The Latest Dramas

My younger brother arrived home last evening before the 8:30 p.m. curfew that I presently have for him and which he knows nothing of. If he is not home by then from wherever he has been drinking, then I will hie to bed as soon as I recognize that he is arriving home. I will not sit up with him and operate our Android TV Box to locate episodes of some of the T.V. series we follow.

Since he got home before his curfew, I was resigned to sitting up.

The first series we of late have been watching on those evenings in which we do watch T.V. is Shadowhunters. My brother pays little attention to it in the evenings, often finding other things to do for extended periods of time ─ to my considerable annoyance. We are probably over half way through the final season, so I think from this point I am going to save the episodes for occasional daytime viewing when he has his sobriety and wits to be able to focus on the show.

Last evening midway through the episode I had tuned in ("Beati Bellicosi"), he decided to go outside and assist my eldest stepson who had been mowing the lawns ─ there seemed an issue with the mower.

He never returned until the episode was nigh done. Had it finished before he had come back into the house, I had intended on going to bed once it was over with.

The next show I tuned in is one he very much enjoys ─ Banshee. Specifically, it was an episode titled "Armies of One" in season two.

By this time my brother's inebriation was such that he was constantly erupting into unwanted and ruinous commentary and failing to follow conversations by the characters. I always try to ignore his comments because responding to any will encourage him to keep blabbing on.

Then he must have felt an overriding need to talk with someone so he rose and went into the kitchen where my youngest stepson was cooking something. This occurred just prior to a recurring character ─ young Jason Hood ─ being horrendously murdered. My brother saw none of this. He remained in the kitchen for the remainder of the episode droning on about firearms and hunting with my youngest stepson and then his older brother who eventually joined them.

My brother had even produced at least one of his rifles to show off.

When the episode concluded and he was still involved in his drunken bluster in the kitchen, I went to bed. It was at least 10:10 p.m. ─ maybe even 10:20 p.m.

My brother had essentially wasted that episode, and I have no intention on filling him in about any of it.

Unfortunately for me, I had just finished a can of strong (8% alcohol) beer, for I had believed that I would still be up for the next show we would have watched, episodes of which can be an hour or more in length (sans any commercials).

I had a terrible time finding sleep. I was probably also anticipating that my wife would be arriving home at any time following her long day working at her friend's Thai restaurant.

(She never did come home last night, but will after work this evening.)

I may well have still been awake when my brother finally went to bed ─ it was really quite awful just fruitlessly laying there in bed trying to be comfortable and not being able to do anything more than to just striving to relax and at least rest.

Of course, in time sleep did arrive. But around 3:15 a.m. or 3:20 a.m., I rose to put work into the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites, and I remained up until a little after 6:00 a.m.

Some further poor sleep; then around 9:00 a.m. I rose once more. It was not easy, though ─ I felt so infernally sleepy.

I never went downstairs to join my brother at the T.V. until 10:00 a.m. to put our Android TV Box into action at his invitation. However, I had a different sort of video in mind than the usual fiction we consume ─ a video I learned of in a June 27 article at Mercola.com. The article was titled Nurse on the Frontlines of COVID-19 Shares Her Experience.

My brother initially groused at this feature, but he soon became immersed into Nurse Erin Marie Olszewski's painful recollections of her very recent time working at New York City's Elmhurst Hospital Center.

I suppose that it helped that she is remarkably attractive to look at. Nonetheless, her apparent passion and integrity converted me ─ I would want this nurse on my side anytime I ever fell seriously ill.

Anyway, we watched T.V. until around 1:00 p.m., and then my brother sought some bed rest. I soon sought my own nap. Without it, I did not feel that I would be capable of confronting the day's scheduled exercising session out in the backyard tool shed.

There would be no sunning for me, however. It rained for awhile in the morning, and remained overcast pretty much all day.

I wasn't abed much over an hour, and rose to the sound of a lawnmower at work outside. I soon found that it was my brother ─ the machine kicked into life after his second try, I thereafter learned.

I took these eight photos of him ─ candidly, through the living room window, between 2:15 p.m. to 2:17 p.m.:

I took that many because I was not sure that they were all good ─ I had thought that my hands shook excessively on a few of the shots.

I suppose that he left for the afternoon well ahead of 3:00 p.m., and I then tackled my exercising, although I honestly wasn't exactly fired up about it.

While I was out in the shed, it had started lightly raining again.

Leading up to that, my wife had been texting with me concerning the annual property taxes that are due July 2. She kept asking me how much I need so that she can enlist her two sons who live here rent-free.

I kept replying that my monthly pension money had been deposited on Friday, so I didn't "need" anything ─ I can pay our share (my brother pays half). However, that would mean that I would have hardly any pension left by the time the monthly mortgage was due July 21st.

She finally phoned me. I'm supposed to initiate a conversation with her eldest son, but he already knows about the taxes ─ I gave him a list earlier this month of the amounts we were facing for the annual home insurance (June 14), the mortgage (June 21), and the upcoming property taxes.

I got help with the home insurance, but no one offered any help with the mortgage payment.

I'm not going to initiate a conversation with him. As I said, I can pay my share. But then the two lads are going to have to pretty much cover the mortgage later in July, for I'll essentially be skint by then.

She said she would be home this evening (she normally spends most of her time somewhere in Vancouver ─ such is our sorry marriage). Perhaps she will be home most of the day tomorrow if she doesn't have to work.

If my brother isn't here before 8:30 p.m. this evening, I'll be going to bed early to avoid him. Any conversations with my wife may well have to await the morrow.

What a crappy life I've got.

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A Better Day (Than Yesterday)

My younger brother was home ahead of 8;00 p.m. last evening ─ I never actually heard him arrive home and come into the house, however. I only heard the T.V. operating ─ no one else would have turned it on. I was busily engaged in the pursuit of iniquity.

Achieved, I was then to sit up in operation of our Android TV Box to locate an episode each of three of the T.V. series that we follow. I even had a can of regular-strength (5.5% alcohol) beer, resisting thoughts of having a second.

