Van Williams

            On Saturday morning I revised my translation of the fourth verse of "J'ai pas d'regret" (I've No Regrets) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished working out the chords for "D'un taxiphone" (From a Payphone) by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through the song in French and English. I uploaded it to my Christian's Translations blog to prepare it for publication. I should have that done tomorrow. 

            I weighed 84.3 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I've been in the morning in ten days.

            In the late morning I went to No Frills where the grapes were on sale so I got seven bags of red ones. I also bought a pack of chicken drumsticks, cinnamon-raisin bread, strawberry-rhubarb pie, Sunlight dish detergent, Folgers coffee, and skyr. The Folgers price wasn't marked and so I went to the automatic cashier to scan it. It was still on sale but I couldn't figure out how to cancel the transaction. I asked an employee and she said to just leave it. 

            I ran into Justin Zaza at the checkout and he reminded me that Kevin Pierce had died. That was a couple of years ago and I knew about it, but I hadn't known it was suicide. Apparently he jumped from a building. Suicide is understandable if one is in continuous pain but the problem with people who suffer from bipolar disorder killing themselves is that the desire to die is part of an episode that will pass. I assume he went off his medication. 

            I read a bit more of the short biography of Charles Dickens in the back of David Copperfield. 

            I weighed 84.3 kilos before lunch, which is the most I've weighed at that time in a week. I had rice crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of lemonade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. At Bloor and St George a child in a stroller was crying over and over again, "Mommy! Mommy! Why not?" It was probably over some unimportant thing but it's amazing how hearing a child crying tugs at my emotions and makes me want to cry along with her, especially when there are already tears in my eyes from riding in the cold. 

            At the Cameron House tonight there is a band called "The Spadina Monologues". 

            On Queen west there is a restaurant called "6ix Pizza". It's pretty pathetic that Toronto has so little of a history of coolness that it has to resort to referring itself by a name that Drake called it five minutes ago in order to appear cool. I don't think there's another city anywhere that is so insecure about its international identity as Toronto. 

            I weighed 84.2 kilos at 17:00. That's the most I've weighed at that time in ten days. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:00. 

            I finished reading the autobiographical excerpts from Charles Dickens and returned to David Copperfield. I made it to page 266. David is doing well living with the lawyer and going to classes at Dr. Strong's school. The lawyer has a daughter named Agnes and David seems to be sweet on her. Dr. Strong has a wife far younger than he and she seems quite worshipful of her husband but there is indication that a young man who has just been sent off to India had the better part of her affections. 

            The lawyer has a skeletal and annoyingly humble assistant named Uriah Heep, after whom was named one of my favourite seventies prog rock bands. Uriah Heep formed in 1969 just as the hundredth anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens was approaching. I guess since it was Christmas time and everyone was talking about Dickens, the band members thought that Uriah Heep would be a cool name for the newly formed band. I suspect that there was meant to be some irony with a progressive rock band having an old sounding name, similar to the name Jethro Tull for another band that came together around that time. 

            I had my last egg sunny side up with a warmed up naan and a beer while watching season 4, episode 8 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Granny is making a special love conjure to bring forth a beau for Elly May. Since she is past the age of fourteen she is past her prime for marrying and now needs assistance. Meanwhile Mr. Drysdale has hired a handsome escort named Dean to court Elly. Jane is appalled at the idea of hiring a gigolo until she starts talking to him and finds he is a PHD student and very intellectual. They hit it off and go to a cafe together to discuss the plan for courting Elly. But Jed sees them together and thinks that Jane has landed a man.

            Later Granny throws her conjure into the fire and immediately Dean shows up at the door. But Granny has dressed Elly up like a little girl to make her more attractive and it puts Dean off. Elly hates walking around with a big bow in her hair, carrying a lollipop and playing hopscotch. When Jed sees Dean he tells Granny that he's Jane's man. She tries to reverse the spell but it doesn't work. Jane comes over and Granny dresses her up as a little girl to turn Dean's head, then she dresses Elly in a slinky dress. Dean grabs Jane and leads her away, saying that seeing her in a little girl dress is the sanest thing he's seen all day. 

            Dean was played by Van Williams, who majored in animal husbandry at Texas Christian University. He was running a scuba diving school in Hawaii when he was spotted by Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Mike Todd who wanted to make him a star. Todd died before that goal could be realized but Williams went ahead. He might have been better managed if Todd had lived but Williams did become a TV star. He was cast to co-star on the short lived series "Bourbon Street Beat" and when that was canceled his same character was moved over to the series "Surfside Six". He then co-starred in series "The Tycoon". That was followed by his most famous role as "The Green Hornet" with Bruce Lee as his sidekick Kato. He pushed for more screen time for Lee but the producers rejected the idea. Williams was a best friend and next door neighbour of Adam West of Batman. Williams went on to become a successful businessman. 

            I made it to page 281 of David Copperfield. David has tea at Uriah Heep's and Heep's mother's home. It's interesting because so far David has become like family with everyone who has been friendly toward him except for Uriah Heep. Perhaps he finds him too cloying. There in Canterbury David runs into his old landlord who is once again deeply in debt. David turns seventeen, gets in a fight with a butcher and loses, falls in love several times, especially with an older woman. She chooses another, then he fights the butcher again and wins. 

            

           

            

            I looked for bedbugs and my toothpick mashed one in a small hole to the left of the old exit door at the head of my bed. Every one I've found on the wall since pest control treated the place last week has been in that area.