June 23, 1992: I saw a place for $481, with living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, and windows facing south, so I applied

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday I looked at a couple of apartments. I found a really nice place at Kingston Rd and Victoria Park. It was only a little bigger than mine, but it had a much larger living room. The windows faced north but it was clean, with lots of plants, a washer, a dryer, and an enlarger. It would cost $625 a month with the hydro, and I told the guy I’d take it. But later I saw a place in an apartment building for $481, with a living room, dining room, bedroom, and kitchen. It had windows facing south but it was on the third floor and a long walk. I decided I wanted that place, so I filled out an application and got home in time for Star Trek. 

            I called Toronto Transit again about my collages, but no one had found them yet.

Jerry Dexter

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the second verse of “Shush shush Charlotte” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I video-recorded most of my song practice and audio recorded the whole thing. I tend to make less mistakes on the French songs than I do on my own. Every morning I practice my songs “Megaphor” and “Sixteen Tons of Dogma” and I usually have to start again a couple of times because of mistakes. I think some of my recordings of “Megaphor” may have turned out okay but the other song is longer and so there are more moving parts that can break down. I’ve certainly almost gotten it right at least once. Maybe when I review all these recordings I’ll find one version that is okay. 

            I recorded the audio in Ableton for the second session in a row, and this time I had no problem exporting the file. Ableton takes longer because it times through three processes before the export is complete. I’ve yet to listen and compare it with the recordings I’ve made with Audacity.

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I rescrubbed the area just to the left of the fridge. This time I also used the toothbrush-shaped steel brush that I’d bought last month, and that really helped a lot. I got most of the glue off and should get the rest tomorrow. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. It was a warm day but not extremely so.

            I weighed 84.5 kilos at 17:00. 

            Benji came to my door in the evening because he’d locked himself out again. It’s lucky that I keep his spare key for him. 

            I finished updating my journal at 18:43. 

            I uploaded the videos that I shot of this morning’s song practice. Skimming through them I saw that it took me more than ten minutes to get through my three-minute song “Megaphor” because I kept making mistakes. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of roast pork while watching another seven episodes of the 60s cartoon series Aquaman. 

            In the eighth story, from a poisonous pool on the ocean floor emerges a strange creature with one eye and two arm-like tentacles that shoot acid. The mindless creature heads towards Atlantis for no particular reason and also purposelessly stops from time to time to dissolve rocks and things with its acid. Aquaman has an octopus attack it and it sprays the creature with ink that neutralizes the acid it shoots. Aquaman ties it with seaweed and drops it back in the pool. 

            In story nine, somehow there is a cold-breathing dragon terrorizing the ocean. Aquaman throws balls of compressed water at the beast, then he spins around to create a water wall but the dragon freezes it and Aquaman is trapped inside. Aqualad gets him out, then the pair attack on the backs of swordfish, but the monster breathes an ice wall to protect it. The heroes swim to the surface but the dragon freezes the top of the ocean. Then it traps the pair in ice but Aquaman has a sawfish cut a hole so they drop back in the water. Aquaman puts the beast in a chokehold and knocks it out. Then they put it in the cave of an iceberg and Aquaman creates a wall of concentrated water so that when the dragon wakes up it breathes and freezes the wall, trapping itself inside. They then send the iceberg floating north so the dragon will stay frozen. 

            In story ten, the Mole men from beneath the sea send robot ships with drills in front to attack Atlantis. Also an Earthquake opens a crevice into which Aqualad falls, then the crevice begins to close on him until he is rescued by Aquaman. But Aquaman is stunned by an electric cannon and trapped. On a screen he meets Agnavar, king of the Molemen, who plans to take him back to be studied at the Earth’s core. But stupidly they’ve locked Aquaman in a room with torpedo tubes and so Aquaman escapes through one of them. Aquaman orders many large sea creatures to attack and they destroy over half of them. The Molemen decide to retreat and Aquaman lets them go. 

            In story eleven, Vassa, Queen of the Mermen attacks Atlantis with robot whale ships. Mera is trapped inside one of them. Aquaman tears the steel fins of the robot whale and it goes out of control with Mera inside, heading to crash. Aquaman pries open a hole in the hull and Mera escapes. Mera wants to help defend Atlantis but Aquaman orders her to the Aquacave. Vassa’s ships reach Atlantis and they fire shock rays that start to crack the dome. Aquaman commands several creatures to divert the robot whales. Aquaman destroys more of Vassa’s ships until she only has one. She orders it to ram the dome. But Aquaman hooks the ship with an anchor tied to a chain and pulls the ship back. He captures Vassa, but lets her go. 