And it was shortly after 11:30 p.m. by the time I was into my bed.

I rose fairly early in the a.m. to work on the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites ─ perhaps it was 4:30 a.m. or soon thereafter. I wasted little time with the website work in achieving my targetted quantity of content, and I was back in bed shortly after 6:00 p.m.

I napped in successive blocks, probably checking the time on three different occasions before finally rising just ahead of 9:00 a.m. My brother was downstairs watching T.V., but I had myself a bath before doing aught else ─ I wanted the remainder of my day to be cleared from the obligation.

As well, I hoped to sun in the afternoon, and I wanted the bath already behind me ─ the skin produces vitamin D from the Sun for as long as a couple of days following exposure to the proper Sun's rays, and I of late only bathe every four days.

To have bathed following my sunbath would have probably rinsed off the surface cholesterol involved in this conversion of the Sun's rays into vitamin D and thus mostly terminated the process. Thus, better to have a morning bath before any sunbathing.

I had a movie in mind for my brother and I once I joined him for T.V. at 10:00 a.m. ─ it turned out to be a wonderful choice. The movie was 2015's Saoirse Ronan feature Brooklyn. My brother is not much of a fan of her movies, but this one clearly held his attention. As well, we both love so-called historical dramas.

We actually watched T.V. unusually long before he sought some bed rest ere leaving for the afternoon. In fact, once he was into his room and I had changed into a pair of gym-style shorts and gone out into the backyard to sun, my start never began until two or three minutes beyond 2:00 p.m.

Challenged for time, I settled for just over 40 minutes while lounging low in a lawn- or deckchair and facing into the Sun. There would be no sunning of my back this time.

Alas, my brother must have been too anxious to do some weed-whacking in order to get away to involve himself in his daily drinking ─ he came out to where I was after I was barely half done my sunning, and began the intrusive chore.

After I came into the house, I took three candid photos through the living room window of him at work in the front yard ─ it was several minutes after 3:00 p.m.:

While I was seated here at my computer having my first meal of the day, he got on his way. Since he had only been in his bedroom for 20 minutes or so to rest before he became too anxious about performing the weed-whacking, I expect that he will be in poor shape this evening.

But whether I will manage to get to bed early this evening remains to be discovered ─ he will need to fail arriving home by 8;30 p.m. Or if he does show up earlier, then I will forsake him if he falls unconscious while we are watching any of our shows.

So we shall see.

It is now nearly 7:00 p.m., and I still have my day's scheduled exercising to tackle. I must close out this post here.

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💀☠💀☠💀☠ Some Self-Assessing

It may bother me somewhat to grocery-shop Saturday mornings ─ the day I deem to be the true Sabbath; but I am only able to shop early Saturdays and Sundays because I have limited liberty here in my own home.

And since I do not drive and have to walk, I am never assured that I will be capable of venturing forth on Sunday ─ such was the case today. Thus, had I not shopped early yesterday, I would be lacking today. Nothing at all would have been accomplished this weekend.

My younger brother arrived home relatively early last evening ─ not too much after 8:00 p.m. Had he not gotten home by 8:30 p.m. from wherever he was drinking, I would have avoided him and gone to bed early.

But since he did make it home ahead of that time, I willingly sat up and operated our Android TV Box, locating an episode each of three of the T.V. series we follow. Over the course of the evening, I also indulged in two cans of beer (5.5% alcohol).

Apparently I am too unpracticed where drinking matters. I felt perfectly well when I retired around 11:30 p.m. or so, but I was into a head-based hangover when I struggled to rise around 5;30 a.m.

I felt like I had hardly gotten any sleep. Nonetheless, I rose to put work into the post I have on the go at one of my six hosted websites.

The plan had been that I would try and get away early to a government liquor store ─ one 2½ miles from here opens at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday now, while the other that is two miles from here opens at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays.

I realized that I was far too under the weather for any such venture. In fact, I returned to bed twice before the noon hour and napped.

How can this be? How can two cans of barely above average-strength beer hit me like that? I cannot imagine there to be any other cause for this malaise.

I even had to bed down again around 3:44 p.m., although I am unsure if I actually managed to nap on that occasion. I definitely rested, however.

There is just one more weekend before the arrival of my younger brother's 68th birthday, so I must ensure that I make it our next Saturday morning to buy him his birthday booze, a gifting tradition that he and I have. I just cannot rely that I will be capable of the undertaking on Sunday.

The morning had been quite overcast, but the afternoon was gloriously sunny, even if I was not up to it. I did, however, do some sunning. Beginning at 1:22 p.m., I first put in just over a half hour sunning my back; and then I put in just over another half hour sunning my front.

All I wore were a pair of gym-style shorts.

Alas, there was to be absolutely no physical activity for me today. I suppose that it is as a consequence of my fell state of being today that I have nothing within me for the task of exercising of any kind.

My vision has been very concerning today, too ─ I feel so limited. My eyes are in bad condition as it is, but today they seem especially so. Only one eye is in anything like useful condition anyway ─ the other is so damaged that I was told back around 1997 that it is qualified as being legally blind.

This was according to a physician giving me a physical examination.

It occurred to me today that if by an accident I lost the use of my better eye, then I cannot imagine continuing with life.

I hate being so damned constrained and helpless. I have familial obligations that I would that I did not have. Had I never gotten involved with the woman who became my wife in 2005, and I was still single today, then I would be free to end myself at my choosing.

But I am only of economic or financial value to her while living due to the full total of my monthly pensions. If I died, she would probably be lucky to clear $500 a month from that point as my widow. I am unsure if she would even clear $400. As it is, she still works ─ in a Thai restaurant belonging to a friend of hers.

She is only 47 years old, and will never have her own pension beyond that of CPP and ─ at the age of 65 ─ OASP. She has no pension plan of her own devising.

At least with me alive, I clear something over $2,300 a month when my three pensions are taken into account. Her standard of living would plummet without me alive.

I also feel some obligation to my two stepsons, even though one is 22 years old and the other 25 years old. Heck, even my brother benefits in economic terms from me being alive.

