Emmaline Henry

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the third verse of "Au bon vieux temps" (In the Good Old Days) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished memorizing "Plus doux avec moi" (Sweeter with Me) by Serge Gainsbourg and looked for the chords. No one had posted them and so I worked them out for the intro and the first two lines. 

            I played my Martin again for song practice. 

            I weighed 86 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I pulled the stove out and scrubbed and scraped the rest of the glue from floorboards four to seven. While I was working I listened to Black Sabbath from "Born Again" to "Dehumanizer", to "Cross Purposes". Two days ago I'd been playing my amplifier at volume 16 when my neighbour started swearing at me. I said all he had to do was ask me to turn it down and I would. He said he shouldn't have to ask and just kept on saying "Fuck off!" Yesterday I played it at 6 and today it was at 5 when I noticed the deck door was shut. I went to open it for circulation and saw Benji out there. I asked him if it was still too loud and he started swearing again. I took that as a yes and turned it down another notch, reminding him that all he had to do was ask and I would turn it down more. Over the next hour or so the door kept closing and I kept opening it and asking if I should turn it down more. I was pretty sure that this was not entirely about how loud my music was. I told him, "Whatever you've got up your ass I didn't put it there". He then told me that I'm a racist and I couldn't believe what I was hearing coming from someone who has put down just about every race during conversations I've had with him over the years. He suggested that my efforts to organize the tenants in our building is a racist attack against our landlord. I guess he includes himself in there because he's of South Asian descent. I told him that he wouldn't even be here if I hadn't fought the landlord 25 years ago. He said if he'd had to move out he would have because the landlord has the right to do whatever he wants with a building he owns. So he thinks that organizing a tenants association is just me trying to cause the landlord trouble because I'm a racist. It couldn't possibly be an effort to protect us from the many asshole things the landlord has been doing to his tenants over the years. Eventually I put the music down to level 1 but it's still probably too loud for Benji. 

            I weighed 85.5 kilos before lunch. 

            I took a siesta but couldn't sleep probably because of the stress of being accused of being a racist. I got up half an hour earlier than usual. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back half an hour earlier than usual. When I got home Benji came out and asked for the copy of his key that I've kept for him for years in case he locks himself out which he has done many times. He says he doesn't want any help from me, so I gave him his key. 

            I weighed 85.5 kilos at 16:30. 

            I spent half an hour chiseling green fossils. I freed one that was kind of curly and ribbon like. The slate I was hitting split thickwise in two. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:55.

            I reviewed the videos of my performances of "Megaphor" from July 4 to July 8 of this year. On July 4, 5, and 8 I played the acoustic. The takes on July 4 at 3:45 and on July 5 at 1:00 were pretty good. On July 8 the take at 5:30 was okay. On July 6 and 7 I played the electric and July 6 was one of the best. July 7 wasn't bad. 

            I opened my "Sleep in the Snow" project in Audacity and it was extremely distorted. Other audio files are also distorted and so I think my speakers are blown. I can't do any quality work without knowing how things really sound and so I guess tomorrow I need to go and buy some speakers. I decided to double check by listening to "Sleep in the Snow" with the headphones and there is no distortion, so new speakers are my job for Wednesday. 

            I finished scanning the coloured photos of the boring wedding that I never shot. Then I did a set of black and whites that had a shot of my ex-girlfriend Whitefeather and some wild shots of my friend Tom Smarda looking like a blonde bushman. There were also some shots of a French speaking woman at the corner of Bloor and Bathurst happily exposing her derriere.

            I started scanning another set of black and whites of Europe. There are shots of the Alps as I was heading from Switzerland to Italy. 

            I had a potato with gravy and three pork ribs while watching season 3, episodes 26 and 27 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story Kate tells Joe that the hotel is in such dire straits that he has to go out and look for a job. He reluctantly heads out with the dog and first goes to Fred Ziffle. Joe is very happy to hear that Joe is the last person in the world that Fred would hire. He asks Lud Watson if he has any apple picking jobs but he knows it's not apple season. When Lud tells him he could pick his plums Joe tells him he didn't ask about plums. Joe goes to Pixley and spends some time in the movie theatre. Then he goes to a vacant lot to loiter until it's time to go home. While he's there the dog digs up a coffee can full of a lot of money. At first Joe fantasizes about leaving Kate and the girls to lead the good life in New York, but then he has an attack of conscience. He anonymously pays all of Kate's bills. But then he learns that they recently caught a thief who robbed the Crabwell Corners Bank a year ago. The money was never recovered and people figure he buried it somewhere in Pixley. Joe takes the money that's left back and re-buries it in the coffee can. But then he hears the news that they found the money in St Louis. He's about to go back to Pixley to retrieve it but then he learns that someone found it, and he faints. 

            In the second story Kate receives notice that a couple named Nancy and Jeff Anderson that spent their honeymoon at the hotel ten years before are now coming for their second honeymoon. Joe wants to cash in on the Shady Rest as a second honeymoon haven and so he tries to document every moment of their stay from the time they step off the train. It's very annoying for the couple because he's using a blinding flash and they can never get any privacy. Finally Kate forbids Joe from taking anymore pictures and tells him to apologize to the Andersons. While he's saying he's sorry he triggers the first argument the Andersons have ever had. Now they are in separate rooms and won't come out. Joe remembers that what brought the couple together ten years before was a thunderstorm. Joe has Floyd bang on some aluminium siding to simulate thunder while he sets off flashes in the Anderson's windows. Jeff is frightened and runs into Nancy's arms and so they come back together and enjoy the rest of their second honeymoon. 

            Nancy was played by Emmaline Henry, who sang on local radio and then came to Hollywood in the 1950s to sing. She started as a member of the choruses in musicals. It was determined by producers that she was a better comedian than a singer and so she was steered in the direction of comedy. Her first TV appearance was on the series I Led Three Lives. She played Amanda Bellows in 35 episodes of I Dream of Jeannie. She co-starred in the short-lived sitcoms "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" and "Mickey". She played Chrissy's boss on "Three's Company".