Jeannine Burnier

            On Saturday morning as I was making my bed to get ready to lie in it I saw a bedbug running across it. It kind of seemed lost. I picked it up and tried to crush it but it didn't have my blood inside and wouldn't pop. I flushed it down the toilet. At around 2:00 woke up and looked around. There were two bedbugs on the wall behind my pillow and they both had my blood inside. One of them was just inside a crack at the bottom of the former exit door and I didn't even see it until I ran my hand along the crack and the bug burst open on light contact. I'm wondering if there are bedbugs again inside of that door and that they are still getting out through the narrowest cracks. I did a thorough search, but those were the only ones I found. But that's five bedbugs in a 24 hour period and so it seems to be getting worse. Orkin is supposed to do a follow up next week, two weeks after their last visit, which I assume will be Tuesday. I hope they can stop this infestation. 

            I worked out most of the chords for "La java des chaussettes à clous" (The Dance of the Studded Stockings) by Boris Vian. I just have to check the ending to see if he uses different notes for the finale. 

            I finished posting my translation of "Démodé" (Out of Style) by Serge Gainsbourg and memorized the first verse of his song "Bébé Polaroid" which seems to make an analogy between the camera and the model, as in "she develops quickly." 

            I weighed 88.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I rode down to No Frills. Cherry season seems to be over and they didn't have any red grapes, but I got four bags of green grapes. I also got a basket of peaches, a pack of pork chops, a pack of chicken legs, some peri peri sauce, olive oil, mouthwash, a large box of garbage bags and a jug of orange juice. 

            I weighed 88.8 kilos before lunch. I had rice crackers with five year old cheddar and a glass of lemonade. 

            When I took a siesta I didn't notice any bedbugs. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor. It was a sunny Saturday and there were lots of people on the streets. There was a big line-up for something on Queen just west of Bathurst. I weighed 88.8 kilos when I got home. 

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

            I looked at the concert video of Christian and the Lions playing "Instructions For Electroshock Therapy" at the Parkdale Festival in 1997. I found that there is no part that shows my keyboardist Brian Haddon singing "shock therapy" without me in the frame, so I can't use it right now. But the same DVD has our concert at The 360, which shows Brian singing the phrase twice by himself. I uploaded the concert to my Videos folder and then imported it into my Movie Maker project for the song. I trimmed everything up until Brian's first part and I'll probably finish isolating both parts tomorrow. Then I'll insert one of them into the main video to synchronize it with Brian singing "shock therapy" at the moment when I sing "their memory." 

            I worked on enhancing my "Anti Gravity's Rainbow" photo by trying to make the graffiti on the brick wall behind the skateboarder more legible. I couldn't figure out exactly what it was saying so I altered it into something that makes more sense to me. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilicata sauce, a cut up beef burger and extra old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching two episodes of Gomer Pyle. 

            In the first story Sergeant Carter learns that his best friend Sergeant Jim Mason is coming to visit. They haven't seen each other since Carter saved Jim's life thirteen years ago in Korea. Carter tells Gomer about how they were trying to take a hill when one of their buddies named Billet went ahead to scout but got caught in some barbed wire. Carter and Mason were both crawling to save Billet when a mortar shell went off between them. Carter ran to save Billet under heavy gunfire and on the way back saved Mason. After Carter tells the story Jimbo arrives and they are happy to see each other. Carter goes to get permission for Jim to bunk with him and while he is gone Gomer asks Jimbo to tell him the story that Carter just told him and it's the same story except for the fact that Jimbo says he was the one that saved Carter. From then on Gomer tries to keep the two men apart so they can't compare stories and then get into a fight over who saved who. But he's not successful and they do argue and have a little scuffle. But they both stumble and hit their heads and when they come to they both remember that in reality both of them had been knocked unconscious and it had been Billet that saved the two of them.

            Jimbo was played by Don Rickles. 

            In the second story Carter has a big date he's getting ready for when Gomer says he's also going into town and wants advice on what to do. Carter dismisses him by saying there's a group of Chinese checkers enthusiasts who play at the USO. Gomer is excited to hear that and heads for town. Meanwhile in town Carter's date Diane has just gotten off work with her friend Dixie. Gomer comes along and accidentally rubs up against Dixie. She thinks he's being fresh and yells "Hey!" Gomer says she sounds like his sergeant. Both women think Gomer is weird as he continues to make conversation in his homey southern manner. Gomer says he's going to the USO and leaves. Dixie tells Diane she thinks he's kind of cute. Carter arrives and he and Dixie clash right away. Dixie says she's going to the USO. Dixie meets Gomer there and she thinks his innocent act is a put on. The next night Diane calls Carter and tells him they are double dating. He's surprised and disappointed in the bar when he sees the other man is Gomer. He keeps dragging Diane away to avoid being with Gomer. Gomer and Dixie accidentally find them again twice until finally they can't be avoided. The two women order a lot of food and Carter doesn't have enough money. Suddenly a drunk sits down with them who is an ex Marine who served during WWII. Carter has avoided eating anything but in the end it turns out the drunk pays their bill. 

            Dixie was played by Jeannine Burnier who was a writer for 33 episodes of The Sonny and Cher Show, for which she was nominated for an Emmy. She and her husband Karl, or as their friends called them, Fingers and Funny Girl, collaborated on songs since attending the University of Illinois. After graduation they moved to LA and married. Jeannine pursued her career as a comedienne and television comedy writer/performer and Karl was a vocal coach, pianist, and composer. For almost 20 years Jeannine toured the US and the UK as the featured comedian for Johnny Mathis's shows, for which she also sang comedic songs that she'd written with Karl.