While my sister caused some psychological pain, my brother fulfilled the physical pain and overall annoyance.Actually, sometimes they’d double team me by forcing the “deadly tickle” (one pinned me down and the other tickled away) or swinging me onto the bed (one had my hands and the other had my feet).

Good times indeed.

Since my brother was stuck with 2 younger sisters, I guess he picked me to be his baby “brother” — to wipe wet boogers on, to horse around with and to fart on.

But growing up with my brother was not all bad. Because of my brother, I have a little nerd appeal. I started watching The Monkees because of him. They used to re-run the episodes on weekday mornings, and I had to make sure to set the VCR to record them. My brother also watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, so I’d watch with him (didn’t really have a choice). To make the shows enjoyable, I used to make up names for the characters because I had no idea what they were called. For instance, that one Ferengi guy was called “Home Pride Bread Head” and Worf was called “Rock Head” (very creative, I know).

My brother and I also spent some good times together. For instance, it was with my brother that I saw the original theatrical release of The Lion King. It was July 4, 1994. I remember it well because we had gone to the fair. Sometime in June or July 2007, we returned to the fair. This time we saw (most of) The Monkees in concert (sans Michael Nesmith). It was the first concert I’d ever been to. It was the year I graduated from high school, and I was using my graduation gift — a Minolta camera (the film kind) — to snap pictures of Micky Dolenz.

My brother also took me to several baseball games. I think those were the times I enjoyed the most. Watching sports on TV is nothing like being there, smelling the beer, hearing the roars of the crowd and watching bags of peanuts fly right past your face.

One of the scariest moments that I can remember, though, was when my brother and I were horseplaying in the house. Long story short, my brother was standing on the back of the sofa and he lost his balance. He fell into a glass cabinet behind the sofa.

I freaked out and ran to my room and cried. I thought it was all my fault. My mom helped him clean up, and he seemed okay. He reassured me he’d be okay.

I didn’t hang out with my brother as much as my sister, so the moments I did have with him are pretty few in comparison. Also, there’s no emotional or physical scarring. Hence, I’d say my brother is pretty good guy.

Lesson learned: Nerds can have fun, and I think I made a pretty good little brother-sister.