Happy Birthday, Alison

Hey, it's my sibling's birthday. Considering that Alison loves attention, I figure the best present I can get her is mentioning her. One thing that's special about her is she has the tabloid queen mentality that any press is good press, so I can share embarrassing stories about her, and it's still acceptable, certainly preferable to not being discussed at all.

This Alison story takes us back to when she was in eighth grade. Our family was to leave on a trip to London, which made Alison nervous. When asked why, she responded that, "duh, we don't speak English." Her understanding was that in the United States, we speak American. I asked her what she thought she was learning in her English class at school. Apparently the discrepancy never occurred to her.

As much as I lament the public education system in California, I suppose I should acknowledge it happens on both coasts, whatever the hell a coast is, anyway.