Yesterday was one of those days in which time ran away on me and I lost the opportunity and inclination to post here as a consequence. I had planned on sometime that day making the four-mile round trip hike to the nearest BC government liquor store to procure another flat of two dozen cans of the strong (8% alcohol) beer that I endeavour to keep in stock. It was a sunny day that I felt I could have doubly profited from ─ i.e., exercise, and exposure to the sunlight.
I was never to go, but I held on to the intention until into the early evening after it had become dark.
One involvement that kept me home was doubling the normal content quantity that I usually add to the new post I am putting together at my new version of Thai-Iceland.com. It will be my first post, so I see no sense yet in linking to the website, for although it is online, all a visitor will find there are three static pages ("About", "Terms & Conditions", and "Privacy Policy"). No one cares about those, except for maybe the "About" page.
Incidentally, a few days ago I got curious as to why I was getting some visitors to the website on a daily basis. I now realize that the domain's previous incarnation at another web host must still have its posts showing up in search engine queries, even though the entirety of the website's old database no longer exists. The many hundreds of posts that had been published are now gone, but search engines must still have those URLs on record for the present; and as a result, people have been vainly trying to access those vanished posts, and my new version of Thai-Iceland.com ─ even though it is now with a brand new host and has yet to have even a single post published ─ is reaping the statistical benefit of those supposed visits.
Anyway, that website work was valid; my other excuses for remaining home were considerably less so.
In the latter afternoon, in a bid to try and inspire myself, I tuned in a Christmas movie ─ a 2010 feature titled An Old Fashioned Christmas. At its beginning I had the lightest of meals ─ my first of the day; and then two cans of beer.
The movie proved to be very interesting to this Christmas movie lover.
I hadn't noticed who any of the actors were, so I was to watch it without knowledge of any of their names. However, no one was certainly familiar to me visually, although I thought that the maternal grandmother of the main character was remarkably 'handsome' ─ she surely could not have been new to acting, for there was about her the surety that she was a beauty when she was a younger woman.
I subsequently learned that the actress was Jacqueline Bisset, an actress who was very familiar to me back in my young adulthood (I am now 71). I had forgotten her existence, for I have seen nothing of her in well over two decades.
I also thought it possible that the actor (Ian McElhinney) who played the main character's paternal Irish grandfather might have had a role in Game of Thrones, and that proved so.
The young actress (Catherine Steadman) playing the lead character, Tilly, was unknown to me, but she was adept at presenting a most wholesome and pretty young woman. Her skill in this was the more impressive because even though Tilly was American, the actress herself is very English. I detected no accent betraying that fact.
Perhaps one day I may try to watch the progenitor film that was released two years before this movie ─ the earlier film was An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving. However, only Jacqueline Bisset acted in that movie, for Tilly was portrayed by someone else ─ the fetching Orphan Black herself, Tatiana Maslany.
Well, actually one other actor was in both movies ─ the chap portraying Tilly's boyfriend / fiance Gad. But I have never watched Saving Grace, so the actor is unknown to me and thus has not been mentioned for that very reason.
Overall I was happy with how the plot turned out, although I felt sorry for heartbroken cad Cameron, the heir-apparent to the title Earl of Shannon. Why Tilly rejected him and reconciled with Gad really didn't make much sense to me ─ I saw no reason for her to be bummed because he identified to her that she was his muse. There seemed no question that he had fallen in love with her ─ what is so wrong with being his muse as well as the source of his love?
He apparently nurtured some interest in writing ─ and Tilly was an aspiring writer. Thus, the muse reference. It was perfectly valid. But the plot needed a reason for Tilly to seek to win back Gad after she had rejected him previously to Cameron, so something had to be seized upon to validate her subsequent and undeniably ficklish rejection of Cameron.
The scene of him thereafter in isolated abject emotional torment was deeply telling of how he truly felt for Tilly. He didn't deserve it. I don't know why there wasn't a secondary female character to whom he could have turned, and in so doing realize that she was equal to Tilly in terms of being a rich and fulfilling source of a lifetime's love.
Instead, I suppose we are to believe that he returned to his wastrel ways of drunkenness and womanizing and never would amount to anything.
So that much of the plot was disappointing for me.
Following the movie, I considered another. But by that point I had accepted that it was unlikely that I was going to be venturing off into the dark to the distant liquor store.
As well, I had physically declined.
