Earl Scruggs

            On Tuesday morning I finished working out the chords for "En rire de peur d'être obligée d'en pleurer" (No Good Crying it's Best to Choose Laughter Always) by Serge Gainsbourg. I'll run through the song in French and English tomorrow and then upload it to Christian's Translations. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before breakfast. 

            I worked on copying text from the English in the World lecture slides but the first lecture was very time consuming. 

            I weighed 84.7 kilos before lunch. 

            I woke up half an hour later than usual from my siesta and so I didn't have time to take a bike ride all the way downtown. I went as far as Palmerston and headed south. But Palmerston was closed at Ulster for construction and so I went west to Manning and south to Queen and then home. 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos at 17:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:54. I logged onto Zoom for the Medieval Literature class at 18:00. 

            Alex says that this is the penultimate class, but the syllabus says there's something called a poster session for December 13. 

            Of our essays, everything is marked but there are problems getting on Quercus. I don't understand why there are problems getting on Quercus. All the other professors and TAs can get on Quercus easily. Is this a legitimate course or not? 

            Paper extensions are possible but with less feedback. 

            Essay guidelines. Observing paradoxes is a good starting off point. Find problems in a text and use another text to shed light upon it. Such and such is both this and this. 

            I said the outsider is an unknown but must also be familiar enough so we can relate. 

            Outside and the marvellous. 

            Who is the most inside figure in the texts we've studied? I suggested Bisclavret's wife is an insider because she resists the outsiderness of Bisclavret. Hrothgar is an insider because he represents the establishment. 

            I said I'm not sure if the Pearl poet is the same as the Gawain poet. 

            Alliterative middle English is a return to old style because Old English was more alliterative. 

            I say the pearl is a metaphor for the soul, perfection, and flawlessness. She is one of the 144000 brides of god. She has no spot but doesn't fit in the ground. 

            Ornamentation is both secular and spiritual.

            We looked at the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last crusade when they find the Holy Grail. The guy didn't choose which grail, a woman did. It was the wrong one and he died. 

            I say that the people of Beowulf pursue treasure and value it above everything. Human qualities are defined in relation to treasure. The only one who cares nothing for treasure is Grendel, who eats the rich. 

            The Dream of the Rood compared to Pearl. 

            Professor Walton has a migraine so she's turned off her camera and is sitting in the dark while listening to and watching the class, as Alex handles it. 

            Pearl says the speaker is wrong.

            Why is treasure on earth embraced in the spiritual realm. I say that it has to be valued in an earthly way for it to have value as a metaphor for spiritual treasure. Someone who does not think Pearls are valuable would not be moved by the idea of the soul being a pearl. I say that in the context of the poem, one is already adorned in heaven and so one doesn't have to seek ornamentation there. 

            The father is a jeweller who created Pearl. 

            We took a break at 19:15.  

            We broke into groups looking at the text. I had thoughts on the three meanings of the word "spot". There is spot as in a flaw, but also as in place, and also as an amount of something when he refers to "a spot of spices". The Pearl is without spot, but the poet is at the spot where Pearl is buried with a spot of spices spread over her. So when the speaker says that Pearl is "without spot" he also means that she has no place on Earth. 

            Medieval Fragments is a book about lapidaries by Julie Somers. Bestiaries as metaphors. 

            The pearl represents the Virgin Mary. 

            Orientation as direction. Medieval orientation was east. Asia was the top of world and a place of wonder where things like the phoenix existed. 

            The style of the poem is ornate. The poem as a pearl. About the role and value of poetry. 

            I find these online classes very unsatisfying and we still haven't been given a proper explanation why they are not in person even though we enrolled in an in-person course. It seems to me we deserve to be told. When I asked Professor Walton a couple of weeks ago she basically told me she couldn't tell me. 

            I had a potato with gravy and my last chicken leg while watching season 2, episode 24 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            In this story Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and their wives Gladys and Louise are visiting the Clampetts. The wives are city women and beautiful but Lester and Earl are forcing them to take country cooking lessons from Granny. The women hate it and want to get away to Gladys's aunt in San Francisco. 

            Another reason that Lester and Earl are there is to convince Jed to find a wife. They found their wives by auditioning singers and Jane has the idea to do the same. But Lester and Earl's wives wouldn't understand Flatt and Scruggs auditioning singers since they don't need them now. So they agree to let their wives go to Frisco and to take Elly May with them to teach her to be a lady. The auditions are organized and Jane is receiving calls from a lot of women. So when the wives call from San Francisco to let their husbands know they've arrived, Jane doesn't know who they are and thinks they are just calling about the audition. The wives rush back to Beverly Hills. Meanwhile the auditions are taking place, although Jed doesn't know what they are really about. He says he wouldn't want a wife who is touring as a singer. The wives come back and confront their husbands. But everything is okay when they all sing "Mail Order Bride" together. Earlier Flatt and Scruggs played that song as well as "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". 

            Earl Scruggs grew up in a musical family and learned to play the banjo at a time when it was essentially a rhythm instrument. But at the age of six, he encountered a blind banjo player who finger picked. After this, Scruggs began to also develop a version of the three-finger picking style that eventually elevated the banjo to a lead instrument. He first played on the radio at age 11. He played with a few bands and then joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, which already had Lester Flatt as a lead singer. It was a very successful group but the touring schedule was gruelling and so Flatt and Scruggs quit, even though Monroe begged them to stay. They formed Flatt and Scruggs, and in 1949 they recorded Scruggs's "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" which became a Grammy winning classic. In 1962 they recorded a version of The Ballad of Jed Clampett which became the first number one country hit for a bluegrass song. They broke up in 1969 and Scruggs formed the Earl Scruggs Review with his sons. They collaborated with Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Later he collaborated with Elton John and Sting, among others. Country purists didn't appreciate his deviations into pop. 

            I searched for bedbugs and I must have killed one on the baseboard that runs out from the head of my bed. After digging at a black speck in a crack, the tip of the toothpick had that dead bedbug smell.

