Category Archives: Life Lessons

My sibling continues to be an ungrateful jerk

My sibling continues to be an ungrateful jerk.

Nothing new here.

This week, because I’m a kind person who likes sharing (and because my sibling keeps asking me to do so), I gave $192.31 worth of investment profit to my sibling on Tuesday. I gave $115.20 worth of investment profit to my sibling on Wednesday.

This is even though my sibling has not paid rent this month (I am solely responsible for the mortgage at my place and my sibling is living here).

This is even though my sibling does not contribute anything to my smart investments. (ie. no funding, no research/knowledge)

When the building management sent out a memo saying there are rats/mice in the building, I got mouse traps. I set the mouse traps. When the mouse traps caught some mice, my sibling does not contribute by disposing of the mice but complains that nobody is doing that (without stopping to think that my sibling never contributed to anything).

Then this Thursday, my sibling came to me and started saying our mother is an idiot for not understanding how to do her taxes. I had just come home at 9:45pm after having left home at 9:05am for work. I had not been home for more than 12 hours and one of the first things my sibling wants to do is complain, complain, complain.

I told my sibling to stop because I had no idea about taxes. I repeated I had no idea, no idea, no idea, no idea. Keep in mind I had just come home after more than 12 hours of work.

But of course, my sibling becomes offended and storms off. And it’s back to my sibling’s old ways. Yeah, of course when my own boss supports that kind of attitude and behaviour, that sort of behaviour and attitude will continue.

Instead of helping out and contributing, my sibling just wants to be an ungrateful jerk. Interesting that my boss, who is supposed to be an educator and is herself a mother and daughter, endorses this sort of attitude.

Advertisement

Wait…isn’t that…?

There have been people who’ve asked, “Wait, isn’t what you’re doing gambling or betting?” Or: “How’s your betting today?

Well, I don’t consider this gambling or betting. I read scouting reports when I’m sitting inside an Uber and when I have a couple moments to do research. I look at trends and statistics. I look at patterns. Heck, when a game is on (doesn’t matter whether it’s basketball, football, hockey, or baseball), the “betting” lines are prominently shown on the screen and analysts even give their picks before the game about whether or not Jayson Tatum (or whoever) will get X number of points or assists in the game that the network is about to show.

But a lot of research goes into it before making specific investments.

It’s not the same as what people do at the casino — one Uber driver told me recently that he picks up passengers from the casino all the time, and one passenger apparently told the driver that he’d lost $20,000 gambling that one night.

No, I am doing smart investing.

I need to do so to finance things around me. For instance, I have a mortgage to pay every month, and my sibling has chosen to live with me on the property but is paying well below market value. And this month (today is the 7th of April as I’m typing this) my sibling hasn’t paid this current month’s rent money yet. The funny thing is my sibling has actually asked me for a loan this month so that the (below-market value) rent can be paid to me.*

What the heck is that?

Well, I am employed and I am kept busy at work, but this smart investment helps to pay for many expenses, that’s for sure.

Hey, it will even come in handy if my sibling (who’s older than me) decides to stop paying (below-market value) rent altogether. When one of your own bosses plants this idea into your sibling’s head (jokingly or not) — my boss’s exact words to my sibling were, “If K.P. bullies you, don’t pay him any rent!” — well, you never know.

*Speaking of “funny” things, when my sibling found out I was doing these investments, my sibling actually asked me for a cut of my profits — but doesn’t want to contribute any funding or research/knowledge. My sibling’s idea is that I should fork out several hundred dollars out of my own pocket, invest on my sibling’s behalf, and then actually give cash payments to my sibling directly on the profits made. Isn’t that “funny”? And my sibling acted as though I was insulting my sibling when I didn’t want to do it.

I don’t understand something…

I don’t understand something…or maybe I do. Many people are assholes.

I work in an afternoon school. Despite my busy schedule, I had to exert some extra effort to make it to afternoon school every Monday. I make sure that those in charge understand this. Yet, I rarely get a proper thank-you.