I was to become possessed of better sense. In fact, around 7:30 p.m. I retired to my bed, feeling quite overcome with weariness and inadequate sleep of late. I actually drifted comfortably in and out of sleep until around 11 p.m. when I rose to seek some relief in the bathroom. In so doing, I saw that my younger brother had recently retired to his own bedroom unusually early. Rarely does he ever seek his bedroom for the night ere midnight.
I wonder when it was that he had come home?
Regardless, I returned to my bed after using the toilet, but thereafter I lay sleeplessly abed for an hour, finally recognizing that it was futile wasting time there. I rose, and was soon at work on my website post.
I had further plans for awhile later in the early morning ─ namely, to go and do some grocery shopping at the nearest Save-On-Foods outlet (Google Map) that is at least 1¼ miles from here as soon after its 7 a.m. opening as I was into achieving ─ but without arriving too early, for last weekend I had to use the self-serve setup because no cashier was on duty. I hate those things. I needed assistance when it came to my produce purchases.
This morning, I also had the monthly expenses reconciliation cheque (for around $244, I believe) from my younger brother to deposit at an outdoor ATM at the Coast Capital Savings headquarters building over by the King George SkyTrain Station.
To ensure that I would be in any condition for the early outing, I returned to bed just after 4:30 a.m. with my cellphone's alarm set for 6 a.m. I sure hated to get up when that alarm sounded, but I knew a cup of hot black instant coffee would help revivify me.
My youngest stepson was already up, for he was to leave for work toward mid-morning.
It was 7:07 a.m. after I was on my cold way under clear blue skies.
I accomplished both of my errands, and was rather pleased at checkout to see dear Dolma on duty at the store. I haven't seen her manning that post in weeks, and I commented to that effect. She revealed that she had been on a two-month break from work, and this was her very first day back.
Unlike before, though, she was wearing a face mask. I also commented on that and learned that the store has now made it a mandated policy for employees, but not yet for the public.
If they ever do make such a mandate for the public, they will lose me as a customer. I will not wear a face mask. I am not a sheep who blindly subscribes to the baseless medical dictates of anyone.
Anyway, after I was back home, it was not too very long before I had declined enough to make my return to bed. By then, my brother had risen and was downstairs reading the morning newspaper and drinking coffee.
I was exceptionally hungry. In all of yesterday, my only meal was that small one I mentioned taking at the outset of An Old Fashioned Christmas. I feared that I might have to break the intermittent fast that I have been observing since mid-Summer. On my version of the fast, I am not supposed to take in any calories following my last meal until after 12:30 p.m. in the noon hour the ensuing day.
Yesterday's meal had only been a boiled egg, a decent quantity of old cheddar cheese that I had chopped up into a bowl, a big scoop of natural peanut butter to mix with that lot, and a very small plantain that was perhaps four inches in length. I also ate a rather small apple and a carrot.
And the two beers.
That was my only meal of yesterday, so lasting until after 12:30 p.m. today was something of a struggle, and so returning to bed mid-morning definitely helped. I remained there until after 11 a.m., and then had myself a thorough bath. I generally only bathe every four days, and during my baths I shave my neck and scalp. I leave my face alone ─ I like to retain a growth of stubble, and I almost always have a moustache and some chin beard.
The beard on my neck grows inordinately fast and thickly, so I do have to keep atop of it. In fact, whenever I remain unshaven in an effort to grow a full beard, I have to keep trimming my neck's beard because it bushes out and starts to make me look like I am wearing a woolly muffler or something ─ it's really quite ridiculous. I wish my face was bearded as lushly.
Once my bath was done, it was a little after noon. I killed three-quarters of an hour here at my computer, and then finally went downstairs to have my day's first hot caffeinated beverage ─ a delicious concotion comprising instant coffee and cocoa powder; some honey, blackstrap molasses, and demerara sugar for sweetening; and liquid heavy (or whipping) cream for a creamer.
It is most sustaining. I never actually had my first meal until another hour or so had passed.
My brother left for the afternoon around the finish of the noon hour, so he will be getting 'well-oiled' today, and will be best avoided. In other words, I shall be having another early evening, but not anything like yesterday's!
At present it is after 6:00 p.m., and I still have to make a post in my private blog. I also have a little exercising I want to engage. I surprised myself overnight by twice taking on some exercise ─ I've never done that before in recent memory.
But I need to get this post over with and published, so I am going to call a halt right here.
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