Prince Ab is 26 year old, couple years younger than me and currently living under my roof. He mostly stayed in his little room, zoning out in front of his desktop computer or laptop, depending on his mood. It’s summer time, so school is off and with no internship nor job (because of his non immigrant status), practically weekends and weekdays are the same to him. He actually didn’t earn this Prince title recently, until yesterday.
For the past couple weeks, Prince Ab has been coughing, had a slight fever (100°F or 38.8°C), not having appetite to eat, and sleeping problem. It wasn’t a summer cold. It wasn’t a fever. It wasn’t a heartburn. It’s something else, which we might call a “psychologically influenced illness.” It’s actually a term that I invented. Basically, everything is just in his mind and seems like he himself doesn’t want to get healthy. Maybe he feels lonely, because I hardly see him going out. Maybe he doesn’t really have many friends. Maybe he’s just bored at home. Maybe he’s intimidated by my mean personality (according to my parents). Who knows.
Anyway, yesterday I was chatting online for a bit with my parents and they kept telling me to be a little nicer and caring to him. “After all, he’s you brother and you’re the closest family member he has here.” Guess what? That fella is 26 year old, hellooww, can’t he take care of himself? It’s bad enough that he’s still sticking his ass under my roof even after I got married. When can I enjoy my married life with K without a “third wheel living with us”?
Things just didn’t stop there. It got even juicier.
Yesterday, I was on my way home from work, and all of sudden my cell phone rang. From the tune that I set up, it was from one of my family/relatives and turned out it was from my cousin, Dv! Holy crap! Out of the blue, he suddenly called me up! Usually I’ve never received any calls from him, not even for hanging out, though he and his wife claimed we should hang out together once a while, especially they only lived a couple blocks from my in-law’s place. I called them up once a while back for having lunch together. Anyway, I missed the call, but I called him right away after I put on the headset. It’s California’s new law that we can’t talk on our cellphone while driving without using a headset. Big mistake.
The reason he called was because his mom wanted me to pick up some dry Chinese herb from his place…..that day! I was dumbfounded, and I reluctantly agreed that I’d go pick it up after I had a dinner. Yeah, K and I had to drive up 20+ miles to his place to pick up that “amazing herbs” for Prince A, hoping it’ll ease up his gastritis problem. We left without even having dinner.
To top it off, Prince Ab also wanted a cool air in his room, thus our recently bought portable AC was brutally snatched from our grasp.
After picking up the magical herbs, I couldn’t sustain my hunger so we decided to fill up our belly at a Thai restaurant.
We ordered 3 dishes: Pad thai, mixed stir fry veggies (chopsuey), and a bowl of brown rice.
pad thai
Our bills came up pretty interesting. Apparently, the owner decided to try to “scam” us by putting an extra number in front of the actual bill. Good thing our eagle sharp eyes CAUGHT that before signing the receipt.
3 dishes could cost u up to $117.23??!!! REALLY? We only drank tap water, not even a single bottle wine.
So since our AC had been snatched, we had to go to HD to get another one….Luck on our side. We found another Lowe’s 10% off coupon! Yay, saved about $30-$40!
portable AC
Things didn’t stop there. Today we specifically cooked some good fish dishes and some fried rice to lure make him has some appetite to eat. Also we made a reflective board by wrapping around a cardboard with foil so his room won’t be too hot from the afternoon sunlight. That’s what happened when staying in a room facing West side. Not to mention, we both had to cut up some fruits, arranged them nicely on the bowl and even brought it to his room cause he claimed he wasn’t feeling well to come down and eat it.
Speaking of which, one of my aunt who lived close by would come by later on, without specifying the time. Thus we had to canceled our trip to the in-laws and had to be stand by at home, waiting for her to come by. Ah, how nice of us? While Prince Ab sitting and enjoying the AC in his room, I’m here sweating enduring the afternoon sun hitting the computer room’s window. It’s adjacent to his room, so it also facing west.
Now, will you excuse me, I shall prepare another gourmet meal for the beloved Prince Ab.
