Goodbye October

So October came to an end and I'm surprised at how fast the year passed me by.

Here is what happened this October.

1. My little brother's Birthday. I actually missed his party because I had a terribly managed day and I had a bunch of work to do and a class to attend. I didn't feel too bad though because I spent his actual birthday with him and he didn't really miss me at all. And I had to stay with my Grandmother who didn't want to go and was terrified of staying alone.

2. My Grandmother came for a two week visit. This is my father's mother so she only speaks Arabic. Yeah... slight inconvenience there. She was planning on living with us but she got sick of us. Apparently she was lonelier here with 8 people in the house than in Los Angeles living alone. She actually gave us many reasons.

• You are all terrible cooks and the food is way better in Los Angeles.
• I see more people living alone then I do living with a family of 8.
• The weather is nicer in Los Angeles. (This is very true, but it isn't not like she ever went outside.)
• I hate staying alone in the house.
• Your cooking sucks.
• Your cooking sucks.
• Did I mention your cooking sucks?
• And the produce is better and less expensive in Los Angeles.

But to be fair she had a very different stay in mind. She had the illusion that we were all going to sit down and watch TV with her the whole day and cook complicated Egyptian cuisine. But her biggest fantasy was that her son was going to spend everyday with her.

My Mom doesn't even watch the news anymore because she's so busy. We all have school work to finish and this year has been bonkers.

My dad is a working man if there is anything that needs to be done he wants to get it done. If there are leaves outside that can be raked, you can't keep him from raking those leaves. And on top of that he owns a business. His store closes at 5pm, and my dad usually leaves at 6:30 or 7:00pm.

I think the final straw was when my dad mentioned that he would be gone her last weekend here to take my brother to a basketball tournament. And to make matters worse he was cleaning up the yard when he informed her of this, and my grandmother was livid because she wanted him to come inside and stop working. From what I understood between the hand gestures and spontaneous English word, the conversation (argument) went like this.

Grandmother- You do not spend 1 hour with me! And you leave to drive far, far away and leave me with your wife who can't cook!?!

* My mom's actually a great cook. None of us were really prepared for someone who would send dishes back after looking at them.

Dad- I have to take Juan Antonio to his tournament. I have spent time with you, but you need to understand that I work and can't spend all my time here with you.

Grandmother- Fine, fine, leave me just leave! I don't even want to look at you!

Dad- Ok, bye I'm going to go finish cleaning up the yard.

That was an hour long conversation reduced to my interpretation.

The happiest I saw her was when she was packing her bags and the day she left. But although she did not stay as long as we were hoping, we did enjoy her and at that age it is very, very hard for old people to adjust to new things. She really is a very loving grandmother and despite hating my Mom's cooking, she has always told my mom that she gave her the most beautiful grandchildren out of all her grandchildren. My mom practically dies from embarrassment every time she says this.

I mean, really, she has five other grandchildren besides us and one great-grandchild, who is, by the way, the most beautiful thing in the world. Thankfully we have the most wonderful relatives that do not mind her saying these things and if they do they never express it.

I actually meant to post this the first of November but I forgot, so I really have no recollection of what happened in October. This may have to do with the mysterious bump on my head that my mom's freaking out about.

I have been forgetting things so maybe I do have some huge cancer buildup in my brain that's making me loose my memory.... Or maybe a calcium deposit or, how my wonderful PE teacher would say, a Unicorn Horn. She had one too but she got it removed at the Mayo Clinic.

Which reminds me of the most depressing and terrible thing that happened to me in October.

Miss Karen, my wonderful, amazing, emotionally torturous (that's an inside joke that we have), beautiful, fun, encouraging, tough-as-nails, yet as loving as can be, frank, fit and all around perfect PE teacher who I blogged about having to leave to Oman came back to visit.

This time I managed not to cry. Because when she left I cried, and when she came back I cried tears of joy. I have shed a lot of tears over Miss Karen now that I think about it. I went through this stage where I was terrified of her and cried everyday before she would come to coach us. I am so glad my mom told me to suck it up because I can not imagine my life without Miss Karen. I am going to start bawling which probably has to do with the fact that I am verrrrry tired and have two tests to take that I think I may fail.

