Sheila Bromley

            On Monday morning I memorized the fourth and fifth verses of "Pour ce que tu n’étais pas" (For Someone You Were Not) by Serge Gainsbourg. There's only one verse left to learn and I should have it nailed down on Tuesday. 

            I played the Martin acoustic guitar for song practice. On Tuesday I'll begin four days with the Kramer electric. 

            I weighed 85.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            I sent an email a week ago to the Department of English at U of T but seven days later there was no response and so I called them. I got through right away and spoke to an incredibly nice person named Marguerite Perry who is a graduate assistant. She answered all of the questions that I'd been in the dark about. The School of Graduate Studies website says that a graduate needs a minimum of a B+ average to be accepted into the program, but it doesn't make it clear whether that's the cumulative GPA, the annual GPA or the sessional GPA. She told me that the 3.2 cumulative GPA I'll probably have after the next half course is pretty good even though it's just below a B+, and what they consider is the GPA for the last year of study or four years for a part time student and if there is improvement. My annual GPA has been well above 3.2 since 2019 so it looks like all I need to do is complete one more half course. She said that if I want to get into the program next fall I need to apply this fall. I also need to submit a portfolio, which should be no problem since I can probably just send the manuscript for Paranoiac Utopia which is waiting for a decision from Ekstasis right now. I additionally need to write a one page statement of intention as to why I should be considered for the program. Most importantly though I need to letters of recommendation from professors and I told her that I would be asking Albert Moritz and George Elliot Clark. She said, "Al writes excellent recommendation letters". She said I also should apply for grants for the program by December. She explained that she hadn't responded to my email because I sent it to the main office and she's backed up for answering those. But she gave me her own U of T email and told me that would be quicker. It was a very satisfying call because now I know that I don't have to take a bunch of courses to bring my average up and I can relax with just one more half course to do my best at. 

            I weighed 85.3 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 85.3 kilos at 17:00. 

            I chiseled fossils from slate for half an hour and started on the last piece of rock. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:33. 

            I compared my performance of "Megaphor" on June 27 with that of June 26 and found that June 26 looks better and has more presence and power. I compared June 26 to June 30 and though June 30 is technically better I prefer the look and feel of June 26. I compared June 26 to July 1 and July 1 looks as good and is technically better but there's traffic noise and so I think June 26 is still ahead. I compared June 26 to July 2 and July 2 almost won but I still prefer June 26. There are five more to compare. 

            I opened up my external hard drive but had a hell of a time doing it. The video for Sleep in the Snow is not in there and so I'll have to try to extract it from the DVD. I guess if all else fails I can download it from YouTube but I assume the ones from the DVDs will be better. I think I have more than one copy on different DVDs. I obviously did it before and so I'll try it tomorrow. I did manage to back up all my photos. 

            I scanned the rest of the colour shots of the Canadian National Exhibition from September of 1991. I took a lot of photos of the rides and the midway. I started a colour set from Christmas of 1991 when we took my daughter down to New Brunswick. There are pictures of her with my dad.

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching season 4, episodes 4 and 5 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story all three girls are in love with Steve Elliot. He's charming and makes each of them feel special without any agenda but they take it the wrong way and each thinks he's chosen them. For instance he tells Betty Joe she's the prettiest shortstop he's ever seen and so now she wants to put the baseball he touched into a glass case on display in her room. Kate has noticed this and so has Steve and so Kate comes up with a reverse psychology plan. She tells him to ask each one of them to elope on the day of an important event in their lives. He asks Betty to run away with him on the day of her big baseball game and she refuses. He asks Bobbie Joe to elope on the day of her Shakespeare recitation and she turns him down. But when he asks Billie Joe she says for him to give her five minutes. Kate intercepts her as she's about to leave with her suitcase, but discovers that the suitcase is empty. Billie explains that she knew it was a trick and was just calling their bluff. Billie goes to the movies with Steve instead. 

            In the second story Bobbie Joe is in college now and asks her mother if she can go to an all night party after the dance, but Kate says no. Not everyone agrees with Kate's decision and she seems to have her own doubts. Kate is confronted at Sam's store by two mothers whose daughters have told them that she was letting Bobbie go and accuse her of putting pressure on them. Kate sets them straight but the girls are ready to rebel against their mothers and go to the all night party anyway. The dance ends at midnight but Kate compromises and tells Bobbie that the Cannonball will be waiting for her at 1:30. At first Bobbie is ready to defy her mother but then changes her mind because defying her mother takes all of the fun out of it, so she has her friends drive her to the Cannonball. The other girls decide to leave with Bobbie but when they get on the train the passenger car has been transformed. A jukebox has been set up and there is food and punch. Kate has arranged for a chaperoned all night party with breakfast at dawn at the Shady Rest. The boys hear the music and join them. Everybody has a great time but there's a corny moment when Steve sings a song with the lines, "I should be working today but tomorrow's okay by me". This show went downhill with this season because of the addition of Steve Elliot. There are really fake shots of the Cannonball at night and it's obviously a toy train that's being filmed. 

            One of the mothers, Mrs. Burris was played by Sheila Bromley, who was Miss California in 1929, at the age of 18. She started film acting three years later, co-starring in "The Land of Wanted Men". She also co-starred in "The Prescott Kid", "Westward Ho", "Lawless Range", "Idol of the Crowds", and "Death Goes North".