Walter Koenig

            On Wednesday morning I uploaded "De velours et de soie" (The Silk and the Velvet) by Boris Vian to Christian's Translations and began editing to prepare it for publication on the blog. 

            I finished memorizing "Amour Consolation" by Serge Gainsbourg and searched for the chords. No one has posted them and so I worked out the intro and the first couple of lines. 

            I weighed 85 kilos before breakfast. 

            In the late morning I took an early bike ride and I took my guitar gig bag along with me because on the way home I was hoping to buy the Martin Road Series guitar they were selling at Steve's Music. When I got there I first tried out the pick-up on the guitar. It's weird because the volume and tone controls are wheels inside the hole. There's also a tuner inside. There was a different guy behind the guitar desk than the one who'd told me they could do a price match if it's the same guitar. I showed him the email I got from the 12th Fret confirming that the Martin Road Series 10D for $899 was brand new. He said it's probably not the same guitar because theirs in a 10DE. I can't find any reference to a Road Series 10D anywhere online and all that comes up is the 10DE so I assume that's what the guy at the 12th Fret meant. He argued that it probably doesn't have electronics but I assured him it does. He brought in the big weightlifter who runs the guitar department and he said he didn't think they could match that price. He went to check with management and I waited a long time. He came back and told me that even if it's the exact same guitar they couldn't match it because the 12th Fret must have bought it before covid when the prices were lower. What's the point of claiming to price match if you won't price match when the price is too low? I've never had Freshco refuse to match a competitor's price on the same product no matter how low it is. This experience has soured me on Steve's Music. It looks like I'll have to ride out to The 12th Fret tomorrow since there's a much stronger chance of rain on Friday. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos at 14:00. 

            I took a late siesta at around 14:30. 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos at 16:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:30. 

            I reviewed my recordings of "Kenya" and "La bas c'est natural" from June 26 to July 6. For "Kenya" July 2 was one of the best and the traffic was audible but not obnoxious. For "La bas c'est natural" June 29, July 1 and July 3 were of the better ones. There was a little bit of traffic noise but not as much. On July 3 a truck went by just after the last chord. Maybe it can be removed. All the other sessions had too much traffic noise. 

            In the Movie Maker project for creating a video of my song "Instructions for Electroshock Therapy" I inserted some clips of a grand mal seizure and of a hand turning a dial on a shock machine to correspond with the line, "if you're looking for a grand mal seizure just raise the voltage some". After that Brian Haddon sings "shock therapy" again and I added another clip of him doing so from our concert at The 360 Club, this time with the effect of panning him from upper left to upper right. After that there is the line, "Two-hundred and fifty volts at point one seconds could deliver some jolt" and it seems like it might be fine to just return to the dial of the machine, followed by more of the seizure. But the line ends with, "so it helps us to remember it's the patient's fault" and I think I need something else to correspond with that. 

            I scanned several negatives, none of which were damaged this time. I finished the black and white set from Amsterdam and then scanned some colour negatives of Nancy while she was pregnant with my daughter and another set of my daughter on the beach and playing in the waves. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, hot Hungarian salami, and seven-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching the series finale of Star Trek Picard. 

            The assimilated fleet is about to break through Earth's defences. The Enterprise is entering the Sol system. There is a message from President Anton Chekhov of the United Federation of Planets. He urges all ships to stay away from Earth to avoid assimilation or destruction. He says there is always hope but for now save yourselves. Enterprise long range sensors are detecting a Borg vessel at Jupiter and so they head there. 

            On the Titan, Seven and Raffi have gathered the few members of the crew who are over twenty five and therefore not assimilated. They fight their way to the bridge. The assimilated bridge crew escapes to transporter room one but Seven has locked them there. One of Seven's new bridge crew protests that he's only a cook but since he has piloting experience Seven says he can do it. Seven and Raffi work out that the fleet formation programming uses line of sight and so they can keep the ship out of Borg control with their Klingon cloaking device. But they will have to make themselves visible whenever they need to fire weapons. They manage to take out several ships but the fleet uses predictive algorithms to locate them. 

            The Enterprise reaches Jupiter orbit and faces the Borg Cube. Deanna says she senses Jack there but he is totally consumed. There's a beacon on the Cube sending the controlling signals to the assimilated fleet. They have to destroy it. Picard is going and Riker and Worf volunteer to accompany him. They beam onto the Cube and find that the former Borg population is dead and consists of skeletons. Picard goes to find Jack while Riker and Worf look for the beacon. Picard finds Jack fully connected to the Cube. He tries to speak with him and hears the Borg Queen laughing. She now looks withered and ancient. Some of the drones wake up and engages Rike and Worf in combat. Worf is wounded. The Cube also fires on the Enterprise. Worf has been fighting with his sword but now that they are cornered he shows Riker there is a phaser in the hilt. Riker uses it and takes out the drones. He wonders why Worf didn't use it in the first place. Worf answers, "Swords are fun". The Enterprise locates the beacon but it is at the centre of the Cube. It's impossible to get to but suddenly Data takes manual control of the ship. He says his gut tells him he can do it and asks everyone to trust him. He flies the Enterprise into the Cube. he reaches the beacon but sees that destroying it would destroy the Cube and everyone on it. They decide it must be done and fire. 

            Picard begins trying to disconnect Jack. Then he takes one of the assimilation nodes and jams it into his own neck so he can connect directly with Jack. Picard explains to Jack that he felt the same way about Starfleet that Jack feels about the Borg but he realizes his connection with Jack is so much deeper. Picard says if Jack won't leave he'll stay with him and they embrace. Jack disconnects himself from the collective and unhooks Picard as well. The Enterprise flies over them while still inside the Cube and beams them up along with Riker and Worf. The Cube is destroyed. The assimilated federation drones attacking Earth and the Titan return to normal. 

           Tuvok makes Seven a captain. 

            A year later Jack has been fast tracked through the Academy and he is about to serve on his first starship. It's the new Enterprise, actually the Titan renamed, with Seven as captain, Raffi as First Officer and Sidney LaForge as pilot. 

            Worf hugs Raffi even though he hates hugging. 

            The old Enterprise crew is drinking in ten forward and then start playing poker. In the end, Jack is visited in his quarters by Q, who is supposed to be dead. Q says that's linear thinking. He says Picard's trial is over but Jack's has just begun. 

            The voice of Anton Chekhov was done by Walter Koenig who played Anton's father Pavel Chekhov on the original Star Trek series. He has a degree in Psychology. His first acting job was as an uncredited sentry on the TV series Combat. Four years later he was cast in Star Trek. He got the job within hours of his audition because he looked so much like Davy Jones of The Monkees. He's appeared in the first seven Star Trek films and on several video games and animated series. He played the scoundrel Bester on Babylon 5. He starred in the movies Moontrap, and Drawing Down the Moon. His autobiography is called Warped Factors: A Neurotic's Guide to the Universe. He has written plays, film scripts, and TV scripts for shows like The Incredible Hulk.