Anyways, Miss Karen came back and took us to her mom's ranch where we had so much fun. The adventures were countless. I will have to make a special post about Oma (Miss Karen's mom) and her ranch later. Then we had tons of PE classes where even though I was wheezing during our jogs I was surprisingly happy.

Then Miss Karen brought up a very taboo topic. A new PE teacher to substitute while she is in Oman, Jeff.

Although I can easily be labeled a social butterfly I really hate being around new people for extended periods of time. I do not really mind new people like at a party, but the idea of having to see someone two to three times a week and having them see me trying to finish one push up is pretty much unfathomable.

Jeff (AKA Goliath) is a basketball player who is 24 and is living here in Texas because....I actually have no idea why he is here. But it has to do with this dream of coaching the college basketball team and getting a scholarship in return. I think it went like that. And he is a very good basketball player so he could do it. I mean you should see him, you pretty much want to drop the ball and run.

I think Jeff has a LOT of free time on his hands because he is as fit as you can possibly get. And then compare that to us and you have six kids passing out while he is still on jump rope after twenty minutes. And I can take quite a bit of the jump rope if I do say so myself. But geez... Jeff never stops?! I did not know it was physically possible to have that much energy. I mean he kills Ximena in the how much energy you can have in one body game! Ximena who was the most hyperactive person I knew until Jeff came along. I didn't even know that could happen.

 I have to go to sleep if I am going to have any energy left for next week's PE class with our new coach. I really need my whole week's worth of energy to survive class with Jeff.

And yes, we do like him, if you guys are wondering. We no longer sit around and wait for Miss Karen to whip us into shape, we have Jeff now to prepare us for her coming.

So goodnight world (or morning depending on where you are),

Sophia

Chris

Editor's Note: I was supposed to post this yesterday, but this monsoon caused a power (and Internet) outage. Carry on. 

Our backyard is too big for my dad to handle on his own.   Occasionally, he realizes this and recruits assistance.  The most recent assistant gardener has been Chris, which is my friend's older sister's fiancé.  I was out most of the time he was here, but I gathered enough information to know what happened.  Since I clearly have too much time on my hands, I sent his future mother-in-law the following review of his work. She thought it was funny, and sent it to her children.  And husband. And Chris.  I didn't find out about this until it got around to my mom, who got it around to me.  I was slightly embarrassed, but now since it's out in the open, I might as well share it with the world.


Dearest Winnie,

The boys have not stopped talking about Chris the whole day.  They are speaking of him as I write this email.  They will probably follow me into my bedroom with their constant chant of "Chris says" and ruin my sleep.

This is my overall assessment of the day:

1.  Chris has been hospitalized more than any other human being I know.  

2. He is quite the hard worker.  My dad was impressed. HOWEVER, if he does actually come back tomorrow, he'll earn like 1,000,000 Amir Points.  And have his eternal loyalty, which I have to say is something very convenient to have, because it lasts forever, even when it's undeserved. 

3.  Having spent the whole day with my brothers, I am convinced that Chris has more patience than Mother Teresa, St. Monica, and Ghandi combined. 

4.  According to Sofi, he is clearly good with kids.  So maybe he can do most of the parenting when he and Caroline have children. I think it's a good match. 

5.  My mom was like, "Omg, Chris is like my fifth son now."  AFTER 3 HOURS.   Way to scare the living daylights out of the poor boy...

I give him an A.

Best,

Maria Teresa

Interview with Yousef on video games, girls, and Twilight. Things haven't changed much

When I was ten, I wanted to be a hairdresser. I had my tenth birthday at my dad's beauty supply.  It was beauty themed and my friends and I had our hair and nails done.  Obviously, things have changed since then.  A lot. Fortunately, I have been able to keep in touch with the good part of my ten year old self.  I mean, ten is important.  As my friend Ximena once said, it's the first time you're a double digit number!

Anyways, I decided to interview my ten year old brother, Yousef, to ask him if things have changed since I was a first-time double-digiter.  We talked about sci-fi, heavy metal, and girls.  If he didn't like video games so much, I would swear we were the same person. Really.



How have you been dude? Uh, good.

