Nora Denney

            On Wednesday morning I finished posting my translation of "Relax Baby Be Cool" by Serge Gainsbourg. The day before I'd already memorized his song "Daisy Temple" and started working out the chords but I couldn't search the chords because my wifi was down. It will be interesting to see on Thursday if anyone else's chords match mine. 

            I weighed 88.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            At around 9:30 I decided to give the Canada Revenue Agency a call again, expecting to be on hold for the rest of the morning but it was only for a few seconds. The person asked several security questions to check my identity. Then he wanted information from a 2019 tax return or notice of assessment. I only had 2020 in my tax folder on the computer but in my Photos I found a 2019 T4 and he said that was fine. He just needed the name of the source of income and the amount in line 14. He issued me another CRA security code to be sent by mail within ten days. He said he noticed that I had multiple credentials for getting into my CRA account, including a user name and password and a link to my bank as a sign-in-partner. He said they have changed it so one can only have one credential and so he asked me to choose which one for him not to delete. I said I would keep the link to my bank since that's quicker. He said as long as I don't lose my bank card, and get issued a card with a new number the sign-in-partner will work. If the number changes I would have to use my security code again and re-establish the sign-in-partner. I had been very worried about being able to reach someone at the CRA to get this done but he was very helpful and I was glad to have it over with. I should have access to my account by the time I need to apply for the Noah Meltz Grant again in August. Since all my income is now federal I can just download a pdf from my account and upload it with my grant application. 

            In the late morning I tackled cleaning my main baking pan again. I was about to start scraping the black caked in grease off the outside edge of the rim when there was a knock on the door. It was Steve from Orkin, there with an assistant to do a follow up from his previous visit. I had expected to have been notified as to when he would come so I could get everything out of his way, but it didn't take long to remove my bedding and take my guitars to the kitchen. Steve's colleague sprayed powder in various areas and looked for traces of bedbugs. He thought that he'd found some indications but Steve pointed out to him that those were several years old. None of the monitors he'd left had picked up any more than one little fly. I told Steve that my upstairs neighbour claimed to have found bedbugs but I thought it was odd that he'd found them in his hallway. He shook his head and said they wouldn't be there unless they'd just crawled out of something that had carried them there. He agreed that it's possible that David mistook another insect for a bedbug. Steve steamed my two futons and that was the last follow up and there's been no trace of any budbugs since the one I'd found a month ago. I finished scraping the outer edge of my pan but still need to clean under the rim on the outside, which I predict is going to be a time consuming job because there's a groove all around that'll be hard to get at. Maybe a Philips screwdriver head of the right size would do the trick.

            I went online to my Green Shield account. I found the password in my files but Google remembered it and so I was able to get in easily. I was looking for confirmation that Green Shield has my direct deposit information and I saw that they do so I don't have to worry about waiting for a cheque for the $119 they're paying for my procedure on Tuesday. Hopefully they will pay a lot more than that for the crown I'm getting on Saturday.

            I got an email from Midtown Dental confirming that they want to do my crown all in one day and so asked me to come in at 11:30 instead of 12:30. 

            I weighed 88.7 kilos before lunch. I had Ritz crackers with five year old cheddar and a glass of lemonade. 

            I took a bike ride in the afternoon to Yonge and Bloor. On the way home along Queen, as I passed Old City Hall there was a young Jamaican dread with a dog next to the monument in front of the building. He told the dog to "hop up" onto the first stage of the monument and then again to the second stage until he was about three meters above the ground. Then he told him to sit and he started walking away, saying. "Now don't fuckin move!" That was impressive but if anything happens to the caregiver of a well trained dog like that the animal is going to be helpless. 

            I weighed 88.4 kilos after my bike ride. 

            I got caught up on my journal. 

            I chatted with Shankar in the hall for about half an hour. 

            I weighed 88.5 kilos at 19:00. 

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

            I sewed some more of the leather covering for my Roland guitar amp to turn it into a surreal barbaric shock therapy machine for my video for my song "Instructions For Electroshock Therapy." Most of the front is covered now. 

            I finished colourizing another damage spot on my photo of the skateboarder. 

            I made pizza with naan, Bolognese sauce and extra old cheddar and had it for dinner with a beer while watching two episodes of Mayberry RFD. 

            In the first story Carolina Pen and Quill literary magazine asks Howard to write a poem for their upcoming issue. Howard is honoured and the whole town is proud but Howard is stuck. As the deadline gets closer he still hasn't come up with anything. He tries working at the office, at home and in the woods but he's blocked. Finally Sam checks in on him and finds Howard has tossed his typewriter in the garbage and given up. Sam tells him he can't let one little failure get him down and that's the inspiration he needs. The poem that is published is called "One Little Failure": "Though we walk on the wind our courage turns frail at a small gnawing fear / What if I fail? / The sweet smell of success falls painfully stale when that dread thought intrudes / What if I fail? / Though we're destiny's child our path studded and stalled / just one little failure and forever we're scarred / You believe that my friend? / Then more fool thou / You can't let one failure colour the whole cow (at this point Goober starts talking about what a funny line that is and we miss the next two) ... Grab that small failure and do not deplore it / If you take it in stride you're a better man for it / From the wise come these words / Let thee never more quale at that devil wrought phrase / Oh! What if I fail?" 

            In the second story Goober goes to Mount Pilot to complain about being billed for a call he didn't make. But Violet Anderson, the telephone company representative that he meets is able to calm him down. They hit it off and Goober asks her out Morelli's for Friday night. But Violet has judo class on Fridays and so they settle for Saturday. Goober and Violet double date with Sam and Millie. When Violet is making jukebox selections a man aggressively tries to pick her up. Goober intervenes but the man sucker punches Goober and knocks him to the floor. Violet makes use of her judo skills and sends the man flying. This embarrasses Goober and to make matters worse he starts getting teased. When Goober puts a "For Sale" sign on his gas station Sam steps in to tell him he has to face his problems. Goober decides to go to Morelli's with Violet again but he seems to be looking for a fight. When he is picking songs on the jukebox another man puts a quarter in and makes a selection. That means Goober's final choice will be after the other man's and Goober becomes confrontational. Meanwhile Violet's judo instructor Gwen comes up to say hello to her. But when she sees Goober push her husband she steps in and tosses Goober to the floor. 

            Gwen was played by Nora Denney, who hosted a horror movie show called "The Witching Hour" in the 1950s as Marilyn the Witch. She played the school teacher Mrs Tevee in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", and Ms. Stein in "Splash." Her sons Dix and John founded the punk band The Weirdos.