Happy Birthday Little Bro

Yesterday was Yousef's birthday.  I was a little bit too busy trying to juggle a violent stomach flu and a meeting  to write about it.  So...

*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Happy Birthday Yousef!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

After his friends left, and once we started to cut his ice cream cake, Sofi decided to start a new tradition: My Most Memorable Moment With _______.

She started, of course.

"My most memorable moment with Yousef was when he bit me-"

"I thought I bit Lola," interjects the birthday boy.

"You bit both of them," I remind him.

"As I was saying, he clamped onto me wouldn't let go.  That bruise lasted a week.  I will never forget. Juanito, your turn."

"My most memorable moment with Yousef is the time he beat me so many times at video games and rubbed it in my face so much, I cried."

"I remember!" Shouts Yousef.  By this time, we're all shouting. "Victory, BAHAHAHA!!!!"

"Alfonso, it's your turn."

"My most memorable moment with Yousef was the times I went to Abuela's house with him."

"Actually, it's 'my most memorable moments with Yousef were the times I went to Abuela's house with him,'" I inform him.

"Who cares?"

Um, potential colleges will care when your SAT scores demonstrate you have no basic knowledge of grammar.  But I decide not to tell him.

"Maria Teresa it's your turn."

"No!" Screeches the alien, otherwise known as my 5 yr. old brother. "My favorite moment with Yousef is when he dies."

"That's not funny," says Sofi.

"I was kidding, my real moment was-"

"Nope, you're disqualified," says Sofi, "Maria Teresa, go."

Obviously being the eldest does not make me leader of the pack.

"My favorite moment with Yousef was... oh, that time the other day when he told us about the VBS teacher who was in love with little girls. That was funny."  (Oh, and in order to avoid a potential lawsuit, that's an inside joke. No illegal activity occurred.)

The rest of our conversation was increasingly obnoxious.  In order to not embarrass my mother maintain my family's honor, I will not relate it here.

I'll finish by saying that the cake was really good.  Alas, it did not help my stomach condition in any way.  

Oh, and GO MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* In the colors of the Mexican flag.  Because we won. Adieu France. 

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.