Hermano!

So this is why they make brothers, to make you laugh when you'd almost convinced yourself you never would. Some people can't stand their brothers, but I couldn't imagine living without mine. For some reason we've always been inseperable, even though we used to bicker all the time when we were little. But he's the only reason I have an imagination at all, because we always kind of competed to see who could come up with the better game to play, or the funnier joke, or the best trampoline trick. Well, he always won at the last one, because I landed on my neck once on the trampoline after attempting a flip and never attempted again.

Well, frankly, he won at most of the creative competition, because if you get him in the right mood he's freaking hilarious. Kind of like when he's drunk. But we always did stupid stuff, like make our own movies - my favorite was probably the Miss America pageant, where I was every single contestant and he was the cheesy host. This was probably inspired by us watching Miss Congeniality. I remember the contestant from Alaska was always cold, and the contestant from Georgia had a talent for making everything out of peaches - Peach Pie, Peach Strings (the only explanation for a pom pom as a prop) and our favorite, Peach Wine, only because when I said it it came out of my mouth as though I was German. Alas, my memory was wrong - he was some of the contestants, too, because he was once from a southern state and, in trying to imitate a southern accent, wound up called Coca-Cola "Oca-Ola" - apparently southerners drop their C's... Oh we also made a Crocodile Hunter movie when we were in Hawaii, where he was Steve Irwin dressed in khaki head to toe, that one was great...

Other stupid stuff we did... we made up fake characters whenever we went on plane trips, the most notable being June and Mario. We also used to play with the salt and pepper shakers in restaurants when we were little, inspired by that movie "The Little Princess" to call the salt Sarah and pepper Becky (it would be politically incorrect to expand further on why Sarah was the salt and Becky was the pepper... we were little kids!) This is all just rushing back to me because he and I just had a conversation about the "Kids' Tapes" we used to listen to incessantly in the car, which I'm sure my mom burned as soon as we were old enough to listen to the music on the radio. My favorite of those songs was the one about eating cake for breakfast, but we both disliked the sad one about country roads...

We still think it's funny nowadays when we hang out together and waitresses and people think we're dating. But the point is that I can't imagine what life would be like if I didn't have my brother, because then I'd probably take my sister way more seriously and might still be compelled to compete with her - thank God I mostly grew out of that urge. He taught me that being the best isn't everything, because even if you're amazing at something, you're not worth so much if you don't laugh. He's always had a reputation as such a straight-edge charming kid, and he basically could do whatever he wanted because people would take one look at his smile and open doors for him. He's a lot like my mom, though, in that if you throw a wrench in his trail, he will do his best to get exactly what he wants before you even know what you're agreeing to.

So, how to end this entry? He surprises me all the time with stuff he says, because I usually go to my sister for advice. I should talk to him more often, because it makes sense that he would be able to help me, you think? Oh, and we're planning on being on that show The Amazing Race, because we'd be hilarious and kick ass. Just have to wait till I turn 21... in three years...