Charlene Polite

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

            I finished working out the chords for "Daisy Temple" by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through it in French and English. But there was one word in my translation I needed to fix. The ends of the lines of each verse all rhyme with "boo" and in one verse there is a list of groups that Daisy loves, such as "Zulus". But Gainsbourg writes "Papous" which is the French word for "Papuans" and so I needed a tribe whose English name ends with an "ooo" sound to match. I found out that the word "Papuans" covers at least fifty ethnic groups in Indonesia and a few of them rhyme with "boo". I picked the "Bapu" in order to stay in the same ball park. 

            I weighed 88.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            In the late morning I worked on scraping the black, caked-in grease off the outside and bottom of my main baking pan. I got most of three sides done and half of the bottom. I might be able to finish it in the next session but that might not be for a few days. On Saturday I'll be under the dentist for a few hours, on Sunday I need to decide on my courses for the upcoming term and on Monday I need to enroll. But enrollment only takes a couple of minutes if there are no glitches, so I might be able to finish the pan then. 

            Before lunch I signed my application for the Ontario Seniors Dental Plan, put it in an envelope and addressed it.

            I weighed 88.7 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon as I was posting my blog I got an email offering me dates for my Postmoderna shot. I took the nearest one available, which is Tuesday at 11:45. When I am fully vaccinated I will be able to touch people and cure them of covid. 

            On my way for my bike ride I took my application for the Ontario Seniors Dental Program and mailed it. I rode to Yonge and Bloor. At Yonge and Dundas one of the alternating preachers was not being annoying at all because she was just holding up a Jesus something or other sign and playing some good, upbeat gospel music. Friday is usually annoying because of the traffic snags resulting from a late rush hour. But when buses are replacing the streetcar on Queen Street the traffic jams make it easier to pass and to leave behind the buses. 

            I weighed 88.5 kilos after my bike ride. 

            After Albert Moritz approved the finished manuscript for my book of poems "Paranoiac Utopia" three weeks ago we were supposed to discuss how I go about submitting the manuscript to Exile Editions. But he didn't respond to my initial questions on the topic and it just could have been because he probably gets hundreds of emails. I followed up a week later and then after another seven days. Today I sent him a fresh inquiry and he got back to me this afternoon with some good advice on how to proceed. He wants me to send him a draft copy of a cover letter to him and it might go back and forth until I have something that briefly but convincingly presents my work as a valid option for publication. Albert also said we should discuss whether or not I want him to send Exile a letter of recommendation beforehand. 

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

            I sewed some more of the leather cover for my Roland amp towards the role it will play as a surreal and barbaric shock therapy machine in the video I'm making for my song "Instructions For Electroshock Therapy". I've connected horizontally the two top leather pieces at the front with the two bottom pieces. The pieces at the top right and bottom right still need to be sewn together some more where they will wrap around to the right side of the amp and be connected to another piece that's already hanging down from the top there. 

            I worked a bit on the draft of my cover letter to Exile. 

            I had a potato with the rest of my gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching two episodes of Mayberry RFD. 

            In the first story the United States and Russia have engaged in a Farmer Exchange program in which agricultural experts from both countries will visit and study the way farms are run in the other country. Sam's farm is selected for a visit from a Professor Luboff, who will stay on his farm for a few days. Sam has booked two rooms at the YMCA in Raleigh and arranged for Luboff to come there from the airport. But when Professor Luboff arrives at the Young Men's Christian Association dorm there is an awkward moment since the professor turns out to be female. Tanya Luboff is the stereotypical cold Russian and she is all business. Millie starts to talk with Sam about how it might be good for her to attend the town hall dance. Sam talks Howard into asking her but she declines. Later however she confesses to Millie that she is not a typical Russian woman and has no experience with dances and dating. Millie offers to help her and of course she shows up at the dance looking gorgeous and desireable and Howard is smitten. After Tanya goes back to Russia Howard is considering paying her a visit. 

            Tanya was played by US character actor Charlene Polite, who kept the last name of her first husband, the poet Frank Polite. Her first television appearance was when she played Vanna in the third season Star Trek episode "The Cloud Minders." In 1970 she married Ramon Bieri and when she divorced him nine years later she took custody of her stepson and gave up acting to raise him. 

            There is a new housekeeper named Flora at Sam's house with no explanation as to how she came to be hired. Aunt Bee comes back in a couple of episodes. 

            In the second story when a potential new resident of Mayberry learns from Howard that the town has no sheriff but only a part time deputy named Goober who pumps gas and reads comic books, he decides not to move there. This causes Howard to try to convince the town counsel to agree to fire Goober and to appoint a full time sheriff. But the counsel votes against it and so Howard decides to find another way to convince them of the inefficiency of Mayberry's law enforcement. He puts a nylon stocking over his head and robs the Mayberry bank with a squirt gun. But as he is trying to make his getaway his car won't start. Goober comes over to talk with him when the bank teller comes out to identify him as the robber. Since Goober knows that Howard has been trying to get him fired he throws the book at him and puts him in jail. Everyone including the banker knows that Howard wasn't really trying to rob the bank but rather only to prove a point. They all want Howard released but Goober won't budge. Sam calls a hearing and while assessing the situation insults Howard until Goober defends him and then insults Goober until Howard protests. Goober decides to let Howard go and the two go for coffee together.