We did it!!

Well, it's been a real struggle, but as of today, J and I now have a new house in the city! This is our little gem:



I still have my old house and will be looking into renting it out, what with the current house market being total crapola. And there are a few things we want to do to the new house before moving in, but the papers were signed today and we are officially in possession of the keys!

I have kept very mum about all this because we've had some very bad luck in our quest to get back into the city (my current house is great, but it's pretty much near nothing except the airport, and I don't fly much anymore, so it just wasn't fitting our lifestyle very well), and I just didn't want to have to go through explanations if this one didn't work out. We had one deal fall through just two days before closing - title issues. Then we had another deal we tried to work, but the other Realtor was clearly shopping our offer around to investors - I won't say who it was or how we know to avoid being called out for slander or something, but let's just say it was obvious to everyone on our side what was going on.

Then on this deal, it was one thing after another. Time and again we faced obstacles that seemed sure to kill the deal. I finally got to the point last week where I just told God I was turning it over to him. If this wasn't the house for us, he could let the deal die, and I'd trust it was for the best and we'd just stay where we are. Either this was going to work and we'd move forward with our new place, or we'd accept that God wanted us right where we are, and we'd stop looking.

Well, apparently God wants me to live 3 minutes from my work in a spiffy little corner house with a nice neighbor, because the deal went through!

Unfortunately, I have to go out of town tomorrow on business, so I won't really be able to get in and do anything until the weekend, but J is going to get started on a few things while I'm gone. Now, I just have to call my mom and tell her. I should probably ask to speak to my dad first so he can be on stand-by to resucitate her. This will be a bit of a suprise. Hey, I told you I'd kept it all very mum.

Mickey Rourke

I should start this post by saying that I like stories where people who have gotten off track eventually get it together and make good again. I do. I'm all about redemption and second chances and people learning from their mistakes, etc.

But as much as everyone wants me to, I just can't get on board the Mickey Rourke train. I just can't. Hollywood is absolutely falling all over itself with love with Mickey Rourke and his "comeback" in The Wrestler. But I'm just not feelin' it. And I can't figure out why they're all SO invested in him actually coming back. Maybe they're all thinking that the Mickey of 9 1/2 Weeks is still in there somewhere. Here is Mickey back in those days:



Not a bad looking fella. I don't care for the cigarette, and that movie was kind of smarmy, and every character he seemed to play afterward was smarmy, meaning that for me, Mickey was just kind of a smarmy guy. So, I was never into him. And maybe that's why I don't care now whether he makes it "back" again or not. But even if I'd liked him back then, I'm pretty sure I'd have no illusions that the old "magic" could possibly be retrieved. I mean seriously, people. Look at this guy:



He is what we in the biz (okay, I'm not really in a "biz" but just stay with me) call a "train wreck." Aside from his sleeziness on film, his personal life has been no better - drugs, alcohol, violence, incarceration. What's the appeal, people? I just don't get it.

I hate to be the bearer of bad predictions, but my best guess is that very soon, he'll be right back off the wagon and the footage we'll be seeing of him won't be of him accepting awards. It'll be of him rambling incoherently, looking unwashed (though I'm not sure how we'll really tell the difference on that one). I predict new and exciting mug shots to add to the ones we already have. Maybe when he ODs, we can have a retrospective, "Through the Years: Mickey's Mugshots."

I suppose I'm being insensitive. I should be hoping the guy stays sober and can salvage his life. And I'm not "hoping" otherwise - if he does that, then more power to him. Prove me wrong, Mick! But I think he'd be better off praying for reincarnation and a chance to do things completely differently next time - preferably not on camera.

We're gettin pelted with meteors!

You see the most interesting things in the Texas sky. Clouds that look like John Wayne (or Lassie depending on your perspective). Black helicopters and fighter jets from one of our many military bases. The space station gliding across the night sky like a super bright star with someplace to go. Ducks. But yesterday, truly one of the most interesting things you could possibly see appeared in our sky: a meteor.

