My genius brother

So my brother did something recently that completely reminded me of myself at his age. Not that I ever cheated at school, but it was a shenanigan that I probably would have tried to pull off. Probably with a little more success than him though.

I guess he got a little overwhelmed with school and decided to hack into the school's database and steal a project our sister did for the same class and then turn it in. Pretty resourceful on his part I would say, save the fact that he didn't take her name off of the project and got caught!

Way to go little bro! I guess I'll have to teach him a thing or two about getting away with things...Or at least something about choosing your shenanigans wisely and doing everything in your power to get away with them.

That being said, I can't say that I was that good at getting away with stuff as a kid. My parents seemed to be able to sniff out trouble whenever I did something stupid. What didn't help was that if I actually got away with something, my best friend would get caught by his parents, which would get passed on to my parents and I would end up getting in trouble either way.

Anyway, I guess it was all a part of growing up. I probably wouldn't be the same person today if I hadn't been constantly grounded as a kid. I did do some pretty stupid things (see scar on my forearm), but I turned out well. Hopefully the same thing applies to little brother.

Sad, sad day...

So I should probably be used to the short term friendships that come from moving around all the time, but I'm not. I mean, I've spent most of my life moving around. Such is life in a military family. Granted, we didn't have it as bad as a lot of families growing up because I only really moved twice as a kid. I guess where it got rough was between ages 18 and 26 (now). After spending a year in Dallas and making friends I left for the Air Force and spent a couple years in Italy, and then a few in Florida, and now here I am in the Middle East.

As I said, I should probably be used to friends coming and going, and for the most part I am, but it still sucks when a close friend leaves. My closest friend over here left today:( She was one of the first people I met here and was definitely my favorite. There was nothing romantic going on between us, but it was still pretty depressing that she left. She was pretty much my link to the Doha social circle as well, and I'm sure I won't see a few of the people she introduced me to again, but she did introduce me to some pretty cool people.

While I'm sad she left, I'm still happy for her. She got promoted into a great position in her company and definitely deserves it. Plus I'm sure I'll see her again. I already have plans to go visit her in Istanbul!

On a side note, I think I've found the source of my frustrations, or at least one of the sources. It is surprising how easy things are when certain stimuli are removed from the equation. It is definitely a person so I'll have to test this theory upon their return to work... more to come!