November 30, 1992: I took $280 from savings, put $200 in an envelope with my cheques, but stupidly deposited them back into savings

November 30, 1992 

            On Monday I got up at around 8:45 and fixed the string on my trunks. I shaved my neck and left for work. I did a standing pose in the morning. I called Marie at lunch, arranged to meet her at 16:20 and then I read the paper. I did a sitting pose for the first half of the afternoon and then another standing pose. I had the intention of transferring some money from savings to chequing, depositing two cheques and then taking out some money to buy a Metropass. I took out $280, kept $80, then put $200 in an envelope with my cheques, but automatically and stupidly deposited them all back into savings. I left it all there because I didn't want to pay a double service charge. I went down to Market Square and called Marie but there was no answer. I read the paper a bit and called again but there was still no response. I browsed the bookstore and then dialed her number again, but she seemed not to be home. I had a juice and then gave it another try with success. But she was too depressed about her mother to go out and so I went to Harvey's where I wrote this.

Russell Collins

            On Monday morning I finished memorizing "En rire de peur d'être obligée d'en pleurer" (No Good Crying it's Best to Choose Laughter Always) by Serge Gainsbourg. I looked for the chords but no one had posted them so I worked the first couple out for the intro.

            When I reached for my guitar I saw a bedbug on the wall just below the light switch above the head of my bed. It was full of blood. I still wonder if they are crawling down along the wiring from Cesar's place above me and out into my bedroom through the light switch. 

            My high E string went loose as soon as my hand hit lightly against the machine. It went flat quite a bit during my first song but stayed in tune for the most part after that. I wonder if I need to get the machine tightened. 

            I weighed 85 kilos before breakfast. 

            I left for English in the World class at 10:20. Chuanqi was there when I arrived. He was one of the presenters today. I said that I shouldn't have put a video of myself in my presentation unless I'd memorized the text. He said there's something in Power Point called "Presentation mode" that allows one to do that. I didn't quite understand how but maybe the text runs across the top of the screen like a news feed. 

            Frank came and wanted to show Chuanqi pictures of signs in Shanghai. It related to the zero covid situation in China. Chuanqi didn't want to look. He said it frightened him. He explained that he has OCD and is extremely paranoid. 

            Corinne A. gave the first presentation. Should the pidgin English Kamtok be an official language in Cameroon? 50% of the population speak it. It serves as a bridge between different cultures and a wide range of languages. 75% of teachers lacked proper English pronunciation. Spelling is a primary challenge. Standard engagement. 

            Zahra's presentation was on Pakistan, which has seventy languages but Urdu and English are official. There are four types of schools. English as the language of instruction does more harm than good. It is ineffective in education. Even university profs need instruction in English. There is no benchmark for being an English teacher. English as the language of instruction leads to poor instruction in subjects. It diminishes regional languages; it increases class difference because it is taught in expensive schools. Civil service tests are in English. Improve the quality of English education. English and Urdu are equally used. English is needed for jobs in other countries or communication with other countries. 

            Hayle's presentation was on Kongish. Kongish is on the rise in Hong Kong. It is derived from English and Cantonese. English is faster to type. "Laugh die me". "Solly" for "sorry". Kongish Daily is a Facebook page. It is differentiated from Chinglish. Hong Kong wants to be a gatekeeper. Humourous pronunciations of English. At first accidental but later deliberate. Kongish is a texting style. I asked the difference between Konglish and Chinglish. She said it is more local whereas Chinglish is throughout China. Konglish is casual. 

            Martina's presentation was on Singlish. Universality of English. Chinese and Indian residents identify as English. Multiculturalism is a defining characteristic. Singlish started in 1819 and it is a combination of English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. "Like that" is pronounced "liddat". It makes speakers sound grammatically uneducated. The "Speak Good English" movement. "Lets be understood". There is a lack of grammatical structure and the removal of pronouns. There is advertising in Singlish. 

            Hiba's presentation was on Pakistani English. English was introduced during British rule. Not all education systems are capable of teaching English even though it is an official language. Private schools are a better resource and graduates are more likely to go to university while poor communities are stuck. English is looked up upon. Fluency in English is a symbol of status. English is a language of power. How English is taught depends on who is in power. 

            Syd gave her presentation on English in Kenya. Swahili takes a backseat. English is not always used well in school. There is lack of knowledge on the part of the teachers. There are better chances at job prestige. There is a lack reading material. It is harder because of mother tongues. 

            We took a break.

            Panel 3 presentations. 

            The MC was not there so Chuanqi took the job. 

            Sebastian's presentation was on English language in expanding circle countries in East Asia. English and China are dominant. France and India are used as examples. English has increased as a trade language. Physics and other technical fields are dominated by English. China wants to promote its own heritage and values of harmony and benevolence, and it thinks English interferes. China education tries to keep English at bay. The rich send their children to English schools. English dominates in India. France does step up its English abilities, copying China. France falling behind. 

            Selah's presentation was on Korean. Is English displacing Korean in universities? If there are more English courses then more foreigners will enrol. English is necessary for higher education. The cost is pressure that contributes to suicide. I ask if there is really evidence that English has contributed to suicides. She said it's just one of the pressures. 

            Chuanqi presented on mainland China expanding English STEM languages. Students need to learn stem languages. PEP is used throughout China. Textbook math jargon translation is inconsistent. Jargons are useful to be translated. Code switching. Related jargons are translated. I asked what is a jargon? Jargons are stable technological terminology. 

            Lucas presented on English education in China. The Education Ministry backs English learning but is in conflict with the Chinese government. 200 million have taken English. There is twice as much English in universities than other second languages. Education versus culture. Language is linked to heritage. Some say China is in conflict with the west so that is why it is against English. Authors are chosen for government loyalty. 

            Jameson's presentation was on the Japanese language and education. The government is trying to generate bilingualism. Japan underperforms in international English tests. Japanese is a borrowing language consisting of 70% loanwords: 60% Chinese and 10% English. Some say it is a natural progression. "Engrish". A foundational difference is that Japanese has fewer consonants and vowels. "Cunning" means "cheating". Loanwords should be taught to be understood in terms of English. Science is more universal so it is taught in English. 

            I asked why not teach a given country's culture in English? That way they could learn about their culture and learn English at the same time. Sebastian said it would lead to things like Singlish. I don't see how but even if it did, why would that be a negative? 

            I weighed 84.4 kilos before lunch at 13:55. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos at 16:35, which is the heaviest I've been in two weeks but shows an overall lightening trend. The heaviest in two weeks has not been below the "85 kilo" range since I've been keeping track. 

            It took me until after supper to finish the Exit Slip survey for today's class because there were so many presenters to touch on. 

