Nan Martin

            On Sunday morning I finished my initial translation of "Sans blague" (No Joke) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished working out the chords to "Lavabo" by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through the song in French. Then I worked on revising my translation. 

            There was a wicked rainstorm at the beginning of song practice and it was like night outside for about an hour longer than normal. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast, after finding a fresh battery for my scale. 

            Around midday, I read the translations of the Early Irish Lyrics in my Medieval Literature textbook. 

            I weighed 85.2 kilos before lunch. I had Breton crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride. It started to sprinkle around the time I got to Yonge and Bloor. The sprinkles turned to intermittent splashes around Yonge and Queen and then it started seriously raining at Queen and Bathurst. The rain stopped around Ossington but by then I was wet. 

            I weighed 84.8 kilos at 17:10. 

            I was caught up on my journal just before 18:00. 

            I read the essay prompt for our English in the World course and I think it might qualify for a Guinness world record as the longest essay prompt in history. I think that my interest in writing a paper on how English is used in Chiac fits mostly into the first of the eleven categories she lists. But maybe it's an alternative category that I need special permission to pursue, so I'll have to ask her. 

            I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching episode 25 of Ben Casey. 

            In this story, an apparently upper-class woman named Liza Bowers lives in a nice house in an upscale neighbourhood but seems to have no money. The maid from next door has just brought her some food out of charity when Liza takes a tumble down the stairs and is knocked unconscious. The first person she sees when she wakes up is Dr. Casey and she fixates on him as her personal physician.

            Meanwhile Casey's friend Dr. Ted Hoffman is behaving strangely and forgets to follow some instructions that Casey gave him. Casey is annoyed while everyone else recognizes that there is something wrong with Hoffman. After being placed in a room, Ted thinks that he might have polio since he didn't have the whole series of shots. But his symptoms don't fully fit polio and then it comes to light that he also forgot to get his tetanus vaccination and that is what he has. The serum is less effective after the infection but they use it and Casey also performs a tracheotomy. Things are scary for a while but if someone survives tetanus for four days they are usually in the clear. 

            Meanwhile Liza continues to tell stories of her world travels and social status. She says that her husband was a pilot and explorer whose plane crashed in the arctic. She claims that she is in a public ward rather than a private room because she dislikes being alone, but in reality, she is a charity case. It is discovered that she has a lump on her breast but she refuses a biopsy because she only wants to focus on beauty. 

            Then Casey is approached by Liza's husband Curt, who is not a pilot but a grade school math teacher who left her after her delusions became too difficult for him to deal with. He doesn't approach Liza because he doesn't want to upset her. Casey gets Curt to check on Liza's medical history and he discovers that she does indeed have breast cancer and needs surgery immediately. 

            Finally Curt does talk to Liza and unrealistically is able to talk her out of her fantasy world and into having the operation. 

            Liza was played by Nan Martin, who made her Broadway debut in 1950. Her first movie was "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" in 1956. She co-starred in "The Mugger" in 1958. She was nominated for a 1959 Tony Award for her role in "J.B." She co-starred in "For Love of Ivy" in 1968. She played Ali McGraw's mother in "Goodbye Columbus" and Freddie Kruger's mother in "Nightmare on Elm Street 3". She won a handful of awards for her work in theatre. On television, she was a regular on "Buck James", "Mr. Sunshine", and "The Drew Carey Show". 

            For the sixth night in a row, I didn't find any bedbugs. I don't have my fingers crossed but if I believed in that kind of magic, now would be the time to keep them crossed.

September 26, 1992: When I turned down Tom Phillips' dinner invitation he said he'd never ask me again

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday I arrived at Artists 25 with a big coffee from Second Cup. In the morning there were Tom Phillips and three other guys drawing me but, in the afternoon, it was only Tom. Apparently, most members preferred a two-one ratio of female to male models. Tom's hobby was buying broken electronics from lawn sales and fixing them. I arranged to buy an answering machine from him. He invited me to his place for dinner, and I was tempted but decided that I wanted to be alone. His strange reaction was to say he would never ask me again. 

            I went home and phoned Nancy because she'd wanted me to find out if she needed me to take care of the baby if she came downtown to shop, but she was sleeping when I called. 

