Sometimes it seems like no matter how much you grow as a person, the way you interact with members of your family never changes.
My brother was the baby of the family and has always gotten whatever he's wanted. Anything that I had to fight to get, by the time he got to that point in his life (and he's only 15 months younger than me), my parents had either realized that it was no big deal, or they just didn't want to fight over it again. Plus, there were still a whole host of things he was allowed to do that I never was.
So, he's used to getting his way and can't really fathom a world where he doesn't get it.
Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, but sometimes he gets in these moods where he acts like a spoiled little brat. I should have known there would be problems this evening when I asked him for a piece of paper that was lying not one foot away from him and I was on the other end of the room. He told me that if I wanted it, I should get up and get it myself. I let is slide.
Then he and his girlfriend wanted to watch the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. I asked if we could not watch that, since the two of them and my mom have already seen it and I hate those damn Chipmunks. I said that I brought Arrested Development on DVD and we should watch that. My mom had seen a few episodes and thought it was funny. He just said he didn't want to and continued flipping channels, finally settling on some 80s movie we'd all seen years ago. We started watching that. I thought, "Okay, a compromise."
At one point, I got up to get a glass of water. When I came back, he'd put the Chipmunk DVD in the player and started watching it. I told him that I didn't want to see it and that we should watch Arrested Development because I really thought he'd think it was funny.
Now, at this point, I feel silly for relating all of this, but at that point, I honestly thought we were having a normal conversation about what to watch, as families do.
Anyway, after my comment, he got really angry, went on a tirade, including calling me a "bitch" which was really uncalled for. I wasn't angry or annoyed up until that point. I told him that if he thought me complaining about a movie was bad, then he should keep it up, because I could really make his life difficult.
He got mad, got up, said he was leaving. His girlfriend got up and followed him out of the room. As he was leaving, he was complaining to our mom about how my complaining about the movie was annoying him and that all I ever did was annoy him. I heard my mom say, "You're both being immature and you need to watch how you're talking to me [her] because I won't stand for it." At which point he and his girlfriend left.
And this is all so perfectly silly, but it's just another example of how my brother can't cope when he doesn't get what he wants. It's the same fight we've had with each other our entire lives, except now we're 30 and 29 years old and you'd think we *would* act a little more maturely. But, I mean, really, why would you insist on forcing someone who didn't want to watch a movie that you'd already seen to watch that movie - especially if you own that movie on DVD and can watch it whenever you want?
But my brother has never been able to understand compromise. And I'm sick of dealing with people who see compromise as losing. Especially over something so trivial. I mean, who the $&#^% cares?
In any case, I would like to now reiterate the fact that I love that I normally live 250 miles away from this place.
Have a nice day,
Kelly :)
