Stanley Beck

            On Saturday morning I memorized the fourth verse of “Litanie en Lituanie” (Litany in Lithuania) by Serge Gainsbourg. There’s only half a verse left so I should have the whole song done on Sunday. 

            During song practice I tried out my new Boss FV-50H volume pedal for the first time and it works. It’s a learning curve less about the pedal itself and more about the timing of playing it. I think I can set the maximum volume a little higher. I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio until the A string broke about halfway through and I switched to the Kramer. 

            I weighed 88.25 kilos before breakfast. I checked my Amazon account to track my order of the Boss FS6 dual foot switch and found that it’s been canceled. I checked online banking and saw that no money ever went out to buy the item. I’ll just get it from a music store now because Amazon is too problematic.

            In the late morning I went to Freedom Mobile and paid for my July phone plan. 

            I hauled my bike trailer to No Frills where I bought four bags of red grapes, three bags of cherries, bananas, two T-bone steaks, Basilica sauce, a jug of low sugar lemon iced tea, a jug of orange juice, olive oil, and two bags of Miss Vickie’s chips. I price matched the cherries and grapes with the Freshco flyer and got them quite a bit cheaper but my bill was still high. 

            I weighed 88.4 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

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

            I weighed 87 kilos at 17:15. 

            The light wasn’t bad this evening and so I went out with my tripod and my camera to look for characters. I’m trying to find interesting people to lip sync for the video I’m creating for my song “The Next State of Grace”. I need a few people to pretend to sing “sit here and wait for the next state of grace” and “line up and wait for the next state of grace”. There’s very loud Polish guy named Santino who is definitely a character that I’ve seen around Parkdale for years. He shouts “kurwa” and “opa” a lot and sometimes blows a whistle. He was standing in very good light and I asked him if he wanted to be in a video for my song and I said I would pay him $10. He seemed interested but said he needed more medication first because he was almost finished his beer. Finally he said he didn’t want to do it tonight. His vest is covered with pins and badges. He asked me if I was left or right, then he pointed out that on the left side of his vest he has communist symbols and on the right he has conservative representation. He even has a couple of swastikas and something with Hitler’s name. He pointed at it and said, “I see nothing wrong”. If I shoot a video of him maybe I’ll do it from the neck up. I walked west to Sorauren and back but didn’t see anyone else interesting enough to shoot. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30. I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “La jambe de bois” and “The Wooden Leg” from August 21 to 28. On August 21 and 27 I played “La jambe de bois” on my Martin acoustic guitar. On August 21 the take at 3:15 in part B was not bad but there was washed out light. On August 27 the take at 3:30 in part B was not bad, there was low traffic noise and it looked good. On August 22, 26 and 28 I played “The Wooden Leg” on the Martin. On August 22 the take at 6:15 in part B was not bad. On August 26 the take at the beginning of part B looked and sounded good. On August 28 the take at 6:00 in part B was pretty good. On August 24 I played it on my Kramer electric but the take at 13:30 in part B was not great. It’s weird how often when the video looks good it sounds better too. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sourdough bread with Basilica sauce, two sliced chicken kebabs, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 4, episodes 4 and 5 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Darren gets woken up after midnight by the sound of someone playing electric guitar outside of the bedroom door. He’s dressed as a 17th Century minstrel and says he’s waiting for an audience with the queen. Remember that Samantha is now Queen of the Witches and that she holds court after midnight. He explains he needs a quiet place to practice because it’s too noisy downstairs. He plays The Witches Anthem” “Off we go into the wild black yonder”. Darrin says that’s a direct steal from the Air Force song!” “Really? Where do you think they got it?” Darrin storms downstairs to complain. Samantha sends everyone away. She’s mad because Darrin agreed that he was okay with her after midnight audiences. After Samantha goes to bed all the witches appear again and are grumbling about Darrin. Endora says she has a plan to get rid of him. The next day after Samantha leaves to volunteer for the church bazaar, Darrin is alone. But Endora appears in another part of the house with Samantha’s identical cousin Serena. Endora gives her Samantha’s dress, hair colour and hairstyle and has her enter from the front door, telling Darrin that they had enough volunteers at the church and sent her home. She starts teasing Darrin and tells him to come for a kiss but keeps disappearing and appearing nearby. Then she causes him to trip. Mrs. Kravitz comes for a cup of sugar and Serena makes her shoes disappear, causing her to drop the sugar. Serena says she’s tired of pretending to be mortal and of submitting to Darrin’s will. Darrin is confused and asks advice from Larry who has been married longer. Darrin has been married four years and Larry tells him that for the first four years a wife is submissive but after that the stage begins where she thinks she’s a queen. Darrin asks Larry to talk with Samantha and find out what’s bothering her. Darrin leaves Serena and Larry alone and Serena immediately goes over to give Larry a big kiss on the mouth. Then she begins flirting with him. Larry leaves, telling Darrin he has a problem. Serena puts on the royal robes and convenes the royal court even though it’s the middle of the day. Then she puts on a mini skirt and says she’s going shopping. Darrin reminds her that she’s a wife and mother. So Serena puts on a housecoat, puts her hair up in curlers and is missing a front tooth. Abner Kravitz comes with a cup of sugar and says Gladys called and told him to bring it before Samantha returns from the bazaar. Suddenly Darrin realizes that he’s been dealing with Serena and decides to teach her a lesson. But then Samantha comes home and Darrin is very aggressive with her. He gives her a slap on the ass. Samantha brought home a lemon meringue pie but Darrin smushes it in her face. Then Samantha conjures a pie smushes it in Darrin’s face. She conjures another one but Darrin grabs it. He chases her and throws it but she ducks and it hits Endora in the face. Then Serena appears and Darrin realizes his mistake. Samantha also understands and throws a pie in Serena’s face. Serena tastes it and says it’s not bad and then Darrin and Samantha try it and agree.

            The minstrel warlock was played by Stanley Beck, who played Ernest in the film John and Mary and Artie Silver in Lenny. He produced the movies Straight Time, Death Valley, and Man Woman and Child. He played Ed Busby in the premier of the play Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker. 

            In the second story Samantha buys a coat with a mink collar. Darrin has a mixed reaction, He complains about the price but says she can keep it. He leaves for work. Endora thinks Darrin is a cheapskate. She decides to make Darrin such a miser that Samantha will leave him. She casts a spell and at work Darrin penny pinches to an extreme degree, such as telling his secretary to use the other side of memos. He comes home and does the same, such as turning all the lights out except for the one lamp that’s being used. When she can’t reason with him she realizes he’s under a spell. They have Darrin’s client Mr. Bigalow and his wife for dinner. Bigalow is a penny pincher too until Samantha accidentally fumbles a spell meant for Darrin. Bigalow becomes a spender much to his wife’s relief after twenty five years of being a Scrooge. Samantha lets Bigalow stay that way and changes Darrin back. Darrin reveals that he only reacted strangely to Samantha buying the coat because he’d already bought one just like it as a surprise.

June 30, 1994: I had dinner at Mary Milne's house

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday night I had dinner at Mary Milne’s house.