            There was nothing much new on Telepersonals. A few people were curious about my ad but nothing big.

Wilfrid Hyde White

            On Saturday morning when I got up to pee at around 3:15 I turned the heat on. I went back to bed and got up at 5:00 as always. After yoga, I switched the heat off again because the place was probably going to stay warm until sunup. 

            I cut my song practice short and skipped a few other of my usual morning activities to finish my Saturday assignment for English in the World. I was finished and uploaded it at around 9:30: 

            Pidgin English and Social Media are a Match Made in Heaven Pidgin English is a simplified form of English with added elements from the local languages of former British colonies. Using English as a common base, Pidgin English is a way of bridging the language gaps between peoples, such as the speakers of over five hundred local languages in Nigeria. 

            This article by Nigerian journalist Lawrence Enyoghasu explains how Nigerian social media creates and causes the trending of pidgin English phrases as popular comic expressions. 

            Some of these are intentionally funny from the beginning, such as, "E shock you!" which is a line that originated from Nigerian comedian Broda Shaggi. He often uses the pidgin English phrase gleefully after answering a challenging question, “E shock you! You no know say I go know am!” It basically means, “It shocked you! You didn't know that I knew!” 

            But many of the pidgin expressions that become dominant on social media rise from non-comic origins and are popularized after being parodied on platforms such as TickTock and YouTube. One example of this is a statement that was first captured in a video interview of Alhaji Asari Dokubo, founder of the powerful militant Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, in which he criticized Biafran maverick entertainer and activist, Charly Boy. Charly Boy is a singer/songwriter, TV star, and Founder of “Our Mumu Don Do” (Roughly: We are done doing foolishness) social movement, which fights against political corruption. Charly Boy supports a united Nigeria and Dokubo advocates Biafran independence. Dokubo was responding in Pidgin English to Charly Boy's name-calling of supporters of the Biafran cause, and said, “You be mumu! You think say you dey wise?” This translates roughly as, "You are an idiot! Do you think people say you are wise?" 

            Nigerian social media have added to the widespread use of certain Pidgin English phrases that may have remained local otherwise. In doing so it also uses humour to soften the tensions caused by political conflicts within the nation. 

            Pidgin English and social media in Nigeria appear to be a marriage made in heaven. No doubt these internet platforms will continue to mine many more local phrases and generate them towards a united Nigerian lexicon. 

            https://www.sunnewsonline.com/how-trending-social-media-slangs-used-by-skit-makers-nigerians-emerged/ 

            I weighed 83.8 kilos before breakfast. I didn't feel that light but I took it. 

            In the late morning, I went down to Freshco where I bought four bags of grapes and the few good apples I could find. The apples are in bad shape this year. Maybe they are shipping the quality ones outside the country. I also got a pack of strawberries, a pack of three chicken legs, Bolognese sauce, white corn and black bean salsa, and a container of skyr. I looked for Arm and Hammer toothpaste but they didn't have any. I'll have to squeeze the tube I have for all its worth each time I brush before I go to Freshco on Thursday. 

            I weighed 84.4 kilos before lunch. In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. On Brock Avenue, I found two hard-cover books. One was Keith Richards' memoir Life, and the other was Neil Young's autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace. There were a lot of people out walking today. Maybe the cold weather last night made people feel they should get their walking in before winter sets in. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos at 17:15. That's the lowest my weight has been at that time in three weeks.

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:35. 

            I read a few more of the Exeter lyrics: "The Seafarer", "Deor", and "Wulf and Eadwacer". I also worked on trying to translate "The Wanderer" from Old English into a better version than the poem in the textbook. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching episode 24 of Ben Casey. 

            A well-traveled and successful elderly author named Jason Fletcher is admitted to the hospital to undergo tests. He had a stroke five months before and now he is having fevers. 

            Meanwhile, a patient named Robert Stanton has just had successful surgery but he is in pain and also bitter over his wife having left him. They separated because he cheated on her but he is angry that she didn't forgive him. Melissa Stanton comes to see him but he tells her to go away. Stanton starts to develop a fever and Casey thinks it's meningitis. Stanton's body is rejecting all the antibiotics and so Casey orders a rare experimental drug. 

