Income Tax Refund!

I did not feel great when my 6 a.m. cellphone alarm summoned me to rise. I wonder if that pre-bedtime 11 or 12 ounces of red wine on top of the previous two cans of Cariboo Malt (7.9% alcohol) have any involvement in how poorly I tend to feel at rising?

After getting to bed late last evening I do not recall hearing my youngest stepson nor his mother arrive home last night, so I had no communication with either of them. And today, apart from a general "good morning" from each of them to my brother and I as we watched our morning T.V. together, there still has been no communication. My wife had a full workday at the Thai restaurant where she is employed part-time, so there was also the general well-wishing as she left. I believe she had emerged from her bedroom around 9:50 a.m. to shower, and left a half hour at most later on her fairly long drive.

Anyway, before my brother had emerged from his bedroom in the morning, I had my usual sorry performance out in the backyard tool shed of a single repetition in each of the six sets of pull-ups and chin-ups before I moved on to the squat work to try and strengthen function of my bad right knee and quadriceps muscles.

I was back upstairs here to my bedside computer before my brother came forth from his bedroom.

Around 9:10 a.m. I joined him for some morning T.V., and soon enough got his invitation to start operating our T95Q Android 9 TV Box. I led us off with the latest video at Rumble's ZeeeMedia channel, but despite her strong opening, once her guest came on, the direction of conversation was directed away from what I was expecting the two to be talking about.

So after just over 11 minutes of the 43-minute (43:25) video I tuned out and we instead watched a 38-minute (38:17) video uploaded yesterday to YouTube's Juno News channel: Carney takes Emergencies Act fight to Supreme Court.

The federal government is heading to the Supreme Court after losing twice over its use of the Emergencies Act during the Freedom Convoy—despite courts ruling the move violated Canadians’ rights.

Canadian Constitution Foundation lawyer Josh Dehaas joins Kris Sims to break down the landmark rulings, what they mean for civil liberties, and why the government is pushing forward anyway.

At the heart of the case: whether Ottawa overstepped by freezing bank accounts and bypassing normal legal safeguards during a political protest.

With the case potentially heading to the Supreme Court, the outcome could define the limits of government power—and your right to protest—for years to come.

I then tuned in a movie ─ 2008's Mutant Chronicles. My source was probably this OK.ru link.

My brother did not hold back with his disdain for the feature, and finally at 10:30 a.m. he rose and said he'd "seen enough", and he returned to his bedroom extra-early for further bed rest.

I don't believe that I quite hit the 28-minute mark before I closed out of it with no intention of ever resuming.

Apart from being filmed with such murky lighting that it never seemed to be daytime, it was also rather blurry; and the premise just was not working. Supposedly in the 2700s, Mankind still goes to war with foot soldiers; it resembled footage from some poorly-shot World War II movie with the Germans and British doing battle ─ trench warfare style ─ in the night somewhere in Europe.

On top of that, there is a religious cult whose sole existence has been for centuries to be watching over some monstrous "machine" Mankind once united to bury after the mutants it had been creating were finally defeated.

So somehow in the year 2700 or whatever, the world is losing in the battle against this machine and the mutants it keeps creating out of dead and dying people, yet in the distant past when the best Mankind had were weapons like swords and such, the machine and its mutant hordes were defeated?

This was too much nonsense. Maybe if the video was sharply filmed and not a blurry murk, I might have held on, or at least opted to watch more of it later on. But I'm done with it.

And I was likely to bed for my nap ahead of 11:30 a.m., which meant that I was done and rose again just ahead of 1 p.m.

But I still managed to fritter away the early afternoon. Some good news, though, is that I discovered that my income tax refund had been directly deposited today ─ $2,505 and change. Even so, I fear it will prove insufficient to get me through the coming three big annual bills for utilities, home insurance, and property taxes.

My wife wanted us ─ the five of us living here ─ to split the utilities bill five ways that is due April 1st, rather than the three ways that my brother and I were anticipating being faced with.

I fear that my fifth of the bill will turn out to be two fifths, for my wife cannot pay a full share; and the two fifths I would then be burdened with will be considerably more than a third share would have been if my brother and I had stuck to the original scheme.

On a vaguely related note, yesterday I uncovered an unopened container of Webber Naturals Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil ─ 220 softgels ─ in the fridge. I may have placed it there long, long ago; but if would get buried away out of sight. From time to time I would notice it, but then forget to retrieve it and it would quickly be buried away out of sight again.

So this time I asserted myself and pulled it out of the fridge. I'm sure it had originally cost around $20 ─ maybe more.

Guess what the expiry date on it was?

August 2023. There is no way that by now the oil has not become rancid and consequently negatively beneficial to consume. So I'll be emptying it into the compost wheelie bin.

I am going to take a break now at 5:28 p.m. I've had some light exercise earlier in my wife's vacant bedroom, and I've since had my light second and final meal of my day.

Time for at least a couple T.V. shows here on my bedside computer, and some beer.

🟠🟠🟠

My early evening led off with Harlots ─ the premiere episode of season or series three. My source was this MoviesJoyTV.co link.

I certainly enjoyed it, though I was unaffected emotionally by anything. It was over by 6:55 p.m., as was a can of Cariboo Malt.

My second show got delayed because for the life of me, I could not recall the concluding portion of what was the episode preceding the one I had myself now scheduled to watch.

I researched back to when I did watch it, and I found that it was the fourth show on an evening when I risked watching that many while continuing to keep drinking. Obviously, I had gotten too drunk to pay proper attention to the entire episode.

I had best not spend further evenings in that state. I want to remember what I have watched, especially if the show is enjoyable. 

So I tuned in the scheduled episode of The 100 ─ the premiere episode ("From the Ashes") of season seven. My source was this TVSeries.video link.

It and my second beer were done by 8:08 p.m., and I found that at some point my brother had returned from his daily social drinking and was matching wits loudly downstairs with his evening T.V. companion Bev. 

My third and definitely final show was enjoyed with 11 or 12 ounces of a Chilean wine calling itself Diablo Dark Red (13.5% alcohol) of a 2023 vintage.

It was a naturally cork-stopped 750ml bottle that I have resisted opening for several days, although I bought it some months ago.  

So darned richly heavy! It was gorgeous! Supposedly the Concha y Toro winery has been operating since 1883.

I was to watch one of my current top two series, Titans ─ episode nine ("Atonement") of season two. My source was another TVSeries.video link.

It was extremely interesting, but nothing was uplifting nor inspiring ─ it was all downer. I think the best of it was when Hawk and Dove sang karaoke in some bar. If that was the real voices of those two actors ... wow!

I forgot to take note of when the episode concluded, but it was definitely before 10 p.m.

And now since before 10:30 p.m. I have first been phoned by my wife, and then in text and phone contact with her. She wanted me to e-Transfer her $700, claiming she had the cash in her wallet squirrelled away in her bedroom. I fetched it, but could only count out $660, so that is what I transferred.

I reminded her about the annual utilities bill due April 1st, but I can't tell if she is sober or not. Is this transfer for stupidity like gambling at the casino near where she works? 

Usually I can tell if she has been drinking, but maybe I'm not sober enough? Whatever the case, I did finally do the transfer ─ it's her money, after all. She claimed she would be home within the hour.

I hate this. I have no idea how to deal with my life when I have responsibilities beyond myself. I should never have gone to Thailand in January 2003. Nor should I ever have agreed to partner with my brother in the Spring of 2002 to begin paying a mortgage on this house placed in my name alone as of June that year.

I am a slave to everyone ever since ─ a prisoner of this house and my obligations and responsibilities.