Had I never gotten involved with the woman who became my wife, she and her two sons would not be in any equation that relates to me. Only my brother would suffer ─ but only in an emotional degree ─ at my loss.

I damned well hate being in this vulnerable position.

Curiously, toward that potential end, of late I have been thinking about purchasing something like an MP3 player ─ perhaps one solar-powered. Then I could accumulate a suicide hit list ─ a library of as many of the songs from my young adulthood that awaken within me today exquisitely painful reminiscence of a time of my life when I had such hopes and dreams and potential.

When the time came that I needed to bring an end, I would have the musical accompaniment to take with me far removed from home where I could perhaps get good and drunk and profoundly emotional, and then bring on that self termination. 

I want to stop this post. All else I have to say is that early this morning when I was boiling water for a black instant coffee, I noticed at least two raccoons in the back yard. Squawking crows had alerted me to the critters' presence.

I had nothing at hand with which to photograph or videotape them, so I hustled upstairs to retrieve my cellphone ─ the entire errand would have taken well under 30 seconds. Maybe even less than 15 seconds.

Yet upon returning downstairs, there was no sign of them ─ they had almost miraculously vanished.

This is the sort of fortune that attends my pointless life.

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Heavy Whipping Cream at Last!

I got in the planned shopping expedition this morning that I spoke of in yesterday's blog post. I got away possibly as late as 6:15 a.m., and was probably back home around 8:30 a.m.

It was a successful trip, for I was finally able to find in stock the litre-sized heavy whipping cream that is my preferred creamer for my delicious hot caffeinated beverages. Two of these cartons can be acquired for $3.59 apiece, whereas a single carton costs $5.58 ─ so I only ever buy two of them.

Of course I'm speaking of the Real Canadian Superstore ─ no other store that I know of sells heavy whipping cream for anything near that $3.59 price. In fact, every store that I know of charges well above $5.00 a litre ─ there are no reductions for buying two of the litres.

Since I live in Surrey and do not drive, I had to walk. And the nearest outlet location (Google map) was a round trip of 5.625 miles. However, I got turned about while cutting through a forested area via trails, and ended up adding almost another half mile to the walk.

I was even caught in a heavy passing rain shower a little more than a mile into that trip, but there were sunny breaks by the tail end of my trip home.

I actually went to buy a 3-kg pail of creamed honey (cheaper by $1.00 than the same size of liquid honey) ─ the cream was just going to be a huge bonus if any was put out on the shelves in the dairy section. Last Saturday early morning I had trekked to the store and only found one litre available, so I bought none. Then the following morning (Sunday), I travelled to another outlet that's a six-mile round trip hike from here, and that store had none whatsoever.

Thus this morning, the honey was my ostensible reason for the trip, even though I already have two such pails in stock here at home.

Hey, I need some reason to get me out on these weekend hikes! 

I am never sure that I will be able to undergo these ventures, for I tend to sleep most ill.

Last evening I was able to be into my bed within five minutes past the hour of 9:00 p.m., for my younger brother had only just gotten home.

He had actually come home around 8:20 p.m., but he had left his cellphone at the home of his girlfriend Bev, and he needed it for this morning ─ he is participating in a mandated Responsible Driver Program arising from being caught drunk driving.

Normally there is an 8-hr programme and a 16-hr programme that he would have had to attend in a group environment. But fortunately for him: "In compliance with advice from government health offices, we have suspended all in-person sessions. However, we have been authorized to provide the program remotely on a temporary basis to avoid service disruptions."

So he has to have his one-on-one sessions with a specialist performed over the phone. I don't know which of the two programmes he's obligated to participate in, though.

Anyway, last evening he had to drive back to Bev's home ─ a trifle more than two miles from here.

Had he been able to remain home, I would have sat up with him to watch an episode each of three of the T.V. series we follow, for I operate our Android TV Box. But when he is not home by 8:30 p.m., I avoid becoming involved in any further television by hightailing it to bed as soon as I am aware of him arriving home.

That was the case last evening.

There is often a penalty, though ─ sleep is wretchedly difficult to find. I honestly believe that I never once managed a block of fragmented sleep that was as much as an hour in duration after I eventually did get to sleep.

And I was still wide awake an hour after first getting to bed.

Well before 2:30 a.m. I was disturbingly wide awake again; and when by 2:45 a.m. I was no nearer to finding sleep, I decided to rise and get to work on the post that I am putting together at one of my six hosted websites.

Since my destination store does not open until 7:00 a.m., I always have to hope that I do not burn out overnight as I await 6:00 a.m., the practical departure time for such a hike.

Shortly after 4:30 a.m. I could hear a passing downpour of rain. When finally I did leave at 6:15 a.m. or so, it was only spitting rain.

Anyway, since getting back from that outing, around 9:10 a.m. I returned to bed for some further sleep, but I only managed a nap, and I was awake again about an hour later. However, my entire body was trilling with the aftereffects of my foray, and I lay in bed for nigh 10 minutes almost luxuriating in the relief of just lazing where I was.

But I had to get my morning started and not just waste time in bed when I was not able to sleep anymore ─ and I was hankering for one of those absolutely delicious hot caffeinated beverages comprised of instant coffee and unsweetened cocoa powder, sweetened with some demerara brown sugar, honey, and blackstrap molasses (or 'C' Molasses), and creamed with the heavy whipping cream.

A large mug of this brew staves off hunger most effectively. It is already into the noon hour, and I am still not particularly hungry ─ and the drink was my sole caloric nourishment since last evening's supper, despite all of my wakeful hours since then, plus that goodly walk.

But I will be eating in short order, for doing so helps me to achieve another nap in the early afternoon. Without this second nap, I would not be up to doing all of the day's planned blogging and website work, nor engage the day's scheduled afternoon exercising session.

This has caught me up to events thus far today, so I am going to break for the nonce.

oooooooooooooo

When I arrived back home after my shopping excursion early in the morning, I found that my brother was already up. I knew that he would be getting his call as early as 10:00 a.m., but I thought that it was to come between that time and noon.

I only learned deep into the noon hour when my brother was going to his bedroom to get some further rest that the call could come as late as 2:00 p.m.