It was seen all the way from Dallas to Austin. The link above has video of the meteor streaking across the sky, which is why I used it. It's not necessarily the best "news" account of the event. But hey - we all like video of a thing like that, right? Anyway, Austin had a marathon going on that morning (of course - if it's a Sunday in Austin, there's a run of some kind going on), and one of the news photographers...oh, wait, I think I'm supposed to call them photojournalists...one of the photojournalists caught it on film. Very cool.

I think several things must be addressed with a sighting like this, however.

1. Someone needs to let Shirley MacLaine know that this was not an alien landing, and there is no government coverup. She's welcome to come take a look around if she'd like, but honestly, Shirley, isn't a meteor cool enough?

2. It's not George Bush's fault.

3. It has nothing to do with global warming (which in no way indicates that I don't believe in global warming - I do - I just don't believe every single natural event that occurs now is a direct result of it).

4. It's not a warning from God (which in no way indicates that I don't believe in God - I do - I just don't believe he goes around hurling meteors at us to keep us in line).

5. I think this is just one more reason not to jog. That thing takes a slightly different course? All of the people in that footage - dead.

India, that ain't holy water

So, the Hindu nationalist movement in India is marketing a new soft drink...made from cow pee. Yes. Urine.

If you didn't know it already, Hindus consider the cow sacred, so I guess that means anything that issues from the cow is equally sacred. Well, that's all well and good, but I'm a Christian, and I consider Jesus sacred, and I wouldn't drink his pee - and he wouldn't ask me to. Jesus is cool like that.

I had a science teacher in 7th Grade who (as all science teachers do) tried to convince us about the purity of urine. She even went so far as to tell us she would drink it. After I got my gag reflux under control, I waited for her to prove it. She didn't. And outside of a cable survivalist show, I don't think anyone else ever has either. Because it's foul.

That should be obvious. I mean, have you noticed that your body *expels* urine? It doesn't want it. It's not designed as something for you to TAKE IN. It's something you get rid of. See how that works? No drinky the pee.

In conclusion, as a lover of Coca-Cola, I would like to petition that this vile bastardization of all that is delicious, sugary and carbonated not even be allowed to be called a soft drink. Tell them they have to call it a "piss beverage," or, you know, "disgusting." And they should have to come up with packaging that very clearly indicates what's inside. Because if I'm a tourist, visiting the Taj Majal and shopping for saris, and I get parched because it's freakin' India, and I accidentally drink Holy Cow! (that's what I'd call it if I were the marketing director), well, someone's seen their last Indian sunrise.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So, I decided to upgrade the ole blog a little! I have done very little tinkering since I first started the blog, and it was time to upgrade. There were "widgets" and "fonts" and "colors" that I could play with to freshen things up a bit and bring myself into The Now.

What do you think? And those of you who have blogs, what features and widgets do you use that you especially like? I'm open to fine-tuning!

I'm very much in a mood these days to fine tune, overhaul and just generally upgrade! I'm coming up on a birthday soon, and it's a milestone birthday (the big 4-0). The last time I had a milestone birthday (30), I was not in a good place in and was not happy about my birthday. I wasn't happy about the state of my life - personally or professionally, and I was in no mood to celebrate the end of my 20s with no more to show for it than I felt like had.

Looking back, I had made progress and started things moving in the right direction, but at the time, I couldn't really see that and had no way of knowing how everything would take off in my 30s. Nearing the end of my 30s now, I see that it's been a decade of important successes. I've achieved professionally and financially, climbing the ladder in my chosen field and writing a novel that I'm now working to get published. And most importantly, I've found success personally. I have a man I love by my side, and that's worth everything.

But I'd like my 40s to be even more. I'd like my relationship to grow and prosper - to become stronger than ever and reach new heights for both of us. That's the most important thing. But I'd also like to find professional success in a different way than I pursued it in my 30s. I'd like to find more freedom and to be able to turn my passions and my gifts and my skills into the financial success that will sustain me and feed the life I'm building with J. I'd like to be free of the artificial constraints that have always been such a part of my working life and find a way to work in a more goal-oriented, rather than clock-oriented, environment. I want to work and be productive and creative and to be proud of what I do, but be able to do it more on my terms.

