God Complex

If I am remembering correctly, it was around 9:28 p.m. when I got away last evening on a five-mile+ walk, employing a trail system in Green Timbers Urban Forest Park to best ensure that I would not be using much of 96th Avenue between 148th Street and Green Timbers Way that would massively increase my risk of again become entangled with homeless Charles "Stickman" McCarthy.

I entered Salal Trail at 100th Avenue & 148th Street (Google Map) and worked things thus that I came out onto 96th Avenue via Willow Trail just a short distance from Green Timbers way (Google Map).

Then I followed Green Timbers Way until I could cut through the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care & Surgery Centre parking lot to allow me to jaywalk 140th Street, and from there I took to Fraser Highway and headed towards King George Boulevard.

The only time I used my flashlight was when I entered Salal Trail ─ it was exceedingly dark and I would surely have walked directly into the thick trunk of an evergreen tree. Once past that spot, I was able to see, for I was no longer blinded by street traffic and lights.

My younger brother was watching T.V. by the time I was back home shortly around or just after 11:30 p.m.

Once he turned the T.V. over to me so that I could activate our Android TV Box, we were to only watch two shows.

I led us off with Bosch ─ episode five ("Chapter Five: Mama's Boy") of season one. I was rather pleased with myself that I suspected who the actress was that played "an elderly woman" who turned out to be the serial killer's mother ─ her eyes were what clued me in.

Veronica Cartwright was certainly not looking much like the rather attractive victim in 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (an image here).

She is just under six months older than I am, by the way. I won't be 75 until October.

We also watched The Last O.G. ─ episode nine ("All I Need") of season three. I never said aught to my brother, but I felt that it was preposterous that the main character could possibly sweet talk beautiful Cassandra Freeman into dating him.

After my brother retired for the night and I was involved here at my computer, my wife finally arrived home after having worked the full day at the Thai restaurant where she is employed part-time. She had been partying.

She was wiped out and practically begged me to water her garden plants in the front yard before I went to bed. I was beat myself, but I felt an exasperated amusement over her asking me, so I did do it.

Perhaps I am misremembering, but I don't think that I got to bed until around 3:30 a.m.

My morning commenced around 8:30 a.m., but I had been awake maybe 1¼ hours earlier and opted to turn myself over and strive for a little further sleep. I had a bit of hangover from the late night and the four cans of Cariboo Malt (8% alcohol) that I drank over the course of the previous evening.

My brother did not emerge from his bedroom until possibly 9:30 a.m. or so. When he did, I had a few things lined up for us to watch on T.V. via our Android TV Box, but I will only mention a 56-minute (56:25) video uploaded on August 20, 2016, to YouTube's Real Stories channel: Cult Witness (Cult Documentary) | Real Stories.

At the age of 19 Samuel Stefan, consumed by crisis, was drawn into a cult. It would be 10 years before he was able to escape.

Using a technique called ‘love-bombing’ cults prey on the vulnerable, recruiting new members with love and warmth. After a period of brain-washing, members are forbidden to leave, enslaved through psychological control, and in Samuel’s case, even violence. He was finally able to escape in the dead of night, persued by other members and seek help.

Cult Witness is an intelligent exploration of how cults attract and manipulate their followers, sharing the disturbing firsthand experiences of Cult Witness director Samuel Stefan and six others who have freed themselves from cults: Jill Mytton (The Exclusive Brethren), Jim Bergin and Judy Garvey (The Gentle Wind Project), Lea Saskia Laasner (The Janus Project), and Celeste Jones and Amoreena Winkler (The Children of God).

Analytical insights into the cult experience are provided by leadership expert Betty Sue Flowers; Benjamin Zablocki, chair of the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University; UCLA Professor Emeritus Bertram Raven, an expert on interpersonal influence and social power relationships; psychotherapist Miguel Perlado, who specializes in cult-related problems; and Urs Eschmann, a specialist in legal issues involving cults.

Cult Witness unravels the hidden world of cults; the hold they have on their victims, the reasons people form and fall prey to them and what takes place within.

Maybe I should also mention two older videos from YouTube's Talasbuan channel:

• Off Grid Life | Would you live like this? (20:17) May 31, 2019

Episode thirty-seven, in which we're butchering roosters and experiencing a magical misty morning

• Off Grid Life | Pulled Pork and building with Timber (38:49) June 23, 2019

Episode thirty-eight, in which we're making pulled pork and Mathias father and brother is on a visit helping out with all the projects

After this, my brother sought some bed rest; and without having yet eaten, I was soon to bed in search of a needed nap.

Up until then, the day had been solidly overcast. I was not to notice sunshine until around 3 p.m., so sunning was off the books for a second consecutive day.

My wife had to work in the latter afternoon, and left here around 3:20 p.m. She never rose until after I had taken my nap, by which time my brother had already left for the day.

I intend a wee a.m. five-mile walk ─ I would hope to be away well before 2:30 a.m.; consequently, I really must ensure that I get to bed reasonably early this evening. Ideally, I would like to get up at 1:30 a.m. to start readying for the outing.

Meantime this early evening, I have watched FBI ─ the season five finale episode ("God Complex") while enjoying a can of Cariboo Malt.

It was a good episode, with suspense, excitement, and emotional involvement. I was certain that Agent Stuart Scola was going to lose ... did he and Agent Nina Chase marry? ─ either his wife, their about-to-be-born baby, or maybe even both.

I'm glad the show's producers didn't go for tragedy.

If interested, I watched the episode on my computer at this OK.ru link, and it played flawlessly.

It was tempting to have a second drink, but I withheld.

Incidentally, one of my stepsons transferred a $320 mortgage contribution to my account yesterday, so my present financial crisis has passed and I was able to make a full $500 credit card payment due tomorrow.

The minimum payment required was $256.14, but even paying $500 will probably not see the balance drop by too much over $100. Paying the minimum only sees the balance markedly escalate.

There is also enough money remaining in the account for this Thursday's fortnightly mortgage payment.

It is now 9:06 p.m., so I am done blogging for today.