It's a "don't call us; we'll call you" situation.

Well, his call never came until 2:00 p.m. I was just about to ask him what he was supposed to do if it never did come at that point in his day ─ was he obligated to wait around indefinitely if that non-call situation had occurred?

Apparently he is on the 16-hour programme, and each call supposedly equates to an hour even though I noticed that today's was considerably under that amount of time.

This was his fourth such call. However, the chap delivering the call promised that my brother wouldn't have to wait around like he did today ─ the call was promised to come somewhere around 1:30 p.m. next time.

My brother mentioned when the next call will be, but I now forget.

I was back in bed at 2:30 p.m. for that second nap; and upon waking from it, the time was little more than an hour later. Even so, yet again I could only lay in bed for another 10 minutes or so feeling so helpless to do aught but experience the drowsy physical lassitude so profoundly in possession of me.

I thought of the exercising I am supposed to engage later, and the thought of it seemed wholly impossible of achievement for me today. We shall see.

The afternoon had become one of lengthy sunshine breaks, interrupted by equally long or even longer periods of cloud dominance, for there are massive accumulations floating around. I feel therefore justified in not seeking to sit outside in the backyard to benefit from the Sun.

My brother was gone when I emerged from my bedroom, incidentally. There is a slender chance that he will not return this evening, for sometimes on Saturdays he remains with his girlfriend Bev after hooking up with her, and spends the night at her home.

But it is a slender chance, as I said.

I want to put in another goodly walk in the early a.m. tomorrow, but there is no grocery shopping that I feel I need to do. This frees me up to actually start the walk much earlier than 6:00 a.m., since I don't need to try and time it for any 7:00 a.m. store openings.

But once again, we shall see what befalls.

I have nothing much more I care to dwell upon here ─ in fact, I would like to put some more work into that website post. Hence, let's call it a day!

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Recognizing Owen Teale

Since my younger brother was home last evening somewhat ahead of 8:00 p.m., I was to sit up until 11:00 p.m. operating our Android TV Box, locating sources of episodes for three of the T.V. series we follow.

The final of those episodes was for Ripper Street ─ and specifically, season four's episode five titled "Men of Iron, Men of Smoke".

I only mention this because I love seeing actors familiar from other T.V. series, and this particular episode included one such portraying a character who was in charge of a foundry and its football club.

The Wikipedia article I linked to concerning the episode did not identify the name of the character, let alone the actor portraying him; so I researched and found both cited at IMDB.com's article on the episode here.

The character was Felix Hackman.

My brother and I had just a day or two ago watched the season finale of Game of Thrones' season five ─ an episode titled "Mother's Mercy". In it, a recurring character named Alliser Thorne of the Night's Watch arranged with a few of his brethren to assassinate young Jon Snow by stabbing him to death.

Well, to me, the actor portraying Felix Hackman in that Ripper Street episode looked hauntingly similar to Alliser Thorne in Game of Thrones.

And so at the episode's conclusion, I came here to my computer to research it, and lo! Actor Owen Teale did indeed have both roles.

I would like to think that I will henceforth retain some familiarity with the actor's name, but I can only hope ─ I certainly will not expect it of myself.

Anyway, I was no sooner settled into my bed last night shortly after 11:00 p.m. when my wife intruded into the bedroom ─ she had just arrived home after working at her friend's Thai restaurant. I was already disturbed because one of my two stepsons was using those plastic dryer balls in the dryer located downstairs directly beneath my bed.

Why those brainless morons do things like this so late in the evening defies me ─ I almost take it as a personal affront.

And now my wife was home.

As I lay with earplugs and bandana blindfold in place, it seemed like she was in and out of the bedroom as many as 20 times before she finally came to bed herself around two hours later.

I forget now just when I rose thereafter, but it might have been around 2:00 a.m.; and I remained up until past 5:00 a.m. in order to put work into the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites.

Some fragmented sleep was to follow, and I rose for the morning around 9:00 a.m. ─ my brother was just finishing a shower.

After the very sunny afternoon we had yesterday, I anticipated a sunny day today ─ but not so. The day has been mostly overcast ─ often quite heavily. We have even had some very light rain during the mid and latter afternoon, but some sunny breaks by early evening.

My wife never left for work until around 3:00 p.m., but I did keep the day's scheduled tool shed exercising earlier in the afternoon. As I was so involved, my wife even came outside for an exercise session of her own, incorporating a set of elastic cords into whatever she was doing ─ I didn't want to inhibit her by paying too much attention. I just offered her some encouragement as I returned into the house.

For the same concern of inhibiting her, I resisted trying to take any candid photos of her in action, badly though I wanted to.

My brother was in his bedroom during that time, restoring himself for his afternoon away to engage some drinking once again. He left well before my wife.

I sought a nap after she was gone, but I am unsure if I actually sank into sleep. I just needed to allow my eyes sufficient rest to handle the wear required to post both here and in my private blog.

Google Photos created a collage today of some photos apparently taken seven years ago ─ or around June 26, 2013:

That is the exercise girl herself ─ my wife. And that is also our backyard.

You may notice that she has a cast on an arm. Reportedly, she fell while cavorting in a Vancouver nightclub ─ I was certainly not present.

I was not privy to just how serious the mishap was, but I don't suppose casts like the one she is displaying are applied for anything but a fracture, are they?

Here are the three original photos:

It is nearing 7:00 p.m., and I wish to have my evening clear for a potential early bedtime if my brother is not home by 8;30 p.m., so I want to be done with today's post.

I have a goodly walk planned in the morning for some grocery shopping, so a decent night's sleep is definitely in order.

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Passing Some Late Morning Time Viewing Videos on Bill Gates and Rick Kirkham

As I predicted in yesterday's post, I was into my bed by 9:30 p.m. last evening. My younger brother had not yet bused home from wherever he had gone to meet with one or two of his drinking buddies.

