The Funnies

It seems to me that I was to bed ahead of 10 p.m. last evening, but I would not wager funds. Nevertheless, I was not to require my 4 a.m. alarm because I opted to rise a half hour or so before then due to how awake I was by that point.

At some point my wife had gotten home since I had gone to bed, although I could not tell upon rising, for she has taken to keeping her bedroom door shut when she is not home ─ maybe she is afraid Bev or my brother will sleep in her bed after one of their frequent fights. The only way I was to know for certain that my wife was home was by checking to see if her car was outside, and it was.

I had heard and maybe was still hearing light rain, but I was planning on grocery shopping at Real Canadian Superstore and not any elementary school playground exercising.

I waited until after 5 a.m. before finally having a mug of hot instant coffee with the works, even though Saturdays are my Sabbath fast. I needed the assist to facilitate the 5.625-mile round trip hike to do the shopping ─ which was preying upon me, for I was a little uncomfortable about engaging in commerce on the Sabbath. But as I wrote in yesterday's post, under my life's present circumstances, just having one morning in each normal week when I am able to do my grocery shopping is too restrictive.

Apart from the rich and sustaining mug of instant coffee, though, I did intend to otherwise keep my fast.

It was likely 5:55 a.m. at latest when I left home on my leisurely walk, and rain was never an issue.

My purchases at Real Canadian Superstore were to cost me $113.35, but the worst of that was a plastic bottle of 400 softgels of Life Brand Vitamin E (400 I.U.s) with a tiny bit (10 mgs) of "mixed tocopherols" from concentrate included with the predominantly d-alpha tocopherol (268 mgs) ─ this stuff was priced at $28.49.

My sore left foot (either plantar fasciitis or else a deep and severe bruising since maybe November 27) did grow more sensitive; and by the time I was into my final mile returning home, the burning was pronounced. Towards the end, I was having trouble not limping. And now over my day at home in my bare feet, the burning is crippling anytime I attempt to move about after being seated for any time.

This is most discouraging, for I had planned a similar shopping excursion for tomorrow, but that is now clearly off the books.

It is also one of the reasons I have opted to start shopping on the Sabbath. If I undertake a cripplingly long early Saturday shopping venture, I can still do any additional more local shopping early on Sunday. Otherwise, I would have to force myself to go forth Sunday evening after crippling myself with a long early Sunday venture ─ that's just not cutting it anymore, for I am too overwhelmed.

I arrived home from Real Canadian Superstore to find that my younger brother had apparently just come downstairs from his bedroom ─ unless he slept in my eldest stepson's bed downstairs (my stepson moved out over a week ago), which my brother has done at least three times already since Bev moved in with us early last Saturday evening.

I never sought further bed rest after putting away my purchases that needed going into the kitchen, and then dressing down in my bedroom. Instead, I busied myself here at my bedside computer. Then a while after hearing my brother had turned on the T.V., I joined him.

He was quite quick in offering control of the T.V. to me so that I could put our Android TV Box into operation, so I began our viewing with a 17-minute video uploaded yesterday to YouTube's AnitaK channel: Ruby Dhalla Disqualified by Liberals.

Former MP Ruby Dhalla has been disqualified from the Liberal Party of Canada’s leadership race due to alleged violations of party rules, including financial reporting issues and breaches of the Canada Elections Act. Dhalla, who aimed to make history as the first Indian-origin woman to lead the party, has strongly denied the allegations, calling them "false" and "fabricated."

From what I have learned concerning Ruby, I rather like the attractive woman. But she needs to leave the Liberal Party. As far as I am concerned, I will 𝓝𝓔𝓥𝓔𝓡 vote for a Liberal nor an N.D.P. member for as long as I live. Both parties are dead to me.

Next I tuned in a 36-minute video streamed yesterday to YouTube's Juno News channel: Danielle Smith: Carney will be WORSE than Trudeau.

Today on the Candice Malcolm Show, Alberta premier Danielle Smith joins Candice to discuss a wide range of topics, including her meetings with the Trump administration, and what a Mark Carney government would mean for Canada.

Plus, the Canadian men’s hockey team defeated Team USA in a high-stakes rivalry match, amid the tension of an ongoing trade war.

Finally, the Liberals are proposing to nearly double the CBC’s funding, unveiling a plan to lock this funding into legislation, effectively shielding it from public accountability.

We then got back into the 1962 black & white British 'coming of age' movie we had cut from a couple of mornings ago with maybe an hour to go, but with only half of that reminder watched, my brother announced his need for some further bed rest even though it was only 11 a.m.

So I will continue delaying the identification of the movie until it has been fully viewed by us.

I had my needed nap, and was abed maybe two hours. When I rose, I could hear my wife busy downstairs cooking. My brother and Bev seemed away.

