Christine Matchett

            On Friday at around 0:30 I did my usual search for bedbugs before going to sleep and was disappointed to find two living next door to one another in little caves at the bottom of the baseboard near the northwest corner of the room. I dug them both out with a skewer stick and like the last three that I found these ones looked like they were sick and dying as they were dark and greasy inside. I guess I should be encouraged that I didn't find ones containing my fresh blood but I'd rather not find any at all. I'm going to have to do more plastering to fill up more holes. 

            I revised my translation of the fifth verse of "La java des chaussettes à clous" (The Tap dance of the Hobnail Boots) by Boris Vian: "Their tools are very sociable / they use them to be loveable / from the high horse or the boot level / of the most useless reporter / Fixing problems of the young / by adding propagandic fun / to the stomachs or the gums / of punks in the Latin quarter." 

            I finished memorizing "Chavirer la France" (Bowling Over France) by Serge Gainsbourg and looked for the chords online but no one had posted any. I worked them out for part of the introduction. 

            I weighed 89.9 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday, since I'd seen those two sick bedbugs last night I figured the holes I'd pulled them from could harbour healthy ones in the future, I mixed some polyfilla. I worked until lunchtime filling up holes in the baseboards and walls, especially any spaces between the baseboard and the floor, which seems to be a favourite hideout. 

            I weighed 89.3 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor. That grinding sound when I pedal that I had a couple of months ago but went away is back again. I weighed 88.6 kilos when I got home. 

            I received a follow up email from the Parkdale Legal Clinic today advising me to write a counter letter to my landlord's "Second Warning Letter" of a couple of weeks ago. The day of my interview I'd asked about that and I was told it wasn't necessary but I guess the student lawyer talked with his supervisor and learned it was a good idea after all. So I spent about half an hour composing a response to my landlord and I'll hand it to him when he comes by at the end of the month. 

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." I looked for a full version of "Rosemary's Baby" on YouTube because I thought that I saw one yesterday but I couldn't find it today. I went on Pirate Bay where there is a long list of torrents of the film . At first I picked the one at the top but it didn't start downloading. It was listed as a "Windows Application" and I found it suspicious, thinking that I'd be asked for a code after downlading it. I deleted it and chose one lower down that was just listed as a movie. That started downloading right away and looked like a more legitimate torrent. It should be downloaded in an hour but I won't look at it until tomorrow. 

            I cut up a whole chicken and rubbed the parts with olive oil, salt and chili powder, then grilled them in the oven. 

            I worked on trying to make the graffiti clearer on one of the bricks in my "Anti Gravity's Rainbow" photo, but I still can't figure out what the word is. 

            I had a potato with butter and a chicken leg while watching two episodes of Gomer Pyle. 

            In the first story a visiting colonel has a young daughter named Margaret. She meets Gomer when he drops a button during inspection and she picks it up for him. A dinner party is being held for the colonel and Gomer volunteers to help out. While delivering supplies Gomer meets Margaret again and seeing she is lonely he stops to play with her for a while. He gets in trouble with Sergeant Carter and she gets in trouble with her governess. At the dinner party Gomer is such a clumsy bus boy that Carter kicks him out. As he's leaving Margaret calls from her bedtoom window and asks him to come up to say goodbye. In Margaret's room Gomer starts dancing with her but the noise above the dinner party alarms the colonel. At first Gomer is about to get punished but the colonel realizes the situation and thinks Gomer should be commended for giving Margaret attention and kindness. 

            Margaret was played by eight year old Christine Matchett, who appeared on several TV shows as a child actor and was a regular as the daughter of the lead character on the short lived series "Owen Marshall, Counselor At Law. " Some episodes were directed by Steven Spielberg. She also appeared in "The Illustrated Man."

            In the second story some film makers want to make a movie of Sergeant Carter training his platoon because he's tough and drives them hard. But once Carter knows there'll be hidden cameras everywhere he starts to lose the natural qualities the film makers are looking for and begins to pose and speak politely to his men. He moves his men so that the camera will always be on him. But he feels Gomer speaks up too much and hogs the attention so he starts giving him work details away from the cameras. But the filmmakers notice this and start secretly filming Gomer. When they tell Carter they are changing the focus of the movie to the life of a Marine private Carter gets upset and starts yelling at Gomer. They film that too and that's just what they want. They change it so both Carter and Gomer are the stars of the film.