            Fletcher develops a fever and it is found that he also needs the same drug. The problem is that there is only enough for one patient and so Casey has to choose which patient lives. Fletcher has donated a fortune to charities that have financed the education of hundreds of doctors and so some are advising Casey to choose Fletcher. 

            Both patients need to sign a release to receive the drug, and Stanton has already done so. Fletcher has the form ready to sign but he wants to talk with Casey first. He learns that Casey ordered the drug three days before Fletcher needed it and he concludes astutely that the drug had been meant for someone else. Fletcher refuses to sign the form. The drug is given to Stanton and Fletcher dies after it saves Stanton's life. 

            Fletcher was played by Wilfrid Hyde-White, who began performing on stage at the age of 19 and by 22 he was a star of the London stage. He made his first film in 1934 and in 1960 he starred in Two Way Stretch. From 1962 to 1965 he starred in the BBC radio comedy, "The Men From the Ministry." He played Goodfellow in the second season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. His most famous role was in 1964 when he played Colonel Pickering in "My Fair Lady." 

            I searched for bedbugs and for the fifth night in a row I didn't find any. 

            I finished reading the Exeter Lyrics.

September 25, 1992: The dominatrix called and asked me to come over

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday I woke up at around 8:30 when the phone rang, and it was Mistress. She wanted to meet me that evening but I was scheduled to get together with Mike Copping and so I turned her down. She said she'd call me early next week. I called Mike and work to plan our meeting, but he canceled on me. Damn! I should have gone to see the dom! What luck! I left a message with her service to tell her that I was free all weekend. I had breakfast with coffee. I worked at 12:40 at Central Technical School and afterward went to the Board of Education to pick up my cheque. I walked down to the Ontario College of Art and finally got a few bookings. They were only three or four sessions but at least my foot was back in the door.

Gina Gillespie

            On Friday morning it was down to seven degrees and I found myself unconsciously doing my yoga faster just to keep warm. I was tempted to turn the heat on but I knew it was going to warm up later and I thought having the furnace on would be uncomfortably hot. 

            I translated the third verse of "Sans blague" (No Joke) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked out the chords for the chorus and the third verse of "Lavabo" (Wash Basin) by Serge Gainsbourg. I might have the whole song done tomorrow but then I still have to revise my translation. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            From the late morning until lunchtime I did some reading for my Medieval Literature course. I read the old English poem-story Judith, based on the apocryphal Bible story about the woman who seduced and rendered drunk an Assyrian general before she cut off his head. She is celebrated as a hero for this action, even though if a man had done it, it would have been considered cowardly. 

            I read the 10th Century poem "The Wanderer" from the Exeter Book. It's basically about a homesick warrior. 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride and this time I wore my hoodie and my leather jacket. The hoody probably would have been enough to keep me warm though. Going down Yonge Street south from Dundas there was a long anti-fossil fuel protest march, with a couple of people carrying vegan signs. Certainly, we are moving towards non-dependence on fossil fuels but if we tried to do it suddenly I can't see how the world as we know it would not collapse. We would have to give up all air transport until I guess hydrogen-burning planes were developed. They stopped at Queen and I think they were getting ready to go west when I got ahead. 

            I weighed 84.7 kilos at 17:10. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:00. 

            I worked on my weekly English in the World project. This time we need to find a recent news article about an Outer Circle country. Outer circle countries are former British colonies in which English is still an official language alongside native languages. I found an article on how social media contributes to the development and popularization of pidgin English phrases. Here's what I have so far:

            Pidgin English is a simplified form of English with added elements from the local languages of former British colonies. Using English as a common base, Pidgin English is a way of bridging the language gaps between peoples, such as the speakers of over five hundred local languages in Nigeria.

            This article by Nigerian journalist Lawrence Enyoghasu explains how Nigerian social media creates and causes the trending of pidgin English phrases as popular comic expressions. 

            "E shock you!" is a line that originated with Nigerian comedian Broda Shaggi. He often uses the pidgin English phrase gleefully after answering a challenging question, “E shock you! You no know say I go know am!” It basically means, “It shocked you! You didn't know that I knew!” 