I'm unsure now just when it was that I rose overnight to put work into the post I have in development at one of my six hosted websites, but it might have been around 3:30 a.m., or slightly earlier. I found myself feeling slightly hungover, although I had not consumed alcohol the previous evening. Dehydration from a supper can induce the symptom in me ─ after all, is not a lot of a hangover due to the inadequate fluid bathing the brain as a result of the diuretic effect of lots of drinking?

Anyway, I was not to return to bed until well past 5:00 a.m.

Even so, by 8:00 a.m. I was struggling to find further sleep. And well before 9:00 a.m., I rose to have myself a bath ─ my brother was already up that hour earlier and watching T.V.

When I joined him at 10:00 a.m. to put our Android TV Box into operation, I had two videos in mind instead of our usual T.V. series fare. The first was a Corbett Report titled Bill Gates and the Population Control Grid that I had learned of in a Mercola.com article published June 13 titled Deconstructing Bill Gates’ Agenda.

I put these things on as much as for the benefit of my brother as I do for myself, so I tried to not allow it to bother me when he rose at one point and disappeared into his bedroom upstairs for a few minutes.

He also has become quite the bloody snoop. No one can pass by on the street outside without him staring raptly out the window ─ sometimes that clod will even stand right in front of my view of the T.V., so invested is he in other people's affairs.

It really aggravates me that he has come to this ─ I suspect that his brain has some impairment from years of heavy drinking and chronological senescence, for his 68th birthday is not three weeks ahead of us.

Before I put on the second video, I had us watch one of our usual shows ─ an episode of The Graham Norton Show. This was the fourth in the current season, and also the fourth in which Graham interviews his guests individually via something like Skype. The episodes are also 50% shorter than they have always been before when he was in a studio with a live audience and the usual huge production that goes with entertainment talk shows of this nature.

I suspect that poor Graham's ratings are probably plummeting with the current format.

Once that episode was over with, I then tuned in The Truth Behind Joe Exotic: The Rick Kirkham Story. We had finished watching The Tiger King series last week.

I found it interesting enough, but after one of my brother's disappearing episodes, he sat down and groused, "How long is this?"

It was approximately half done at that point. He did not like that the documentary was far more about Rick Kirkham and his life than it was about Joe Exotic.

Incidentally, I located the video through the Cinema HD 'app' that I have downloaded into our Android TV Box.

There was an enormous amount of footage of Rick Kirkham back when he was involved with Inside Edition. I was struck by how absent the nasal quality of his voice was back then ─ today, he has an extremely pronounced nasal tone to his voice that was barely detectable as recently as 15 years ago.

I wonder if it's a consequence of his years of smoking and maybe snorting dope?

Oh, dear ─ my evening is already upon me.

I will wrap things up by saying that my brother sought some bed rest at 12:50 p.m., so it was then that I had a sensibly light first meal of my day; and then I also returned to my bed.

My brother was gone for the afternoon when I emerged from my bedroom an hour or so later.

The day had become quite sunny, so for the first time in several days I got in some sunning. Wearing just a pair of gym-style shorts out in the backyard, I slouched low into a deck- or lawn-chair and faced into the Sun for just over 40 minutes.

Upon returning into the house, I have been working on my two blogs since that time. One is my private blog.

I want to get in some exercise now, so I am going to take my leave here.

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A Few Thoughts on Game of Throne's Season Five's Finale

My younger brother arrived home last evening around 8:20 p.m., and it appeared that I was to have to sit up with him in operation of our Android TV Box, finding episodes of a few of the T.V. series we follow.

However, instead of remaining in the house, he changed clothes and was then outside sprinkling grass seed all over the damp lawn (there had been a light rain).

I have an unspoken (to him) 8:30 p.m. deadline in which he needs to arrive home, or else I will seek an early bedtime to avoid sitting up late; and it is also a deadline set to avoid exposing myself to his potentially excessive drunkenness. He is no fit company to try and watch T.V. with if he's blitzed.

Well, it occurred to me after 8:30 p.m. arrived and passed and he was still mucking around outside that there was scant difference for me in him not being at home at all ─ that is, time was wasting, and the three episodes of T.V. that I was likely going to be tuning in had as yet not been started.

A couple of the T.V. series we have of late been watching have episodes that run for practically an hour, even though they are commercial-free. Thus, even when I start watching our shows with my brother, I have been finding that I am not getting to bed until 11:30 p.m. or later.

I don't like sitting up as late as that just to watch T.V. with my drunken brother.

So with time accumulating after 8:30 p.m., I began clearing things away to free me up for an early bedtime as surely as if my brother had not as yet gotten home. And by 8:42 p.m., I was into my bed. He was going to have to do a better job of presenting himself for an evening of T.V. with me ─ if we haven't begun our shows by 8:30 p.m., then I am not interested in beginning them at all.

I don't recall having too much difficulty eventually lapsing into sleep, but I had my usual fragmented style of it. Then perhaps around 12:20 a.m. I checked the time; and when 20 or so minutes later I was no nearer a return to sleep, I decided to rise to put in work on the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites.

My bedroom was uncommonly muggy and warm despite a very light rain outside, and a window open to well more than a foot in width.

One or both of my stepsons were still up, but my brother had gone to bed considerably earlier. And in time, only I was still up.

Just after 3:30 a.m., the extremely light rain developed into a lengthy and serious downpour. And I was back in bed ahead of 4:00 a.m.

Fragmented sleep was to resume, but before 7:00 a.m. I was having too much trouble finding my way back into any further of it. Nevertheless, I did my best until 8:00 a.m. when I decided that I might as well rise.  

I was no sooner back here at my computer when my brother emerged from his bedroom for the morning.

Any rain had already stopped for the day. There were lots of sunny breaks in the afternoon; when I rose from an early afternoon nap, I even wondered if sunning was a possibility ─ had I the mood for any. I concluded, however, that there were just too many considerable clouds out there.

I watched some T.V. with my brother from 10:00 a.m. until maybe 12:40 p.m. One of the shows we caught was the season five finale of Game of Thrones in which character Jon Snow was assassinated by his own Night Watch confederates or 'brothers in arms'.

That was unquestionably unexpected, for we both assumed that the character was a major player and would be monumental in further showdowns between 'good and evil'.