            I made a new batch of gravy, though it came out a little too thick this time. I may have to add some liquid later on. I had some with a potato and a chicken leg while watching season 2, episode 23 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Duke the dog is sick and Elly May has sent for Dr. Martin the zoo veterinarian who keeps giving her animals to take care of. Elly secretly has Duke in her bed because Granny doesn't want to clean dog hair from bedsheets. Granny also doesn't appreciate having a college educated doctor chosen over her to treat anyone in the family. Jed tells her that Dr. Martin might be a good prospective beau for Elly and so they ask her to invite Martin to dinner. They are expecting a much younger man. Dr. Martin arrives and he is a man in his late 60s. Elly greets him and takes him upstairs to Duke. 

            Meanwhile a young and handsome travelling salesman named Jim Gardner arrives and when Jed and Granny see him through the window they think he is Dr. Martin. They call Elly downstairs and tell her to be nice to the man. She lets Jim in and he's very impressed with Elly. What he is selling are pest control items to get rid of insects. She invites him into the parlour and then goes upstairs. 

           Granny comes to talk to him and he tries to sell her his products. But since she already thinks he's a critter doctor, hearing him talk about flea baths and things like that she thinks he's a bug doctor trying to make insects feel better. She doesn't like the idea. When Jim meets Jethro and Jed he shakes their hands and tries to say his name but they squeeze so hard that they think his name's "Jim Gaaargh!"

            Granny finally meets the real Dr. Martin and he lays on the charm about how beautiful and young she looks, so she warms up to him. He's invited to dinner but when he learns the main course is stuffed gopher he loses his appetite. Granny and Martin and Elly and Jim go on a double date to a restaurant. 

            Dr. Martin was played by Russell Collins, who studied drama just after WWI and was in the USO entertaining the troops during WWII. His Broadway debut was Success Story in 1932 and in 1935 he starred in the Broadway musical Johnny Johnson. He had a long career on Broadway and after the war he started branching out into film and television. He died about a year and a half after this episode aired. 

            I searched for bedbugs and found one in their current favourite place, the crack in the upper right corner of the old exit door at the head of my bed.

November 29, 1992: I was drinking coffee on the couch when my daughter walked in smiling and stayed in a good mood for the rest of the day

Thirty years ago today 

            On Sunday I got up around 10:30. My daughter stirred and so I gave her a bottle. She slept for another hour while I made her breakfast and had mine. I was drinking a coffee on the couch when she walked in smiling and she stayed in that good mood for the rest of the day. She happily ate the oatmeal that I made with the water from Saturday's beans with some honey and coconut. She also had a piece of toast with peanut butter. We went out and she walked all the way to Cultures without being carried. She wanted to go into the toy store and so we spent maybe twenty minutes there. She was most impressed with a toy broom for $12.95 but I thought I could get one cheaper somewhere else. We walked up Woodbine to Gerrard and then down some other street. She wanted to be carried and then fell asleep just after I got to Kingston Road. She slept until around 18:30. I danced for a while to Billy Idol while holding her and then took her back to her mother.

Sexy Angels of Sodom

            On Sunday morning I memorized the third verse of "J'ai pas d'regret" (I've No Regrets) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the second and third verses of "En rire de peur d'être obligée d'en pleurer" (No Good Crying it's Best to Choose Laughter Always) by Serge Gainsbourg. There's just one verse left with only two lines that haven't been repeated, so I should have the song nailed down tomorrow. 

            I weighed 84.8 kilos before breakfast. 

            I started reading a prose translation of the Medieval poem "Patience", which many scholars attribute to the poet known as "The Gawain Poet" or "The Pearl Poet". I think "Patience" is more similar in descriptive style to "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" than "Pearl". 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride. When I left my place the landlord and the guy on the cherry picker were just packing it in for the day after the guy had been working on the front of the roof for twelve hours. 

            It was lightly raining as I headed up Brock and it increased enough as I went east along the Bloor bike line for me to turn south on Shaw and head home. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos at 16:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:25. 

            I finished reading "Patience", which tells the story of Jonah. Patience seems to mean one must have patience with god. 

            I edited my English in the World lecture notes. Next I'll mix them with the text from the lecture slides. 

            I read most of the poem "Cleanness", which is also attributed to the Gawain Poet. It recounts several incidents from the Bible in which "god" responded with destruction to unclean actions of humanity, including the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. 

            I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episode 22 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Jed and Granny are lamenting the absence of fresh game in Beverly Hills. He can't find anything to shoot and anything he traps gets made into a pet by Elly May. Mr. Drysdale brings the Clampetts a stuffed deep-sea fish to hang in their billiard room but they think it's for them to eat. No matter how much Granny cooks it she can't make it tender. Drysdale says he's going to take them deep sea fishing and gets them some equipment. 

            They try fishing in the Los Angeles river which probably used to be a river but is now a concrete canal. All Granny catches is a boot. 

            Drysdale promises to take them out on a boat but Granny says she won't go on a boat. Drysdale decides to take them to Marineland first the next day to give Granny a taste of what she's missing. They decide to save him the trouble and go to Marineland today. They think that Marineland belongs to the Marines and when they get there they just happen to meet a Marine who tells them to catch the whales. When Granny sees a whale she wants one and wants to use Jethro as bait to catch it. Jed knows that wouldn't work out. 

           Elly makes friends with several sea animals and when they get home they see that she's stolen one of the seals. They take it back and Granny brings a lasso to try to snare a whale. 

            I finished reading Cleanness. It ends with the fall of Belshazzar after Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall. 

            I searched for bedbugs and found none.

November 28, 1992: I entertained my daughter by throwing up in front of her

Thirty years ago today

             On Saturday I woke up at 9:40 and called Nancy. She said she would be leaving for my place soon. I wasn't feeling well, and I tried to make myself throw up two times. The only things that came up were the two oranges that I'd eaten for breakfast. Nancy finally showed up with my daughter at around 15:00 and she said I could keep her overnight. She was pretty cranky when she saw that her mother was gone. I didn't take her out for a walk because I thought she would go to sleep soon, but she didn't. I vomited in front of her for her amusement and it was an orange again. I was feeling pretty weak. She didn't go to sleep until 18:00 and I was hoping she would stay down for the night, but she woke up at 21:00. She hadn't eaten much and so I fed her. She wanted to go out, but I couldn't, and she wouldn't go back to bed. I laid down on the couch and she joined me, sometimes getting up but eventually falling back to sleep in the first half hour after midnight.

