Joanna Barnes

            On Wednesday morning I translated the first three verses of "J'ai pas d'regret" (I've No Regrets) by Boris Vian. 

            I transcribed the set of chords that I found online for "Norma Jean Baker" by Serge Gainsbourg. I looked for more but most other sites repeated the same set, except for one that has G#7 instead of Ab7. I worked out the chords for the intro and the first line and G#7 works better for me. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I've been in the morning in twelve days. 

            At 11:00 I went online to complete my Peer review assignment. The professor had fixed the bug that kept me from finishing my feedback on the first peer's review. I was able to save that section and move onto the second peer review but there was none. I assume that is not a glitch and that whichever other peer had been assigned my essay to review has not done so yet. That means I can't submit the assignment until the other person does their part. I emailed the professor and she said she'll ask tech support how I can submit without a second review. She said that it's annoying that such a conscientious student as I didn't get a second review. It's no skin off my nose since I've probably already gotten full participation marks for this course and any more participation work I do will not improve my grade. 

            I worked a bit on my notes for the Chiac essay and some more on my Grendel essay. 

            I changed my guitar's G string because it was getting frayed and could have broken at any time during song practice, causing me to have to shorten a rehearsal. 

            I weighed 85.5 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of lemonade. 

            As I was getting ready for my afternoon bike ride, my next-door neighbour Benji knocked on my door. He needed a wrench to remove an old satellite dish. All he knew was that the nut was smaller than the ones that hold my bike wheels on. I gave him a pair of pliers, a small adjustable, and various sizes until one of them was the right size. I didn't even know he had a satellite dish. He said he hadn't used it since 2000 and he was worried the wind would knock it down and hurt somebody. 

            I rode downtown and back. 

            I weighed 84.7 kilos at 17:25. That's the lightest I've been at that time in 11 days. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:10. 

            I spent almost two hours on my "Grendel is a Rebel" essay: 

            Grendel targets the "the high house" of the powerful", to take advantage of the drunken slumber of Hrothgar's men who know no "human misery," unlike the freemen, the peasants, and the slaves, who need to rise early for a hard day of labour to support their families". 

            Grendel selects for execution those closest to the king, and when Hrothgar's thanes seek escape from Grendel's mead hall attacks by sleeping in outbuildings, Grendel tracks and finds them there. Given Grendel's ability to hunt down and cull the king's thanes with no effective resistance, he could easily find Hrothgar, shred his defences and kill him anytime he wants. But Grendel never attacks the king, but rather leaves him alive to suffer unhappiness as he grieves for his thanes. The Scylding ruler is then Grendel's long term psychological target. 

            Grendel does not appear to attack women and children. Although some noble women must also have quarters nearby, there is no mention in the poem of Grendel ever attacking a female. Perhaps this is a respect that extends from Grendel's relationship with his mother, maybe he considers the Viking women blameless of Hrothgar's war crimes, or maybe Grendel has a sense of fair play that is not overtly credited. When the poet says that Grendel strikes "old and young alike (160)", since his clear preference of victims are thanes, the "young" are probably not children but rather young men. This is shown at the feast of warriors when the queen "greeted the men ... went about to young and old ... gave each his portion of the precious cup." This suggests that "young" refers to young thanes and warriors. 

            When Grendel takes control of Heorot, he could carry away all of its riches, but he scorns the treasures that the Danes value. The sword in his mother's cave is so ancient and priceless that to his mind the Danish treasures must be comparatively worthless. The poet suggests that if Grendel had "settled with money" and offered payment in compensation for the thanes he killed, then his brutality would be more acceptable. He not only lives outside of the monetary system and the Viking culture of payment, but he deliberately undermines that system with his attacks on the wealthy. Grendel rejects and despises the capitalism of the Danes. His attacks are the death throes of a war between the old wealth of fine craftmanship and the upstart wealth of treasure thieves. 

            Beowulf is a mercenary, marketed as a warrior for hire, with his prowess advertized by the Geats to "those who brought … gifts and money" as having "thirty men’s strength ...in battle." The Skyldings have an account with the Geats for them to provide protection. 