            In story twelve Aquaman invents a stupid gun that can make microscopic creatures large. He winds up creating a menace when plankton grows into monsters. He has to trap them in a cave, but while he is doing that, Aqualad and the invention are captured by the Black Manta. Aquaman has a giant lobster destroy Manta’s ship’s gun. Then he has electrically charged torpedo rays somehow burn a hole in the steel hull of Manta’s ship so Aqualad can escape. Manta shoots Aquaman’s enlarging gun and every plankton in the area is enlarged. Manta escapes while the heroes fight the monsters. Aquaman has several creatures attack the plankton and discovers that the venom of stingrays causes the plankton to shrink back to normal. 

            In story thirteen, Aqualad is exploring a far region when he discovers an advanced city where he is captured by octopus men. The ruler of the Octomen kingdom traps Aqualad on a suction cup and says he will use him to lure Aquaman so he can learn the secret of communicating with sea creatures. Aquaman rescues Aqualad but is captured as well. Aquaman commands several sea creatures to help free him and then the Octomen release a giant Octoman made of electricity. Aquaman tells his sidekick to turn up the power and it causes the entire city to explode. 

            In story fourteen, Tusky the walrus leads Aquaman to a sunken galleon where they find it’s the hideout of the Torpedoman. Torpedoman attacks and Aquaman lassos him with seaweed but he breaks free. Torpedoman is fast and difficult to catch. Torpedoman throws harpoons but somehow they bounce off Aquaman’s dolphins. Aquaman finds the electric grid where Torpedoman charges his batteries and Torpedoman turns it on. Then Torpedoman charges towards them but they duck and he hits his own grid, which is electrocuting him. Aquaman has some electric fish absorb the electricity to save him. Torpedo man catches them in a metal net and then tries to knock the ship they are on off the sea cliff. Aquaman has a giant octopus lift the net off and then Torpedoman becomes wedged in the wrecked ship and falls over the cliff. There is an explosion and no trace of Torpedoman. 

            Aqualad was voiced by Jerry Dexter, who made a specialty of doing the voices of teenage boys in animated shows. He started out on radio and had a show called The Dexter Affair. He played Corporal Johnson on Gomer Pyle. Then he hosted a TV show called Good Day LA on KABC. His first cartoon voice was as Chuck on Shazzan. He voiced Gary Gulliver in The Adventures of Gulliver, Alan in Josie and the Pussycats, Ted in Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Hal in Sealab 2020, Biff in Fangface, Drac Junior in Drac Pack, and Sunfire in Spiderman and His Amazing Friends. 

            Before bed I did a search for bedbugs and dug one out of a groove in the plaster near the foot of the bed where they’ve made a nest in the past. It seems that since pest control came last week I find bedbugs every other day and they are concentrated on the wall near the foot of the bed whereas before they tended to hide around the old exit door at the head.

June 22, 1992: I’d lost again the copies of the collage that I’d gotten back from Toronto Transit

Thirty years ago today

            I found out on Monday that I’d lost again the copies of the collage that I’d bugged Toronto Transit about for so long before getting them back. I had the black and white copies, but I must have either dropped or mislaid the coloured ones on the way back from Kinkos. I called Kinkos to ask if I’d left them on the counter, but I hadn’t. I called the TTC, but they hadn’t been turned in. I called the Bell Trinity Centre, but they hadn’t found them there after I’d paid my phone bill. It was a good thing I’d made the copies from the original so I could at least continue my theme. 

            I didn’t look for a place today. I talked to my daughter on the phone, and I watched TV.

Marvin Miller

            On Monday morning I memorized the seventh verse of “Valse Dingue” (Mad Waltz) by Boris Vian. There’s just one verse to learn and then the song finishes with the repetition of a few lines. 

