I was not to have last evening and the T.V. to myself. Right around mid-evening as I awaited the commencement of the very first kickboxing bout in a better-than-two-hour Glory programme I had tuned in, I espied my brother's arrival outside.
Frantic and even furious, I switched off the T.V. and hustled upstairs after grabbing up the fare I had intended to dine upon during that first match.
The most likely reason he would be home on a Saturday evening would be that he and his girlfriend Bev got too drunk to be able to stand one another, so he brought his drunk self home to inflict upon me.
His usual Saturday routine is to spend the night at her home.
Well, I was not going to have it. I was not going to sit downstairs trying to enjoy T.V. with his loutish, besotted company.
Neither of my two stepsons were home, so he made it known that he was present, probably thinking that would cue me in to come downstairs to operate our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box so that he wouldn't have to settled for whatever lame fare he would have to locate on T.V. through its basic cable package.
He has no choice than to do that ─ he doesn't know how to operate the Android TV Box.
But I was inflexible. I remained here upstairs.
I ate the fare I had brought up here with me, and then got around to having a look downstairs into the living room because I had some waste for the compost bucket by the kitchen.
He was passed out with the only news channel we receive playing on T.V..
His oblivion cleared the way for me to come downstairs unnoticed to be rid of the waste, and then I came back upstairs.
I eventually heard those grating South Park voices, so I knew the channel had been changed as my now-conscious brother located some television entertainment his beer-enfeebled mentality would be able to handle.
I was finally into my bed ahead of 11:00 p.m.
As ever, my night was not sound, and my first block of sleep relatively short. I rose once in the wee a.m. just to turn on and log back into my computer to have it all loaded and warmed up for later use.
I usually try to give it about a half-hour to get set up, but often I will fall back asleep. I now cannot recall if that occurred or not. I am even unsure if it was nearing 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. when I did rise again to get to work on the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites.
No one else was up ─ often, my youngest stepson seems to sit up the entire night. However, after daybreak he surprised me with a morning greeting as he passed by this small room where I keep my computer ─ he was headed for the bathroom.
It seems he is now on a day shift, for not much after 7:00 a.m. he headed out the front door, and I heard him speaking to someone.
I came downstairs to look out the living room window and was in time to see a black car pulling away.
My assigned website post work was nearly finished for the day, so I returned here and accomplished that. And then maybe around 8:00 a.m. I returned to bed.
I was only in bed a couple of hours, but I did get a little further sleep. And when I emerged from my bedroom and went downstairs to fix up my day's second hot caffeinated beverage, I saw my younger brother sitting at the dining table with his coffee, and engrossed in the Sunday edition of The Province that I subscribe to.
I brought my own beverage back here to my computer. However, anon, my brother came upstairs and then shut himself into his bedroom ─ apparently he was seeking bedrest extra early. He generally retires to his room during the noon-hour to rest up before taking off for the afternoon and eventually starting his beer swilling all over again someplace, but it could not have been much beyond 10:30 a.m.
I had barely begun drinking my hot beverage.
This alarmed me ─ I wanted to get away to do some errands. I did not want him to have his rest early and be back out of his bedroom, expecting me to operate our Android TV Box for a couple or so hours until he felt like heading away.
I drank my beverage a little faster than I had intended to; and then I proceeded the protracted process of readying myself from scratch for the hike. My ultimate destination was to be Save-On-Foods (Google map) at least 1¼ miles away in Whalley.
The morning was cloudy, but there was to be a goodly amount of sunshine during the afternoon.
Rather to my delight, by the time I was all set to go, my brother had not yet stirred. I softly made my way downstairs in my boots; and at 12:17 p.m. I was away.
I had one stop to make about a mile from here at Surrey Place (Central City) ─ I wanted to drop off a letter at the post office that is operated by Pearl Photo.
After that, I did my shopping and also confirmed for myself that a scratch lottery ticket I had was a loser (as was I, of course). To my pleasure, the cashier I lined up for was the sweetheart who was so exceptionally helpful and friendly when I shopped early last Sunday.
Alas, yet again I forgot to check her name tag to see who she is.
My brother was of course gone by the time I was back home.
As I put away my purchases, I realized that I had forgotten two items that I had intended to buy, but this didn't amount to anything like an emergency.
Two things that I did buy were small bottles of both lavender essential oil and eucalyptus essential oil. I had also wanted peppermint essential oil, but the supply on shelf was exhausted.
I also bought a nasal spray comprised of 100% sea water.
I still need to buy some (preferably organic) sesame oil, and then I am going to try my hand at making my own nasya oil.
I have made this determination in the stead of ordering any nasya oil from Amazon Canada. I was inspired to this decision by this article at LolaRephann.com titled How To Make Your Own Nasya (Nasal Oil) Quickly And Cheaply.
I already have tea tree oil.
Lola's recipe doesn't mention lavender oil, but several essential oils can be used for nasya oils, and lavender oil is one of them.
