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My name can get you places. Well, it can get you a job at a dog kennel. My brothers have been hanging around my parents' house for nearly two months without a job. They've got a degree from a technical college to work with computers, but they're uninterested in the real world and prefer the online gaming world instead. Then again, if really given a choice, wouldn't you rather be a magnificent wizard with a variety of spells at your fingertips and a legion of followers who would die for you? But yeah, they're of legal drinking age and have yet to obtain and hold a "real job" (i.e. one that does not involve working for family members). They applied at the dog kennel I worked at years ago when I graduted high school. The owner remembered my name and hired them both right away since they were **my** brothers after all. I hope she's not expecting Amanda #2 and #3 because we are hardly alike in life experience, outlook, and drive. But they do have a job now and no longer have to mooch off of my parents completely. Which is good, right?
Throughout my adolescence I was continually annoyed with the easy life my brothers led. I'm the oldest and had the majority of the expectations placed on my shoulders. Meanwhile my brothers cruised by with below average and failing grades, yet amazingly avoiding all verbal lashings from my parents. I can't complain too much though. School and high marks came easily to me. I never had to try too hard to do well in academics, while my brothers seemed to struggle with getting a passing grade. In hindsight, it wasn't lack of intelligence on their part, but just lack of interest. I wanted to do well and make my parents proud, but my brothers didn't seem to care. They were always content in the world of their own making.
Now look... They have the degree and I don't. I was a mere eighteen credit hours from a BS in psychology. Now I'm left with a $10,000 student loan stalking me around dark corners. Not that I feel as if I need a degree nor do I have any jealousy toward their degree. I'm actually surprised they even lasted long enough to graduate technical school. Though I highly suspect the driving force behind it was my mother. She's the one who took out the loan to get them the money to pay for the tuition when they had borrowed the maximum amount allowed.
But that opens a whole new can of worms. I paid for my own schooling, even if I dropped out in the end. A sizable scholarship, a goverment grant, and a loan to put the icing on the financial cake. I never dared ask my parents for money for text books or anything else. Pride? Maybe. But mostly I didn't want to be a burden to them. My brothers? Ha! They'll take whatever they can get. I'd call them leeches, but they're so innocent - completely oblivious to the way the world works and how people truly are. I wonder what my parents did to make them such odd 21 year old men. Not that there is anything wrong with swimming against the current. I like people who do that. But they're not even **in** the stream we're all in. They're sitting on the bank watching us frantically dealing with life's troubles - relationships, money, jobs, bosses, obligations, friends. Those have no impact on my brothers' lives. Their most pressing obligation is signing online in time for the latest action in the role-playing game that has taken over their lives this week or month. Sometimes I wish I could sit on the bank and admire the view. Then again, wouldn't it just feel horrible to never get wet?
Throughout my adolescence I was continually annoyed with the easy life my brothers led. I'm the oldest and had the majority of the expectations placed on my shoulders. Meanwhile my brothers cruised by with below average and failing grades, yet amazingly avoiding all verbal lashings from my parents. I can't complain too much though. School and high marks came easily to me. I never had to try too hard to do well in academics, while my brothers seemed to struggle with getting a passing grade. In hindsight, it wasn't lack of intelligence on their part, but just lack of interest. I wanted to do well and make my parents proud, but my brothers didn't seem to care. They were always content in the world of their own making.
Now look... They have the degree and I don't. I was a mere eighteen credit hours from a BS in psychology. Now I'm left with a $10,000 student loan stalking me around dark corners. Not that I feel as if I need a degree nor do I have any jealousy toward their degree. I'm actually surprised they even lasted long enough to graduate technical school. Though I highly suspect the driving force behind it was my mother. She's the one who took out the loan to get them the money to pay for the tuition when they had borrowed the maximum amount allowed.
But that opens a whole new can of worms. I paid for my own schooling, even if I dropped out in the end. A sizable scholarship, a goverment grant, and a loan to put the icing on the financial cake. I never dared ask my parents for money for text books or anything else. Pride? Maybe. But mostly I didn't want to be a burden to them. My brothers? Ha! They'll take whatever they can get. I'd call them leeches, but they're so innocent - completely oblivious to the way the world works and how people truly are. I wonder what my parents did to make them such odd 21 year old men. Not that there is anything wrong with swimming against the current. I like people who do that. But they're not even **in** the stream we're all in. They're sitting on the bank watching us frantically dealing with life's troubles - relationships, money, jobs, bosses, obligations, friends. Those have no impact on my brothers' lives. Their most pressing obligation is signing online in time for the latest action in the role-playing game that has taken over their lives this week or month. Sometimes I wish I could sit on the bank and admire the view. Then again, wouldn't it just feel horrible to never get wet?
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