So, tell me, what's life really like for a ten year old? Uh boring. It's ok.  I'm ten so there's not really much to do, except play video games

Other than video games, what are things you're really interested in?  I'm interested in sci-fi movies, heavy metal.

I'ts not really that heavy, you know...  Well, I'm interested in Evanescence, Linkin, Park, Nirvana, Foo Fighters-

Well, Nirvana is grunge, and the Foo Fighters are alternative rock.  What about Evanescence?  And Linkin park?

Evanescence is probably metal... Linkin Park is just hard rock maybe.  Sometimes they're nu metal...

What are your friendships like?  {We} play video games?  Play sports.  Talk about movies, and how dumb they are. {We talk} about how dumb Twilight is.

Who do you talk about Twilight with?  Uen.  I tell him Twilight is dumb.

What are things you're afraid of?  Spiders.  I'm not gonna say the dark.

When you're ten do you still hate girls.. or do you kind of like them? You hate them.  Because they ruin your life.

Some of your friends have girlfriends already, you know... I know that... and... I tell them they're dumb because of that.  And I don't think an eight, nine, or ten year old should have a girlfriend.  

How old do you think a boy should be to have a girlfriend?  I don't think they should even have them.  It's a waste of your time.  Play video games instead.

Or read a book?  Some books.  If they're sci-fi.  And Ralf S. Mouse.

Don't you like the Hobbit? The Hobbit is sci-fi.  Ish.

Fantasy.  Yeah, I guess so. 

What do you want to be when you grow up?  I don't want to think about growing up because then I'm supposed to be mature.

If you were a superhero, who would you be?  Uh... (he ponders on this) Hm.  (He shrugs and gives me a weird look.)  I don't know.  I know who I would be if I was a villain.

Who?  The joker.


Why?  Because he's weird.

Are you weird?  Maybe...

Why do you think that?  It's a joke. I'm not weird, I'm awesome.

If you had to chose between jumping off a cliff or spending the whole day with a ten year old girl, which would you shoose?  On the other hand, I love cliffs.

Any last words?  Star Wars rocks.  Peace out

Well said.

Bye Bye Christmas

December 26, the day after Christmas, comes waaay too soon.

It means two things:

1. Christmas is over, I am not at my Grandparents house anymore.

2.The day that we wait all year for is over.

3.HUGE SALES FOR EVERYONE!!!! ALL THOSE MARKDOWNS ARE WAY WAY WAY DOWN NOW, LIKE 80% OFF THAT DRESS YOU KNOW YOU WANT!!!!!

Now number 1 was more important to me than number 3. But since number 1 is over you can't do anything but gather all the gift cards you got and hit the sales. It's hard but someone has to do it.

So once my cousin Melina gets here, I'm going to ask her to hit the mall. Which shouldn't be hard. She's very into shopping at sales and her husband is too. (Which I still find weird.) I went shopping the day after Christmas with Bella and he was like "Okay lets go go go!" (And I was like, stay stay stay.

It was only for girls girls girls.) It made a really good impression on my dad. Not. He was like,"No Jeremey we men are going to stay and watch the game!" and Jeremey was like,"What? No, I wanna go to the mall!" My dad;s face was priceless. He ended up staying home and Melina shopped for him.

So right now my dearest Maria Teresa turned the TV off because they were showing two cats mating. Not exactly appropriate material for four pre-pubescent boys. I told them the mom was giving birth, and they believed me, fortunately. David (my youngest brother) is singing Hot 'n' Cold. I am posting on the blog and trying not to kill him because his voice is painfully out of pitch.

So I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I know I did!

Have fun with your presents! Shop,eat the leftover turkey, and enjoy your family.

Happy almost over holidays,

Sophia

Randomness from the Random Queen's sister

I'm too sleepy to write a coherent post.

1.  I got a Blogger update.  It's cool.  And silver.  I like silver.  It has nice buttons or whatever.  I like the nice buttons or whatever too.  I feel sophisticated.  I like feeling sophisticated (unless it involves doing my hair.).  I like my updated Blogger dashboard.

2.  Golly, Kurt Cobain looks so much better blonde.  And Kurt Cobain is pretty near the top of my list of attractive rockers.  Courtney Love was pretty too.  Please people, plastic surgery is not the solution to you emotional problems!