We were glad to see character Stannis Baratheon meet his finish ─ his act of sacrificing his daughter to being burned alive in the previous episode solely to appease the gods and assure his ultimate victory in upcoming battles was beyond disgusting.

However, I was not at all happy that the defeat was accomplished due to his (and his army's) defeat by the Boltons ─ I despise the character Ramsay Bolton so damned much that the mere sight of the actor portraying him repels me.

Finally, I have to say that young Arya Stark's penchant for her almost psychotically-bloody slaying of guys on her personal hit list is becoming disturbing. 

My brother was set for some bed rest when this show was done, for I had heard him earlier arranging via cellphone to hook up with his friend Greg at a pub to which I correctly anticipated that my brother would be busing. He only buses when he knows that he will be drinking excessively ─ Greg would be doing similarly from his Langley apartment.

I finished my first meal of the day after my brother had sought his bedroom; and then I returned to my own bed for a short nap. My brother was gone for the afternoon when I rose.

And yes, his van was indeed still here. He had bused.

What this betokens for me is that he will not be returning until into the latter evening, so I will be having myself another early bedtime ─ albeit not as early as last evening!

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Some Aftermath of My Wife's Gardening

I shall keep today's post quite brief.

My wife left for work around 3:00 p.m. this afternoon after essentially being home since Sunday evening; she probably won't be back again until at least tomorrow evening.

She undertook some gardening, as I reported in yesterday's post. Unfortunately, I now realize that she pulled up and discarded several squash plants that were growing from seeds I had simply cast about a couple or so months back.

There is only one survivor from that holocaust that was mostly deliberate, for the bulk of them were growing in a patch of her flower garden and I am sure she felt that they were quickly going to pose a threat to her blooms ─ even though the did not share that concern. After all, the vines that were still to come could have been husbanded and thereby controlled.

The seeds were from either a butternut or a spaghetti squash, and I've had them in my possession since keeping them from a purchased squash that was cooked up and eaten sometime back in 2018. I wasn't even sure the seeds were still viable.

I still have some more of the seeds remaining, I believe; but I suspect that it is now too late into the year to be directly planting any.

Oh, well.

The day has been mainly overcast. We had a wee bit of early morning rain that never seemed to leave a trace; and there was some further rain in the afternoon that did manage to wet things. It's so muggy and warm outside.

After my wife left, I finally had today's scheduled exercising out in the backyard tool shed before taking my day's first meal that has rather overburdened me. I had a rather late afternoon nap, but it was not as profound as I had intended.

However, that may be to my favour if my younger brother does not arrive home by 8:30 p.m. from wherever he is presently drinking, for I will not have aught to do with him if he is later than that ─ I will instead get to bed early.

I was in bed by 9:00 p.m. last evening, joining my wife who had gotten to bed well before merely to have a nap. I went to bed because my brother had just come home, so I was avoiding him.

Alas for my poor wife, she had an ill night of it.

I rose shortly after 1:00 a.m. to put work into the post I am constructing at one of my six hosted websites, and she soon rose as well. She had already been up for awhile, but in rising this second time she had a snack, and then she busied herself doing some straightening up of her wardrobe in our bedroom.

I was back in bed shortly after 4:00 a.m. when she had left the bedroom and gone downstairs. She soon also came to bed.

However, when I roused around 7:00 a.m., I realized that she was up yet again. I managed a little more sleep, rising just after 8:00 a.m. ─ my wife was downstairs seated on the chesterfield doing some sewing.

I remained here upstairs at my computer, but my brother was just emerging from his own bedroom and he then went downstairs to watch T.V. and drink coffee. I could hear them conversing about something; and then soon enough she apparently left and went off to do some shopping, I expect ─ most likely groceries.

By the time she returned, she looked most weary. She announced her intention to return to bed, and there she remained for the next few hours.

Poor girl.

Oh, dear ─ it is approaching 7:30 p.m. I must finish with this perfunctory post and have myself freed to get to bed should my brother fail to arrive home by 8:30 p.m., as I have already stated.

If he does show up by 8:30 p.m., then I will probably have to sit up late operating our Android TV Box to locate episodes of some of the T.,V. series we follow.

I just want to express here my admiration for my hardworking wife.

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My Wife ─ Home for the Day

Upon finishing a bath early last evening, I was to find my younger brother already home from wherever he had been drinking. It was already well past 8:30 p.m.; if not for the bath, I might well have avoided having to sit up with him in operation of our Android TV Box to watch episodes of some of the T.V. series we follow.

There were two cases of beer sitting on the coffee table in the living room that had not been there earlier. I suspected that their origin was a result of my two stepsons' efforts at expressing their appreciation in recognition of Father's Day, but I waited for one of them to say something.

When the first episode I had tuned in had concluded, I ventured to my brother that I knew nothing of the provenance of the beer, to which he stated that my youngest stepson had placed the cases there.

My wife had arrived home by this time from working at her friend's Thai restaurant, so while she busied herself in the kitchen, I cleared up the mystery of the beer with her sons.

As the eldest said, the beer was for both my brother and I, and to "pick our poison" ─ the two cases were each of a different brand.

Since I do not drink anywhere near as much as does my brother, I let him have the 15-pack, and I took the 12-pack for myself.

He had been drifting into unconsciousness during that first T.V. episode, but he resisted falling into a full slumber. Still, it vastly annoyed me, and I kept watching for him to fade right out so that I could abandon him and get to bed.

As I said, it was not to occur.

And over the evening, I had myself a can of strong (8% alcohol) beer, and two cans of a weaker (5.5% alcohol) percentage.

I left him at 11:30 p.m. and sought my bed, feeling in decent condition. But overnight, a hangover of sorts did set in. And when this morning I noticed the time to be well past 7:00 a.m., I rose even though I was not feeling particularly hale to get to work on the post I am constructing at one of my six hosted websites.

My wife did not have to work today, so she has been home apart from a couple of outings to run errands. I have thus been unable to have a proper needed nap; and since the day's scheduled exercising would be fairly extended and performed in our bedroom, I have had to suspend it. I will not have had any activity today, alas.

