Finally when Sam realizes that it's just too much for Mayberry he arranges for the Raleigh Museum to take the sculpture on permanent loan. 

            In the second story the Mayberry lodge to which Sam, Goober, Emmett and Elmo belong has decided to start a lodge health fund to pay for the medical treatment and care of any members that need it. Shortly after the fund is voted in Howard says he needs an operation for his deviated septum. Elmo, Goober and Emmett are suspicious that Howard wanted the plan just so he could get a free operation. He is in the hospital for one day and the operation is a success, but when he hears his roommate tell about his appendicitis Howard suddenly gets symptoms for that illness. Goober and Emmett try to force Howard to leave the hospital but he insists on seeing the doctor first. The doctor concludes Howard's symptoms are psychosomatic but Goober doesn't buy it. Sam tries to explain that a psychosomatic ailment is just as real as a physical one and gives the example of someone thinking they have hives. Suddenly Goober gets itchy. When Goober realizes how real an imagined illness can be he apologizes to Howard. 

            One of the nurses was played by Ceil Cabot, who played the landlady in "The Nude Bomb". She played Mary Evans on "Nanny and the Professor". She married Carl Ballantine who was an actor in the cast of McCale's Navy but he also had a comedy act as a magician who never finishes a trick. 

            Another nurse was Peg Shirley who played Honey in "The Thomas Crown Affair". She co-starred in the TV movies "White Mama" and "Moving Target."