Dragonlich

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.

Okay, where to start...

I've got an older brother, almost 30 now. He's pretty much the exact opposite of me. Where I am predictable, calm, introverted, and know I have to work for a living, my brother is wild, chaotic, extreme, smokes pot, can't stay in a job for long, and does't know how to handle money.

Needless to say, his life is a mess. He does not have any diplomas besides the lowest form of highschool, despite trying several advanced studies (ranging from electronics to social sciences). In the process, he's acquired a pretty hefty debt to the government. In the process, he's also had internships at the UNESCO, amongst others. But as always, he just gives up - doesn't go there anymore, and doesn't even bother to call.

The same has happened to the jobs he's had - he just decides he doesn't want to do it anymore, and stops going, without even calling them to say so. Of course, he knows it's wrong, he knows he's stupid, but he'll change his ways this time! And if that fails, it's society that's to blame.

In the meantime, he's spending what little money he has on clothes, parties, cigarettes (and occasionally pot), and tons of other things he really can't afford. He does NOT spend it on paying his bills, though - which is exactly what started the current crisis.

For a while now, my brother has had the idea of going abroad, because this country apparently sucks. "There's nothing for me here," he says. Unfortunately, one needs money to travel, which means he hasn't been able to go away for a while now. That is, until last week. After yet another failed job, he just gave up. His money was running out quickly, and all things seemed to go wrong all at once - his bank was threatening to block his loans, his house's owner was threatening to kick him out, his phone service has been cut, and the electricity, gas and water are probably going to be cut soon.

So what does mister smarty-pants do? Empty his house (bring stuff to parents), get the last remaining money out of the bank, and go away. Last monday, he finally took the step, and moved off.

Today, five days later, my parents got a phonecall from my
brother (hysterical, crying) asking them to pick him up in Paris. He hasn't slept in days (spend the time on the streets), he hasn't eaten in two days, and he's broke. My mother called me, and asked me to join my father on the trip, seeing that she's in no condition to travel such distances (she has a muscle disease). I call my boss, and arrange for this, with the boss being pretty annoyed - we'll be short on staff tomorrow thanks to this. I'll probably have to kiss up a lot to smooth things over... (And I feel *very* guilty about it too!)

There... And that was yet another episode in the life of me and my family. In the next episode, we'll discover how my brother gets evicted, ends up living at his friends' houses, and how he slowly ruins his life even more. Oh, and I'll be explaining my family problems to my boss, in the hopes she'll forgive me.