Conlan Carter

            On Saturday when I got up at 5:00, the guy on the cherry picker was already above my window fixing the roof with the landlord watching from the sidewalk. The guy looked at me when I was doing yoga. He was letting stuff drop down to the sidewalk and so I wonder if it's legal to do that kind of work without a covered scaffold to protect pedestrians. 

            I memorized the first verse of "En rire de peur d'être obligée d'en pleurer" (No Good Crying it's Best to Choose Laughter Always) by Serge Gainsbourg, and adjusted my translation. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I went down to No Frills where the only grapes that weren't too soft were two bags of black grapes. I got a case of mangoes, a chuck steak, some freezer bags, Basilica sauce, black bean and white corn salsa, chili sauce, olive oil, honey, kettle chips, three bags of skim milk, and a small container of skyr. 

            I read a bit more of the Medieval poem "Pearl". I'm not sure if the Gawain Poet actually wrote "Pearl". "Gawain and the Green Knight" is heavily descriptive and in my experience poets that tend toward that much description apply it to all of their work. "Pearl" is not even close and it also doesn't feel like the same style. But scholars who have studied them more deeply than me think that it's the same writer. 

            I weighed 85 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            My neighbour Shankar's wifi network went down for the first time in months. 

             In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            When I got home Shankar's network was still down but I was able to go on D-Link. 

            I weighed 84.4 kilos at 17:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:09. 

            I finished reading "Pearl". As far as I can tell, the speaker's daughter died at the age of two and since she was pure she was made one of the 144,000 virgin wives of god or Jesus in heaven with a spiritual body in the shape of a beautiful young woman. She's the Pearl the speaker lost. He cannot approach her but he is allowed to follow her on the opposite side of the river where he can see her home, the spiritual form of Jerusalem on the other side where god and Jesus live. 

            I collected all of my English in the World lecture notes into one document. Next I need to edit out all the superfluous information from my journal entries. I have an assignment that's due on December 3 that requires making a listicle on Outer Circle of English countries, so I need to organize my notes so I can see some patterns. 

            I made pizza on Bavarian sandwich bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episode 21 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Granny has dressed Elly up for her date with Fred in her own old late 19th Century style courting dress, with a wide brimmed hat. When Fred arrives he thinks her costume is a joke. Since they can't get on his scooter the way she is dressed, they have to take the old family truck. 

            Meanwhile Lafe Crick arrives with his son Dub. Lafe's plan if for Dub to court Elly so they can get hold of Jed's money. Dub is so lazy he doesn't like to open his eyes when he's wide awake. Lafe says, "Look at me boy!" Doug says, "What fer? I know what you look like." Lafe is constantly hitting Dub with his hat. Jed welcomes them but doesn't want Granny to know they are there. He puts them in a bedroom upstairs. Jed tells Jethro to push Lafe's car out of sight but he ends up pushing it over a cliff. It goes down in flames and the footage is obviously from an old movie. 

            When Lafe is pretending to work in the back yard he meets Drysdale and Jane. When Drysdale hears Lafe has a son he says he would like to put Dub in his executive trainee program. Not knowing Dub is already there, Drysdale gives Lafe a few hundred dollars for plane fare to fly Dub out to Beverly Hills. 

            Granny sees Dub and calls for Jed but Jed plays with Granny's mind and tells her she's seeing things. He says the same thing when she sees Lafe. 

            Fred brings Elly back early because there are no lights on the truck. Jed asks, "What you wanna do, read?" 

            Lafe dresses Dub up in the second-hand big city courting clothes he bought for him and he basically looks like a hillbilly pimp. He has a wide brimmed hat with a long feather sticking out from the band, a striped suit with a bow tie and white boots. When Granny sees the Cricks in the kitchen she decides that she was seeing things after all and walks away. 

            Dub was played by Conlan Carter, who was a pole vault champion in high school and went to college on an athletic scholarship. He studied musical comedy for three years before going to Hollywood. He played C.E. Carruthers on "The Law and Mr. Jones", and Doc on the hit series "Combat". His first movie role was "Quick Before It Melts". After earning his commercial pilot's license he gave up acting. 

            I searched for bedbugs and when I dug the toothpick in a hole on the upper left corner of the frame of the old exit door at the head of my bed, the tip came out black. I don't know if it dipped into the corpse of a bedbug or a live one. A little further down the door a found a live black one crawling and when I killed it was dry inside. On the other side of the door frame, as I ran my toothpick along its usual search route, I noticed the tip had turned red. Obviously I'd killed a bedbug but I couldn't tell where.

November 27, 1992: Carol asked me where she could get some pot but I told her she was 14 years too late

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday I worked all day at the Ontario College of Art on the last sitting of a two-day pose for Mario Polidori. I forgot my astrological paperwork and so on my breaks, after reading the paper I just vegged out. Even though I didn't have the rent, I bought some beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken. I went home and called Mike Copping to ask if he wanted to get together. I had dinner and a beer while watching Casablanca. Carol called to ask if I knew where to get some pot for a friend, although she didn't actually say "pot" because she was afraid to say what she meant on the phone. I told her she was fourteen years too late. I ate cheese corn while watching Kids in the Hall and The Larry Sanders Show, and then went to bed.

Bobs Watson

            On Friday morning I memorized the second verse of "J'ai pas d'regret" (I've No Regrets) by Boris Vian. 

            I ran through singing "Con c'est con ces conséquences" by Serge Gainsbourg and my translation "Can't Stand This Circumstance. I uploaded them to Christian's Translations and published them on my blog. Tomorrow I'll start learning his song "En rire de peur d'être obligée d'en pleurer" (The Cure for Crying is Always Laughter). 

            I weighed 85 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I swept my bedroom and living room floors just in case the city health inspector comes next week. I don't think my place is unsanitary but I'd better make a good impression to convince him of just how wrong the landlord is. 

            After writing the above, I checked my email and James Forde the health inspector sent me an email saying that he's spoken to my landlord and he will be arranging for pest control to come. It looks like the letter he advised me to send did the trick. It also looks like there will be no inspection after all.

            The rest of our Medieval Literature course will be spent studying the anonymous author known as "The Pearl Poet" or "The Gawain Poet." Before lunch I downloaded several versions of his four poems, but haven't checked yet to see which translations from Middle English I prefer. There's one version that's a prose translation but I don't like the idea of translating poetry as prose. 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. Friday drivers are crazy. If you're riding a bike and a driver cuts extremely close to get by because they are in a rush, chances are it's a Friday. I stopped at Freshco again to buy blueberries, raspberries and bananas. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:23. 

