Last evening when my brother returned home from his daily social drinking, he was only going to drink one further can of beer, he said, because he was to be picking up his girlfriend Bev early this morning to take her to Service Canada because they ─ Service Canada ─ supposedly had various retroactive social assistance payments for her that were possibly amounting to a couple of thousand dollars.
He was unclear just what in blazes is going on because she had been of the belief that she was already receiving direct deposit payments that were essentially disappearing into a line of credit debt she had on her account at her financial institution.
All he could suggest to me was that she had no idea what on Earth has been going on. But she still seemed intent on moving in with us at month's end ─ again, he had no idea for how long. He said to me that he wanted her to be clear on her plans ─ did she expect to be moving in here temporarily ... or forever after?
The local Social Services offices don't seem to open their doors to the public before 9 a.m., despite technically being supposedly open at 8:30 a.m. So the plan was to try and be there before 8:30 a.m. anyway because of huge lineups that characterize that institution later in the morning and the afternoon that can stretch around the building.
True to his word, he only had one can of beer last evening, whereas I had three Cariboo Malts (7.9% alcohol). Such was his fear that the ignition interlock device installed by mandate in his van for the past 5½ or so months would prevent him from getting the vehicle started if he still had excessive alcohol in his system by the time he attempted to be leaving this morning.
And so last evening we were to watch four episodes of shows we follow ─ these are the episodes in this sequence:
- Seal Team ─ episode one ("Fracture") of season two.
- Yellowstone ─ episode six ("I Want to Be Him") of season four.
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves ─ episodes "Part I" and "Part II" of the sole (or first?) season.
My brother requested an encore episode of Lawmen: Bass Reeves because the series was so unusually excellent. I had originally planned something else, but it was quite wonderful seeing him actually paying attention instead of passing out, so I was willing enough to be encouragingly compliant with his request.
Incidentally, we last watched Seal Team some years ago, so I had to guess that we saw all of the first season. We may not have, though. Them's the breaks!
I'm a little unsure of my bedtime last night ─ it may have just passed 2 a.m. Yet I was up at 7:30 a.m. to use the toilet because I had grown too uncomfortable to sleep further without the relief. Unfortunately, I was unable to return to sleep, so I rose after about 15 minutes.
My brother had been downstairs watching T.V. when first I rose; he was just leaving when I rose the second time, but we had no contact either time. At least I knew that his van started.
He was back again possibly around 10:15 a.m., and reportedly all went well with Bev. She was second in line when the doors to Service Canada opened. She had no appointment ─ she had been told to just come in at her convenience.
I guess paperwork or whatever else was required had all been taken care of in the half hour or so that she was being 'served'.
With my brother back, I had our first show all lined up to watch on T.V. via our Android TV Box. It was 35 minutes (35:23), and had been published January 26 to Rumble's Canadian Citizens for Charter Rights and Freedoms channel: C3RF "In Hot" interview with Arthur Schaper of Mass Resistance.
Major Russ Cooper (Ret'd) delves deeply into the ongoing persecution of Christian activist, Bill Whatcott, with Mass Resistance Field Director, Arthur Schaper. How is it that one Canadian can be persecuted so long and so aggressively for voicing his opinions? Wasn’t Canada once a country that prided itself on the free speech rights afforded to all Canadians? Is it now unrecognizable? Strap-in as we examine a Canada that is drifting away from the "rule of law"!.
Unfortunately for me, only too late into that video did I remember to check my joint bank account online to see if my monthly pension had been directly deposited into it ─ my wife (who apparently did not have a full workday today) had risen just after my brother's return and had soon gone out without saying anything.
Had she seen that there was now a lot of money in the account and she was off to pillage it?
The video was just ending, and I had wanted to watch what was next, but I was left with no choice but to miss a good part of its start while I went upstairs to my computer and logged into the account, desperately hoping that if my pension had come, that none of it had been withdrawn or transferred out.
It was all there, so I transferred most of it out and into my private account that my wife could not access.
The video I had wanted to watch was 14 minutes (14:34), and had been uploaded June 10, 2022, to YouTube's Dates and Dead Guys channel: HIDDEN Civilization: What existed in the Amazon Before European Contact?