            I memorized the first verse of “Shush Shush Charlotte” by Serge Gainsbourg. When I sang my translation it made me cry. In the song he talks about how when Charlotte would cry when her diaper needed changing he would say, Shush Charlotte”, now when she’s in high school and she says, “Fuck, shit, I’m gonna be late” he says, “Shush Charlotte”, and then he talks about the future when he dies and how he doesn’t want her to cry then and so he says, “Shush Charlotte.” 

            I video-recorded most of my song practice and audio-recorded the whole thing. I recorded the audio in Ableton for the first time. The recording part was fine but then when I wanted to export the file I couldn’t see the option to do so. I tried clicking on everything to see if a menu would appear but there was nothing. Finally I saw an option to name the file and I did that. Then when I right-clicked on the name there was the option to open it in Windows Explorer. In Windows Explorer, I did a search for how to export from Ableton. People kept talking about the File tab, which I couldn’t find. I did a new search on finding the file tab and after a while, I found a post where somebody suggested to someone to press F11, and that did the trick. Apparently, I’d had Ableton on full screen and so the File toolbar didn’t show. 

            I was able to export the file but when I played it back it was extremely slow. So I had to do another search on how to speed it up. I eventually learned that in the upper left of the Ableton window I’d pressed Tap several times, which changed the speed. I remembered that the number up there had originally been 120 and so I changed it back, then I exported the file again and replaced the other one. This time it seemed to be fine. All this took me more than half an hour extra. 

            I weighed 85.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday, I re-scrubbed the area of the kitchen floor that I’d cleaned yesterday, and I was more satisfied with the result this time. 

            Then I started washing, brushing, and scraping the very dark area just to the left of the fridge. I got the black off but underneath is the residue of the glue that had once held down the tiles that I pulled up years ago. It’s going to take several sessions to get the glue off. 

            I weighed 85.2 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I weighed 85.1 kilos at 17:00. 

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

            I uploaded the videos that I'd shot of this morning’s song practice. 

            Yesterday I bookmarked a collection of YouTube clips of torture scenes from various movies and TV shows, and today I started looking through them. Some of them have people tied to beds with restraints and so I bookmarked some of those. I’ll finish looking tomorrow but so far I’m drawn to one from a Japanese film called “Welcome to the Quiet Room”. It’s minimal and not overly dramatized and I only need a few seconds of footage. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of roast pork while watching the first seven episodes of the Aquaman cartoon series from the 1960s. 

            In the first story, Aquaman’s arch-enemy Black Manta attacks using a remote-controlled whale. But Aquaman uses his telepathic power over sea creatures to make a hammerhead shark knock out the controlling antenna. Then Manta controls some seaweed to tie up Aquaman and Aqualad but then Aquaman controls a jellyfish to poison the plant. I don’t think that’s a thing. Then Aquaman has a face-to-face standoff with Manta but the villain jumps into a vortex and escapes. 

            In the second story, reptile creatures want to conquer Atlantis so they attack a vital power station that provides its power. They capture Aqualad but Aquaman rescues him. The lizard men escape in a tunnel and when Aquaman follows he discovers a subterranean world ruled by the reptile men. They capture him and tie him up out of the water because one hour out of the water will kill him. But Aqualad saves him. The reptile men attack with their electrical powers but Aquaman commands several sea creatures to attack the reptile men. Then Aquaman and Aqualad escape and seal off the tunnel to keep the reptile men below. 

            In the third story, Aquaman and his sidekick enter a cave to escape a volcanic eruption and discover an army of undersea Vikings that have been in suspended animation for centuries. They wake and their leader is Nepto who once threatened Atlantis before being buried by an Earthquake. Nepto uses energy beams from his trident to force the heroes into a cave and ceil it. Aquaman has a giant octopus move the rocks away to free them. Nepto threatens to break the dome that protects Atlantis but Aquaman stops him and his men and puts them in an Atlantean prison. 

            In the fourth story, aliens shoot fire from their ship because for some reason they want to convert the Earth’s oceans into deserts. The water is on fire but somehow Aquaman uses water to put it out. The ships try to set fire to the water again but Aquaman has jellyfish form a barrier to absorb the fire. I don’t think that’s a thing either. The ship descends to destroy Atlantis but Aquaman has dolphins divert the missiles. Then whales come and push the alien ship back up so hard that it is propelled into space. 