            It turned out that the books that I downloaded about the Pearl Poet didn't have full poems in them but only analysis of certain samples. I was able to find a translation of "Pearl" in verse. Of the poems "Patience" and "Cleanness" I could found the original Middle English in verse but only prose versions of translated texts. I'll have to make do with those. 

            I started reading "Pearl". As far as I can tell the Pearl being referenced is the speaker's soul which he lost touch with when he was born but will only reunite with when he dies. But then he meets his Pearl in the form of a woman and has a dialogue with her. 

            I roasted three chicken legs and had one with a potato and gravy while watching season 2, episode 20 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Elly May's pets are overrunning the house and Jed figures that if he finds Elly a beau then she'll stop obsessing over animals. He calls Milburn Drysdale to say that he wants to look for a son-in-law. Drysdale tasks Jane with finding all of the best men at the bank but she only chooses one. Fred Penrod from the accounting department has just started working that day and hasn't done any work yet, but Drysdale is promising him a vice presidency if he marries Elly. 

            Meanwhile Lafe Crick returns with a pawpaw tree from Tennessee because he wants to use planting it as an excuse to dig for the money that he still thinks Jed keeps buried somewhere in the back yard. Lafe wants to dig the hole they already filled in because they struck oil and didn't want it. Then Lafe hears that a young man named Fred is coming to court Elly. Lafe tells Jed that he should let his son marry Elly. Jed asks if that's the one they call Weasel who is always in jail. Lafe confirms that's the one. Jed thinks Elly can do better. 

            When Fred arrives on his scooter Lafe makes sure he's the first one to greet him. He tells Fred he's Elly's twin brother and that Elly's as big as he is. Fred is about to leave when Elly comes out to meet him. Jethro asks if he can ride Fred's scooter and he says he can, but Jethro thinks its the kind of scooter one rides by pushing on the ground with a foot. Elly and Fred go to the parlour together and hit it off. They dance while Skipper the chimpanzee plays the piano. 

            Lafe calls back home to get his son to come out to Beverly Hills. Granny catches him talking about trying to get Jed's money and she hits him over the head with a big cast iron skillet. It bends the pan out of shape but Lafe barely feels it. 

            Later they find Lafe digging the hole. He says he struck oil four times but plugged up the holes. Lafe doesn't realize that oil is worth money. But plugging up the holes causes the oil to fill the swimming pool.

            Fred was played by Bobs Watson, whose first film appearance was when he was a baby in "The Dawn of Life". He was part of a large family and most of his siblings were also child actors. They became known as "the first family of Hollywood". He played Pee Wee in the movie Boys Town. He had the ability to cry real tears anytime he was asked to. A few years after this episode he gave up acting and studied theology. He became a Methodist minister. He said he was inspired to become a minister by Spencer Tracy while working on Boys Town. He did however make acting appearances from time to time even into the 1990s when he died. 

            

           I searched for bedbugs and caught one crawling on the upper right corner of the frame of the old exit door at the head of my bed.

November 26, 1992: I read to Mike Copping some pornography I'd written and he thought it was funny

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday morning I worked at Humber College. I'd planned on doing Rosemary's astrological chart, but I was missing one piece of paper. I needed to chart her ascendant and so I needed to look for that at home. I was on time to work for the Ontario College of Art at the Stewart Building. I did twenty-minute poses for Experimental Arts. The music they played was "Slow Train Coming" by Bob Dylan and "Discipline" by King Crimson. I then took the subway to the main OCA building and did twenty-minute poses until 19:00 for Richard Nevitt. He remembered me and said he would book me again. I went home and called Nancy but wasn't able to talk to my daughter. I made some noodles, but they tasted horrible.

            Mike Copping phoned and asked why I hadn't called him, and it was because I'd forgotten. He came over, did his laundry, and spent the night. I read him some pornography that I'd written, and he thought it was pretty funny.

Amadee Chabot

            On Thursday morning I finished working out the chords for "Con c'est con ces conséquences" (I Can't Stand These Consequences) by Serge Gainsbourg. I just have to position them on the final verse and I should have the song uploaded to my Christian's Translations blog tomorrow. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            I was getting ready to take my laundry to wash and dry when the landlord came in. It had been 24 days since he'd finally agreed to call pest control after six months of me reminding him, but now he once again refused. He again accused me of being the cause of the bedbugs. When I reminded him that David also has bedbugs on the third floor he dismissed his situation as similar to mine and also caused by him. The landlord pointed at Benji's and Shankar's doors and said they don't have bedbugs. Then he said that if I let him put in new windows in my apartment he would call pest control. Somehow he has the idea that bedbugs are coming in through the window. 

            While my laundry was in the wash I called Toronto Public Health. I was transferred to the bylaw inspectors at 311. I told a person my situation. While my laundry was in the dryer I got a call from an inspector named J. Forde who said he might come to look at my place next week. He said the landlord claims that Orkin says that I don't prepare my place properly. He also claimed that my apartment is unsanitary. He gave me his email and told me to write the landlord a letter making a formal complaint to him and send a carbon copy to him. 

            I weighed 84.3 kilos before lunch. In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            When I got home I wrote the email to my landlord: 

            In the last six months I have called you three times and additionally reminded you every month in my e-transfers that there is a bedbug problem in your building at 1404 Queen Street West. During the first two of the above-mentioned phone calls you refused to have my apartment treated for bedbugs and blamed me for having them. When I last called you on October 31 and asked you to call pest control you said that you would call them. But more than three weeks went by without a notification of an appointment with a pest control technician. When I spoke with you in person today you again refused to call pest control and again blamed me. You said you would only call pest control after changing my windows. I have no windows in my bedroom and besides that, bedbugs do not come in through windows. Since other tenants in the building have bedbugs, the issue is not about the physical features of my apartment. Pooran Benjamin, my next-door neighbour in unit 4 told me today that he saw bedbugs in his place this morning. When I asked him why he didn't tell you about them he said because you would have accused him the way you accuse me. 

            Last week my upstairs neighbour David also told me that he has seen bedbugs and wants his place treated. Chances are every tenant in the building has bedbugs but is afraid to tell you because of your accusatory attitude. 

            Regarding your accusations that I do not prepare my place properly for bedbug treatment, that is false. I have written records of every Orkin visit and never once has the technician told me I did not adequately prepare my apartment. 