In late 1541 Francisco de Orellana and 57 conquistadors began the first documented journey by Europeans down the Amazon River. Beginning their expedition in the west from Quito, the party had to travel the entire length of the river to its mouth in order to escape the jungle with their lives. Friar Gaspar de Carvajal will chronicle the experience. He writes about starvation, attack, massive cities, poison arrows, cannibals, and fighting the legendary Amazonian women. Nearly 100 years later the Portuguese will travel the river in their own adventure but their accounts don’t write about the same glory as Carvajal. The jungle they move through is largely uninhabited. So was the Friar’s description a lie or is there another explanation?
For the 20th century the majority of scholars believed that Carvajal’s account was mostly fiction but in this episode I work to examine the possibility of what could have been there. The episode compares the accounts of the first explorations to modern evidence and works to answer the two most important questions on the topic as proposed by UCLA’s David Wilkinson:
1. “If there were Amazonian cities, what became of them?”
2. “If there were Amazonian cities, how could they possibly have been sustained?”Wilkinson provided two answers for each of the questions. “recurrent catastrophes” and “exemplary agronomy,” respectively.
This episode is part one in a multi-part series on the Amazon Jungle. Previously, I told Cavajal’s story on the first written account of traveling the river. In the next episodes, we will look at the legendary Amazonian warrior women.
After I returned to the video, my continued agitation affected my ability to focus on the presentation ─ but so did the fact that the visuals of the video would freeze, sometimes for a half minute or more (it seemed), even though the timer kept advancing and the sound was unaffected.
Confessedly, I must say that most of the video was lost upon me. I even had some trouble focussing on the final video that was tuned in, but we postponed its concluding 20 or so minutes so my brother could have some bed rest. I will not report on it until we have seen it all. My concentration will likely be better by then, too.
My wife was back home before I managed to return to bed for a nap. She seemed inclined to talk to me, but I was unable to perceive just what she was seeking to convey ─ it did seem financially related.
My fear of being imposed upon for a huge 'loan' kept me from trying to engage her; and then after she resorted to the bathroom to possibly freshen up (I don't believe that she had yet showered), I made my escape and retuned to bed, shutting my bedroom door.
I expected that she likely had to work the latter part of the day at the Thai restaurant where she is employed part-time. Normally she leaves here just after 3 p.m. on her rather long drive, so I was rather hoping that I might nap long and avoid her.
The point arrived where I no longer was able to sleep, so I checked the time ─ it couldn't have been any worse than 1:45 p.m. My brother had apparently risen and left for the day, hiking away for a bus to carry him to wherever he would be doing his social drinking.
I rose, and went downstairs for my day's third and final instant coffee. As I waited for the water to boil, my wife ─ all dressed to be going out ─ came forth in the vain hope that there was hot water for a drink to go.
She was to leave before it was quite 2 p.m., and never mentioned money. She further said that she would not be back tonight, and this was actually additional relief, for I would be spared any later direct pressure from her for money.
I don't mind small sums ─ even up to $100 on occasion. But these hits of $500 or even $1,000 all at once are utterly crippling.
Yet late into the afternoon or early evening, I had a decline of stability.
A couple or so days ago I discovered that there was a 2017 Alicia Witt Christmas movie I had somehow failed to discover and watch. My adoration for this actress cannot be adequately explained, though I have occasionally tried in the past.
And so I decided as the afternoon's daylight faded to watch the Hallmark movie, allowing me to give loose reign to some drinking ─ as it was to be, two full glasses of red wine and then a can of Cariboo Malt.
The movie was The Mistletoe Inn; and though I did watch it on T.V. via our Android TV Box, I chose to use a browser app instead of wasting time seeking a source with one of the streaming apps downloaded into the Android TV Box.
Thus my source for the movie was this OK.ru link, and it played flawlessly.
I wish that I knew Alicia.
Despite the fact that the evening was wearing on and I had no intention of sitting up late with my brother once he was back home, this was a scheduled bath day, so I decided to tackle that chore. I had no sooner settled into the tub of water when I heard my brother come upstairs to his bedroom to dress down and probably use the toilet ─ it was maybe 8:30 p.m.
I eventually emerged from the bathroom at 9:45 p.m. to espy my brother downstairs in the darkened living room, passed out in front of the T.V.
I feel no urge to blog further. It is 9:58 p.m., so I am going to cease here and publish this post, and be to bed relatively anon.
No comments:
Post a Comment