John Astin

            On Tuesday morning I worked out the chords to the chorus of “Mangos” by Serge Gainsbourg. I just have another verse and the finale left and so I might be able to finish it on Wednesday. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos before breakfast. I ate two oranges and four clementines and drank half a cup of coffee before heading for the penultimate US Literature lecture. It was snowing and the first time I've ridden my bike downtown in the snow in a couple of years. I wore an extra pair of socks. 

            While waiting for the lecture I was trying to find a program for playing ebooks on my laptop. I have Calibre on my computer and so I downloaded that but then I found out that it doesn't work on Windows 7. But I discovered that I can upload any ebook to an app on Google Chrome and and read the book that way. US Lit lecture. 

            Next week would be our last. 

            I'm not going to post the lecture because I don't have time to decode my short hand right now. 

           

            The professor said that the pregnant narrator of Salvage the Bones is 15. I told her I thought for sure she'd said she was 14. She didn't seem to think it mattered and I agreed that objectively there may be no difference between 14 and 15 but in terms of society and legality and the age of consent it's the difference between a child and a woman. 

           I told her the ending of Salvage the Bones seemed a bit Disneyesque to me or “Lassie Come Home.” I also said I found the dog fighting disturbing. She said the author said it's part of the culture and not something she has to answer for. I said the people in the story are also thieves and so they are certainly not meant to be conventionally sympathetic. 

           It had stopped snowing when I left the Sidney Smith Building and so I rode to Yonge and Bloor and then south. But instead of going all the way to King I went west on College. College to Brock is a more interesting ride than King to Dunn, so I think I'll go that way from now on. 

            When I got home I went out to buy a litre of milk. 

            There was no response yet from Professor Lopez about my request for a review of my unreasonable Shakespeare essay mark of B-. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos before lunch. 

            I got caught up on my journal at 18:20.

            I weighed 87.1 kilos at 18:30. 

            I know I have two dental appointments approaching and I thought that the first was December 5. I looked for the card they gave me but I couldn't find it. I checked my blog to see when the last appointment was because I was sure I'd mentioned the appointments. I discovered my first appointment is tomorrow but I didn't know what time. I wouldn't have taken it at the time of my lecture so it must be either later in the morning or in the afternoon. I'll have to go there after my lecture to find out because I can't call since I haven't paid for my December phone plan yet. 

            I re-read Act 1 Scene 3 of Othello. Brabanzio tries to get Othello busted for stealing his daughter away but Desdemona proves she went willingly. The Duke needs Othello as a general because Venice is at war with the Turks to Brabanzio is politely dismissed. 

            I coated chicken drumsticks with olive oil, salt and paprika and grilled them in the oven. I had one with a potato and gravy while watching an episode of The Addams Family. 

            In this story Wednesday gets in trouble for using her Uncle Fester's blasting caps because her own aren't powerful enough. She is punished by not being allowed to play with her spider for two weeks. She decides to run away from home. But Pugsley tells her she should only pretend to run away and hide in his room. Pugsley writes a note for her, “Dear Mother and Father, I hate you, Love Wednesday.” Morticia and Gomez call the police missing persons office and tell Sgt. Haley their daughter is missing. But while Haley is on his way over there they find out from Fester that Wednesday is faking. They tell Haley that Wednesday is home after all but he's pissed off that they've wasted his time. Morticia and Gomez decide to punish Wednesday with psychology. They pretend she's still missing and stand outside Pugley's room so she can overhear they've given up on her. But Pugsley assures Wednesday that their parents are using psychology. Wednesday decides to show them and really run away. Wednesday later gets picked up by the police and taken to missing persons where she meets Haley. When he realizes who she is he goes back to the Morticia and Gomez to tell them he has Wednesday. But they insist he is mistaken and deluded. Meanwhile Fester finds and claims Wednesday at the police station. Haley tells Morticia and Gomez he'll give them his badge if Wednesday is home. But then they hear Wednesday and Fester playing outside and when Haley sees it he turns in his badge and wanders off in a daze, telling them to report a missing detective. 

            Gomez Addams was played by John Astin who started out studying math but switched to theatre. He worked in plays and TV commercials. He played the dance chaperone in the film West Side Story. He starred in the TV movie comedy western “Evil Roy Slade.” He co-starred with Jodie Foster in “Freaky Friday.” He played two parts in The National Lampoon's European Vacation. He played Dr Gangreen in the Killer Tomato movies. He co-starred in The Frighteners. He reprised the voice of Gomez on the Addams Family animated series and played Grandpa Addams on The New Addams Family. He replaced Frank Gorshin as The Riddler on Batman. He was married to Patty Duke from 1972 until 1985. He now runs the theatre department at Johns Hopkins University and is a full professor. The theatre was renamed after him. He's also the leader of a Buddhist group and an expert on Edgar Allan Poe.