            The next expression was first captured in a video of Alhaji Asari Dokubo, founder of the militant Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, in which he criticized Charly Boy, Nigerian singer/songwriter, TV star, and Founder of “Our Mumu Don Do” social movement. Dokubo was responding in Pidgin English to Charly Boy's name-calling of supporters of the Biafran cause, and said, “You be mumu! You think say you dey wise?” This translates roughly as "You are an idiot! Do you think people say you are wise?" 

           

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of roast pork while watching episode 23 of Ben Casey. This story has three main guest characters when previously there had only been one or two. It's also the first time an African American character has appeared in the series. 

            A boxer named Gunner Garrison, who is on the fast track to the middleweight championship has a seizure after winning a fight. When he wakes up in the hospital he feels fine and refuses the tests that Casey recommends. Casey reminds Gunner that he is duty bound to report his lack of cooperation to the Athletic Commission but he ignores him. Later Gunner's manager tells the fighter that he can't box again until after he's taken the tests. 

            Meanwhile a little girl named Lucy is recovering from a successful surgery in the same ward as an elderly man named Lockerby who is recovering from spinal surgery that took away his pain but also his sense of touch. Lucy sees him grab a scalpel and try to kill himself. She screams just in time for Casey to stop him. Lucy is traumatized by the incident. 

            Gunner is placed in a room with Lockerby. The tests are performed and the result is that Gunner requires surgery and no matter whether he agrees to it or not he can never fight professionally again. Gunner's sister, whom he hasn't seen for eleven years, comes to see him and tells him that if he can't box anymore he could still come home and do athletic social work in the community. Lucy comes to visit Lockerby but he blames her for stopping him from ending his life. 

            Later, just after Gunner has been sedated in preparation for surgery, Lucy is about to be checked out but comes to say goodbye to Gunner. As his consciousness begins to wane he realizes that Lucy plans to give Lockerby the gift that he has been asking for. As Gunner is wheeled away he is groggily struggling to communicate to Casey what Lucy is planning. When Lockerby sees that Lucy is considering smothering him with a pillow he enthusiastically encourages her to do it. Gunner has now been wheeled into the elevator and the doors are about to close when he finally gets through to Casey about what Lucy plans to do. Casey rushes to Lockerby's room to find Lockerby's body still while Lucy weeps on his chest. But then he sees Lockerby's arm move around Lucy as he begins to comfort her. He explains that he couldn't let her do it because he realized he wanted to live after all. 

            Lucy was played by Gina Gillespie, who was discovered at the age of four by Alfred Hitchcock and appeared in one of the episodes that he produced of the TV series Suspicion. At seven she had small parts in the movies Andy Hardy Comes Home and The Lost Missile. At eight she played Tess Logan on the TV series Law of the Plainsman. At ten she starred as Pippi Longstocking in an episode of the TV series Shirley Temple's Storybook. She played the young version of Joan Crawford's character in flashback segments of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. She played the title character's younger sister Mimi in the 1964 sitcom Karen. She later became a lawyer. 

            I turned the heat on at around 22:00 just to warm up the place a bit and then turned it off at 23:00. 

            I searched for bedbugs and for the fourth night in a row I didn't find any.

September 24, 1992: I was becoming addicted to Telepersonals

Thirty years ago today

            I didn't see my daughter on Thursday. 

            I was getting addicted to Telepersonals and must have spent over $100 so far. I was thinking that maybe I should have just put another free ad in the Now Magazine personals. I seemed never to get my place all cleaned up. 

            In the evening I worked at Artists 25 and since it was their night for costumed poses I brought a sombrero, a blanket, and pants, but they just had me pose in my regular clothes.

Cliff Robertson

            On Thursday morning I translated the chorus of "Sans blague" (No Joke) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked out the chords for the intro and the first verse of "Lavabo" (Wash Basin) by Serge Gainsbourg. The set I found online claimed the only chord for the verses is E minor but I find the verse bursting with lots of chords. 

            I weighed 85.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            I read the two stories that are required reading for my English in the World class for next week. The first story is "Duty" by Mulk Raj Anand and it's about a cop who has no real interest in maintaining law and order but just takes on the job because it puts him one degree higher in status than a peasant. He falls asleep on the job and later beats someone for the rural equivalent of a traffic violation. 