I've wanted that for a long time, and have at times had a taste of that kind of work life, but haven't found it yet. I believe that in the coming decade, I will be able to finally achieve it, and it will work in symbiosis with my relationship to create exactly the life I've wanted for so long. I have a really good life now, but I think it can be even better, and I think by the time I celebrate my next milestone, I will look back at my 40s and see a time of great satisfaction and achievement in the most important ways - I think this will be a decade of great happiness for me, and I look forward to it!

J, I'm so glad you're my man. God, I'm so glad you take care of me. And friends, I'm so grateful for you every day! I've still got a few more weeks before I have to check a new box for "age range" on surveys, but I'm so ready to get started on this new era in my life!

The lady (half) smiles.

Today is shaping up to be a little less hectic for me than yesterday, so I thought I'd catch up on the news, celebrity gossip, etc. In doing so, I came across this picture of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise:



The picture is being used to bash Katie for her "bony breastplate." Personally, I think she looks fine - thin, but not overly so, in my opinion. I don't think her breastplate looks bony. In fact, she seems to have nice skin. No, what caught my eye wasn't her weight, but her face, or more specifically her smile. It seemed sad to me. I looked closely to see what about it looked sad, and I'm probably already way too drawn into that new show "Lie to Me" (love it!), but I could quickly see some things to me that said, "This lady is not happy."

For one thing, the smile doesn't extend to her eyes. A real smile can be seen in the eyes - they crinkle. But that in itself doesn't necessarily mean anything. Celebrities have to pose constantly, so most of their photographed smiles aren't real, and they have an interest in perfecting a "photo smile" that doesn't crinkle the eyes anyway - they would want their faces to remain as wrinkle-free as possible for as long as possible. Tom's smile doesn't really show the crinkling either, but he looks perfectly happy. So that ain't it.

The more salient point to me is that it's lopsided. The right side of her mouth is curved up into a smile, but the left isn't. It made the smile seem forced and disingenuine to me. So I did a little research to see what that means, and it turns out, it means quite a lot.

According to language expert Patti Wood, MA, CSP: "Psychologists have studied the phenomenon of the split face for many years and have accumulated a reservoir of studies that conclusively indicate that the expression of the left side of an individual's face is far more revealing concerning their emotional state than is their whole face."

When a person is unable to achieve symmetry in their expression, physical injury to facial nerves and such notwithstanding, Wood says that it's indicative of a disconnect between the left and right sides of the brain. And in these cases, it's the left side that reveals what the person is really feeling.

And that makes me feel a bit sad for Mrs. Cruise. Look at the left side of her face - the side closest to Tom. Katie ain't happy. And I have a feeling that the older and more mature she gets, the more she comes into her own as a woman and as a person, the deeper that discontent will grow. Tom never wanted a partner or an equal. He wanted someone he could mold. Katie was young and starstruck, and she signed on. But now that she's becoming an actual grownup, that's not going to be so appealing.

Tom doesn't seem the flexible type to me, and I predict that this marriage, like his others, will fail when Katie's finally had enough. I realize I'm not exactly going out on a limb by myself with that prediction, and I'm no Sylvia Browne, but I'm pretty good at reading people and figuring out how things are likely to play out, and I'm puttin' it out there. So, bookmark this page so that when TomKat is over, you can say, "Suzanne predicted that! Here, I have proof."

Super Bowl 2009

Any regular reader to my blog knows that I'm not too interested in the NFL, but I do enjoy a Super Bowl party as much as the next gal. J and I had a good time at Tom's last night, watching an exciting game (the ending was anyway) and enjoying some good company and food. Bruce Springsteen gave an awesome half-time show, too! I was a little disappointed in the commercials, though. None of them really grabbed me, except this gem, which is by far my favorite of the night:



I'll admit that I didn't see every single commercial all night, so I may have missed some good ones. The Go Daddy commercials were lame, though I did get a big kick out of the 1-second Miller High Life commercials. Very clever! What was your favorite?