The Revenge of Tillie Pake

So tonight was the night of the big family meal – my Dad’s birthday.

The one I was somewhat worried about because of my little brother and his tendencies to make me look like a dumb-ass.

This worry was somewhat magnified by the fact I picked the restaurant, meaning that if it turned out to be utter crap, I would never hear the end of it.

("Oh – you remember the time you picked that place and it turned out to be rubbish?" – it would be brought up on every birthday and every other occasion he could work it in to the conversation. About twenty years ago, we picked up a birthday cake at a fair for one of my aunts’ birthdays, and I got to carry it on my lap. On the way home, I kind of lost control of it a little and ended up smooshing it in to the door. I heard about it every birthday for the next four years).

But, as it turns out, I ended up worrying for nothing.

Sure – he had a crack at IT people (because that’s what he does). He also had an indirect go at me because I like PCs and he likes Macs, and he thinks anyone who doesn’t like Macs might as well be swinging through the trees because they are clearly imbeciles. Me? I think a computer is a computer, and people can use whatever makes their life easy and anyone who thinks one brand of computer is better than another is a snob of the worst sort.

However the rest of the evening went off pretty much okay.

Everyone liked the restaurant (it was *very* nice, and the food was delicious), the staff very helpful and courteous and the general ambiance very nice. 

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening – just like a night out should be. 

(Of course, it could be related to the fact that we were in a public place and little brother might have decided it wasn’t the best place to start a fight or argument of any type, but I am choosing to believe – at least for the moment – that he is growing as a person and learning not to be a twat).

I am hoping this is a sign of things to come, but honestly – I really don’t think so. While I don’t wish to sound judgemental and pessimistic, it doesn’t seem that he is going to change his views about people who work in IT, or people who don’t like what he likes.

(One examples was a discussion about what he and my parents are reading. Mum is reading a book on philosophy, Dad is reading about Liberalism in Africa, Little Brother is reading something called Cloud Atlas – a book about telling stories and how they are connected. Me? I am reading a book called "Size 12 is Not Fat" about a former teen-age pop-star who turns detective when someone in the College Dorm she supervises is killed. Needless to say, I didn’t mention it because it is not a book that my little brother would find "worthwhile" and would probably spend a fair amount of time telling me this)

So while I am hoping that he will learn to realise that he is not the source of all things, and that people who hold different opinions to his are not gibbering morons, somehow I doubt it.