            In the fifth story, another race of aliens comes, this time to gather and shrink sea creatures for their collection. When Aquaman comes to investigate, his pet walrus Tusky is sucked into the ship and shrunk to the size of a toy. The aliens unshrink a Venusian sea serpent to attack Aquaman. Aquaman ties the monster up with tough seaweed. The aliens decide to take off but they still have Tusky and so Aquaman ties the ship with seaweed and somehow he, Aqualad, and their two motorbike-sized seahorses have the strength to pull the ship down. The aliens can’t live underwater and so they release Tusky and the other sea creatures and Aquaman lets them go. 

            In the sixth story, Mera is pulled down by a plant through a portal on the sea floor. Aquaman and Aqualad follow and below is another ocean ruled by Slag, who controls the plants of this world just as Aquaman controls the creatures of his. They are captured by plants and put in a pit where Aquaman faces a three-headed monster. Some of the creatures from above have wandered through the portal and are living below. Aquaman commands them to come and help him against the monster. Then he has his seahorses pull up the bars of the oublier. They rescue Mera and escape, then put a giant clam with teeth over the portal to guard it. 

            In the seventh story, a lava creature emerges from an undersea volcano. It throws fireballs and also creates a vortex but I guess Aquaman has dolphins create a counter vortex to stop it. Riding whales, Aquaman, and his sidekick knock boulders down and bury the creature. 

            Aquaman’s deep-sea voice was done by Marvin Miller, who started out as a radio announcer, most notably for The Whistler. He won Grammy Awards in 1965 and 1966 for recordings of some Dr. Seuss stories. In the movies he often played bad guys as in "Dead Reckoning", and "Blood on the Sun". He played Sleepy Parsons in "Deadline at Dawn" and Gusty in "Johnny Angel". He played Dr. Yat Fu in the short-lived TV series "Mysteries of Chinatown". He was the voice of Boris Badenov on "Rocky and Bullwinkle". He most famously played Michael Anthony on over 200 episodes of "The Millionaire".

            Before bed, I did my usual search for bedbugs and found none.

June 21, 1992: My daughter gave me the Father's Day present of walking for the first time on her own

Thirty years ago today

            On Sunday, Nancy called at around 9:30 to tell me that the baby was ready. She was just waiting for her sister Susan to get up so she could bring my daughter down to Warden Station. After going back to bed for a while I had a coffee and called my dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day. At 10:30 Nancy phoned to tell me they were on their way. After I picked her up, we went to the Old Orchard Hotel at Kingston Rd and Queen for the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. While we were there the baby started walking all over the place without hanging on to anything. It felt like she had given me a magical Father’s Day present. I carried her to Shoppers Drug Mart and discovered that one of her shoes was missing. I retraced my steps but nothing. We got on the streetcar, and I thought I saw it in the grass somewhere that we passed but my daughter was asleep by then and so we just went home. Later that evening, as I was taking the baby back to her mother, I found the shoe in a variety store on Queen, west of Woodbine.

Hawley Pratt

            On Sunday morning I finished posting my translation of “Juif et Dieu” (Jews and God) by Serge Gainsbourg. I listened once to his song “Shush Shush Charlotte” that he wrote for his daughter. I’ll start memorizing it tomorrow. 

            I video-recorded most of my song practice and audio-recorded all of it. I’ve been using Audacity for the audio recordings but starting tomorrow I’ll try Ableton for the rest of June. 

            I weighed 85.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I washed and scrubbed the area of the south side of the kitchen floor between the credenza and the big filing cabinet, and between the fridge and the wall. I got it a lot cleaner than it was but I think I’ll go over it again on Monday.

            I weighed 85.3 kilos before lunch. I also weighed 85.9. I got both numbers twice but figured the lower one was more logical. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. It was a little warmer than on Saturday. Bloor Street was closed off between Avenue Rd and Bay St because there was a religious event for car worshippers. 

            I weighed 85 kilos at 17:30. 

            I finished updating my journal at 18:15. 

            I uploaded the videos that I shot of my song practice this morning and skimmed through some of the songs. I think there are some renditions that might be worth sharing with the public. 

            I opened Ableton to make sure I know how to use it enough to record tomorrow’s song practice. It took a few minutes for me to figure it out because it seems there are two “record” buttons that need to be clicked. There’s one for each track and then the main one. I think I’ll be able to do it. 

