Lisa Kirk

            On Thursday morning I memorized the first verse of “Et quand bien même” (And Even If) by Serge Gainsbourg. I made some adjustments to my translation based on getting a better sense of the rhythm. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of two sessions. Early in the morning the Amazon tracking on the delivery of my new digital scale changed from Friday to today between 14:45 and 22:00. 

            Around midday I took an early bike ride downtown so I could check out the external hard drives at Best Buy. The one terabyte Sandisk is slightly more expensive there than at Staples. The counter person wouldn’t commit himself to a preference between Sandisk and Samsung. Their two terabyte Samsung was $290. I think I have enough to go on now and I’m done with shopping research trips downtown. I’ve decided I don’t like the look of the Sandisk solid state drives. I’ll make a purchase on Amazon sometime soon maybe of a Samsung. 

            On the way home I stopped at Freshco where the raspberries were all moldy. They had cherries on sale for $4.14 a kilo so I bought seven bags. I also got bananas, five-year-old cheddar, a pack of ground beef, a box of spoon sized shredded wheat, a pack of Verona coffee, and a large pack of Sponge Towels. Katarina the cashier asked me how long it would take me to go through all of those cherries. I told her I’d probably be back early in the week for more. 

            When I got home the tracking for the delivery of my digital scale had changed to between 15:30 and 18:30. 

            The landlord has started renovating the apartment above me and small bits of plaster were falling down in my living room. He was throwing Caesar’s stuff down on the deck and for a while the fire exit was totally blocked. I took a siesta and slept a bit but there was a lot of noise above me. 

            When I got up the tracking for my package had changed to between 16:15 and 19:30. I was sitting right here at the computer with the windows wide open and when I checked tracking at 17:41 there was a notice that they’d attempted delivery at 17:31. I had been listening and constantly looking out the window. If anybody knocked downstairs it must have been a light tap. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:50. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Mamadou” and “The Post Colonial Breakdown” from August 29 to September 4. On August 29 and September 4 I played “Mamadou” on my Kramer electric guitar. On August 29 the take at 14:30 in part B was one of the best. The guitar sounded good and I looked good. On September 4 the take at 6:45 in part B was okay and looked good. On August 31 I played it on my Martin acoustic guitar and the take at 11:45 in Part B was okay. On September 1 I played “The Post Colonial Breakdown” on the Martin and the take at 9:00 in part B was okay and looked good. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Angeline” I added another clip from the movie Head of Mickey Dolenz sinking under water just before I sing, “I’ll just resign myself to falling Angeline”. I synchronized the concert video with the studio audio for “I’ll just resign myself to falling” but it goes out of synch again when I sing “Angeline” so I added another clip of Mickey sinking. Next I repeat “and since I can’t see the bottom with this tiny flashlight beam” and so tomorrow I’ll work on lining the video up with the audio for that part. 

            I tried to remember how I made my cassette to MP3 player work through my speakers but I couldn’t. I had to search back in my journal to when it first arrived to find out what solution I came up with. It took a while but I located the reference in my November 4 entry. I think I have to use one of my adaptor plugs for the interface and then plug the player’s headphone plug into the jack of the adaptor. I also have to move my audio plug from the back of the computer to the headphone jack of the interface. I didn’t have time to try it before dinner. 

            I had a large potato with a little gravy and a chicken leg while watching season 3, episodes 29 and 30 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Tabatha’s magical powers are getting stronger. She’s past levitation and can now make those she cares about appear before her. Darrin keeps trying to leave for work but Tabatha keeps popping him back into the nursery. Finally Samantha has to distract her while he gets away. But Tabatha displaying her powers is problematic because Darrin’s parents are coming to visit. Darrin gives Samantha permission to use witchcraft to conceal Tabatha’s powers. Samantha also asks for her mother’s help to achieve that purpose. But as usual Endora and Phyllis clash, especially over Endora’s dislike for Darrin. Endora also flirts with Darrin’s father Frank. Darrin calls and hears that Endora is there. He demands that Endora be gone before he gets home. Phyllis judges from Samantha’s tone that she and Darrin are arguing but Samantha denies it. Samantha is frustrated by these tensions and Endora thinks that Darrin made her cry. Samantha tries to tell her it’s not Darrin that made her cry but Endora casts a spell on Darrin to make it rain buckets only on him for every tear Samantha has shed. It starts in his office and so he is forced to go home early with the rain falling on him the whole time. He shows up outside the kitchen window and Samantha gets her mother to turn off the rain. He comes in through the back, changes and then comes home through the front door. Phyllis says she knows that Darrin and Samantha are having problems and that they are caused by Endora. She’s told that she is imagining it but she insists she is not. Samantha asks Phyllis to check on Tabatha. While she is in the nursery Samantha and Endora use witchcraft to cause Tabatha’s toys to move by themselves. Phyllis comes back downstairs admitting that she was imagining things. 

            In the second story Darrin is heading to work with some layouts for the Marushka Cosmetics account that he thinks will earn him a bonus that will allow him to afford to take Samantha to Bermuda. Endora doesn’t think Darrin is capable of impressing the client without her help. The Marushka representative Mr. Wilkerson is a buddy of Larry’s but Endora casts a spell on him to make him only be interested in Darrin and to dismiss Larry. Darrin comes home in a triumphant mood because he landed the account until he learns from Endora that she influenced Wilkerson. He now wants to withdraw from handling the account. But the next day at work Madame Marushka herself suddenly arrives, insisting on seeing Darrin. She says she refuses to deal with underlings and so if Darrin is to handle the Marushka account he must be made a partner in McMann and Tate. Darrin says no and tells her that if he is ever made a partner that should be Larry’s unforced decision. He declares to Larry that this is not Marushka and kicks her out of his office. Darrin goes home and accuses Endora of posing as Marushka. Samantha informs him that her mother was with her all morning. Then Larry calls to tell Darrin he’s fired. Darrin thinks that Marushka needs to at least see his layouts before she cancels her contract with McMann and Tate. She agrees to look at them but says they stink. Later there is a full page ad in the newspaper for Marushka Lipstick using Darrin’s layouts. It turns out that Samantha used witchcraft to put the layouts in the paper. Darrin is ready to separate from Samantha but then Larry comes to tell him that Madame Marushka’a lipstick has doubled its profits because of the ads. Now she wants to sign a contract for them to handle her complete line. 

            Madame Marushka was played by Lisa Kirk, who was a law student at the University of Pittsburgh but quit when she was offered a spot in the chorus line of the Versailles nightclub in Manhattan. She studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village. She made her Broadway debut playing Emily in the original production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Allegro. She starred in the original production of Kiss Me Kate on Broadway and introduced the songs “Why Can’t You Behave” and “I’m Always True to You in My Fashion”. Her only feature film work was dubbing Rosalind Russell’s singing voice in Gypsy. She had a nightclub act that appeared in the top spots of New York. She made a number of recordings. She was married to Robert Wells who co-wrote “The Christmas Song” with Mel Torme.