[Gunslinger-08]

So I pick up my brother today from his school. He's 18, grossly overweight, and exhibits less than stellar hygiene. As I start driving, I try to pick up a conversation like I usually do. I get a few curt answers that basically are telling me to stop talking to him, and he starts listening to his iPod. I've got the radio on, but turn it off out of curiosity.

What could he possibly be listening to?

Anime openings.

Anime openings the whole ride home.

This has just been a mental last straw kind of thing for me. He calls himself an "otaku" already, and has a list about five pages long of animes I should watch because they're amazing and have well-written stories.

So we get to the house. I've graduated from college, but live with my family because my job doesn't pay well enough or give me enough hours to even consider having my own place. He goes straight to his room and begins watching anime, which is is doing now, as I write this rant. He does this every day after school, and little else. Oh, he does eat, A LOT, if there's any food in the house he can eat out of a bag.

I've tried encouraging him to at least get some exercise, and to even switch up his routine. I don't have an issue with anime, Japanese culture, or any of that. I'm a regular on a forum for a fucking Japanese-made game series, FFS!

So my biggest concern right now is his health, both physically and socially. He's tried to ask girls out who he likes (guess what race he prefers!), and has been consistently turned down. My own track record with women perhaps don't give me a huge vantage point over where he stands, but I have been more successful than he's ever been.

So now I'm just sitting here at my keyboard, irritated and concerned. He's going to college in the fall, and I'm worried he's just going to be a socially awkward cave troll who skips classes and sits on his ass all day eating chips. In some ways, it would be similar to how I started my college freshman year, but I lucked out and made friends who helped me turn around my bad habits involving hygiene, being sociable and being more outgoing.

I'm not perfect, and there may even be a little hypocrisy in all of this, but I was at a point where I simply needed to vent, and a semi-anonymous game forum seems pretty perfect for it.

Now excuse me while I find a helmet just in case this thread gets a little crazy.