ism, in Relation to Me

ism is my older brother by 16 months. Now he is 24. There are a few images of him on my picture page at http://web.njit.edu/~fbc7330/photosframe.html

I call my brother "Kuya" which means older brother or older male relative in Tagalog.
We used to speak Tagalog fluently when we were younger but stopped when we started going to school.
We can still understand it and speak it if we put in a little effort, especially angry words.

Strangers used to think we were brother-and-sister-twins when we were younger.
Maybe this was because our hair was black.
Maybe this was because our eyes were almond-shaped.

My brother stopped going to church when we were in high school.
If I ever stop going to church my parents will blame it on him.

My brother has been coloring his hair in shades of red, green, purple, blue, and yellow for two years.
He had to dye it back to black for my parents when we went to the Philippines last December so that our relatives wouldn't freak out.
Near the end of our stay, the black started to fade to gray but no one seemed to notice.

He used to go to Rutgers University but liked other things more than class and studying.
He ended up at NJIT, his second choice, my first.
We took one class together last summer, Physics III.
Our professor wanted us to think he was cool so he wouldn't teach us.
My brother ended up showing his yo-yo skills to the class upon request of our professor, and they seemed amused.

My brother is my friend. I love him. He is also an E2 noder.