Dennis Fimple

            On Saturday morning I memorized the second verse of "Une chose entre autres" (One Thing Among Others) by Serge Gainsbourg. I might have been able to nail down the last verse as well if the power hadn't gone off for a couple of minutes followed by the eight minutes or so that it takes for everything to reload after I've restarted. It's interesting that if I had chosen to continue recording for one more day then I would have lost all the Audacity audio anyway. But now that I've finished I had a great song practice, playing the full verses of songs that I haven't sung completely for a month and a half. 

            I weighed 85 kilos before breakfast. 

            My upstairs neighbour David came by to remind me of our lunch date for 13:00. I reminded him that he'd said he wanted Italian. I told him if we want Italian for lunch we'd have to walk to Little Italy but he said not today. I said if we want local Italian we'd have to go to Mama Rosa's at 16:00. He said maybe sometime in the future we could go for dinner. I assume he has to work later. So we just decided we'll meet at 13:00 and find something local. 

            I went to No Frills where I bought five bags of grapes, a rack of pork ribs, a strawberry-rhubarb pie, toilet paper, dental floss, and two containers of skyr. The cashier commented that she noticed that grapes are my favourite food. I explained that one can eat them without looking at them while watching the computer screen. 

            I took David to Mezzrows. On the way he explained why he always eats fried rice when we go out for lunch in any Asian restaurant. He has a bad stomach because of surgery twenty years ago and can't handle food that's too spicy or else he just throws up. We went to the patio in the back. The waiter addressed us in a strange manner, asking if we wanted something and it sounded like we weren't welcome. Maybe it was a misunderstanding because she was okay after we asked for menus. It was nice on the patio and we pretty much had it to ourselves. David had the western sandwich and a Blue and I had the delicious southwestern omelette stuffed with chili, and a pint of Creemore. It was my turn so I insisted on paying. David didn't put up as much of a fight as before. He says our landlord saved him from homelessness. I suggested it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart. 

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

            I weighed 85.2 kilos at 17:00. 

            I chiseled some more black quartz from a piece of the rock I found six years ago. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30. 

            I reviewed my performances of "Megaphor" from August 4 to August 10. On August 4, 7, and 8 I played the electric. August 4 was pretty good until the end when one chord was off. On August 7 the take at 4:00 is pretty good but the light is horrible and there's traffic noise. On August 8 the take at 5:15 was really good but one chord was off near the end. On August 5, 6, 9, and 10 I played the acoustic. On August 5 the light was good and the take at 8:00 was pretty good. On August 6 it was not a bad take at 2:30 and with good light, but one chord was off. On August 9 it was pretty good but one chord wasn't right. On August 10 it was okay but a couple of chords seemed slightly dissonant. 

            I imported Fritz Lang's silent movie Spies into the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song Megaphor. I copied it to the end of the timeline and shaved off about twenty minutes, keeping the first clips of the evil spymaster of the film. 

            I scanned a few more black and white negatives of the set from 1987 when I was babysitting Rachel and Noah Copping. 

            I made pizza on a slice of seven grain bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 6, episodes 16 and 17 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story Billie Joe returns from a tour with her new boyfriend Rick (played by Rich Little) who is a professional stand-up comedian. There is an upcoming charity talent show and Rick is asked to perform. He tries out his act on Betty and Steve and it's full of insults of all the Hooterville locals he's met since he arrived. He also does great impersonations of Joe and Wendell. Billie tries to get him to change his act because she is worried about the backlash. The night of the show after Rick is introduced he announces that he's going to bow out and let this be a showcase for local talent and then introduces Billie. He plays piano while she sings "When I Fall in Love it Will be Forever". Rick reveals later that Steve threatened to break every bone in his body if he did his routine. 

            In the second story Steve gets a letter from a former air force commanding officer offering him a much better paying job, but the catch is he'll have to move to New York. Betty Joe says she'll go where her husband goes but she is clearly disappointed about leaving her home. Joe thinks he can continue the crop dusting business if he can train another pilot, even though he knows nothing about flying to teach. He tries Wendell, who runs away. He tries Sam but he's not interested. While trying to show Elwood how easy it would be, Joe accidentally starts the plane and takes off. The plane crashes but Joe parachutes into the water tower. Steve decides the safest thing to do is pass up on the job and stay.

            Elmer was played by Dennis Fimple, who attended San Jose College on a scholarship and majored in speech and drama. His first screen break was on Petticoat Junction. In films he co-starred in Bootleggers, and Creature from Black Lake. He played Kyle Murtry on the TV series Alias Smith and Jones.