Renzo Cesana

            On Friday morning I memorized the fifth verse of “S'il pleauvait des larmes” (If it Rained in Tears) by Boris Vian. I memorized the third verse of “Litanie en Lituanie” (Litany in Lithuania) by Serge Gainsbourg. I revised my translation based on a better understanding of the rhyme scheme. There is only a verse and a half left to nail down and so I might even have it all in my head tomorrow. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of two sessions and the B string kept going out of tune. This happened a couple of weeks ago and the problem somehow corrected itself the next day and it stayed in tune to a reasonable degree. But this was very frustrating and sometimes it went out of tune as soon as it was tuned. I think I have to take it back to The Twelfth Fret today to have it looked at and perhaps adjusted. 

            I weighed 88.45 kilos before breakfast. Around midday I packed up my Martin and rode to The Twelfth Fret at Danforth and Woodbine. I stopped at the Second Cup at Logan to pee. When I got to The Twelfth Fret Brian immediately looked at my guitar and observed that the action was very low. He said that wouldn’t necessarily cause my B string to go out of tune but speculated that maybe the string vibrating against the neck could take it out. He raised the action and then I tried out my guitar, playing several chords in which I hit the B string hard. That would have easily taken it out of tune this morning at home but it stayed in tune there. There is a difference in environment between the Danforth and Queen west near the lake. When I tuned the Martin later in the evening the B string was still in tune. 

            I weighed 87.6 kilos at 14:24, which is the lightest I’ve been in the early afternoon since June 11. 

            I weighed 88.55 kilos at 17:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:00. I would have gone out with my camera this evening to find people to sing “sit here and wait for the next state of grace” and “line up and wait for the next state of grace” so I can synch it with the video I’m making of my song “The Next State of Grace”. I saw from my window the animal man walking around and I plan to approach him to see if he’ll let me shoot some video of him doing the song. But it was a very cloudy evening and I want to do it on a night when there’s some nice afternoon light. He seems to be around Parkdale all the time these days and so there’s no rush to ask him right away. There are also plenty of other Parkdale characters I can potentially capture as well. The forecast for tomorrow evening is cloudy and rainy but Sunday and Monday are supposed to be nice. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “The Wooden Leg” and “La jambe de bois” from August 16 to 20 of last year. On August 16 I played “The Wooden Leg” on my Martin acoustic guitar and the take at 9:45 in Part B was pretty good and looked good. On August 18 and 20 I played it on my Kramer electric guitar. On August 18 the take at 11:45 in part B was okay but there was traffic noise. On August 20 the take at 9:30 in part B was one of the best electric versions and it’s already synchronized in Movie Maker. On August 17 and 19 I played “La jambe de bois” on the Kramer. On August 17 the take at 6:30 in part B was okay but there was some traffic noise and I fumbled a lyric. On August 19 the take at 11:00 in part B was one of the best. This is synchronized in Movie Maker. 

            I moved some more photos from my main hard drive to the Samsung SSD.

            I grilled six chicken drumsticks and had two with a potato and gravy while watching season 4, episodes 2 and 3 of Bewitched. In the first story Endora is babysitting Tabitha when a warlock postman arrives to inform her that an event in her honour at the Taj Mahal has been moved from two weeks from now to today. Endora brings Tabitha’s toy soldier to life and to human size to serve as a substitute babysitter but it can’t speak and can only nod its head in agreement. When Endora leaves, Tabitha says to the soldier, “Juice. Drink” but he doesn’t seem to understand. So Tabitha brings her Barbie type doll to life and she communicates to the soldier, but also without speaking. At work Darrin is about to take Samantha to lunch when Larry introduces him to a client named Bob Chase. Larry is surprised to learn that Darrin and Bob are old friends and that Bob is coming over for dinner that night. Larry hints that he’d like to come for dinner too and so Darrin invites him. By the time Darrin and Samantha come home Tabitha has brought several of her toys to life and they are all partying in the nursery. Because Samantha can’t break the spell without Endora, Darrin calls Larry and cancels the dinner date. But he can’t reach Bob because he and his wife are already on their way. Larry is worried that Darrin is chummy with a client because he plans to start his own agency. He decides to call Bob and invite him to dinner but learns he’s on his way to Darrin’s place. Larry decides to drive by. He looks in the window and when he sees the toys dancing he thinks it’s a costume party. The soldier notices Larry and Larry beckons him out. Larry thinks the soldier is an employee named Max and since the soldier nods to every question he thinks it’s a confirmation. Larry takes the soldier to a bar for a drink. Darrin and Samantha find the bar where he’s taken the soldier. Samantha has learned the spell from Endora and turns the soldier back to a toy so Larry thinks he’s been talking to a toy all night. 

            In the second story, Larry’s firm is courting the Romani Foods account. The president’s representative Mr. Arcarius tells Darrin he should be able to speak some Italian when he meets Romani. Darrin is struggling to learn from language records but is not doing well so Endora casts a spell that causes him to be able to speak Italian fluently. But the side effect is that Darrin loses the ability to speak English. Romani is impressed but wants Darrin to speak some English too. He is insulted when he acts like he can’t. Samantha gets Endora to reverse the spell but she doesn’t do it completely. Darrin begins talking English but with an Italian accent. Of course Romani finds this even more insulting. Then Endora completes the spell reversal and Darrin covers by telling Romani he was deliberately mocking him to prove the point that the campaign they are offering him will not mock the Italian culture.

            Arcarius was played by Renzo Cesana, who was an actor and playwright in Rome before moving to the States. He created the radio programs Art Linkletter’s Party, Stop That Villain, and The Radio Hall of Fame. He wrote the songs “Buy a Bond for a Soldier for Christmas”, “Roses and Champagne”, “Don’t Be Afraid My Darling”, and “Halfway to the Stars”. He was best known as the seductive star of a TV series called The Continental, which has been parodied for years, most famously by Christopher Walken on Saturday Night Live. He opened his own advertizing agency. He co-wrote the Roberto Rossellini film Stromboli. He made two hit records in which he recited rather than sang the lyrics: “Walk the Lonesome Night” and “The Crime Scene”.

June 29, 1994: I hosted the last Fat Albert's open stage before the summer break

Thirty years ago today

            On Wednesday night was the last Fat Albert’s open stage before the summer break. Ray Peak was sick and so he asked me to host for him. My daughter was there and Tom Smarda brought Yukon. There were over fifty performers for me to introduce. When it was time for me to perform I screwed up one of my own songs.

Ruth McDevitt

           On Thursday morning I memorized the second verse of “Litanie en Lituanie” (Litany in Lithuania) by Serge Gainsbourg. That’s almost half the song since there are only two and a half verses left. 

            I weighed 88.85 kilos before breakfast. I moved some more photos from my main hard drive to the Samsung SSD. 

            I weighed 88.85 kilos before lunch, which is the heaviest I’ve been at midday since last Thursday. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and stopped at Freshco on my way back. The grapes and cherries were on sale. I checked my phone to see if they were cheaper elsewhere but they weren’t. I got three bags of grapes, two bags of cherries, a pack of strawberries, bananas, two packs of five-year-old cheddar, a tub of margarine, and a jar of salsa. 

