When will my cousin give up!? In yet another essentially flawed attempt to “turn me into a man”, my cousin Tyler is trying to get me to come with him to look at aluminium trays made in Melbourne. Tyler is a believer in the misguided belief that in order to be a man one must play sport in the mud and arm wrestle at midnight and all the rest of that other bull to which the male stereotype is supposed to conform. While I have no problem playing soccer, football, whatever else is thrown at me, I don’t feel the pressure my cousin does to conform to gender norms. I’d rather just be who I am and let the rest fall into place as it will.
For whatever reason, Tyler is convinced this is a flaw in my character. Even though even he can admit the merit of my photography, I can always tell he’s trying to pique my interest in whatever fad he has subscribed to this month. I guess that’s the curse of having family that’s so different to you, you’re always trying to interest each other in your own interests, no matter how different they may be.
For his 21st, Tyler got a brand new bright red ute. I think the fact that it was played so far into that classic, Australian cliche is what bothered me most. Mine weren’t the only eyebrows that were raised that day, but in the end I decided it was better to just not question. In any case, what difference would it have made if I had? Since then, he’s spent most of his time (and I would assume a rather substantial amount of money) upgrading and improving it.
Just last month he got a pair of ute toolboxes installed in Melbourne. Now he wants to get more aluminium accessories from the same place this time around. I just can’t understand why he cares so much, but I can see it makes him happy, and in the end, that’s all that really matters.