            I noticed the heat was on even though it was 20 degrees outside. Maybe there’s something wrong with the thermostat. I checked and saw that it was off but it must have been on a few minutes before and that’s crazy. I've just kept the heat switched on on the thermostat throughout the spring because when the temperature was above 10 it didn't come on, but now I've switched it off. 

            I searched again for videos that show bed restraints. I found some but they aren’t the kind I want. There’s got to be something somewhere so I’ll keep looking. 

            I watched the rest of the animated series “The Ant and the Aardvark”. 

            In story nine a tiger owes Charlie the ant a favour because he pulled a thorn from his foot, so he keeps beating up the aardvark whenever he tries to eat Charlie. But then he gets another thorn and the aardvark pulls it out. The end shows the tiger helping the aardvark chase Charlie. This is the only episode that went the aardvark’s way. 

            In story ten the aardvark finds a can of chocolate covered ones that has fallen off a truck. But then the green aardvark wants the can as well and so they keep tricking each other to get it. While each one has it he also tries to find ways to open it, including dynamite. Finally, an ant finds the can and pulls the easy tab on top to open it. Inside, Charlie is alive and covered in chocolate. 

            In story eleven the aardvark cleverly eavesdrops on an exterminator’s office to intercept phone calls about ant infestations. Once he has the address he goes to the location, calls the exterminator to cancel and then tries to catch the ant, unsuccessfully of course.

            In story twelve a scientist captures Charlie and does some harmless studies. Meanwhile, the aardvark keeps sneaking in to grab the ant but the scientist protects him.

            In story thirteen the ant belongs to a lodge of forest creatures that defend their lodge brother from the aardvark. Tiny the elephant is especially protective. 

            In story fourteen a sudden snowfall is the obstacle the aardvark must overcome to catch the ant, but unsuccessfully of course. 

            In story fifteen the ant finds a jar of vitamin pills and takes ten, turning him into a super strong ant that can overpower the aardvark. Eventually the vitamins wear off and Charlie goes back to normal. The aardvark tries to stop him from getting more vitamins but he escapes on a vitamin truck. 

            In episode sixteen a termite helps Charlie fight the aardvark with his wood-eating abilities, such as chewing trees down on top of him. 

            The last story begins with the aardvark finally catching the ant but he’s in the middle of the road and they both get run over by a truck. Both the aardvark and the ant end up in hospital beds wearing casts with a vicious bulldog in a cast in the bed between them. The aardvark keeps trying to catch the ant but either the bulldog stops him or the elderly nurse does. After the casts come off the aardvark resumes chasing Charlie and catches him, only to be hit by a truck again. 

            The tiger and exterminator stories were written by Hawley Pratt, who first worked for Disney but moved to Warner Brothers after the 1941 Disney animators’ strike. With Friz Freling he co-created the Pink Panther, although some say it was entirely Pratt’s creation. He directed or co-directed all of the episodes of the Pink Panther Show. His “The Pink Blueprint” was nominated for an Oscar. He directed the TV movie The Cat in the Hat. He was the associate director and animator of the 1964 film The Incredible Mr. Limpet. He also served as an illustrator for several Little Golden Books. 

            Before bed, I searched for bedbugs and killed two babies on the wall near the foot of my bed.

June 20, 1992: I wanted to buy diapers but I was already carrying a costume and a case of beer so I just went home

            On Saturday I woke up at 6:21 and rushed to get ready to leave. I went to Union Station and bought a paper and a coffee, I caught the 7:43 GO Train to Oakville and then the bus to Sheridan College. I’d borrowed a hat from Nancy and brought along a costume because Warren had stressed that they wanted something exotic, but the instructor decided that it would be too difficult for her students to draw. I posed until 13:00 and then caught the GO Train back to Union. I wrote the above on the train. I bought a hot dog on Queen and caught the streetcar only as far as Leslie where I got off to buy beer. I got a case of Trapper Lager. I was going to buy diapers but after walking a long way, carrying the costume and the beer, when the streetcar finally came, I didn’t want to get off again. 

            I called Nancy to talk to my daughter. 

            I phoned and got three bookings for July at Central Tech. 

            I bought some cool ranch chips and sour cream and watched TV, but I dozed off on the couch and went to bed halfway through SNL.