            I weighed 88.45 kilos at 17:40.

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:52. 

            I reviewed the song practice video of my performances of “The Wooden Leg” and “La jambe de bois” from August 10 to 15 of last year. On August 10 and 12 I played “The Wooden Leg” on my Martin acoustic guitar. On August 10 the take at 25:00 was probably the best English version so far. On August 12 the take at 3:30 in part B wasn’t bad but the light was a bit washed out. On August 14 I played it on my Kramer electric guitar and the take at 9:15 in part B wasn’t bad and looked good. This is in Movie Maker. On August 11 and 15 I played “La jambe de bois” on the Martin. On August 11 the take at 6:30 in part B wasn’t bad. On August 15 the take at 5:45 in part B was okay and didn’t look bad. On August 13 I played it on the Kramer and the take in part B at 14:30 was not bad for the electric and it looked okay. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “The Next State of Grace” I needed a video clip of the first time I sing, “guess I’ll sit here and wait for the next state of grace”. I chose to copy it from the second take of the song in the video I shot on the street earlier this week. It was almost perfectly in synch where I pasted it in the main video. I only had to cut out a little bit to line it up. My next mission for this project is to find people on the street to sing the response to the above line. On the studio audio Brian Haddon sings the response but the only concert video of us doing that song is the one at the Riot Gallery in May, 1998 and unfortunately Brian had laryngitis that night and chose not to sing. So tomorrow evening maybe I’ll go out with my camera and walk around Parkdale to see if any people with interesting faces would be willing to sing “sit here and wait for the next state of grace” and “line up and wait for the next state of grace” three times each for $10. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a reheated T-bone steak while watching the third season finale of Bewitched. 

            In this story Samantha had promised to go shopping with her mother but then Darrin came down with a cold so now she can’t go. She goes out to get a hot water bottle for him and leaves her mother to take care of Tabitha. But while Samantha is out, Endora decides to call on the family witch doctor, Dr. Bombay to cure Darrin so Samantha can go shopping. Darrin is expecting a house call from a doctor and just assumes that Bombay is that physician. Bombay has never treated a human before but gives Darrin a bottle of pills. He says antibiotics only bore a cold to death but if he takes one of his pills his cold will be cured instantly. He does so and it works so that Darrin feels great. Then his boss Larry, who is also fighting a cold comes by. Darrin gives him one of the pills and his cold instantly goes away as well. Larry believes they are about to become millionaires and plans to start marketing this remedy. He promises Bombay money but warlocks don’t need it. However when he promises him fame Bombay gives in and allows the pills to be marketed with his name and picture on them. Darrin and Larry arrange a meeting with their pharmaceuticals client Mr. Hornbeck and offer him a partnership to market the pills. Hornbeck also has a cold but after taking a pill he’s in. But then Samantha informs Darrin that Bombay is a witch doctor. That’s enough to make him stop the deal but then the side effect kicks in and Darrin suddenly gets an extremely high voice. Samantha goes to get an antidote from Bombay and comes back with more pills to lower his voice. But they cause him to lose his voice all together. Then Larry and Hornbeck both get high voices. Samantha arrives at the office with champagne from Dr. Bombay. It fixes their voices but reinfects them all with colds. Later Hornbeck returns and says he still wants to market Bombay’s cure. When they ask why he takes off his hat to reveal that Bombay’s pills cured his baldness. 

            After the show I fell asleep on the couch for at least half an hour and woke up a little confused. 

            I had coffee while watching the fourth season premier of Bewitched. 

            Ticheba the Queen of witches comes to visit Samantha. She announces that she is abdicating the throne and that she has chosen Samantha as her replacement. Samantha refuses at first but Endora reminds her that she does not have that option. Samantha tells Darrin that it’s a great honour and it means a lot to her. She was among the witches chosen at birth as a possible queen and she has no choice if she is selected. Darrin gives in. That night at the coven Samantha is made queen. She promises to preserve, protect and defend the laws of witchdom but adds, “Only after midnight” because of her duties during the day as a wife and mother. The next night Darrin wakes up at 3:00 when a raven comes to his bed and asks for an audience with the queen. She’s already giving audience to several others downstairs. Apparently Ticheba had a short fuse and turned several of her subjects into animals and objects. She tells the raven to tell his friends that she will pardon them tomorrow but not before twelve. In a mix-up of the twelve hour clock they all show up at noon while Darrin is having a client over for lunch. While Darrin and Samantha are arguing in the kitchen the doorbell rings and the client answers. A chair comes walking in and then a lamp and so the client cancels his contract. Darrin tells Samantha to abdicate but she says she can’t for at least a year. Darrin goes to a bar and reflects on the situation. He comes home and sees all of what were previously animals and objects leaving his house as people. The raven is a guy in a loud checkered sport coat. Samantha tells Darrin no one has ever resigned from the crown but she will. Darrin tells her she doesn’t need to because he wants to accept who she is.

            Ticheba was played by Ruth McDevitt, who was born in 1895. Although she studied drama when younger she gave it up when she got married. But when she was thirty nine years old her husband died and she got back into local theatre. In 1940 she went to New York and got work acting on Broadway and on the radio. During the war she played Jane Channing on the radio soap opera "This Life Is Mine." She made her film debut in 1951 in The Guy Who Came Back. In the 50s she worked on television and played Mom Peepers on "Mr. Peepers" and a sharp shooting granny on "Pistols and Petticoats." She played advice columnist Emily Cowles on "Kolchak the Night Stalker."

June 28, 1994: I was preparing for the first anniversary of the Gumby Bible group poem

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday night Michelle didn’t come to my Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy writers open stage at the Gladstone Hotel. She had told me the day before at breakfast that she wouldn’t be there for a while because work was getting very intense. I was planning the first anniversary reading of the Gumby Bible group poem but I was delaying the event so she could be there when it happened.

Anita Dobson

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the fourth verse of “S'il pleauvait des larmes” (If it Would Rain Tears) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the first verse of “Litanie en Lituanie” (Litany in Lithuania) by Serge Gainsbourg. I revised my translation based on a better understanding of the rhythm. 

            I weighed 89.15 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since June 16. 

            In the late morning I took an early bike ride because I wanted to stop at Steve’s music on the way back to buy or order the Boss FV-50H volume pedal. As I was riding west on Richmond someone called my name. He was sitting across the street with a couple of other people. I stopped and looked at him without recognition yet but he spoke to me again about knowing me and so I crossed over. As I approached I still didn’t recognize him but I did recognize one of the other guys, who was my next building neighbour Taro. When the guy reminded me that we were in Children’s Literature class a few years ago I remembered Brian McAffey. I’d also heard him sing Irish songs at the Tranzac open stage around that time. He asked about U of T and I told him that I graduated on Tuesday after sixteen years of going part time. He remembered that I didn’t pay for my courses and he said, “That’s class!” He’s working as a bike courier and I guess that’s how he knew Taro. He said he plans on moving to Ireland because he’s done with Canada. He says Ireland knows how to honour culture. I think Ireland is far less diverse than Canada and so it’s easier to honour a singular culture. He said if you’re Irish they’ll pay you to live in the western part of the country. When I looked this up I saw that Ireland will give grants of up to $92000 to people willing to move to the remote islands that are suffering from an aging population and a diminishing young population. It says nothing about having to be Irish though. He said he wrote a Celtic children’s book based on Frankenstein and inspired by our Children’s Literature course. 