Mind you, I don’t need the extra income. I’m there to help out. In fact, I made $1,961 in my smart sports investments today alone. My boss wanted to discuss this with me today, but he ended up having meetings with clients and talking to other staff. He didn’t spend much time interacting with me. Why? I’m sure that the meetings are important, but then talking to other staff instead of me?

Again, I don’t need the extra income from the school. Today, as mentioned, I made $1,961 in my smart investments. Two days earlier (Saturday), I made $2,304 in my smart investments. Three days earlier (Friday), I made $993 in my smart investments. Over the past month, I have had way more days of profits than losses (by a 2-to-1 ratio).

I did some hockey broadcasting during the fall and winter. I have written several books. I make extra effort to help out at the school. Yet, people around prefer engaging in meaningless gossip and conversations instead of wanting to talk to me.

And in fact, today there was a visitor to the school whom we all know. She said no more than 10 words to me in greeting me and saying goodbye. Yet, she had a lot of things to say to another teacher there. Oh, okay.

And there was also something wrong with my scheduling that I wasn’t informed about today — something that at least one staff member knew — but I wasn’t informed. And they’re busy chitchatting amongst themselves, etc. etc. etc.

Fine, don’t talk to me.

This just goes to show that people are assholes. These words are here to stay. Whatever I type here, these are my experiences and what I encountered. I don’t delete any of this stuff.

All I can say is that people are assholes.

“I don’t feel sorry for you…”

Today, a student told me that he’d read on the news that property taxes are rising in our province. I asked him what he thought about it. Initially, he said he felt awful because he had to pay more when making everyday purchases.

However, I set him straight and explained what property taxes are. I then recalled what a colleague named J once told me when we were having a casual conversation about an unpleasant situation that I was encountering. She said, “I don’t feel sorry for you. It’s your life. I don’t feel sorry for you.”

Well, I can then be an asshole like J. and say the same thing about things like rising property taxes. I can just walk around and say, “I don’t feel sorry for those people. It’s their life….” But I’m not an asshole like J. So, I won’t say that.

Yeah. “I don’t feel sorry for you…” What an asshole… what a jerk-like comment.

Personal Thoughts: December 2022 (Part 2)

I mentioned in the last post that I have an older sibling who covers her ears and rudely walks away when our 80+ year-old mother asks her to take her grocery shopping. (It’s not that my sibling can’t; she has two cars and often goes out on her own driving one of those vehicles. And because she has an extra vehicle, I had to follow up with the building manager about getting that extra parking space — it’s $25 per month but there was no extra parking space available when I first brought the property, and I kept following up until that extra space finally became available. I did not receive a word of thanks from my sibling.) 

And because I need to pay for the mortgage, I have been working 6 days a week (sometimes 7). (On a side note, even my mortgage broker seems to think I’m not ambitious enough as he thinks I should be working even more without truly understanding that I work many hours a week and I’m not a machine/robot. It’s to “get ahead,” in his words.)

So, on the one half-day (Monday morning) that I am not at work, my mother asks me to take her grocery shopping. Am I supposed to say no? Of course I take her, and this is after being physically and mentally tired from working that many hours daily. 

But my older sibling (and, to some extent, my boss) doesn’t appreciate that and labeled me a mama’s boy. Wait, what?! 

Now, to be clear, I’m not the type of person who will throw people out (although I can see most people that I do know will do that to my older sibling). I just expect more respect. 

I expect cordialness.

But my older sibling is the type of person who gives people the silent treatment when she thinks you’ve pissed her off. Hmm. I see. Well, my older sibling is essentially living for free and yet isn’t thankful. When she does talk to us, it’s complain about one thing after another. 

But at the moment (today is Christmas Day 2022*, and my older sibling hasn’t talked to me for weeks, a silent treatment/passive aggressive type of behaviour which started shortly after I lent her that money which she kept begging me to lend her), once again, instead of being cordial and friendly, she has decided to revert to the type of behaviour which is appalling. 

*Think about that again one more time. It is Christmas, and my sibling shows no sign of thanks for living in my home for free and believes it is perfectly fine to ignore me like I do not exist. Think about that one again.

