It seems that I have a lot on my mind, more now than ever. And now that I have a minute to sit down and blog, I can't stop the onslaught of things I want to say. So here goes:
Firstly, I'm worried about my brother-in-law. He's 22, he still lives at home, and as best I can tell, my parents-in-law pay for everything. Now I don't know that for a fact. But I do know that he doesn't have a job besides his band, and their typical haul from a gig is $20 - to be split five ways. So you can make some basic assumptions there. Anyway, my parents-in-law pay for all his gas, car insurance, utilities, groceries, tuition, and clothes. Those are the ongoing expenses. Over the last five or so years, they have also bought for him about $40,000 worth of guitar equipment, a brand-new Camry, and most recently, some sort of electronic drum machine thing to the tune of $1300. Suffice it to say that the other two kids weren't raised that way.
What really irritates me is that lately _____ has been running wild, and they aren't trying to check him. He stays gone for days at a time, only coming home when he needs money. (And here's the thing that really gets me: they keep giving it to him!) I don't know whether he's living with his girlfriend or with his drug dealer, but they aren't doing anything about it. Typical conversation:
"_____, where were you last week?"
"Oh, our gig ran late, so I just stayed at Joe's and then went to class the next day. And then we had to write some music, so I just hung out there. Actually I did come home on Thursday to get clean clothes, but you were at work. I left my dirty laundry in the bedroom floor for you to wash."
"Ok. Here's $100."
I mean, seriously. They aren't doing anyone any favors by babying him. He told me last week that they have been on him about things lately. I asked why he doesn't move out so that he could do what he wanted, and the answer was that he can't afford it, but would consider it if they or his girlfriend would cover his expenses. Since the band isn't making any money. Yet. But they're on to something big, and any day now they're going to hit the big time.
Did I add that they play jazz/covers? Because jazz cover bands routinely sell millions of copies, the most recent example of which is... never mind.
Is this a bad joke?
Posted by
wakeful dreamer