            I stopped at Steve’s Music and bought the Boss FV-50H volume pedal. It was new but I guess it had been there for so long the guy behind the counter had to dust and clean it off. It cost $158.19 after tax but that’s cheaper than the $171.44 I paid Amazon for the one they lost and had to refund.

            I weighed 88.35 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar lemon iced tea. 

            I weighed 88.3 kilos at 16:30.

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:30. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “The Wooden Leg” and “La jambe de bois” from August 4 to 9 of last year. On August 4 and 8 I played “The Wooden Leg” on my Kramer electric guitar. On August 4 there was some lyric fumbling and traffic noise. On August 8 it was okay but the light was not good. On August 5 and 9 I played “La jambe de bois” on my Martin acoustic guitar. On August 5 it was okay but the video went a bit out of focus at one point. On August 9 the take at 1:45 in part B was not bad and it looked good. On August 7 I played it on the Kramer but it didn’t sound great and the camera was out of focus. So far the take of “La jambe de bois” on August 9 is the best and there are no good takes of “The Wooden Leg”. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “The Next State of Grace” I synchronized the concert video with the studio audio for my line “I’ve got no ambition and that’s a disgrace”. Then I shaved a bit out of the concert video so it would line up with the audio when I sing, “Guess I’ll sit here and wait for the next state of grace”. I was successful but at this point the camera had moved back to show both myself and Brian Haddon and so it’s harder to see what I’m singing. I decided I will go back to the recent videos I made on the street. I isolated the three times when I sing “Guess I’ll sit here and wait for the next state of grace”. Tomorrow I’ll decide which one I’ll use. 

            The recording I made yesterday from cassette to MP3 was successful. The tape from 1997 contains an interview with me on the Howl radio show, a rehearsal with Brian Haddon of my song “Sixteen Tons of Dogma” and a bit of a song by Donna Bartkiw. I copied it to my main hard drive and renamed it. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sourdough bread with Basilica sauce, two sliced chicken kebabs and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching the 14th season finale of Doctor Who. 

            We left off last time with Susan Twist revealed to be an avatar of Suteck the god of death. She has already turned one person to dust and now she is reaching for the Doctor when Mel pulls him away from her. Susan blows on her hand and sends a dust storm around the TV studio that begins turning everyone to dust. The Doctor and Mel escape and he rides the back of her scooter to unit. At unit another avatar blows the same dust and everyone there also crumbles. The dust storm rolls through London with Mel’s scooter just ahead. 

            Mrs. Flood is at Ruby’s house having been asked to look after Ruby’s adopted grandmother Cherry. But then she says to Cherry, “Tell your maker I will come to storm down his gates of gold and seize his kingdom in my true name”. But then the dust comes and they too die. The Doctor and Mel arrive with the Tardis to pick up Rose in the time window at Unit. The remembered Tardis is still there and the Doctor enters to see that Tardis is much smaller on the inside and cluttered like a storage shed with objects from previous adventures. The Doctor grabs the TV screen that has been playing the VHS tape of the day of Ruby’s birth. He tells Ruby that the Tardis remembered is feeding off her and so she must remember harder because memory is a time machine. Meanwhile Suteck and one of his avatars has control of the other Tardis. The Doctor says that he had previously sent Suteck to his own death in the time vortex. But Suteck explains that he clung to the Tardis and so for all these years he has been the Doctor’s invisible companion. He says now the Tardis will be his altar and the temple of his empire. Every place the Tardis visited Suteck planted the seeds of death in the form of versions of Susan Twist.. The Doctor, Mel and Ruby enter the remembered Tardis and it works. They fly above the Earth where one can see the dust of death sweeping across the planet. The Doctor runs a cable from the control panel of the Tardis. He says it’s a molecular bond and an intelligent rope. He says the TV screen is holding the Tardis together. The Tardis casts a field around itself of 68.7 meters. That explains why in the earlier story Ruby’s older self was always exactly that distance away. The whole of time and space is dying.

            Meanwhile Suteck is tortured by the mystery of Ruby Sunday. 

            The Doctor finds one of the last living people and asks for a piece of metal. She gives him a spoon before turning to dust. He plugs the spoon into the TV screen that is powering the remembered Tardis to create real energy. Suteck only looks Egyptian because of cultural appropriation. Ruby asks why Suteck appeared on Ruby Road and when she asks the question Suteck appears on the TV screen. The Doctor observes that the time window is still connected to Ruby’s memories. When Suteck landed with Tardis that night in 2004 he saw the one thing beyond his comprehension, Ruby’s mother. Meanwhile Suteck speaks in Melanie’s mind and turns her into one of his avatars. 

            Another memory appears on the screen. That of Roger Ap Gwilliam the most dangerous prime minister in history. But Rose doesn’t know how she remembers him since that reality was erased. The Doctor remembers that Gwilliam brought in DNA testing throughout the UK. That means that in 2046 they can find Ruby’s mother. They arrive at the Department of Health. The Doctor extracts some of Ruby’s DNA and feeds it into the system. It begins to snow in the office. Mel has been taken over by Suteck and demands the name of Ruby’s mother. They are teleported before Suteck. Suteck starts killing the Doctor but Ruby says she will give him the name if he lets the Doctor go. She holds the screen out and walks towards Suteck. She extends the screen towards him and then deliberately lets it fall to smash on the floor. While Suteck is in shock Ruby hooks one end of the intelligent rope onto him. The Doctor blows a whistle that pulls switches inside the Tardis. It shoots away from Suteck’s grasp and the Doctor and Ruby go inside with the other end of the rope. They hook it to the underside of the Tardis’s control panel and then take off into the vortex pulling Suteck through time and space. Since all of the places that Suteck visited are now dead, the Doctor now takes Suteck to all of them. In bringing death to death he brings life. The dust reverses itself and everything comes back to life. The Doctor cuts the cord and sends Suteck into the vortex where he burns up and dies. 

            Kate Lethbridge-Stewart gives Susan Twist a job at UNIT. 

            Ruby’s mother is revealed and her name is Louise Miller. She was 15 at the time of Ruby’s birth and so was the father. She’s now a nurse and very ordinary. She was important because we thought she was important just like all historical figures. When she pointed in the video she wasn’t pointing at the Doctor but at the sign post that said “Ruby Road”. She was naming her daughter. 

            The Doctor takes Ruby to a café where her mother is having coffee. He advises her not to make contact but Ruby steps in and reveals herself. They have a tearful reunion. Louise comes to visit Ruby’s home and connects with Carla and Cherry. Ruby then makes contact with her father. She has too many things to catch up with and can no longer travel with the Doctor. 

