Sibling Quibbling

Who knows me well knows that my 哥哥 is of l'importance to me. We are more like-minded I think than I am with anyone else... But really different in many ways too. I manage to learn more about myself from him that from any other friend. Always inspired astonished and/or admonished to see in him who I could be. People say we talk alike, i.e. the same shade of monotony, I guess. Some people say we look alike too, but it's not like I get confused and call my reflection Josh when I look in the mirror (usually).

Last week he gave in to this 5th-grade-esque survey-list thing that's been floating around Facebook, and since I haven't felt so up to shareable or pleasant introspection lately you can read about my brother in his words instead of more about me in more of mine.

Directions:

Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 16 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

1. My fear of death stems from not being able to know what will happen in a hundred or thousand years.
2. Anything I bring into my apartment eventually ends up on the floor.
3. I have two sets of leather couches, two bicycles, three computers, dozens of bottles of wine, hundreds of cigars, and no bed to sleep on.
4. C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters also altered my way of thinking, once upon a time.
5. I sometimes think I was born for a different time; I dream of things like building a home with my own hands, chopping down trees, tilling fields while pondering the meaning of life, grand adventures, and being generally self-sufficient.
6. I have a contingency plan for every situation you are capable of fabricating.
7. The sight of an object always brings back precious memories (I'm slowly purging myself of evil packrat tendencies).
8. Seeking brunette(s) with freckles and ambition.
9. I used to talk non-stop and get into trouble constantly.
10. I've actively avoided introspection the past three years.
11. I really like leather, especially in the form of shoes.
12. At the age of twenty-one I began to seriously question the concept of monogamy.
13. I also like wood, cotton, wool, silk and linen... Perhaps a little too much.
14. I need to learn the meaning of hard work.
15. I used to care what people say and catalog every conversation. Now I can rarely bring myself to give a damn.
16. I've given too much thought to being homeless or living in my car.

I think #3, 5, 11, 12, 13, 16 are relatively new. #9 "used to" is probably a huge understatement... Applies to hyperactive elementary school times and Sunday School when he'd rewrite the lyrics to all the songs. And Chinese school. And then one day he became this brooding intellectual thing.

And his heartwarming tags:

Justin, who always brings out the best in me
John, for the endlessly entertaining sexual tension
Jon L, who reminds me so much of myself yet is ostensibly nothing like me
Chris, always becoming more heroic in my eyes
Adam, i miss the contemplative j00zerker hidden inside
Jack, who i struggle with wanting to emulate
Keith, simultaneously a stranger and a brother to me
Jon S, who i miss more than i care to admit
Jennie, a symbol of simpler, happier times
Ariel, someone who somehow actually understands me
Esther, i trained you so well but now i find so much to learn from you
Nancy, always making me smile
Serena, possibly my foil
Winnie, our brief encounters always intrigue and inspire me
Joanna, always reminding me of the man i once wanted to be
Jess, for making it comfortable and easy to be my stupid self

My cop-out reply:

Esther Liu at 11:54pm December 15

1) I like to start things...

Joshua Liu at 1:19am December 16

that is perfection

I may or may not get around to writing a real note as the directions say. I've been in such a funk (underunderstatement) as of late but today things are and I am looking Up again.