Consolation by Displacement

            On Tuesday morning I finished working out the chords for “Entre l'âme et l'amour” (Between Love and Spirit) by Serge Gainsbourg. I ran through singing and playing it in English and French. Tomorrow I’ll upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the last of four sessions. 

            I weighed 86.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            I continued making notes on the Medieval poem “Pearl”. I was feeling pretty sleepy but I almost made it to line 1000, so I should be able to actually start writing the essay tonight. There are only three days left before I have to hand it in. It’s possible that I can write a good paper in that time but it’s also possible that I can’t. 

            I weighed 86.5 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I didn’t take a bike ride downtown. I needed to buy underwear so I wouldn’t spend essay writing time doing laundry. I went to the Dufferin Mall. I always park my bike at the back and so when I come in it’s through the food court. I notice that now they no longer have those garbage bins where one dumps one’s waste through the slot and leaves one’s tray on top. Now there is a sorting area where everyone is simply expected to leave their tray on the counter for the attendant to deal with. It’s a better idea. I went to Walmart where I bought six pairs of briefs and six pairs of socks to tide me over until early next week. As I was unlocking my bike a guy asked me for a cigarette. I told him I don’t smoke. He said, “I don’t want to smoke but I’m dying for it! What am I gonna do?” I said, “I’m not familiar with the problem” and rode away. 

            I rode down to Freshco to buy grapes but they were all too soft. I walked over to Metro where some of the green grapes were firm and so I got three bags. The cashier asked how I wanted to pay and I answered “old school” as I handed her cash. 

            I weighed 86 kilos at 17:15. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:20. 

            I finished making notes on the Medieval poem “Pearl” and had time to write the first draft of a paragraph of my essay: 

            In the anonymously written Medieval poem “Pearl” a Christian consolation is offered to the mourning narrator over the span of a dream. By contrast, in the novel Pearl by Siân Hughes, the grieving process experienced by the narrator Marianne unfolds over decades in an agonizingly sorrowful bildungsroman that takes decades to arrive at consolation. Of these two approaches, the longer, less dogmatic and far more organic journey of Marianne is more convincing and more satisfying.