I took three candid photos of her while she was in the backyard quite early this afternoon doing some gardening. Actually, only one photo captures her at work ─ the other two were shots of her on two different occasions enjoying a break in the sunshine:

She was alerted when I took that last photo because I had done so from the open sundeck door ─ she heard my iPhone 5's distinctive sound when I took the photo, so I was only able to get that single shot. The other two photos were taken through windows.

I could have done some sunning today, even though we did have quite a lot of cloud cover at times. However, I was just too ill-slept to feel up to contending with the day's heat at those times when the Sun was prevalent. 

I want to mention one more thing ere signing off with this post ─ a movie that I tuned in at 10:00 a.m. for my brother and I to watch.

The movie was a very poor production from 2011 titled Scream of the Banshee. The production was bad, the sound was bad, and even some of the acting was pretty bad.

Where the sound was concerned, even though I had the volume loud enough, so often I was unable to understand any of the dialogue. Somehow despite the adequate volume, everyone's words were often too indistinct. People might as well have been humming loudly for all the sense I could make of conversation.

As well, the accompanying music throughout the movie did not naturally suit the film. Usually when a movie is watched, the accompanying mood music isn't even noticed; but here, it was absolutely incongruous.

But at least I enjoyed seeing Lauren Holly. I didn't know who the actress was until I later researched the movie, although she did have some familiarity; and initially, she only looked marginally attractive. It wasn't until she had left the research facility and I got to see her in her casual wear at home that I realized that the actress was distinctly comely (to put it nicely).

But it was an awful movie.

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Supporting Actors

I was watching an episode of Parenthood last evening when I noticed my younger brother arriving home around 8:27 p.m. Had he not shown up by 8:30 p.m., I would have had the T.V. turned off at the sight of him and betaken myself to bed.

He was drunker than I cared; and early into the first episode of one of our shows that I tuned in via our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box, he started snoring. But the instant I turned down the volume as a prelude to killing the episode and switching the T.V. over to its basic cable package, he roused and I was thereafter stuck sitting up with him until 11:30 p.m. when I gave my notice and went on upstairs to my bed.

He hasn't the understanding to operate the Android TV Box on his own, so he relies upon me to perform that task. I don't mind at all; what I hate is wasting my time with a drunkard whose beer-drenched brain cannot comprehend what is unfolding within the episode, and he has to spoil matters for me with banal inconsequential blather that I do my best not to respond to for fear of encouraging yet more of the same.

Parenthood is a series that I watch entirely for my own enjoyment. I am still into the first season of the series, and I probably don't even watch an episode any more often than every two or three weeks.

When I watched the previous episode (#11 titled "Solace"), I for the first time recognized that one of the teens in the cast is also a main supporting character in the T.V. series 13 Reasons Why that I am also currently watching ─ in this instance, I watch the series with my brother.

The actor is Miles Heizer, and in the latter more recent series he plays character "Alex" who was blond in the first season, but who had natural brown hair in the second season after Alex was undergoing recovery following a suicide attempt that involved shooting himself in the head.

When I first began watching the series Parenthood, it took me an episode or two before I figured out where I knew the actress from who was portraying another of the teens in the series ─ this time, the actress was Mae Whitman.

Mae of course is one of the three main heroines of the T.V. series Good Girls, where she is somewhat more mature and has a teen daughter of her own. This is another T.V. series that I watch for myself when my brother is not home.

I love discovering familiar faces like this.

It happened again within the past week toward the end of the third season of Ripper Street ─ a series I watch with my brother.

A week or two earlier in that series, I finally had to research to find out where the heck I knew the actor from who plays character detective Bennet Drake ─ that is, actor Jerome Flynn. When I saw the actor's name identified with Game of Thrones, it was like a wave of enlightenment washed over me.

It was with some delight that I got to quiz my brother afterwards on this, for he also watches both series. He also had no idea why the actor in Ripper Street seemed so familiar.

Well, an identical experience was in store for me and then him when I finally had to learn why on Earth the character Police Constable Bobby Grace seemed to damned familiar in that third season of Ripper Street ─ neither my brother nor I could place him.

To my surprise and immediate identification, I found out that actor Josh O'Connor played the eldest son of The Durrells ─ he was Lawrence, the aspiring writer. This warm family fare was another T.V. series both my brother and I followed.

He probably would like Parenthood, but I get sick of him bitching about Hallmark-style T.V. series, and so I got into it on my own.

However, enough about T.V.

My plan for the morning was a six-mile round trip hike to do some grocery shopping (Google map) at a different Real Canadian Superstore outlet than I visited early yesterday morning.

Yesterday's trip had been a bust because I was unable to find the two litres of heavy whipping cream in stock that I expressly had gone there for.

I never rose this a.m. until nearly 4:30 a.m., and I felt like I had a touch of a hangover even though I drank nothing last evening. But at 6:00 a.m., I did begin my journey to seek to arrive at the store around the time of its 7:00 a.m. opening.

I don't drive.

The sky was overcast, but there was no trace of rain. The pavement was dry.

Damned if the same thing didn't happen ─ no whipping cream! The shelf that was supposed to display it was crammed with useless 2% milk.

I did some other relatively unnecessary shopping, and then trudged for home in quite a foul mood.

Hereafter, I am not going to put myself out like this. I will buy the cream locally, even though I'll have to pay far, far more for it than I would have per litre whenever I buy two of them at Real Canadian Superstore.

I never returned to bed until something like 9:30 a.m., by which time my younger brother was already into his coffee downstairs.

When I had a nap and rose well over an hour later, I was somewhat surprised to discover that my brother was already shut up in his bedroom seeking further bed rest to restore him for his afternoon away.

When I later enquired of him why he was leaving so early ─ which he was doing just ahead of noon ─ he cited his expected involvement in the family birthday celebration of his girlfriend Bev.

This was something he had droned on about last evening when I was trying to watch T.V., so I had essentially forgotten about it.