            Regarding your accusations that my apartment is unsanitary, that is also false. I welcome an inspection from the city of Toronto at any time. 

            I spoke today with City inspector J. Forde and I am sending him a copy of this email. 

            Please do your duty as a landlord and arrange for pest control to regularly treat our apartments until there are no more bedbugs. 

            I weighed 84.1 kilos at 17:45. That's the lightest I've been at that time in several months.

            I had a potato with gravy and my last two chicken drumsticks with a beer while watching season 2, episode 19 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Jethro is continuing to dig the root cellar that Lafe Crick started. Granny wants it to store her vegetables and her old and stinky goat cheese, but she also wants a place to be by herself because Elly's pets are crowding her out of the kitchen. But when she and Jed go to check on the cellar it turns out that Jethro has struck oil just like Jed did back in Tennessee. Jed says, "I need more oil like Custer needed more Indians" and proceeds to fill up the hole. Jethro digs another one and the same thing happens.

            Meanwhile Drysdale has learned that the Clampetts are digging holes and is worried that Jed wants to take his money out of his bank and bury it. 

            At the same time we learn of an upcoming beauty contest for Queen of Beverly Hills to celebrate the city's fiftieth anniversary. The Commerce Bank's entry is Candy Davis. Mrs. Drysdale wants Elly May to enter the contest because the winner gets a trip around the world. She thinks that way she will be rid of the Clampetts for a while. 

            Drysdale convinces Granny that a bank vault is better than a hole in the ground, then she shocks him with some baskets of gourds and some stinky goat cheese for him to put in the vault. 

            Jane convinces Jed to enter Elly in the race for queen but he thinks it's a running race. Granny wants to become queen because there are a lot of changes she'd make so she practices running against Elly, but loses every time. Drysdale tries to convince Candy to back out so Elly can win but she has a date with the judge. 

            The head judge is actor Bob Cummings. Drysdale announces that Candy dropped out but that she's getting a trip around the world anyway. Her replacement is Jane Hathaway in a bathing suit. Bob is sure he's going to pick Elly for queen until she starts talking about taking her pet skunk with her on the trip around the world. Bob instead picks one of his co-judges, Karen Crandle. She is sitting there in a conservative hat and wearing glasses but she takes them off and is a gorgeous blonde. 

            Karen Crandle was played by Amadee Chabot, who became Miss California the year this episode was broadcast, and this was her acting debut. She went on to win Miss USA and represent her country in the Miss World beauty contest. She toured Southeast Asia with Bob Hope entertaining US troops. She moved to Mexico where she made 24 films between 1966 and 1968. She became very popular there and was often used when they wanted a stereotypical blonde Hollywood actress for a movie. She is now a very successful real estate agent in California. 

            

            I searched for bedbugs and found none.

November 25, 1992: I had fun posing for Experimental Arts

Thirty years ago today

            I talked with Marie from late Tuesday until 0:30 on Wednesday. Mike Copping came over and reviewed a chess game he was in the middle of. I set the alarm for 4:00 and went to bed. 

            I met Rosemary at 8:20. She hadn't finished reading the Grubb Magazines that I'd brought her containing my submissions and the reactions. She was surprised to learn that I was into astrology. I worked on her chart. When we were finished work, she drove me to York Mills so I could catch the subway downtown and I was just on time to work at the Stewart Building at the Ontario College of Art. I had fun posing for Experimental Arts and got off work twenty minutes early. I called Nancy and found out that she didn't need me that day to take care of my daughter. I called Marie and she wasn't in, but since I had no time to go home, I went to Market Square and hung out just in case she came by. I left for work at 17:15 and wrote this during a break while posing at Western Technical School.

Peter Whitney

           On Wednesday morning there was still no email response from Professor Percy to let me know if she received my presentation that I uploaded before midnight. I couldn't find the actual link and so I posted the URLs from My Media in another Discussion Board. I also pasted the URLs into an email to her. She finally got back to me at 7:30 and said she'd received it but gave me a link to the assignment page and asked me to submit my assignment there and she would extend my deadline. I followed the link and found an assignment page where I was able to submit the main URL. It wouldn't accept both URLs which instructions told us to copy and so I'm confused what the point of the second URL is.

            It seems to me that she should have posted the assignment page link and the link to My Media everywhere that she had mentioned the presentations. There are links on Quercus that mention the presentation but just lead back to the main course page. There's even a link on one page relating to the presentations where she actually says, "This is not the link" but doesn't provide the link. It's a confusing maze of links on Quercus for this course. 

            I finished memorizing "Con c'est con ces conséquences" (I Can't Stand These Consequences) by Serge Gainsbourg and looked for the chords. No one had posted them and so I worked a few of them out for the intro.

            I weighed 84.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            I didn't have time to shave but took a quick shower before leaving for class. 

            Professor Percy arrived as I was locking my bike. 

            The professor said we need to come up with one sentence of praise and another of suggestions for the presenters. 

            Since I was the MC, I told everyone that if anyone felt like doing a Will Smith on me, just don't punch me in the face. 

            My presentation was first. As I'd concluded by mentioning that Acadians are the ones that brought pigeons to the Americas, Rosemary asked if that was true. I said they brought them in 1606. 

            I said that I wanted to call our group "The Inner Circle Squares" but more sensible minds prevailed and settled on "Observing the Inner Circle". 

            Ava's presentation was called "A Language Lost" about Inuktitut. The Inuit people have deep identity in Inuktitut but no identity in engagement with English. 

            In between each speaker it was my job to field a question from the audience.

            Rosemary wrote "The Links Between Language and Identity in Northern Ireland." Irish pressure. All court proceedings had to be in English even when the Irish language was more widely spoken. Catholics speak Gaelic. 

            Catholicism was there first, so I assume that the reason why Gaelic and Catholicism go hand in hand is because the first missionaries converted people in their own language before English became dominant. 

            There are forty Irish schools and they are all Catholic. 

            Matthew's presentation had been originally titled, "English, Franglais, and Sociolinguistic Conflict in Canadian French-Medium Schools", but now he called it, "Words at War". Franco minorities. There is a constitutional right to have education in the official minority language. It is difficult to be admitted in Ontario. There is a controversy about anglophones attending French schools. Should French be enforced? Francophone students outside Quebec may be receiving inadequate instruction. 