            I made pizza on naan with Bolognese sauce, hot Italian sausage, and four-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episode 4 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Elly May has been enrolled in an exclusive finishing school. Granny tells Jed she's got Elly's hair in pigtails so that the boy behind her can stick them in the inkwell. Jed tells her that there are no boys at the school where Elly will be going. Granny asks, "What kind of a fool school is that?" "It's what ya call a girls' finishing school." "Without any boys I don't know how they even get started!"

            It was Mrs. Drysdale who arranged for Elly to be enrolled at the school and she tells Jed that it's okay for Elly to wear her shirt and her blue jeans to school. 

            Mr. Drysdale is away but when his secretary Jane Hathaway hears Mrs. Drysdale tell her that Elly has been enrolled at the Willows she realizes it's a trick to humiliate Elly so much that the Clampetts will leave town. Jane tells Mrs. Drysdale she's a fink. Jane rushes over to the school.

            Meanwhile Cynthia Fenwick, the fashion trend setter of the Willows School arrives for the first day of the term in satin slacks and a mink sweater. She tells her mother that her subjects this year are the same as last: golf, fencing, tennis, riding, history, and water skiing. Cynthia is chatting with her fashionable friends on the lawn of the school when Jane approaches them speaking French and asking for Mademoiselle Clampett. Jane talks to the girls in a French accent and says she represents Elle Couture the famous Parisian fashion magazine. She tells them she is there to catch the trend setting Clampetts when they arrive. Just then the old Clampett truck arrives and Jane explains the antique vehicle is part of the overall effect. Cynthia observes that Elly is wearing a shirt with blue jeans and a rope for a belt. Jane says, "How basic, how understated, how Zen!" Cynthia says, "She looks like a hillbilly." Jane shouts, "Voila! You have given this new vogue a name that will sweep Paris like a wildfire!" Elly approaches carrying a bucket. Cynthia has bought Jane's ruse and explains to her friends that the bucket is the latest in purses and next week Jackie Kennedy will have one. Jane takes Elly home and tells Jed and Granny that the girls at the school are not good enough for Elly and leaves. Jed doesn't like the idea of acting better than other folk and tells Elly to invite the girls over for supper. Elly says she only met Cynthia Fenwick and so they invite her and her mother. Mrs. Fenwick is so enthusiastic about being invited that Jed and Granny conclude they must be starving. Jed also thinks that they must also have no clothes because on the phone she asked if they needed to dress for dinner.

             At the Fenwick mansion Cynthia can't find blue jeans to wear and so she calls Elly to say there will be a delay while they look for something to wear. Elly and Jed have the idea to donate some clothes for these needy people. Everyone in the family pitches in and Elly and Jethro take the clothes over. On a little gate house in front of the estate it says "Fenwick House" and they assume that the tiny building is where Cynthia and her mother live. They observe there is no furniture and they are overwhelmed with pity. They leave the clothes and then go home to get furniture for the Fenwicks. When Mrs. Drysdale sees the Clampetts loading furniture on their truck she thinks they are moving and runs over to help so they will be gone sooner. Mrs. Drysdale works so hard to get rid of the Clampetts that she single handedly clears all of their bedrooms of furniture. 

            Cynthia Fenwick was played by Joanna Barnes, who attended Smith College and was awarded the college's prize for poetry a year after Sylvia Plath won it. She was dropped from the Boston social register for becoming an actor. She appeared in over twenty movies, including The Parent Trap in which she played Vicki Robinson. Thirty years later she played Vicki Blake in the remake. She played Gloria Upson in Auntie Mame, She played Jane in the 1959 adaptation of Tarzan the Ape Man. She co-starred in The War Wagon. She played Lola on the short-lived detective series 21 Beacon Street. She played Peter Falk's wife on The Trials of O'Brien. She had guest appearances on several television series of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She was a frequent panelist on What's My Line? She wrote a popular newspaper column called Touching Home and also wrote several novels, including, The Deceivers, Pastora, and Silverwood. 

            For the third night in a row I found no bedbugs.