Rare Bit Dreams

            On Wednesday morning just after midnight I did my usual search for bedbugs and found none. That makes it zero since Friday morning and three in the last two weeks. 

            During yoga I was able to do a full shoulder stand. I could bend backwards from that position and put my feet to the floor, which for the last week and a half I couldn't do because it had been painful for my elbow. 

            I finished posting my translation of "La p'tite Agathe" by Serge Gainsbourg and transcribed the lyrics for his song "Papa Nono. I did some initial translation for it without writing anything down. The first two lines talk about having a fake beard and being a cotton candy transvestite. 

            A large piece of the black scab on my elbow started peeling off and was hanging there for a few hours until I took a scissors and cut it off. Now the black area was half the size as before and area underneath looked and felt like a bad sunburn. 

            I weighed 89.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            Just before 9:00 I logged on for my second Shakespeare lecture. I was on time this time. Professor Lopez put up a slide with a quote from Shakepeare's "Cymbelline.": 

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, 

Nor the furious winter’s rages; 

Thou thy worldly task hast done, 

Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages: 

Golden lads and girls all must, 

As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. 

            Then the professor started freezing again over and over. He said he's spoken to tech support and they suggest he use a wire connection. Suddenly the meeting ended. I assumed it was another technical problem and logged back on with the meeting pass code. At 9:18 there was still nothing happening in a lecture that was scheduled to go from 9:00 to 10:00. My webcam video was still green but sometimes seemed to clear up when I backed away from the camera. At 9:20 Lopez sent an email saying that he was cancelling the live lecture for today and would instead either record a video lecture or simply post the text. 

            I took the opportunity to start getting my place ready for the pest control visit that was scheduled for today. I had asked Steve two weeks ago to come after 10:00 and he said he could do that. I got my laundry ready, flipped the couch frame on its end, swept and then mopped the floor. 

            Steve from Orkin arrived at around 11:30. My upstairs neighbour David had slipped his key under my door on his way to work at 3:00. I decided to have Steve do David's place first so I could get ready to leave. I let him in and man does David ever have a lot of junk in his place. Steve was up there for quite a while and when he came down he told me that he didn't find a trace of bedbugs in David's apartment. 

            I asked Steve if there's such a large percentage of the bedbugs I've seen on my door because they are following pheremones. He said they that they don't follow pheremones. They follow our blood and if they move up the door they are escaping from poison and the pyrathyroid dust. 

            I took my laundry to put in a washer and then came home to spend some time with my laptop and some grapes on the deck. I put my stuff in the dryer and came back to the deck. Once I'd brought my clothing home the place still smelled of poison and so I took an early bike ride. 

            I rode to Yonge and Bloor. On my way down Yonge a young woman in a Catholic school uniform made eyes at me. At Yonge and Dundas a young woman was busking by doing ballet to a pop song. 

            More of the scab on my arm was peeling off. 

            I weighed 88.5 kilos when I got home. I had a very late lunch and took a late siesta. I slept fifteen minutes longer than usual.

            I finished typing my US Lit lecture notes from yesterday morning. 

            I cut the mould off my last two slices of bread and made pizza with Milanese sauce and extra old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching an episode of Gomer Pyle. 

            In this story Gomer has started eating at an English style tea toom where they serve Welsh rare bit. The proprietor of the restaurant warns him that some say that Welsh rare bit causes bad dreams but Gomer eats several helpings. That night Gomer sleep walks to Sergeant Carter's quarters, wakes him up and behaves in a way opposite to his personality. He is extremely aggressive and confronts Carter for picking on him. Corporal Boyle is a witness and after Gomer leaves Carter is ready to have him discharged. But Boyle says Gomer looked like he was sleep walking. The next night Gomer eats the same meal and sleep walks again in the same way. Carter consults a psychiatrist who advises Carter to find out what is causing the sleep walking. He adds that a Marine who regularly sleepwalks must be discharged. At first Carter sees this as an opportunity to get rid of Gomer, but then he gets curious and follows Gomer into town. After Gomer eats and leaves the tea room Carter goes in and orders what Gomer had. That night both Gomer and Carter sleepwalk while manifesting opposite personalities. Carter behaves like Gomer and Gomer behaves like Carter. They are standing and shouting outside of the barracks and Boyle wakes up. He goes out to see them standing there and shakes them to consciousness. He then explains to them that they've both been sleepwalking. 

            The proprietor of the tea room was played by Lucy Landau, who was the subject of a book called "Big Lou." She co-starred in the off Broadway musical Ernest In Love and also on the soap operas "Dark Shadows" and "All My Children."