I decided not to go downstairs to socialize with my wife because of the pain that was then profoundly pronounced in my left foot; and of course, I am always a little concerned that she might impose upon me for some money I just cannot afford to surrender.

After a time she came upstairs to shower and begin readying for her partial day of work at the Thai restaurant where she is employed part-time, and when she passed by my bedroom she announced in passing that she had prepared some manner of a pasta dish.

Today is her birthday. I had transferred $100 to her on (I believe) Thursday at her remote request by Facebook Messenger, so that basically exhausted my budget where anything like a birthday present was concerned. Still, I felt that I needed to say something more personal when she was finished readying for work.

Unfortunately, she managed to pass by my bedroom doorway on her way downstairs without me noticing. By then my brother and Bev were back home. I realized my wife had gone downstairs when I heard her talking in partial Thai with her youngest son. So I preferred not to intrude on them.

The next thing I knew I heard her say "Bye" to Bev in the living room watching T.V., and my wife was gone. Not a word to me.

Happy birthday, my wife.

I intend to be to bed relatively early again this evening for that bit of local shopping tomorrow in one of the stores that open at 7 a.m. Or maybe I will just save the outing for Sunday evening, giving my foot some extra healing time?

I have yet to finalize my decision, obviously.

After my wife had left just after 3 p.m., I soon used her bedroom for another set of 50 leg-raises on the Reebok exercise pad I bought almost two weeks ago. I used it yesterday for the first time, breaking it in with an inaugural set of 50 leg-raises.

I have not performed any leg-raises in likely many months, so my abdomen has developed some soreness, but not enough to make doing them again prohibitive this 'day after'.

Then I had my Sabbath nude weigh-in to see how I have been faring since last Saturday when I was only a sliver below 180 pounds.

This time I was maybe 177 - 177½ pounds after four tries on the analogue bathroom scale.

At the present it is not yet 5 p.m., and I am going to break from this post. I would watch a show downstairs on T.V. if Bev was not camped there usurping it as she is always doing ─ my brother apparently went off to catch a bus to take him to engage his near-daily social drinking somewhere.

His condition upon returning home ─ if he is early enough ─ will determine whether I watch any T.V. with him this evening via our Android TV Box.

But right now, I want to rest my eyes in the dark for awhile. I seem to be hitting a bit of a decline, although I know some drinking and an emotional Christmas movie would perk me right up if I was not fasting.

I do not plan to eat until maybe 7 p.m.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

I managed to get possibly just over an hour in bed, rising around 6 p.m. And I was to begin eating just ahead of 7 p.m. ─ no earlier than 6:53 p.m., for sure.

While doing so, here on my bedside computer I watched an episode of The Guardian ─ episode nine ("The Funnies") of season one.

Until I had eaten, I was swaying towards later watching some T.V. with my brother once he was back home. But upon filling with my supper, I lost that inclination ─ beer after a filling feed loses its appeal.

I wanted earlier to mention that we had quite a lot of rain in the afternoon ─ I would have regretted my earlier walk if it had been timed along with conditions like that.

But it eventually died off in the late afternoon despite seeming as if it was going to be lasting. There seems to be a bit of a breeze or wind wafting into our upstairs windows, so perhaps the rain clouds blew away.

I am of a mind that my brother is likely not going to be the sort of company I will benefit from in seeking to watch any of our shows. It was a risk for me to watch The Guardian on my computer, for sometimes a video can freeze the system and force me to manually shut it down, and then restart it. Naturally, the various tabs I have open on the usually three (sometimes four) different browsers are possibly an additional stress for the old operating system.

If Bev would only stick to watching her own T.V. in the bedroom, I would be able to watch something on T.V. downstairs via our Android TV Box, but it appears I am henceforth going to be denied this casual pastime I always appreciated on the fairly big screen.

If at all interested, my source for The Guardian was this link at Watch-TVSeries.net which presently seems to have all of the seasons and their episodes available for viewing.

I might as well quit this post and publish it. If my brother is not home by 9 p.m., then maybe I will simply retire and rise well into the early a.m. when I can enjoy the peace of no T.V. running downstairs ─ Bev does nothing else but watch T.V. here at home all the time she is not in bed.

I never expected this, but I guess I should have.

When I hear my brother arrive home, I will shut myself up here in my bedroom and listen to determine his state, but I am confident that he will have drunk well to excess.

I still feel a little sad about not acknowledging my wife's birthday to her today. Maybe I can find some small novelty gift in the early morning if I go shopping then ─ possibly an unusual plant or some such, and maybe even a festive balloon.

And now my brother has come home. It is 9:01 p.m. He sounds rather drunk.