            Hero presented on English and French subversion. French threatening English. The French are reactionary because of the past. It is a hostile linguistic landscape. In August 2022 a group vandalized English signs. Hostile political engagement. 

            In the end we all stood at the front and took questions. I asked a lot. I asked Rosemary about Gaelic in Nova Scotia; Matthew about the French university in Toronto; Ava about whether Inuktitut could be revived like Hebrew was in Israel; and Hero about whether conflicts between the French and English are entirely language based. 

            I enjoyed being MC. The professor thanked me several times. Matthew told me I did a great job.

            I weighed 84.7 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            I weighed 84.2 kilos at 16:30. 

            I realized before dinner that I'd forgotten to buy beer and so I got dressed and went across to the liquor store. I sure am glad there's one nearby but I wish there was a Beer Store so I could return all my cans. 

            I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episode 18 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            In this story Lafe Crick returns because he never left for Tennessee like he said he would. He has the intention of somehow getting hold of Jed's $40 million. He has convinced Jed's banker Milburn Drysdale and his secretary Jane that he is Jed's closest friend. Jane drives him to Jed's place and Lafe sits outside pretending to be ailing until Elly May finds him and takes him to the kitchen. Lafe tells Jed that Lafe Crick is not one for receiving charity. Granny says she didn't know there was two Lafe Cricks. Lafe says he'll work for some food and Jed says he doesn't have to but if he wants to he can. 

           While Lafe is having lunch and then changing into his overalls Jed and Jethro finish sawing and chopping a large amount of firewood. When Lafe gets there they go to eat and leave him alone. Lafe immediately sits down to rest. Drysdale and Jane walk up they are impressed because they think that Lafe is the one that chopped all the wood. Lafe tells Drysdale that Jed wants him to hire him to watch Jed's money. Drysdale is impressed with Lafe and since he thinks Jed trusts him, he hires Lafe as a night watchman. Lafe is so excited because he thinks he's about to be rich after taking Jed's money that he starts chopping wood and when Jed sees him he is impressed. 

           Lafe goes to the bank and Jane escorts him to Drysdale's office. As soon as he is alone he starts looking everywhere for Jed's money because he thinks it's there in the office. When Drysdale finds him on his knees looking under the couch and asks what he is doing Lafe says he is giving thanks. Lafe says he wants Drysdale to put all Jed's money in gunny sacks so he can sit on them and guard them with a shotgun. Drysdale informs him that Jed's money is not actually in the bank in cash. Suddenly Lafe wants to go back to Jed's place and so Jane drives him. 

           She tells him that when the Clampetts first came to Beverly Hills Granny insisted on all the money being changed to silver so it could be buried in the back yard. Suddenly Lafe thinks that's what they did and he runs to the back yard. When he gets back Jed and Jethro are about to dig a root cellar for Granny. Lafe grabs the pick axe and the shovel and says he wants to do it all himself. The next morning they find Lafe still digging and everyone thinks he's turned over a new leaf. 

            Lafe was played by Peter Whitney, who started film acting in the early 1940s. His first supporting role was in "Underground" in 1941. He was typecast immediately as a tough guy whether comical or dramatic. He played the murdering hillbilly twins Mert and Bert in "Murder He Says" and Peter Lorre's partner in Three Strangers. His massive frame and his talent for being fearsome and funny at the same time landed him lots of guest roles on television in the 50s and 60s. He played Buck Sinclair on the western TV series The Rough Riders. 

            It took until after dinner to finish editing all my lecture notes from yesterday and today and to get caught up on my journal. 

            I went online and wrote the Exit Slip survey for today's class. When I was finished I noticed there was another assignment that was due today. I had been so caught up in writing my presentation that this assignment slipped my attention. I attempted to do it in the 77 minutes before the deadline but it was very time consuming and involved following various library links to find authors and their work. In the last few minutes I just guessed the answers and obviously often got them wrong because I only scored 75%. That's my first B in this course but I think that 75% is of 1% of my overall mark, so the damage is miniscule. 

            I searched for bedbugs and found one in that crack where I've found a few before in the upper right corner of the old exit door at the head of my bed.

November 24, 1992: Bram Stoker's Dracula is an allegory for the clash between religious thought and the rediscovery of the subconscious through psychoanalysis

Thirty years ago today 

            On Tuesday at noon I had a driving lesson. He had to cancel my December 5 appointment and so he gave me an extra half hour. He dropped me off at Market Square where Marie was waiting for me with the tickets. Dracula was fantastic! Keanu Reeves wasn't so hot but everybody else was. I saw the story as an allegory for the clash between religious thought and the rediscovery of the subconscious through psychoanalysis. Marie and I kissed for a long time while the credits rolled. Then she went to make some phone calls while I waited for about an hour. We toasted life eternal with V8 juice and talked. She told me later that she had masturbated while thinking of me and had a triple orgasm. I went to work at the Ontario College of Art until 22:00.

Muriel Landers

            On Tuesday morning I skipped French memorizations and cut my song practice short so I could get started sooner on my presentation which has to be handed in at midnight. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            I'd been harvesting information and ideas that might work for a presentation from 33 pages of essay notes and putting them in into a Chiac Presentation document. I ended up with a four-page document that took me eight minutes to read and so since the four page doc might be useful for my essay, I kept that and copied it into a Chiac Presentation 2 document, which I shaved down to two pages. Then I organized it into a presentation. 

            I took a siesta from 12:00 to 13:00. 

            I weighed 84.1 kilos before lunch. 

            I put the text of my presentation into an eleven-page Power Point and added some photos. 

            I weighed 84.2 kilos at 17:15. 

            At 18:00 I logged onto Zoom for the Medieval Literature lecture. 

            Professor Walton suggests we use paradoxes to shape thesis statements. Our final essay is due December 13 and she can be generous with extensions up to certain point, but not past when she is due to post our grades. Check if your conclusion makes a better thesis statement. Our grade is based on our argument. We all need to do a better job quoting text and if we do that we'll get a better mark. Short paragraphs stand out and so if you use one it has to really say something. 

            Alex has objects from the Royal Ontario Museum to show us. There are research collections and teaching collections and she's brought some things from a teaching collection. 

            Pilgrim badges. A scallop badge from the shrine of the apostle St James the Great on the part of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail that is on the coast of Portugal. If one does a pilgrimage there are local cults of saints or across countries and the badge its like a souvenir to prove you have been there. Some have hooks for wearing. Some believe there is power imbued by the saint in the badge. 