3.  I saw the coolest bug today!  It was the cutest caterpillar ever! I wanted to hug it to my chest, except its adorable fuzzines would burn the skin off my body.

 So I did not hug it.  I just looked at it.  Which was not too easy to do, because it was getting dark, and I forgot to put my glasses on...

3.  ...Which brings me to I forget EVERYTHING.  Yes, I forget my math homework.  I forget the capital of Georgia, I forget dates, I forget to put my iPod away (four little munchkins with itchy little munchkin fingers... need I say more?), I forget where I put, oh, I don't know, everything I friggin' own.  The only stuff I remember is deemed useless.  Like last Thanksgiving, when my cousins Mark, a photographer, and Rosie, a lawyer, came.  We were driving them home from the airport, and we pass by this grocery store chain called H-E-B.

"Rosie look!" Mark says, "They have a place called Heb!"

"It's H-E-B, Mark," says Rosie.

"Heb sounds cool.  Ooh, Heeb sounds better!"

"You can't call it Heeb, Mark," says Rosie, "That's like calling Vons Vans."

"H-E-B is stupid.  Heeb is awesome."

So we ended up going to Heebs H-E-B and you would have thought we were going on a field trip!  We lost Mark every five minutes.  We found him talking to this lady passing out free samples.

"So you're getting married this Saturday?" he asks Sample Lady.

"Uhu."

"So do you have a photgrapher?"

He honest to goodness asked her that.

"Oh God," said Rosie, pulling me away.

Ahh, that was a good Thanksgiving. Twelve people were crammed into our tiny house, and I had to use my laptop to watch The Great Gatsby because the TV was hogged, of course, and I ate too much, but I always eat too much for Thanksgiving.

It was awesome, man.

So now I guess this post is long enough.  Right?  God, I hope so.

Molina, Molina...

I hope you guys will find it in your hearts to forgive little old negligent me, and actually listen to my lovely indie artist of the week.

Actually, she's not exactly indie. Well, yes she is, because she doesn't have a major label. But her producer's awesome, from what I hear. But, back to the indie thing, she wouldn't want me to call her that, because, uh, I dunno, but without further ado, I present to you:

Melina Gerges

Ain't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Melina here is a classically trained soprano, but currently works as a very successful and driven sales rep.

She's also recording an album. And I interviewed her about it.

My favorite parts:

So what are your new songs about?

I had a friend who lost her child, and I wanted to write a short ballad that was very straightforward. Just about the feeling of loss. You feel so isolated when you lose a loved one, and no one should feel that way... It's profound because you realize when you lose somebody that there's a hole, and the things that you're used to and you take for granted just change. When someone wakes you up, or the way someone talks to you, or when you go to the grocery store... everything that your used to is gone. And it's a deep, deep loss... Its not such a wordy song. It's more about the feeling and the voice, and about the feeling of music. It's a piano ballad by the way.

Tell us about your producer.

Doug is really special. He's very talented in writing music, I think it's in his mind all the time. We started with some ideas, but I feel that now we're starting to get what makes a really good partnership. When he's writing music for me, he hears my spirit and he hears my voice and how that fits together.

What's the first song you ever wrote?

Oh my God, I cant remember! I was a little kid. I wrote a song, I made up words and I recorded it. I gave it to my uncles and let them listen to it. I was one of those characters that would make up stories make up songs. I hum to myself all the time. I would walk around the house in costume, I was always that kind of kid. Really happy. I was either always laughing or crying (I know) No in between for me.

Have you heard Green Day's new album? It's a rock opera.

Oh wow... There was another one, Janis Joplin who did a rock opera also. I think.

Did she?

Maybe.

Are you into Janis Joplin?

Oh yeah?

Vocally?

Oh, no.

So that was my edited version of the interview. It was fun.

You can listen to her music at Melina Music, her MySpace, or become a fan on Facebook!

-Maria Teresa

P.S. Did I mention she's my cousin?

Worst Mom Ever

OK, did any of you check AOL this morning? I did and I'm in shock! Why? Because this mother is the worst mother in the planet. You don't let your 9 year old drive the subway alone?! I wouldn't even drive the subway alone and I'm alot older!

Anyways, you can read about it here. Have fun reading about WME!

-Sofia