My drunken, obstreperous younger brother roused so much reciprocated anger in me late last evening that I stormed away from him where we had been watching T.V. in the living room.
It was probably around 11:20 p.m., and I had been operating our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box to find the episodes of T.V. series we follow.
I closed down the Android TV Box and left him with the lousy fare we have available through our basic cable package ─ my brother is unable to operate the Android device for himself, even when he's sober.
And soon enough, I had gone to bed.
It took considerable effort to submerge the fury I was feeling, but I was never going to find sleep if I did not.
My wife was due home at some point after her long day working at her friend's Thai restaurant; but as typically occurs, she did not do so until into the a.m. hours.
My brother usually goes to bed around midnight when he is on his own in the living room, since there is little on T.V. to keep him occupied when I am not present to provide the sort of entertainment available through the Android TV Box.
Thus, he likely had already done so by the time my wife was home.
One of my stepsons had just arrived home as I was going to bed. I suspect that the other had already gone to bed himself.
They're aged 21 and 25.
I do not tend to sleep solidly. Rather, I do so in blocks of sleep with periods of wakefulness between.
I remember checking the time toward 1:30 a.m. and considering getting up to put some work into the post I have under construction at one of my six hosted websites, but I deemed myself in need of some further sleep.
I am unsure if my wife was then home.
My next period of consciousness was when she had come into the bedroom to begin preparing for bed, for she made considerable stir as she rummaged about.
When she finally did get into bed and turned off the bedside lamp, I peeked and saw that it was around 2:30 a.m. I managed to ease back into some sleep, for it was nearing 3:45 a.m. when next I checked the time.
That was when I rose.
I feel sometimes as if I am being driven mad by my four family members.
The previous night after I had risen to work on that website post, my wife was not yet home. Then she phoned me toward 2:00 a.m. to try and have me transfer $500 over to her account so that she could access the money ─ she was at a casino near where she works, and admittedly 'under the influence.'
She also claimed that she was by herself.
She definitely has a gambling problem. I expect that she has probably gambled away $100,000 or more over the past three years, ignoring the fact that we are deep in debt.
She had already once texted me quite a few months ago that I should just say no when she tries to get me to transfer money over to her late at night, so that was my position this time. But it was hard denying her, since I did not really know her position.
Fortunately, she did say that she needed the money because she had already lost a lot and needed the cash to win some of her money back.
When she disconnected us after my refusal, she almost immediately texted me:
Last time I promised I be back on hrs okI pay you back on 19
I replied:
You mean well, but we just can't afford to throw away that much money.You've done enough damage -- call it a night and just come home.
The she texted back:
Plz last one
And me:
Be good -- say goodbye and come home.Blame me if you have to.
She had already made me feel uneasy by saying that she was too drunk to just leave ─ she needed the money to occupy herself while she had some time to sober up a little.
The casino is probably 15 or 20 miles from here, and I had the fear gnawing at me that she would get knicked by the cops before she arrived safely home.
Anyway, her next text in response to my urging that she just come home:
No last one plzNo more promisedI never ask again
Then me:
Why wait?Never ask again starting right now....
I think that she gave me another call at this point. And there may even have been a third one before we were done.
Not getting satisfaction with her phonecall, she texted:
Last time from r sure I never promised yo anyoneAfter tonightI pay you back when I have my pay
My response:
That will only mean that you will have been paid $500 less than you are supposed to be paid.
Then her response:
Yea or noQuite late make up you mind
Was I somehow never clear?
So I replied:
A great big "No."
And that was the last of our exchange.
I had been planning on trying for a lengthy plank later into the a.m., but with her on her way home, I felt that I had best tackle it sooner than intended.
When I plank, I try to slow-count to 500 before I start checking my cellphone's stopwatch 'app.'
With good luck, by the time I reach 500 and log back into my cellphone, as many as 10 minutes may have passed.
Well, I had just gotten to a count of 400 when my wife arrived home ─ I did not want that interruption, so I did my best not to be noticed in the darkened living room as she came into the house and turned on the kitchen light.
I had to stifle my usual groans and pained exhalations as I endured the final 100-count.
And when I checked the stopwatch 'app,' I still had the better part of a minute to go to reach the 11-minute target I had set for myself.
I did achieve it, and was also not noticed.
Afterward when I had some conversation with my contrite wife, she actually came to me for a long hug.
She knows she has a problem.
As for my younger brother, I have no desire to bore into an exploration of last evening.
As I believe I already said, it was something like 3:44 a.m. this morning when I rose to put in some work on that website post.
I eventually took a break shortly after 5:00 a.m. to attempt another 11-minute plank, but I became discouraged when after what I believed was a very slow 500-count, the stopwatch 'app' was again only approaching 10 minutes.
Perhaps the emotional drain of last evening's occurrence was also a factor.
Whatever the case, I gave it up a few seconds past the 10 minutes.
I can remember when 10 minutes seemed almost impossibly distant when I first began planking ─ maybe two months ago. Yet stopping at 10 minutes this a.m. made me feel inadequate of performance.
I guess much of that feeling has to do with the fact that with my 70th birthday not quite a month into the future, I have so little going for me.
It is why I am seriously considering not reaching a 71st birthday if my life's situation is not vastly improving in short order. I have been nursing that final choice for at least the past two years.
Hey, it's already after 8:00 p.m. ─ I want to be done with this post. Maybe I will even be able to get to bed early this evening if my brother is not home by 9:00 p.m.
My wife typically stays in Vancouver over the weekends, so I am not expecting her home tonight.
Such is my marriage.
Before I close, I just want to mention watching a very interesting movie with my brother late yesterday morning: In the Valley of Elah.
I thought that the title might have something to do with the current Middle East and the ongoing U.S. military conflicts over there ─ my Biblical knowledge has weakened over the years.
I was correct about the location in broadest terms, but I was way off in terms of the date of its relevance. It was apparently where young David slew the giant Goliath.
By the way ─ returning to the topic of planking for just a brief moment, that 11-minute plank of yesterday was (I believe) the sixth time that I have managed to hold out that long.
As I said, I only began planking maybe a couple of months ago.
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