            At the end we see Mrs. Flood in the snow on the roof of Ruby’s home, dressed in white fur with a white hood and holding a white umbrella. She carries a suitcase as she addresses the fourth wall and says, “And that’s how the story of the church on Ruby Road comes to an end with a very happy ending for little Ruby Sunday. But life goes on doesn’t it? Ruthlessly. And what happens you might wonder to that mysterious traveller in time and space known as the Doctor? I’m sorry to say his story ends in absolute terror.” Then she smiles and says, “Night night!” 

            Mrs. Flood was played by Anita Dobson, who left school at 16. She modeled and taught singing and tap dancing. She joined an amateur drama troupe. She went to drama school and then toured with repertory companies for several years, with the occasional job on TV. She played Angie Watts on Eastenders from 1985 to 1988. She has been married to Brian May of the band Queen for more than 35 years. She is also a singer and in 1986 she was in the UK top five with the song Anyone Can Fall in Love. She starred in the sitcom Split Ends. She co-starred in the film London Road.

June 27, 1994: Michelle invited me to breakfast in the Beaches

Thirty years ago today 

            On Monday Michelle called and invited me to breakfast in the Beaches. We talked and I really enjoyed her company again.

Christian Christian B.A.

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the third verse of “S'il pleauvait des larmes” (If it Would Rain Tears) by Boris Vian. 

            I uploaded “Des Ils et des Elles” (Of Hes and of Shes) by Serge Gainsbourg to my Christian’s Translations blog. I edited and published it, then posted my translation on Facebook. There are 23 Gainsbourg songs left to learn, and I’ll start memorizing his “Litanie en Lituanie” (Litany in Lithuania) tomorrow. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio during song practice. 

            I weighed 88.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I rode downtown for an early bike ride because today was the first day I could pick up my diploma from the University of Toronto. I rode to Yonge and Bloor, then south to College, and west to King’s College Circle and Simcoe Hall. We were instructed online to enter at the back doors on Galbraith Road, probably because of the ongoing pro-Palestine protest at the front. There was security at the Galbraith door but those coming for their diplomas were greeted by a woman who checked our student cards and then directed us through the doors. The first thing I did was use the washroom that I found on the way. At the end of the hall a student greeted me and also wanted to see my T card, but that was so he would know my name. I waited in line at the turn of another hallway. The guy came out and handed my diploma to another student at a table in front of the Convocation office. She found my name on a list and had me sign my name next to it, then she handed me my diploma and said, “Congratulations”. The other student also said, “Congratulations” as I passed. My diploma was in a big envelope supported by cardboard. The laptop pocket of my backpack was just big enough to fit it without bending it. My diploma reads: “This is to certify that Christian Christian has fulfilled the requirements of the University of Toronto and has been admitted under the authority of the Governing Council of the University of Toronto to the degree of Honours Bachelor of Arts”. Not bad for a high school dropout. 

            I weighed 88.6 kilos before lunch. 

            I took a siesta. 

            I weighed 88.55 kilos at 16:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:00. 

            In the Movie Maker project for my electric performance of “The Post Colonial Breakdown” I slightly tweaked the synchronization of the audio and video. I established an ending and cut out everything after. I added a fade to black and a threshold effect that made it look like how I remember acid trips. I published the movie and then uploaded it to You Tube. That finishes all the acoustic and electric videos I wanted to make for “Mamadou” and my translation. I’ll eliminate those songs from my daily practice and add “Quand j’aurais du vent dans ma crane” and “When I Will Have the Wind in My Hollow Skull”. Tomorrow I’ll start reviewing the videos of my song practice performances of “La jambe de bois” and “The Wooden Leg” to find which ones of those I’ll upload to YouTube. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “The Next State of Grace” I imported the videos I shot of myself singing the song on the street a couple of days ago. I placed them both at the end of the timeline. Then in the main video I cut out bits of the concert video to synchronize it with the studio audio for my line, “Oh when oh when will I ever learn”. Then it goes out of synch again for the line, “I can’t get to heaven with wheels that don’t turn”. I then went to the street videos and isolated the three times I sing that line. The last one looked the best so I copied it and pasted it into the main video. By magical coincidence it was perfectly in synch with the studio audio. 

            I uploaded to YouTube the still video I made of my June 22, 1994 performance at the Fat Albert’s open stage. I added it to my June 22 blog post. Then I made a digital recording of another one of my cassette tapes. This has a rehearsal with Brian Haddon of my song “Sixteen Tons of Dogma” and an interview with me on the Howl radio show. 

            I grilled two T-bone steaks and had one with a potato while watching the series finale of Star Trek: Discovery. 

            Burnham wakes up inside the structure that contains the Progenitors’ technology. There is a long bridge leading to a bright light and either side of the bridge is lined with windows leading to other worlds. She touches one of the windows and gets sucked off the bridge and down into a rocky stormy world where the wind is so strong it blows the rocks around. She is attacked by one of the Breen soldiers that got sucked inside the portal earlier. She tells him they can help each other but he won’t listen so she knocks him into an abyss. She has a virtual computer with her that determines when the next gust is, then she jumps and rides it to catch the edge of the bridge and climb back up. Then she’s attacked by the other Breen but Mol kills him. Mol has a bad wound in her leg and Burnham tosses her a dermal regenerator. She persuades her to lower her weapon so they can work together. But shortly after that Burnham attacks Mol and they have a long fight on the bridge and through various windows to other worlds. Burnham promises her she’ll do everything in her power to bring L’ak back. Burnham discovers that life can materialize spontaneously in this place beyond time and space. The technology is the whole place. They approach a centre disk. A table materializes and several triangles appear. Burnham quotes the phrase she learned while acquiring the last clue, “Build the shape of the one between the many”. Burnham hears Book communicating with her from the shuttle and she tries to connect. But while she is distracted Mol knocks her out. Mol organizes the triangles into one triangle but the energy fills her, paralyzes her and causes violent explosions within the portal and without, potentially damaging one of the blackholes. Book’s shuttle tries to lock onto the portal but can’t. Culber suddenly gives him calculations that allow it to be done. He is a doctor but is accessing knowledge of physics from his melding of consciousness with the physicist Janile on Trill. It works but the shuttle only has enough power to keep the portal out of the blackhole but not to pull it back to Discovery. Burnham regains consciousness and pulls Mol free. Then she arranges the triangles with a triangle of negative space in the middle. She is transported to a different version of the same place where she is and meets one of the Progenitors who tells her she’s been waiting for her. She says she died billions of years ago but their minds can communicate in this space. Burnham asks about bringing L’ak back to life and she says a new being can be created that would be genetically identical to La’k but would have none of his memories. She says they didn’t create the technology but found it here. They used it to create life throughout the galaxy but don’t know where it came from. She says Burnham will become the technology’s steward. Burnham says she’s imperfect but the Progenitor says we all are. Burnham says she needs to think about it. The Progenitor returns her to her own present and says she can choose to come back to train as the technology’s steward later. 