Once I have the sesame oil, then I will use the nasal sea water spray ─ a Salinex product ─ to first assist in doing a thorough cleansing of nasal passageways and sinuses; and then I will use the nasya oil to coat my mucous membranes and related tissues with the antiseptic and protective oils.
I have read enough to understand that although many people may use neti pots and undergo similar treatments, not everyone also understands that the oils are essential to prevent the mucous membranes from drying out following the water / sea water cleansing.
Leaving these tissues exposed will only threaten them with violation by invasive microbes that will inevitably be breathed in.
But I am a neophyte in all of this ─ I have never undergone any such cleansing. I just choose not to bother with a neti pot.
It did not take too long after I was home before I began to flag ─ and as yet, I had eaten nothing today.
I stretched out on my bed and covered my eyes, and spent awhile so reposed. But I wanted to have some exercise out in the backyard tool-shed, even though I was feeling the rigours of my walk and the toting in each hand of a load of shopping.
I had to exercise before eating. Part of my routine out there involves some pull-ups and chin-ups, and those are best not tackled after a meal ─ or at least, that is my case. Meals tend to incapacitate me.
I must say, I did quite well with my exercises. Apparently I may have felt taxed from my errand; but it seemed to very much have made my physiology nicely attuned to the experience of prolonged physical activity. I didn't feel the usual 'shock' that I experience when I tackle an exercise session 'cold.'
Remember, I am 69 years old!
By the way, after getting back here I had a chat with my eldest stepson.
He and his younger brother were faced with potentially having to come up with a thousand dollars or more to help cover the monthly mortgage that might get debited from my chequing account tomorrow. The debit usually happens on the 22nd of each month, but it has been my experience that holidays seem to result in at least a day's delay in that debit ─ and tomorrow is Easter Monday.
Anyway, I had previously let him and his brother know that their mother had exhausted a line of credit the house had related to its mortgage ─ she blew through around $43,000 in credit in just over five months without me being aware.
And now our chequing account is getting hit with interest payments of over $230 a month ─ I had wondered why these interest payments were suddenly showing up earlier this year, and steadily growing larger.
By the time I figured it out and let the two brothers know, their mother had left to go to Thailand to visit her own mother.
A big conversation is due among the four of us after her return here to Canada.
The line of credit already had a used balance of over $17,000, so now that balance is over $60,000.
As I said, the monthly interest payments alone are now something over $230. This leaves me with no way to pay anything extra towards the actual debt itself, and I am at a loss on what to do.
Only a financial miracle can deliver me from this.
I had figured out that if those $230 interest payments were instead actual payments toward bringing down the debt, it would take 22 years to wipe it out.
By then, I would be into my 90s.
My wife has cursed and sentenced me to live here in this house until the day I die. Yet since at least the age of 14 back in 1964, I have longed to move from Surrey to an environment free of Man's God-awful developments.
I don't drive ─ I abhor city streets and all of the traffic. I hate seeing nothing but endless buildings in every direction.
I crave an environment where I can have privacy ─ somewhere in which I can set foot outside of my home and see no one else. I want to be able to walk in utter peace, meditating and communing with God if it is even possible anymore.
I would also like to be able to get outdoors and once more attempt to develop an exceptional ability I had for running and even cycling. I cannot do this with people everywhere privy to my every move.
I had surgery early in November 2010 to reattach my left leg's quadriceps tendon back onto my kneecap (patella), and I have never dared to expose myself to the public shame since then of trying to regain the ability to run.
I am also terrified to attempt to cycle with traffic as it is now in these parts.
So I had hoped to somehow be able to finally move away from here and be free at long, long last.
And now my wife has robbed me of that slim hope. I am sure most of the money was gambled away and spent partying, acting like a big shot with her Thai friends.
I have my 70th birthday coming in the Fall. I have made the determination that ─ barring that financial miracle ─ I do not have the heart to live through that year to a 71st birthday.
If this is the only life I am to ever know, then I would prefer to bring it to a close. My dreams ─ my very life ─ are an utterly failed experiment that never should have gone on this long.
As I type these words, I am not feeling particularly upset. But early this a.m. when I was working on that website post in the predawn, I was emotional for a long while, shedding many tears.
Hopelessness is the worst emotion a human being can feel.
I want to put this post to bed, but I have an article I would like to draw some attention to ─ it concerns itself with a condition that is known as orthorexia.
I find it difficult to accept that someone who is attentive and conscious about eating as properly as he or she can, could eventually be at risk of devolving into such a mentally sick state as orthorexia.
Have a look at the article and give it some thought for yourself:
LifeSpa.com
I finish with these three photos that were taken on February 25, 2018 when a niece of my wife got married. The photos were probably taken in the city of Udon Thani.
I can only identify the bride's mother in these photos ─ she is in the centre of the ladies being photographed, and is wearing the flower pined at her shoulder.
Her name is Lumpoon ─ she is one of my wife's two sisters.
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