            The patron saint of the internet is St. Isidore of Seville. He created a school that became a model for early universities. 

            I asked if Chaucer's pilgrims would have gotten badges. The professor said there would have definitely been Canterbury badges. 

            One could make a pilgrimage to a place that is associated with a saint or visit a relic. There are multiple places for the head of John Baptist. 

            There are lots of Chester plays. 

            The horse is how the wealthy travel. People with horses were sent on pilgrimages and roped into crusading. The armoured horse was the tank of the Middle Ages. 

            Our TA Alex is working on a bronzes project. She's on the second floor of the ROM. There's the Life in Crisis gallery, the hands-on Biodiversity and Discovery gallery. They create discovery boxes on medieval brass inlays for church floors. She is trying to find stories for women in the brasses beyond their husbands. Lace indicates international trade. 

            I said there is a similar mood to the beginning of the York play on the Final Judgement and the Chester play of Noah's flood. 

            God's opening speech in the York Last Judgement: 

            When I first all this world had wrought - Wood and wind, and waters wan - Each kind of thing that now is aught, It seemed full well what I did then. When they were made, "It's good," I thought; Then in my likeness I made man, - And man to grieve me tarried not; Therefore I rue that I the world began. 

            God's opening speech in the Chester Noah play: 

            I, God, that all the world have wrought Heaven and Earth, and all of nought, I see my people, in deed and thought, Are foully set in sin. My ghost shall not lodge in any man That through fleshly liking is my fone, But till six score years be gone To look if they will blynne. Man that I made I will destroy, Beast, worm, and fowl to fly, For on earth they me annoy, The folk that is thereon. For it harms me so hurtfully The malice now that can multiply, That sore it grieveth me inwardly, That ever I made man.

     

            Noah's wife's attitude is relatable. The animals lists form patterns. Lists were meaningful in structure. Lists of clean and unclean. Ritual prohibitions from Mediterranean cultures. Lisa Kiser's research on the list of animals in the Chester play of Noah's flood. 

            Shem's speech starts with the lion and leopard, which are royal animals. Horses were also important. Then there are economic drivers like goats and camels. Deer are hunted by royals. Dogs and cats keep food safe from mice. Noah's wife's list is chaotic and disrupting. Her list is an entertainment list of animals for fairs. 

            Richard says ferrets were used in a pants game. One would put a ferret down one's pants and see how long one could stand it. Sexual. 

            Squirrels were used to trap rabbits for women wanting their fur. Monkeys were just pets. Shem's wife was maybe opposing Noah's wife. The alliterated birds list is cacophonous. 

            It was an insult calling a man a fox or hare. The fox implied extramarital affairs and hares implied the man was frightened. But if you call me a hare you have to prove it and could be punished for making the accusation. 

            I say if Noah's wife doesn't want to go on the boat what does it say about her list of animals?

            Her friends lives are at stake. 

            The professor mentioned a sitcom story that is told from different perspectives. She says it has the same as tone of this play and it's called "Kevin can fuck himself". 

            Noah's wife is given dignity although misruly. 

            The wagon was probably shaped like an ark and the audience would be the gossips. 

            The play creates conflicted sympathies. 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching season 2, episode 17 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            In this story Lafe Crick, one of Jed's old neighbours from the hills of Tennessee comes to visit Jed. He has brought his daughter Essiebelle because he says that Jethro proposed to her in letters that he wrote last summer after she won a beauty contest. Lafe has the letters but doesn't want to show them to Jed. 

            When Jethro comes home he remembers writing letters to Essiebelle but not love letters. But he remembers her to be pretty and agrees to marry her. The Clampetts go downtown to get a diamond ring for Essiebelle. 

            Meanwhile Lafe brings Essiebelle to Jed's house. She tells her father that she's in love with big Mel Pratt and not Jethro. 

            After the Clampetts get back to the house the Beverly Caterers van pulls up driven by Marian Billington. Jed, Granny, and Elly May still think her name is Beverly Caterers. She says she's there for her regular date with Jethro. Jethro addresses her as Marian and tells Jed that every day they drive to the hills and watch the sunset, then they climb into the back of the van and eat all the food that's left. Jed tells him if he's marrying Essiebelle he can't go on a date alone with Marian. Jethro asks Marian if Essiebelle can come along. She gets mad and leaves. But then Jethro sees Essiebelle and she has gained a lot of weight since he saw her last. Jethro goes running after Marian. 

           Jed observes that Essiebelle is not upset at all because she loves Mel Pratt. 

           Lafe confronts Jethro about the love talk in the letters he wrote. It turns out that the "love" talk was starting the letters with "Dear Essiebelle." Jethro says if it's love talk he's in trouble with a lot of women and men. 

           It becomes clear that Lafe is just gold digging to get a piece of Jed's wealth. Jed tells Lafe he's going to give Jethro and Essiebelle his house for a wedding present. Lafe is excited until he finds out that Jed means his little shack back in Tennessee. Lafe asks is he's going to give them money. Jed takes a brand new penny to hang above the cabin door for good luck. Suddenly Lafe says he wants Essiebelle to marry Mel Pratt. 

            They have a wedding dance anyway and Marian is dancing with Jethro. Essiebelle gets to keep all the diamonds that Jed bought. 

            Essiebelle was played by Muriel Landers, who started out as a concert singer. She found it difficult to find normal acting parts because she was short and large, and that's what drove her to comedy. She appeared on The Frank Sinatra Show and caught the attention of Jack Benny, who invited her to appear on his show and in concert with him. She was Ray Bolger's nightclub partner. Her first movie was Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. She was a regular on the short-lived TV version of Life With Luigi. She co-starred in The Three Stooges short "Sweet and Hot" and sang the song The Heat is On. She played Mildred Cosgrove on The Joey Bishop Show. She was in the cast of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In for a while. 

            After dinner I recorded my presentation on PowerPoint with sound and video. I fumbled at the beginning and restarted. It was ready around 22:00 but it took me ten minutes to find the place where I was supposed to upload it. Then it took half an hour for it to upload. After that I was supposed to copy a URL from My Media to paste into a place on the U of T Quercus website but I couldn't find it. At 23:30 I pasted it onto a discussion board and also sent the URL to Professor Percy in an email but she didn't get back to me before the midnight deadline. 

            https://youtu.be/ifP7bHF-wHw 

            I searched for bedbugs and found none.