Robert G. Hager

            On Sunday morning I wasn't quite able to memorize the fourth verse of "Le Couteau dans le play" (The Knife in the Play) by Serge Gainsbourg. During these recording sessions I have to stop memorizing fifteen minutes early to get everything set up and that quarter hour makes a big difference.

            I audio and video recorded song practice while playing my Martin Road Series acoustic guitar for the third day of four. In general it felt like a pretty good session but sometimes when it looks like I'm going to get a really good take of a song and I'm almost finished I get too excited and I screw up. I think Megaphor had at least one chord that was a little off. Sixteen Tons of Dogma seemed to come through okay. On the chorus of "L'accordion" I stumbled flatter on the B flat about three times and it wasn't flattering. I corrected it each time and didn't lose much of the rhythm but it was a noticeable stumble and so I can't use it. 

            I weighed 85 kilos before breakfast. 

            I finished writing my curriculum vitae for my application for the MA in Creative Writing. Later I sent it to George Elliot Clarke along with my writing sample because he said he needed those before writing a letter of recommendation for me. 

            I weighed 85.3 kilos before lunch. I had Compliments brand imitation Breton crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. On Brock Avenue some stuff was thrown out in a box and on the sidewalk. I took a Life Gear skipping rope, three rolls of bandage tape and a page hole puncher. I didn't take the dildo and I wonder if anyone would take what is probably a used dildo. I guess maybe as a joke. 

            I chiseled some more little pieces of black quartz out of the remains of the rock I found six years ago. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos at 17:30. 

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

            I've gone from being number ten on the waiting list for the Creative Writing course I want to take in January to number eight. It's more than four months away so there's a good chance I'll get in. 

            I reviewed this morning's song practice video. At least one chord was a bit off when I played Megaphor. Sixteen Tons of Dogma was okay. Some of the French songs weren't bad. The camera cut off while I was doing a retake of "Laisse tomber les filles". 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a music video for my song "Sleep in the Snow" I inserted the clips I'd made of The Wizard of Oz and Nanook of the North into the second half of the instrumental. Then I managed to synchronize the concert video with the studio audio up until, "The only sex you'll advertize". It's just a matter of deleting a bit of the concert video until it's lined up. 

            I finished scanning the black and white shots I took of the Molly Johnson and Alta Moda concert. I finished another black and white set from around the same time that has shots of Tom Smarda playing guitar on the couch and some out of focus shots of my ex-girlfriend Brenda. That was the last of the paper sleeves. The rest of the unscanned negatives are in plastic and acetate sleeves. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, a cut up piece of pork loin, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 5, episodes 6 and 7 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story Betty Joe has found her dream cottage to live in after she's married Steve. But it's an extremely dilapidated shack with a rotten floor and no bathroom. She shows it to Kate and Steve but neither her mother or her fiancé like it. Betty and Steve argue until he serenades her through a walkie talkie. 

            In the second story Floyd is in love but he won't say to whom. He asks Steve if he can have a double wedding with him. Steve feels sorry for Floyd because he's running the Cannonball all alone now. Smiley Burnett, who played Charlie, died between the fourth and the fifth season. They haven't come out and said in the fifth season that Charlie is dead, but rather just say that he is gone. So Steve gives in, not only to the double wedding but also to sharing the honeymoon. Betty Joe is not happy but she also feels sorry for Floyd and gives in. But then they find out that his bride to be is Salma Plout and that's a disaster. However, when Salma tells Floyd that he will be giving up the Cannonball after they're married he walks away from the whole thing. 

            The cinematographer for these and 220 other episodes of Petticoat Junction was Robert G Hager. He also did the cinematography for 67 episodes of Perry Mason, and 90 episodes of The Brady Bunch.