Perdita

            On Friday after midnight I checked for bedbugs and found none. That makes four days since I've seen one. 

            I sang along twice with the recording of Serge Reggiani singing "Arthur, où t'as mis le corps" (Arthur, Where'd You Put The Corpse?) by Boris Vian. Reggiani was a well known actor and this was his debut as a singer. There was apparently a contest at the time for people to guess who the singer was. Next I'll start memorizing the song but it's going to take a long time since it's really a short story in song form. 

            I published “Cuti–réaction” (Skin Prick Reaction) by Serge Gainsbourg on my Christian's Translations blog. 

            It was five degrees this morning so I called the landlord and left a message telling him to turn the heat on. 

            I weighed 89.6 kilos before breakfast.

            I weighed 89.1 kilos before lunch. 

            I read “The Sheriff's Children” by Charles Chesnutt. The basic skeletal structure of the story was extremely clichéd. In a small town someone has been arrested for the murder of a well liked and prominent citizen. The town wants to hang the man before his trial but the sheriff stands off against the populace to do his duty and preserve justice. But the point of deviation from the cliché comes when we learn that the sheriff used to be a plantation owner and that the mulatto prisoner is his son by one of his former slaves. At the end of the Civil War the father just let the mother and child go without helping them in any way and though his son managed to get an education it did him little good. Even though he did not kill the man he is accused of murdering, he was there the night he was killed and he did steal his coat. His chances are slim and so he tries to escape. He gets hold of the sheriff's gun and is about to kill him when the sheriff's daughter shoots him in the arm. The sheriff bandages him up and overnight decides he is going to start treating the man like his son and try to help him beat the charges and support him afterwards. But the next morning he finds the prisoner had removed the bandages over night and allowed himself to bleed to death. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor. It never went above eight degrees today. I weighed 88.1 kilos when I got home. 

            I finished reading Act 4 of The Winter's Tale and made it as far as 5.2 by dinnertime. In Bohemia the abandoned baby daughter of King Leontes that had been raised by the shepherd and named Perdita grew into a beautiful young woman. She and Florizel, the son of King Polixenes have fallen in love. But Florizel has not told his father because he would not let him marry a shepherdess. But Polixenes and Camillo have heard that Florizel has been seen in a shepherd's home and so they go there in disguise. At the time Perdita is the host of a festival in celebration of the annual sheep sheering. At the festival the shepherd gives his blessing as Perdita and Florizel announce their engagement. But when Polixenes asks if Florizel will tell his father of this union he says he will not. Polixenes condemns the engagement. With the help of Camillo, Perdita and Florizel escape to Sicily where Polixenes follows. The letter possessed by the shepherd reveals that Perdita is indeed Leontes's daughter and now everyone is happy. But it's not over. 

            I'm hoping to finish reading The Winter's Tale and All's Well That Ends Well in time to start my essay. I don't like to start an essay until I've done all the reading because I want to pick the best text to draw from. I don't have to read Othello to start my paper because I've read it a few times and so if I decide to write on Othello I'm already familiar. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching the last episode of the fourth season of “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” 

            In this story Sergeant Carter needs a new suit for the wedding of Bunny's friend. It's payday and the sharks are waiting outside the gates of the base to try to sell questionable merchandize to the marines. Gomer notices Friendly Freddy and goes to say hello. He ends up buying a suit from him. When Carter sees the suit he wants one but he doesn't trust Freddy. But Carter considers himself a very good judge of material and assesses that Freddy's suit is legitimately of good quality this time. He buys a suit. That night Gomer goes to Lou Ann's place in his suit but they both start sneezing. Lou Ann suggests that he go to the while-you-wait dry cleaners nearby because maybe there are chemicals making them sneeze. But the result is that Gomer's suit shrinks to the size of a child's suit. Gomer goes to warn Carter but he's already starting his role in the wedding ceremony. His sleeves fall off during the procession. They confront Freddy and he gives them both new suits. Gomer, Lou Ann, Bunny and Carter go out to dinner but when Gomer and Carter get up to dance the seats of their pants remain on their chairs.