Anyway, after he was gone, I had my day's first meal, and then was soon back in bed for another short nap. I rose to find that it was unexpectedly sunny outside.

I have some exercising that I want to get at soon, so I wish to bring this post to a close. Nevertheless, I wish to report that after publishing yesterday's post, I telephoned my old friend Bill's ladyfriend Sandy to learn any news concerning him.

He is in a full-time care facility over on Vancouver Island, and mostly bed-ridden. She is familiar enough to staff that she keeps tabs on him and can even phone him ─ he requires assistance, and cannot place his own calls.

I've known Bill since possibly as far back as 1962, but because he foolishly moved over to Vancouver Island fairly late in the 1990s, we have not seen one another since. And because he is now 74 years old, I do not expect to ever see nor likely even talk with him again.

As I said before, I do not drive; and on my limited monthly pension income, I cannot afford to put in a stay over on the Island in order to pay him a visit.

He should not have moved to there, but he did.

I think that's enough said for today.

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My First Walk in a Week

Well, I got to bed quite early last evening ─ I heard my younger brother come into the house around 8:40 p.m. from wherever he had been drinking, so I vacated my computer upstairs here in the small room next to my bedroom, quickly used the bathroom one last time, and was into my bed around 8:45 p.m.

Perhaps he was in sensible condition and we could have watched some episodes of T.V. series we follow through the agency of our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box that only I operate, but it was not worth the risk to me.

Besides, I wanted to try and ensure that I would be able to rise early and eventually get away this morning on a small shopping expedition that would entail a round trip hike of 5.625 miles ─ reckoned as a car might drive (I do not drive).

Sleep was not easily achieved, though.

I now cannot recall exactly when I decided to rise in the a.m., but it may have been ahead of 2:00 a.m. The Real Canadian Superstore that was to be my destination (Google map) opens at 7:00 a.m., so I wished to try and leave as soon after 6:00 a.m. as I could manage.

I could sometimes hear the lightest of rain pattering softly on the carport roof just outside the open window in this room as I worked at adding content into the post I am constructing at one of my six hosted websites.

My youngest stepson was still up when first I rose, but he eventually sought his bed and the house downstairs was in darkness except for a soft illumination where he sleeps ─ I think that he likely keeps connected to the Web while he is abed as his version of reading himself to sleep, for he may have a monitor set up that is right there at hand.

By 5:30 a.m., I was flagging somewhat. As well, I never feel okay about shopping on the day I consider to be the Sabbath, but my home life's conditions are such that I find myself unable to get out early during the workweek for anything of this nature. And I detest being abroad and public once the day has become busy.

God only has to change my said conditions for the better if He would that it was different for me.

The street outside appeared to have dried from any rain, but another light falling had begun just before I began the process of readying for my journey. And no later than 6:10 a.m., I was on my way.

I achieved my destination not 10 minutes past 7:00 a.m.

Unfortunately, the main draw for this shopping expedition was to purchase two one-litre cartons of heavy whipping cream ─ my preferred creamer for my hot caffeinated beverages; but there was only one such carton on the cooler shelf in the dairy section.

What is unfortunate about this is that a pair of these cartons can be purchased for $3.59 apiece; but a purchase of just one carton costs the consumer $5.58.

Why in bloody blazes would I spend practically $2 more for a carton of whipping cream just because the store only had one available on the shelf? I only have my monthly pension income as a 70-year-old ─ I refuse to be victimized into such a purchase.

So I just bought a few other things and headed for home. If all goes well tomorrow in the early a.m., I will try another Real Canadian Superstore outlet that is slightly farther away. I still have a few days' worth of cream in the final carton I am presently using.

At least 1½ miles from home, it began raining with some seriousness; and it became truly serious a mile from home.

Once I was here somewhat before 8:30 a.m., it didn't take long for a decline to set in. I do not take sustenance before 10:00 a.m., so that encouraged the decline.

No one else was as yet up, but my brother began stirring around 8:45 a.m., and so I opted to return to bed for the additional sleep that I well required.

It was possibly around 10:15 a.m. when I roused from a nap and checked the time, knowing I wanted to get my day begun. However, physically I was in such a state of profound tingling lassitude that I basically just drifted between dozing and awareness for another half hour.

Right now it is 1:14 p.m., and I have only had one of my special hot caffeinated beverages. I do not wish to eat aught until after I discharge the day's scheduled exercise session out in the backyard tool shed. That session involves some chin-ups and pull-ups, so I want no such burden as a breakfast in my stomach impairing my effectiveness.

My brother is in his bedroom resting ere taking off for the afternoon, so I probably should try to rally myself and get out to that shed, for I truly would like to have myself my day's first meal.

And then another nap later in the afternoon.

oooooooooooooo

I had concern that I might have to skip today's exercise session, but once I limbered up, I performed unexpectedly well. Perhaps the partial layoff I experienced yesterday facilitated this outcome.

By the way, we never had too much rain today ─ it was primarily a morning feature; and the latter afternoon even had sunny breaks.

I have little else I want to report; and since I feel some obligation to place a phone call to Sandra, the longtime ladyfriend of my dear old friend Bill, I am going to bite the bullet and place the call ─ it has been a few months since my last call.

I don't care for phone conversations ─ I'm not a chatterer. But she keeps tabs on Bill, who has been confined for a few years now to a full-time care facility over on Vancouver Island, and I have no other means of keeping in touch with him or knowing anything about him whatsoever.

He is no longer able to place his own calls due to infirmity, and is essentially bedridden. 

Sandy is apparently somewhat known to staff at the facility, so she is able to phone him. As well, she is known to his relatives over on the Island, whereas I have not been in contact with any of them since 1980.

It is already well past 6:30 p.m., and I have no sure idea if my brother is going to show up soon from wherever he has been drinking. There is some chance that he might spend the night at the home of his girlfriend Bev, but I cannot bank on that. I need this phone call out of the way, and then to have some supper, and be all set to get to bed if my brother doesn't show up by 8:30 p.m. ─ the deadline I presently have for him.

Any later than that, and he's probably too wasted to try to watch any T.V. with.

Have yourself a goodnight!

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