William Faulkner

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the second verse of “Belinda” by Serge Gainsbourg. I also reworked my translation of the first three verses. The singer is lamenting to Belinda about how she doesn't understand him and rejects a lot of the things he likes. 

            I weighed 88.5 kilos before breakfast. 

            Since there was no US Literature class today I spent the two hours reading William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. It's darkly funny. Cash finishes the coffin after Addie dies. She is placed inside. He drills holes and accidentally drills one into her face. Addie's youngest son thinks his mother is a fish. Her next youngest thinks she's a horse. A storm came and washed out all the bridges before they could get her body to Jefferson as per her request. They are trying to cross the river when the coffin breaks loose. I have a little over eighty pages left. 

            I worked a bit on my Shakespeare essay. 

            I weighed 89 kilos before lunch. 

            When I got up from my siesta at 15:30 the sky was dark, making everything look mouldy, and it seemed like it might rain. I was ready to leave for my bike ride at 15:45 but as soon as I was out the door it started to lightly splatter. I made it halfway up Brock to Dundas with the rain getting more steady and so I turned around and went home. My ride lasted about ten minutes. 

            I weighed 89.2 kilos at 16:00.

            I posted my blog and then worked until dinnertime on my Shakespeare essay. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a steak while watching an episode of Gomer Pyle. 

            This story was very similar to one that played on The Andy Griffith Show. It begins with Gomer being required to throw a live hand grenade but he fumbles and drops it at his own feet. Carter grabs it and throws it away just in time but then Gomer realizes Carter saved his life and so he is eternally grateful. Gomer begins waiting on Carter hand and foot to an annoying degree. In every waking minute it seems that Gomer is looming over and trying to do something for him and it's driving Carter nuts. Carter decides that the only solution is for Gomer to save his life and even the score. But everything he tries backfires. Finally he turns on the gas on the furnace in the duty hut and pretends to be unconscious so Gomer will find him there and save him. Gomer does find him but as he's trying to get Carter out of the room, Gomer succumbs to the fumes and falls unconscious. Carter has to once again save Gomer by carrying him outside. Gomer comes to consciousness beside Carter and then Carter pretends to come to and tells Gomer that he carried him to safety, even though he doesn't remember. He says they're even now but later Carter pushes Gomer out of the way of a heavy toolbox falling from the roof and saves his life again. The story ends with Carter running away from Gomer.