Buddy Lester

            On Sunday after midnight before going to sleep I did my usual search for bedbugs and found none. In the eleven days since the last pest control treatment I've found three. Orkin is coming again in three days. 

            The mobility of my sprained right shoulder was only slightly better during yoga than the day before. But in the nine days since the accident there's been some progress every day. 

            During the last couple of days my computer task bar has been loading very slowly. This morning was even worse and it didn't seem like it would load at all while I was trying to work on my translation projects. The only thing that showed up was the frozen clock on the right and Windows icon for the start menu on the left. When I moved the cursor into the black void where the task bar should be it turned to a spinning blue ring, indicating that the task bar was timing towards opening. I was able to open documents but if I minimized one document to look at my blog the document would disappear behind the yet to load task bar and there was no way to retrieve it other than to open another copy. I tried restarting a few times but it just made the task bar start invisibly and uselessly loading all over again. I didn't get any work on Christian's Translations done or even get to working out the chords for "La p'tite Agathe" before it was time for song practice. 

            While I was playing there was a squirrel crash up on the wire that crosses Queen Street in front of my window, Two squirrels were heading south and one was going north. There was a fight and one of the two southbound squirrels ended up hanging desperately by its front claws while the other one sat waiting for it to recover. It made it back up. 

             A few minutes later my high E string broke but since a guitar can still function without that string I kept on playing to save time. I'll change it later. 

            Near the end of song practice I started my computer and when I was done playing, even though the task bar still hadn't loaded I realized I could work without minimizing anything just by keeping overlapping windows of documents open. While I was working out a chord for "La p'tite Agathe" the task bar finally loaded. 

            I weighed 89.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            Because I had more than usual to write about in the morning I got around to cleaning up later than usual and so I didn't finish cleaning my muffin pan. I only got the rims around the bottoms of the cups done. There's still the cup bottoms themselves left but that shouldn't take long. 

            While I was working I listened to The Nashville Sessions featuring Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash in the studio. Some of it's pretty good but a lot of it is just the two of them goofing around. 

            I weighed 89.7 kilos before lunch. I had Breton crackers with five year old cheddar and a glass of lemonade.

            I took a siesta in the afternoon and when I got up my arm didn't hurt as much. I have lately had to take my bike off the hook in two stages, reaching up with my left arm and holding the steering post with my right until I get it down to the level of my right arm. But this time I was able to reach up with both arms and grab it like I used to, although it still hurts a bit to do so. 

           I rode to Yonge and Bloor and on my way home along Queen there was a middle aged gospel group at the corner of Spadina and Queen with an electric guitar, microphones, tambourines and maybe a kazoo. It seemed like this was a one off thing or else the first time they'd come out on the street. They were really horrible and did the worst version of "In The Sweet Bye and Bye" I'd ever heard. 

            I weighed 89.9 kilos at 17:30. 

            I submitted my first assignment for the Shakespeare course. We're supposed to write something, either a question or observation about Shakespeare's work and send it to Professor Lopez before Monday at 8:00. I don't think we are marked for the contents but rather just for doing it as a way to make sure students are participating and engaged. I commented that I notice there is none of Shakespeare's poetry in the course and offered that it's his greatest achievement. It's the poetics of his plays that make them high art and so his sonnets are the fullest expression of that achievement. Most of these types of assignments are in forum format online and so I wondered why he didn't do it that way since then students could read one another's submissions. 

            I read some more of "The Comedy of Errors" by Shakespeare. The long separated two sets of twins, both the sons and the servants of the merchant are in Ephesus and are mistaking one for the other since the doubles have yet to meet. One twin of a master met the twin of his slave and was angered by his ignorance while the slave was confused by his master's sudden violence. 

            I read the introduction to The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass a former slave. Because of the book, his eloquence and good writing he became a superstar of the Abolitionist movement. The pro slavery people accused him of being a fraud because they didn't believe he could have learned to write so well as a slave. I cut the mould from two pieces of Bavarian sandwich bread and made pizza with Milanese sauce and extra old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching an episode of Gomer Pyle. 

            This story begins with Duke losing all his money and his watch in a card game with a sailor named Pete Evans. When Sergeant Carter hears that Evans particularly likes to clean Marines out he decides to go to Evans's game and take him on. But Carter gets cleaned out as well and he voices the opinion to Gomer and Duke that Evans is a cheater. Gomer approaches Evans in a restaurant and tells him that nobody will want to play with him if word gets around that he plays dishonestly. Evans takes Gomer up to his hotel room where he meets his wife Sheila. Evans wants to prove to Gomer that he's not crooked and offers to show this with a game of blackjack. Gomer doesn't want to gamble but Evans tells him it's a test and even gives Gomer a nickle to bet with. Gomer proceeds to win $50. When Carter hears of this he insists on Gomer playing Evans again. He does so and ends up winning even more money. After Gomer leaves, Sheila wonders why Pete let Gomer win. He explains that Gomer is the bait to attract others to the game. He shows her how he will arrange for everyone to have such good hands that they will all believe they will win, but he will also arrange for the next four cards on the deck to be four aces, which he will draw after everyone has confidently bet large sums of money. We also learn that Evans isn't really a sailor. Carter and Duke insist on Gomer going to the next game and they will come along. As Evans arranged, everyone gets great hands such as Gomer's four kings and Carter bets $200. When it comes time to either ask for more cards or stay Gomer asks if his hand is the best hand one can get. Carter says it's not the very best but good enough. Gomer puts down his cards and asks for more because he doesn't want to bet other people's money without the very best hand. Since Evans has arranged for four aces to be on top of the deck he resists the play. He says, "But he can't! Nobody throws away four kings!" Since Evans couldn't know Gomer had four kings unless he arranged it, Evans is caught and busted. 

            Sheila was played by Hollis Irving, who played Mrs Woodley on Blondie. She played supporting roles on many TV episodes and some movies such as "Frogs." 

 Pete Evans was played by Buddy Lester who was a very popular stand-up comedian. He opened for Frank Sinatra several times and appeared in two Rat Pack films as well as five Jerry Lewis movies. He was a regular on The New Phil Silvers Show.