Martin Quinn

            On Wednesday morning I finished working out the chords for the intro to "Au bon vieux temps" (In the Good Old Days) by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I start the first verse. 

            I memorized the first verse of "Le Couteau dans le play" (The Knife in the Play) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I audio and video recorded song practice at first while playing my Kramer electric guitar. "Megaphor", "Le temps des yé-yé", and "Sixteen Tons of Dogma" were okay, but while playing "L'accordion" my high E string broke. Knowing how time consuming it is to change a string on the Kramer I thought this would be a good time to try out the fake Gibson (Fibson) electric. I had to transfer the Kramer's guitar strap over and then tune the guitar. I got through "L'accordion" after a few tries because I had to adjust to the different position of the frets. But I noticed while playing "Joanna" that the connection for the jack is screwed up because often when I moved the guitar there would be static and popping. That never happens with the Kramer. So I'll have to take it back to Gian at L'il Demon and have him fix it. I spent a lot of money on it and he said it was fixed but it's not something that one would notice if one doesn't move while playing. I had to stop playing with the electric today and switch to the acoustic in order to finish song practice but I didn't get any more songs completed on video because the camera timed out. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I took the Fibson to L'il Demon Guitars. It's supposed to open at 12:00 but the people in Kolors barber shop at the front said Gian wasn't in yet. They let me wait at the bar until he arrived. He plugged my guitar in and moved the jack around. One could hear the crackling but he said it wasn't bad. Why would I want my guitar to crackle, especially when I'm recording. He was having trouble getting the input socket off because someone had worn out the screws with the wrong screwdriver. He asked me to come back in an hour so I said I'd come back tomorrow. He said if he had to replace the socket he'd charge me $6. I said, "Oookay" and gave him a look so he asked what's wrong. I reminded him that when I picked up the guitar he'd said it was fixed. He said if he'd installed that part originally he would have charged me the extra $6. I said okay again but it seems to me he should have fixed it in the first place and shouldn't be charging me extra for his oversight, especially considering the time I'm spending going to his shop and back when I have other things to do. 

            On the way home I stopped at Shoppers Drug Mart because I was out of toilet paper. Fortunately they had a pack of Max on sale for $7. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before lunch. I had Triscuits with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back I stopped at Freshco where I bought three bags of Canadian cherries. 

            I weighed 85.2 kilos at 17:00. 

            I changed the high E string on my Kramer but it took two tries. The first time the string popped out from the Floyd Rose clamp. I don't know what I did differently but it held the second time. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:00. 

            I reviewed this morning's song practice video. I think I hit a wrong chord on "Megaphor" and I'll need a closer review of "Sixteen Tons of Dogma" to hear if it came out okay. "Le temps des yé-yé" seemed okay. I only completed "L'accordion" with the Fibson and I don't think it sounded very good. The light was bad too. Nothing else was completed before the camera ran out. 

            I converted the clip of the Wizard of Oz snow scene to WMV. I imported Nanook of the North into Movie Maker and placed it on the end of the timeline of my "Sleep in the Snow" project. I watched the first forty minutes and then cut that part out. So far I haven't found anything I can use for my video but it's a fascinating film. 

            I finished scanning the negatives from Christmas of 1991 and the shots of my daughter on my father's lap. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, some chopped pork loin, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching the second season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 

            Captain Batel is resupplying the colony of Parnassus Beta which looks just like Peterborough, Ontario. Chapel has just inoculated the last of the children and beams aboard Batel's ship the Cayuga. Suddenly a gigantic Gorn ship comes out of the sky that uses technology to block all communications and transport. 

            The Enterprise picks up an emergency signal from Batel and rushes there. Meanwhile Admiral April tells Pike that there is a demarcation line between Federation and Gorn territory. The Gorn are remaining behind their line but on their side is Parnassus Beta. 

            The Enterprise arrives in orbit around Parnassus and finds the debris of the Cayuga. Pike plans on taking a shuttle to the surface against orders. The entire bridge crew volunteers to help but he picks La'an, Mbenga, Ortegas and Sam Kirk. The Gorn are scanning any approaches to the surface but the shuttle is disguised as wreckage and hides among the debris of the Cayuga before entering the atmosphere. 

            In the town they encounter some hungry Gorn babies. They pick up a human signal and follow it only to discover a device that is giving it off. It's a trap and they are caught in a forcefield cage. A man steps forward and is surprised that he hasn't caught Gorn in his trap. He introduces himself as Montgomery Scott Lieutenant Junior Grade. This is a young version of Scotty, the future engineer of the Enterprise. He's the only survivor of the research vessel the Stardiver after it was attacked by the Gorn. He escaped in a shuttle that he disguised with a signal that made it look like a Gorn ship to Gorn scanners. 

            He leads them to Batel and the members of her landing party. Batel comes face to face with a Gorn and it backs away. She reveals to Pike that Gorn eggs have been planted in her arm. 

            On the Enterprise they find out the location of the device that is generating the interference field but they can't use weapons to destroy it without starting a war. They plot to cause the wrecked saucer section of the Cayuga to crash into it. Spock says he is the best person to go to the Cayuga's saucer section and attach rockets to it. 

            Meanwhile inside the saucer, Chapel comes to consciousness. She sees Spock outside on the hull and dons a space suit to go out to meet him. He is attacked by a Gorn in a space suit and his phaser flies away. Chapel reaches it and fires. The Gorn is distracted enough for Spock to grab something and break the Gorn's helmet, killing it. 

            The saucer smashes into the interference field generator and suddenly the Enterprise can beam Spock, Chapel, Pike, Batel and Scotty aboard. Pelia recognizes Scotty and says he was one of her best students who received some of her worst grades. Chapel puts Batel in a stasis field. Pike gives the order for La'an, Mbenga, Ortegas and the colonists to be beamed up but Spock says there are no human life signs on the planet. They've all been beamed onto a Gorn ship. The Enterprise is now being attacked by Gorn fighters. To be continued. 

            Young Scotty is played by Martin Quinn, who at 18 won the lead role in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Let the Right One In. It went on to play in London's West End. He starred in Our Wullie the Musical. He's the first actor from Scotland to ever play Scottie.