            The second story is "No Sweetness Here" by Ama Ata Aidoo. The narrator is an educated African teacher who teaches in a traditional village that most of the inhabitants have never left. She seems more interested in local politics than in teaching, and while she leaves the school to witness a divorce, one of her students is killed by a snake. 

            I weighed 85.3 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown. It was cooler than yesterday and so I wore a long-sleeved shirt with the buttons done up. I thought it might be wise to carry my hoody in my backpack, but I planned on stopping at Freshco on the way home and so if I didn't need the hoody it would take up space for carrying groceries. I decided to leave the hoody at home but regretted it once I was underway. I would have been more comfortable wearing my leather jacket and my autumn gloves. 

            At Freshco I bought five bags of grapes, a pack of raspberries, a pack of blueberries, bananas, Cinnabon bread, kettle chips, three bags of skim milk, shaving gel, and Irish Spring soap. 

            I weighed 84.7 kilos at 17:45. That's the lightest I've been at that time in almost two weeks. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:00. 

            I read most of the rest of Beowulf, until just after the hero died from killing the dragon. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of pork while watching episode 22 of Ben Casey. 

            In this story, a Navajo boy named Johnny Eagle sells papers and runs errands for Casey. He has only recently come from the reservation and he is frightened of the city. He has crossed town three times with no problem but he believes his unlucky number is four and he has a panic attack every time he tries to go and pick up Casey's laundry. At the front desk of the hospital, a patient's few possessions are about to be bagged, and among the items, Johnny notices a medal with an eagle on it. He takes the medal because he thinks it might bring him luck. 

            Meanwhile, the owner of the medal is a very difficult but also charming new patient who gives the false name of Eddie Smith. Eddie refuses to give his medical history but it is obvious that he has had several back operations. Despite the fact that he is consistently giving the doctors a hard time, he is also always very upbeat. He is constantly flirting with Dr. Maggie Graham and tells her that he loves her. His main complaint is that the hospital has lost his Distinguished Service Medal, which was his good luck charm. When Casey learns about the DSM, since only a few are given out, he uses it to track down servicemen with Eddie's injuries and discovers his real identity. He is Lieutenant Colonel Edward Stanley Owensby, an ace pilot and a veteran of both WWII and Korea. Eddie agrees to tests but refuses to go under the knife. He says he's already had twelve surgeries and thirteen is his unlucky number.

            Johnny tries and fails again to go and pick up Casey's laundry. He confesses to Casey that he took Eddie's medal. Casey tells Johnny to return the medal to Eddie and when he does they become friends. They fly kites together from the hospital sun deck and Eddie inspires Johnny to want to become a pilot. 

            After the tests, Casey tells Eddie that his life depends upon one more surgery. Eddie asks what his odds are but Casey refuses to give them. Hoffman however tells Eddie he would bet on him. Eddie says the bet is twelve dozen roses and he makes Hoffman shake on it. When Eddie goes into surgery, Johnny ventures to face his fear and pick up Casey's laundry. He begins to panic but overcomes it and returns feeling like he can fly, only to learn that Eddie died in surgery. Casey tells Johnny that Eddie wanted him to have his distinguished service medal. The story ends with thirteen dozen roses arriving at the hospital for Maggie and Dr. Hoffman being charged $127. The card reads, "I win chum - Eddie."

            Eddie was played by Cliff Robertson, whose first film part was a supporting role in "Picnic" in 1955. He co-starred with Joan Crawford in Autumn Leaves in 1956. He co-starred in The Naked and the Dead, Gidget, The Big Show, Underworld USA, and The Interns. President Kennedy picked Robertson to play his younger self in "PT109". He co-starred in The Best Man, The Honey Pot, Too Late the Hero, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, and Obsession. He won an Academy Award for the title role in "Charly", based on the science fiction story "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. He directed and starred in "JW Coop" and "The Pilot". He played Hugh Hefner in "Star 80" and Uncle Ben in Spiderman. 

            I looked for bedbugs and didn't find any for the third night in a row. 

            I finished reading Beowulf for at least the fourth or fifth time. There's a lot of reading for the Medieval Literature course. As with Beowulf, I read a lot of it before but I need to read it all again and it's time-consuming.