My Oldest Son's Birthday

Today is my oldest son's birthday. He is 25 today, so I am going to talk about birthday traditions.

In America, children's birthdays are usually quite festive, with a party for the birthday child. Those invited include friends, relatives, and neighbors. There is some debate amongst parenting experts on how many guests are appropriate for the age of the child, and also for how long the party should be held. Younger children don't have the ability to go for hours, plus the changes a party brings to one's daily routine might only be tolerated by young children well for a short period of time.

Adults, though, can find that their entire day is a reason for mini-celebrations. There might be breakfast in bed, made for them by a significant other, or even a roommate. Then there might be a small party at work, or plans for one after work. Then at home, there might be another celebration. Either might even be a surprise, and unknown to the person until everyone jumps out and yells 'surprise!!'

One tradition in America is that the person with the birthday pins a dollar to his or her shirt before leaving for work. Everyone who meets that person face to face and who has an extra dollar, gives it to be pinned to the shirt with the original dollar. Of course, this is most profitable for those who work with the public and meet many people during their working day.

What are some birthday traditions from your country or culture?

Dating Around

Guest post of the week by Deangelo Spencer

Ever since I moved to Austin I have been dating like crazy. I moved here from Miami about a year ago, and I have been on so many dates that I can’t even remember all the guys. Unfortunately, I can only remember the weird ones. One of the first guys I went out with worked for directv Austin. I figured since he went around installing satellite dishes in people’s houses he was probably pretty normal. When we went out I found out he was obsessed with vampire movies, books, and shows. He was 30 years old but had read the whole Twilight series and seen all the movies. It was all he could talk about. I know this is mean, but I only sat through dinner so that I could have a good story to laugh about with my friends. Most of the other guys have been pretty normal. There was the guy who was a professor at UT, and the other one who was a PhD student. I’m loving the single life and dating different people. I didn’t know Austin would be such a great town for it.

Days of the Week in English with Pronunciation Videos Embedded

The days of the week are:

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Please note the spelling for Wednesday. It has a silent 'd' included. The first 'd' is not audible, and is often left out of the word by accident, resulting in a misspelled word.