            Meanwhile Discovery is trying to get close enough to the portal to catch it with a tractor beam. Then forty Breen fighters arrive. Rayner first tries to evade them but then decides they have to fight them before saving the portal. Book asks for a shuttle so he can try to save Michael. Dr. Culber says he’ll go with him. The shuttle leaves. Tilly has the idea to lure the Breen fighters into the plasma region then double back and ignite the plasma. It works but then the Breen dreadnought arrives. Rayner wants to know if the spore drive can cause another ship to jump. First Stamets says it’s impossible but then figures it out with Adira’s help. They quantum entangle the spores and separate them. They separate the saucer and secondary hull of Discovery and position them on either side of the dreadnought then jump and send the dreadnought so far away it will take twenty years to return. 

            Saru is in a shuttle with Nahn and they intercept Primarch Taran’s fleet to convince her to not try to recruit the late Primarch Ruhn’s soldiers because it could result in war with the Federation. He offers her alternative means of achieving the Breen throne. She turns around. 

            Book beams Burnham and Mol onto the shuttle. Then they all get back to Discovery with the portal. But Burnham says they need to let the portal go into a blackhole because no one should be able to use it. She somehow convinces all the Federation that her decision is the right one. That’s just such a weak conclusion to this quest. They knew from the start that they were seeking the power of creation but when they get it and realize that it’s the power of creation they say they can’t take responsibility for it. They could have figured that out in the first place and not looked for it. 

            Kovich is going to hire Mol as an operative. He also reveals that he is a time agent named Daniels. Saru and T’rina get married. Burnham and Book declare their love for one another and then flash forward twenty years. They’re married and have a son who is about to take command of his first starship. Burnham is taken to Discovery where she has a conversation with the sentient computer Zora and they leave the dock to travel to deep space and then just leave Discovery and Zora alone to wait for something. I guess this was meant to be a continuing story because that’s a dumb ending. 

            The Progenitor was played by Somkele Iyamah, who co-starred in The Wedding Party and The Arbitration. She starred in the Nigerian TV series Gidi Up. She manages her sister’s fashion brand Andrea Iyamah.

June 26, 1994: I took my daughter back to her mother in the evening

Thirty years ago today

            On Sunday it was a warm day so my daughter and I probably played with the hose in the back yard and then made our way to the playground or the beach. I think I took her back to her mother in the evening.

Patrick Kwok-Choon

            On Monday morning I memorized the second verse of “S'il pleauvait des larmes” (If it Would Rain Tears) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished working out the chords for “Des Ils et des Elles” (Of Hes and of Shes) by Serge Gainsbourg. I ran through singing the song in French and English. Tomorrow I’ll upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog.

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for last of four sessions. 

            I weighed 88.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            I moved several more photos from my main hard drive to my Samsung SSD. 

            I weighed 88.8 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I weighed 88.35 kilos at 17:00.

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:40.

            In the Movie Maker project for my electric performance of “The Post Colonial Breakdown” I synchronized the audio with the video. All that’s left to do now is establish a proper ending and cut out everything after that. Then I’ll add some effects and publish the movie. I might even have time tomorrow to upload it to YouTube. 

            I uploaded the videos I shot yesterday of myself playing “The Next State of Grace” on the street. They look pretty good but it was a very windy evening and so the microphone picked up a lot of loud flapping at moments. I don’t really need the camera audio for the video since in the Movie Maker project the camera audio will not be part of the movie. But from what audio did come through it would have been fun to have had it clean. The camera came with a wind screen so next time if I do something like this I’ll attach it. I tried to use Total Video Converter to convert the videos to WMV but that failed twice even though each time it went through the length of time that a conversion would take. I noticed during the processes that zero bytes were being converted but I thought the amount would show up in the end. It’s weird because it converts MP4 to WMV all the time. I tried converting to AVI WMV and it worked. 

            I opened the Movie Maker project for my audio performance at Fat Albert’s on June 22, 1994. Since Blogger won’t easily upload audio files I think converting it to a video format with pictures and sound is my best option. Yesterday I imported a photo of Angeline from my Samsung SSD into Movie Maker. I continuously copied the photo onto the timeline until it filled up the length of my performance of “Angeline”. For the second song “Wives of the Prophets” I imported a picture of my ex-girlfriend Victoria. But then I realized that I’d made a mistake to import the photos directly from the SSD because I don’t always have the SSD plugged into my computer. Since Movie Maker is on my PC any files I use have to always be connected to the computer. So I deleted the photos of Angeline and then copied the Angeline and Victoria photos back to my computer and imported them to Movie Maker. Then I learned that I don’t need to repeatedly paste a photo into the video timeline. I just have to grab the edge of the photo with the cursor and stretch it to where I want it to extend. The stretching is one of time and not image. I did that with both photos and then I published the movie. Tomorrow I might as well upload it to YouTube before adding it to my June 22 blog. 

            I had a potato with gravy and the last pieces (the wings and spine) from the chicken I roasted, while watching the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Discovery. 

            Primarch Tahal of the Breen has heard that Primarch Ruhn has been killed. She is on her way with her fleet to recruit Ruhn’s soldiers to bolster her claim to the throne. Saru informs Burnham of this while Discovery’s crew is repairing the ship before making the jump to claim the Progenitors’ technology. Everything is pretty much ready but the spore drive can only make an approximate jump without another ninety minutes of work. Burnham tells him they need to jump right away. They land in the appration disk of a black hole but can’t pull out because it’s a binary system of two black holes. They use the other black hole’s gravity to sling themselves out. The coordinates for the Progenitors’ technology is in the Lagrange point of the two black holes. Suddenly Ruhn’s dreadnought comes out of warp and grabs the structure with a tractor beam. Mol now has the object but Burnham has a clue to passing the final test, “Build the shape of the one between the many”. They have to figure out a way to beam the object out of the dreadnought. Adira suggests a transfer lock but they need to be on board the dreadnought to attach it. Burnham says they need two teams. They can fly a shuttle close to a gap in the shell coverage right at the exhaust port and beam aboard from there. Alpha team will go to the bridge to take down the ship’s shields. Bravo team will go to the shuttle bay to attach the transfer lock. Then they’ll beam both teams and the structure back to Discovery. Adira and Rhys are the Alpha team and Burnham and Book are the Beta. They come in disguised as Breen soldiers, who all look alike. 

            On the dreadnought Mol is in charge. The five pieces of the map that they stole from Discovery make one cylindrical object that serves as a key to open the structure. The structure opens and inside is white light. A soldier approaches the entrance and is sucked inside a dimensional gateway. They tether another soldier and send him in but he also disappears. 

            The two teams from Discovery beam onto the dreadnought. Burnham behaves like a Breen to get past interactions and challenges from other Breen warriors.

            Meanwhile Saru takes a shuttle to intercept Tahal’s fleet and persuade her not to go to Ruhn’s dreadnought. 