Again, I stress that she doesn’t pay rent (yes, she gave me a cheque for this month, the first full month she is staying here, but she promptly then borrowed money from me which was several hundred dollars higher than the rent amount). 

She’s the OLDER sibling, meaning one would reasonably expect her to be more responsible.

Somehow, in people’s eyes, I’m the villain here. Okay, I see. 

(On a side note, regarding responsibility: I recently found out from a student that one of the teachers at our school does not respond to the school admin’s texts regarding scheduling until the next day, which I didn’t realize you’re allowed to do. I almost always respond within an hour, if not sooner. I guess I should learn from others and not be that responsible, huh? This information was revealed in a conversation between that student and the school admin in my classroom while I was sitting in there, and the context of that conversation suggests that teacher’s action is inconvenient for the school.)

And my sibling rudely mocked me for buying a lot of fast food and junk food, even though she is aware (because I’ve mentioned it) that I often work 10-11 hours a day on weekdays and often don’t have a lot of time to have a proper meal (although I do not eat that food every day). Or maybe she isn’t aware because she doesn’t want to listen when I explain that I work 10-11 hours a day. 

That brings me to this next point: Whenever people tell me “I don’t care” or “Nobody cares” when I want to make a point, I find that to be disrespectful. Many times people say that when they asked me something and I give them an answer, and their response is that. 

I see authors write online that they get emotional support from their family during their writing process. The only things that I’ve heard from my older sibling is “Borrrrrrrring!” when I casually bring up I’ve published a new book. So, I don’t even talk about it anymore. 

She was supposed to move out of her rented house by Nov. 1, 2022, but she wasn’t ready. The landlord, whom she refers to as an “asshole” and whom she wishes would just die, said that if she’s staying beyond Nov. 1, then pay $1,000 for the next 10 days. Do you know who paid that $1,000? That would be me. 

When she still wasn’t ready yet (because she had accumulated a lot of possessions over the years), I suggested “putting more money in the landlord’s pocket to make him let you stay longer,” she scoffed that it was an idiotic idea. She even told that to my boss, whom I had introduced to her. (And oh, I am aware of the fact that my older sibling has written bad cheques recently — yes, plural — when paying rent. She was supposed to pay cash to the landlord but almost always wrote post-dated cheques and several of them bounced over the past few years.)

So, once again I’m the bad guy, the idiotic and stupid guy, despite the fact that I was actively thinking of solutions. My boss insisted she wanted to help, so I said to my boss, “I would like you to help my sibling to be more humble,” because of the fact that they talked to each other and my boss is an educator as well as a mother, so I thought that she could relate to my sibling in a way that nobody else around me could. 

But anyway, I’m a bad guy, a loser, and an idiot/stupid person even though I’ve done my best to help my family members.

My mother tells me not to argue with my sibling because it’s not my sibling’s fault; it’s just that she’s been possessed by evil demons and spirits that are controlling her actions. 

Well, I actually don’t have time to argue; I work 10-11 hours a day (which my boss has told me not to talk about), and I need my rest. I haven’t been able to write. I just expected to be treated with respect for all that I have done. 

But, like, whoever taught my sibling that it’s okay to ignore people if you don’t want to talk to them… whether it’s her friends or peers or my boss who gave her this ridiculous and irresponsible idea… let’s consider that my sibling is living under my roof, doesn’t pay rent (I have a mortgage to pay, which seems to have escaped my sibling and my boss), and thinks it’s okay to ignore me and be disrespectful to me? 

I’m really not sure my sibling’s attitude and behaviour make any sense. I am not sure what her point is. If she thinks she’s better than my mother and me (by choosing not to talk to us regularly), if she feels she’s superior and we are stupid low-lives, stupid losers, then why doesn’t she purchase her own property and live on her own? Or go rent an expensive apartment where she can have all the space she wants?

By her own admission, she’s told her friends before what losers my mother and I are. 

Yup. I am a loser. 

What a great life, huh?