Conundrums

Yesterday I neglected to mention ─ despite talking about an owl I had seen late the evening before ─ that at 4 p.m. last afternoon I responded to a ruckus by a couple of crows out back of the house, and saw a raccoon just sitting up on its haunches on a corner of the roof, scratching itself with a back leg just like a dog.

I hurried for a camera, but it had by then disappeared.

In other news ....

While having a can of strong (8% alcohol) malt early last evening, I watched an episode of Chesapeake Shores ─ this one was season five's episode six ("Love Is Here to Stay"). Then I tuned in a women's MMA match that actually attracted the attention of my wife who watched it avidly (her mother back in Thailand is a fanatical 'boxing' fan).

The match was on YouTube (we watched it on T.V. via our Android TV Box) and 25 minutes long without any ado whatsoever such as introductions or round breaks ─ it was a five-round match, each round being five minutes.

Originally fought on May 6, 2016, the video match was titled Youngest MMA World Champion 👑 Angela Lee vs. Mei Yamaguchi.

Even though Angela Lee is from nearby-to-me Vancouver, I found myself rooting for little Mei Yamaguchi, for it just does not seem fair that a teenager should be able to outfight a veteran who was around 14 years her senior.

The fight did go the distance, but little Mei seemed to peter out come the final round, so Angela got the unanimous decision by the three judges.

It was fun sharing the match with my excitable wife.

Not long afterwards, we were each in our adjacent bedrooms, and I was just about to let her know that I was going to bed because it was almost 9:50 p.m. and I was going to be getting up at 1:30 a.m. for one of my five-mile+ walks. Then I heard my younger brother arrive home. My wife heard him too, apparently, for she suddenly shut her bedroom door (she was watching videos on her tablet or smartphone).

So I closed my bedroom door as well, and wasted little time retiring ─ I had no idea that time had run away on me like that.

When eventually my cellphone alarm chimed, I rose, not feeling as ill slept as I had been concerned I would. As I slowly readied in my bedroom while making various online checks here on my computer that I keep in my bedroom, I believed that I heard my brother probably getting up from bed to have a pee.

I didn't hear him return to his bed, however.

Well, once I was all set to go, I opened my bedroom door to have a parting pee and to weigh myself so that I would have a sense of the workload I would be contending with early into my walk when I stopped for six sets of pull-ups and chin-ups at an elementary school playground.

And then I discovered what I must have earlier heard ─ apparently my infernal youngest stepson had chosen to take occupancy of the bathroom. I suspect that he first 'had a dump', and then he was taking a shower.

Furious that this recurring late-night inconsideration was taking place, I went downstairs to the lads' den area and had my pee in a toilet there, directly below the bathroom upstairs. I then gleefully flushed.

I noticed a plant in the bathroom was starting to have its leaves wilt, so I fetched a small pot from the kitchen and used it to water the clearly dry soil.

By then the toilet had refilled, so I gave it a further flush, hoping that there was going to be a penalty on the flow of water upstairs.

I think that it was 1:58 a.m. by the time I was on my way ─ the earliest I have yet managed to leave.

An online check had claimed that the temperature hereabouts was 10.9° Celsius (51.62 F.). It did seem cooler out there. The sky was overrun with a broken cloud cover, and the moon still appeared to be approximately half full.

With such an early departure, I felt no sense of urgency about making time. This likely helped me to feel calmer than usual ─ I am generally bloody stressed at what street traffic there is, as well as any near encounters I have with other people.

At the school, I relatively comfortably achieved my new normal in repetitions ─ that is, five and then three pull-ups in the first two sets; three chin-ups in each of the middle two sets; and then two repetitions between a pair of gymnastics-style rings in the final two sets, with the final pull-up held at highest elevation for a 15-count.

And I had the 10 slow full-range push-ups in a declined posture on a cement ramp.

I had a couple of unavoidable encounters with other people in one unlit stretch of my walk, but I had my Titan stun gun / baton / flashlight in hand with the power switch all set to flick on if required. I hadn't used the flashlight function because I was able to see adequately due to the moon and the reflective cloud cover.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about the walk that I can recall, and I was back home by 4:05 a.m., or something like that.

Unfortunately, after spending some time here at my computer, instead of getting to bed well ahead of 6 a.m. like I could have, I chose waywardness. This folly kept me helplessly sitting up until well past 8 a.m. before my desperation impelled me to shut down and seek my bed.

I only succeeded in descending into a deep restful state, and then around 9:20 a.m. or shortly before, I rose because I thought I could hear the T.V. playing, signifying that my brother was up despite me not hearing him leave his bedroom.

But he was not downstairs, nor was the T.V. on. Only my youngest stepson was up (his older brother had a 12-hour day shift today that began at 6 a.m., so he had risen and left while I was shut up in my bedroom to no good cause).

At least this afforded me the opportunity to take control of the T.V. ahead of my brother who soon enough did emerge from his bedroom. By then I had a video all set to play via our Android TV Box.

It was on Rumble, and just under a half hour (27:57): THE SEQUEL TO THE FALL OF THE CABAL - PART 22 MONEY AND MURDER IN HOSPITALS.

This was not a random viewing ─ we have watched all of the preceding episodes, as well as all of the original Fall of the Cabal series.

Next up was another Rumble video ─ one which exceeded 1¼ hours (1:20:31), and which had been added back on December 31, 2021, to the America's Untold Stories channel: Alec Baldwin and the Rust Tragedy - Part 10 - Closing In.

Mark Groubert and Eric Hunley continue the exploration of The Rust movie set tragedy where Alec Baldwin shot and killed Halyna Hutchins. Now her father is blaming Alec Baldwin. Does this case have echoes in the past? More dots to explore!

We have also watched all preceding episodes, but my brother now realizes just how old this series is, so maybe next time I will ask him if he is still interested in pursuing it ─ there are hours of sequels remaining, but I won't offer that information.

The last show we watched was an episode of The Outpost ─ this one was season one's episode seven ("The Colipsum Conundrum").

My wife had to work a full day today at the Thai restaurant where she is employed part-time, but it doesn't open until 11 a.m., so she did not have to rise too early despite her fairly long drive.

I will most likely be abed before she is home this evening because I have another wee a.m. walk scheduled.

I was pleased to find that the bi-weekly mortgage has finally begun to get debited from the private account I set up a couple or more months back. Now my wife will not be able to 'accidentally' withdraw or transfer money that will leave us short on the payment ─ that is an enormous relief.

Now there is only a life insurance payment of nigh $210 that will require me to have any substantial amount of money in the joint chequing account. That payment seems to occur on the 2nd of each month, unless that day is a weekend or holiday. Until such a payment is imminent, I do not need to keep even as much as $100 in the account ─ this negates any risk that my wife will recidivate to her casino gambling addiction and blow through hundreds of dollars in a night as has happened too often before.

I am going to halt this post here ─ I want to get in a little bit of exercising, and then maybe kick back with a couple of cans of malt while watching a possible Christmas movie. I am not feeling at all keen due to my abuse early this morning ─ I needed to spend more time in bed, and my early afternoon nap has proven inadequate. 

I think much of the problem on how I am feeling is my vastly lowered self-esteem. I came so damned close to a total 'fall'.