            On their way to the shuttle bay Burnham stops to communicate her feelings to Book. That doesn’t seem realistic in the middle of a mission. At the doorway to the shuttle bay an eye scan is required and so Burnham and Book have to take out the guards and use one of them for the eye scan. They need to take down the shields around the structure and so Book needs to distract an officer while Burnham does that. His distraction is to flirt. The missing guards are missed and so Mol calls for a full lockdown. On Discovery Rayner decides to try to distract the crew of the dreadnought so Burnham can finish her mission. The Breen think Discovery was destroyed but now it reveals itself. Burnham attaches the transport lock but the Breen open fire and Mol steps in to remove the lock. Rayner now plans to fly Discovery in to smash its way into the dreadnought’s shuttle bay, then they will beam the structure, Burnham and Book on board. Discovery advances firing. Stamets says they have to fly at full impulse, tilted down 35.2 degrees with modulating shields concentrated on the deflector dish they can pierce the containment field. Rayner calls for Adira to drop the shields. Rhys holds off the guards with martial arts until Discovery beams them out. Mol sees what is happening and jumps inside the structure with L’ak’s body in a portable pattern buffer. Burnham follows her. Discovery crashes through and the structure is sucked out into space. Discovery can’t reach it with a tractor beam. 

            Rhys is played by Canadian actor Patrick Kwok-Choon, who has a black belt in Krav Maga and a BA in Communication Studies. He then graduated from George Brown Theatre School. He starred as Ferdinand in a stage production of The Tempest. He was trained as a puppeteer. He co-starred in the series Open Heart.

June 25, 1994: My daughter and I went to the wading pool

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday I think I kept my daughter the whole day and then overnight again. It was a nice day so we probably went to the wading pool at Kew Gardens.

Elena Juatco

            On Sunday morning I sang along with two versions of “S'il pleauvait des larmes” (If it Would Rain Tears) by Boris Vian. Then I memorized the first verse. 

            I worked out the chords for the first two verses of “Des Ils et des Elles” (Of Hes and of Shes) by Serge Gainsbourg. That’s pretty much half the song. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the third of four sessions. 

            I weighed 87.75 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since June 9. 

            I moved more photos from my main hard drive to the Samsung SSD. I created folders for them as I went along, trying hard to figure out how to categorize some of them. 

            I weighed 88.75 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar lemon iced tea. 

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

            I weighed 87.75 kilos at 17:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:42. 

            I took my Martin acoustic guitar, my camera and my tripod out on the street to make a video of myself playing my song “The Next State of Grace”. I went across the street and set up the tripod at the east side of the front of the Dollarama under the canopy. I positioned the camera so it pointed northeast and so with me facing southwest I caught the late afternoon sun on my face while I sang. I haven’t played “The Next State of Grace” for years and so I fumbled a bit. I ran through the song three times and then packed up and went home. Tomorrow I’ll watch the video. 

            I weighed myself again at 18:23 and I was 88.2 kilos. That’s a half a kilo gain in an hour and a half even though the only weight I added was from drinking a glass of water. Obviously my digital scale fluctuates somewhat between weighings even though if I do multiple weighings in different positions at a given time the weight is always the same. 

            I uploaded the video of my electric performance of “Mamadou” to YouTube. Then I opened the Movie Maker project for my electric performance of “The Post Colonial Breakdown”. On the video timeline I cut out everything before the place where I want the video to begin. The audio is quite far behind the video and so next time I’ll get it synched with the video or close. 

            The MP3 file of Christian and the Lions performing at Fat Albert’s that Audacity couldn’t read yesterday even though it had read it before was successfully converted last night to WAV. The WAV file loaded into Audacity and I cut out everything but the two songs that I performed on June 22, 1994. Then I increased the overall volume and extracted the file. I tried to upload the audio to my blog post for that date but there’s no direct way to upload audio files onto blogger. It has to be done in the HTML and I don’t have the time to figure out how. I uploaded the file to Google Drive and followed instructions to copy the link and embed it but that involved manipulating the HTML as well. I decided that the easiest solution would be to load the file into Movie Maker and then just add two photographs to the video timeline and copy and paste over and over. I still need to do it for the second song. Blogger allows the uploading of videos directly from one’s computer and it should do the same for audio. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sourdough bread with Basilica sauce, two sliced chicken kebabs, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 5, episode 8 of Star Trek: Discovery. 

            Discovery arrives on the edge of the plasma storm called The Badlands that currently houses the Eternal Archive and Gallery. They are welcomed by a hologram of Archivist Hy’Rell. Discovery makes it through the plasma storm with some difficulty. The library’s scans detect a Quajon aboard and Hy’Rell asks that Book also beam down because they have a Quajon artifact they hope he will provide information about. Hy’rell leads Burnham to a reading room where the manuscript Labyrinth of the Mind is waiting for her. She opens it and finds in the middle at the centre of one of the pages a triangular button which she pushes. She is found unconscious by Book and Hy’Rell and can’t be revived. Burnham wakes up in a dreamlike space identical to the library but with someone who looks like Book acting as her guide. He tells her that her consciousness has been transported into a mindscape. A virtual space created from what her neural activity indicates to be the most important place in her life. He is a program that Dr. Derrex created and his appearance was generated from her subconscious. He warns her that if she is still in the mindscape when it shuts down she will die. She searches history books but finds nothing. It occurs to her that the library is in itself a labyrinth and she concludes that if she finds her way out she will find the clue. She navigates the maze but ends up where she started. The lights in the mindscape are getting dimmer. She begins to self analyze about her own identity crisis, her need to prove that she deserves what she has achieved, and her fear of failure. It makes her feel small, weak and ashamed. So this test was all about her ability to self reflect and she passed. That is such a weak solution! He tells her the clue is inside a crystal in viewing room 7. 

            In the real world Dr. Culber examines Burnham’s body and says that a nucleonic emitter is attached to her frontal lobe and running a program. Hy’Rell announces that a Breen ship has arrived at the library beacon. Hy’Rell appears before Primeach Rhul and he tells her to give him what he’s come for or he will destroy the library. She reminds him that there are several priceless Breen artifacts in the archive as well but he doesn’t care. There is mumbling amongst his soldiers in reaction to this. The Breen use shield tunneling technology to try to get their men inside. With Reno’s help Stamets and Adira figure out how to hack the Breen drill and temporarily stop it from working but before that some of the Breen got through. Book is wounded in a fire fight. 

            Burnham wakes up and they go to get the clue. They transport back to Discovery just as the Breen break through and fire. Rhul says if Discovery doesn’t hand over the clue he’ll destroy the archive. She says she’ll give him the clues if he swears a Terrgoon that he won’t destroy the archive. He agrees. Burnham has the map completed so they know where the Progenitors’ technology is and then she sends the map to Rhul. He then fires on Discovery. They jump away but create the illusion that their ship has been destroyed. With both sides in possession of the map all that Discovery has is a head start. Rhul orders the archive destroyed anyway. Mol confronts him about breaking his word and she has the sympathy of the soldiers. She disarms Rhul and kills him. The other soldiers rally around her with the goal of bringing La’k back to life with the Progenitors’ technology. 

            The Breen are the most boring race in Star Trek because they all look alike with nothing but helmets and tight suits. We can’t see their facial expressions and personalities. And then there’s the disappointing story with more therapy sessions like in past episodes and less quirky adventures.

            Hy’Rell was played by Canadian actor Elena Juatco, who at the age of 18 was a top six finalist on Canadian Idol. She played Dr. Scarlet McWhinnie in Open Heart. She released an album called Beyond This Line.

June 24, 1994: My daughter had a blast at the Sanctuary party

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday night the Sanctuary church had their summer party and dinner. I took my daughter and she had a blast playing with other kids until she fell asleep. I performed some of my songs with Steve Lowe but got cut off in the middle of one of them. Mary Milne drove us home.

Oded Fehr

            On Saturday morning I listened to three covers of “S'il pleauvait des larmes” (If it Would Rain Tears) by Boris Vian. Each singer arranges the verses slightly differently and one repeats several. I’ll probably go with the Juliet Greco arrangement but pick up the melody from one of the others. 

            I finished memorizing “Des Ils et des Elles” (Of Hes and of Shes) by Serge Gainsbourg. I searched for the chords but no one has posted them and so I worked them out for the intro and part of the first line. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of four sessions and had a great time. 

            I weighed 88.4 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since last Saturday. 

            Around midday I hitched up my bike trailer and headed down to No Frills. The grapes there are only $2.18 a kilo but I already used the No Frills flyer at Freshco to price match and so I have a shitload of grapes. I only got five bags. I also bought two backs of raspberries, bananas, cinnamon-raisin bread, a pork tenderloin, a pack of three chicken legs, Arm and Hammer toothpaste, Miss Vickie’s chips, and two containers of Siggis skyr. It’s now been a month and a half since they had their own PC brand of skyr, or maybe people snatch it all up before I get there. 

            It’s starting to feel convenient to shop with my bike trailer even though I have to take two trips to get both the bike and the trailer downstairs and upstairs. I would shop at Freshco with it as well if I didn’t tend to stop there on my way back from my bike ride downtown. I’m not going to haul the trailer all the way downtown and back. 

            When I got home I went back out to buy a six-pack of Creemore. I might have to get my next one at the Beer Store if they go on strike. 

            I canceled the Amazon order for the volume pedal. When I get my refund I’ll just find a store that has the model I want, even if it costs more. My time has value and with all the waiting I’ve done for that package I’ve spent the equivalent of three times the cost of the item. 

            I weighed 88.15 kilos before lunch. June 11 was the last time I was that light at midday. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back I stopped at the Penguin Pickup to claim my package of three Yorkville Studio One instrument cables from The Twelfth Fret. Penguin handles most of the carriers and I asked one of the guys which one has the most screw-ups. He said Canada Post and UPS. I’ve never had Canada Post fail to deliver a package. I assume that of all the carriers Canada Post and UPS carry more packages and so it would be just a statistical probability that they would have more mistakes. 

            I weighed 88 kilos at 17:12. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:15.

            In the Movie Maker project for my electric performance of “Mamadou” I synchronized the audio with the video. I set a proper ending and cut out everything that followed. I added a fade to black effect, a watercolour effect and the effect of cycling through the colour spectrum. I set the audio balance so there’s a touch of sound from the camera microphone and the rest from the Audacity recording. I published the movie and tomorrow I’ll upload it to YouTube. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “The Next State of Grace” I synchronized the concert video with the studio audio for when I sing “noodles to the shape of these words”. After that the first chorus begins and the video and audio go out of synch again. Next my plan is to take my guitar, my camera and my tripod out onto the street and shoot some videos of myself performing the song. Then I’ll try to synch parts of those videos to the studio audio for any moments when the concert video is out of line with the studio audio. 

            In Audacity I tried to open the Fat Albert’s MP3 in Audacity like I did a few days ago but this time Audacity claimed it couldn’t read it. I converted it to WAV in Cloud Convert. The conversion seems to have been successful but downloading the file will took hours. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sourdough bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 5, episode 6 of Star Trek: Discovery. 

            The SS Locker has captured Mol and L’ak but L’ak was severely wounded when he fell on a sharp object during his fight with Burnham. He is being treated in sickbay but Mol refuses to leave his side and so they are both in a containment field around his bio-bay. Commander Nahn returns as she is in charge of security on the Locker. She has confiscated Valek’s diary from Mol. Mol and L’ak are transported to sickbay on Discovery so Dr. Culber can treat L’ak. He's learned that the Breen regenerate in refrigeration and so he uses an old Breen refrigeration unit. It results in an improvement. Admiral Vance informs Burnham that the Breen have learned that Mol and L’ak are in Federation custody and they are sending a dreadnaught to claim the prisoners. Burnham figures out that the reason that the Breen has sent their most powerful ship is because L’ak is in the direct bloodline to the throne. Primarch Ruhn of the Breen wants L’ak to help secure his ascendance. Meanwhile Tilly and Adira are trying to find the next clue. A piece of metal found on Halem’no has a Betazoid inscription that reads, “Labyrinth of the Mind”. It is the title of a Betazoid manuscript by Dr. Marina Durex who was one of the scientists who worked with Valek. Zora the computer reveals that Commander Reno is a former antiquarian bookseller. Reno says the truth is she was a smuggler of old books. She says the metal plate might be a library card. There is an antiquarian library that travels through space. Since Betazoids are empaths and so is Book, Stamets gets him to read the library card. He says the library is near a plasma storm. Burnham uncovers that Rayner’s home planet was used for years as a Breen outpost and his entire family was killed. Another Primarch named Tahal controlled his planet. Primarch Ruhn beams onto Discovery with several men to demand the prisoners. According to Burnham’s plan President T’rina lies that they have an offer for L’ak from Primarch Ta’hal, who also wishes to claim the throne. Ruhn threatens to destroy the station but T’rina says he’s bluffing because he needs L’ak. Burnham says that if he attacks, Discovery is capable of immediate escape to Ta’hal. In sickbay L’ak injects himself with an overdose of one of the drugs he is being given. This causes Culber to drop the containment field and Mol begins fighting her way out. She takes out the guards and Culber and then has a fight with Nahn. Mol escapes sickbay. Because of his overdose L’ak’s lifesigns are failing. They need a Breen medic and so Burnham gets the Breen ship to supply one but the Primarch insists on being there as well. Book and Nahn locate Mol. He tells Mol about L’ak’s overdose and advises her not to miss her chance to be there with him. She goes back and L’ak dies in her arms. Roul wants to take L’ak’s body but Mol says she goes where he goes. She reveals a mark on her arm that indicates that she and L’ak were married. She promises Ruhl the Progenitors’ technology. She thinks it has the power to bring L’ak back to life. Ruhl tells Burnham that Mol is his price to avoid war. A decision is made against Book’s protests that the Federation will agree to let the Breen take Mol. She is beamed aboard the dreadnought and it leaves. Stamets, Tilly and Adira have determined that the next clue is in the Eternal Gallery and Archive. It changes location about every fifty years. It’s now in an area called the Badlands. 

            Admiral Vance is played by Oded Fehr, who was trained at the Old Vic Theatre School in England. He co-starred in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and Resident Evil: Extinction. He co-starred in the TV series Sleeper Cell, Presidio Med, and Blood and Treasure. He starred in the series UC: Undercover. He was the voice of Doctor Fate on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.