I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ....

Teena Marie dead at 54. Unbelieveable. What amazing songs she left behind:

Square Biz, Cassanova Brown, Dear Lover, I've Been Here Before, If I Were A Bell (swoon), Ooh la la la. ... she's gone. MUCH TOO SOON. Thank you Teena for all your beautiful words.

Rest in peace.

MENOPAUSE

It's been raining heavily all day and freezing outside and all I wanna do is take off all my clothes and stand outside in the rain ... naked ... that is how HOT I am. OMG. This midlife b.s. is the worst. I cried on and off all afternoon. Why? No reason, and a million reasons. I was thinking about my mommie who passed away in December, 2005. Christmas has never been the same ... and I can't tell you any more because I'll start crying again ... then, I happened to catch a movie on t.v. ... Someone Like You with Ashley Judd and the most gorgeous man who ever lived, Hugh Jackman ... (except for Viggo of course ... despite the fact that he abandoned me for another woman who is now his new girlfriend and left me with a big ol broken heart). Sobbed through the entire movie. I've also been dealing with a nasty boil on the back of my thigh that hurts like hell. I never knew something could be so painful. I've been expending mountains of energy dealing with the pain and have been unable to walk like a normal person for the last four days. I feel fat, and sweaty and disgusting. OK OK - TMI. But I can't help it. When I write a post and put it "out there", I have no idea who will read it so it's almost like writing in a diary.

Any wise and wonderful ladies out there that have traveled down this road and care to share your stories, please do. Even though I have read all about these symptoms and women today are much more informed on all things female, when it happens to YOU, you still feel ALL ALONE because you're the one driving everyone around you crazy with your hormonal hysteria. It's so embarrassing.

Think about it ... in the life of the average woman, she will experience monthly periods/cramps/migraines/pregnancy/childbirth/PMS/

Menopause, all of it. If she lives to be, say 80 years old, she will have approximately 20 to 30 years of relative sanity. Ages 0-12 are great. Thirteen to 50 .... all the hell begins. After that, for approximately 5 to 10 years, you gotta deal with hot flashes, mood swings, crying jags, the works. Then ... you die. Not fair. Not fair at all.

SMOOCHES!

Meet my friend, Ruben ...

I want you all to meet him ... this is his website:
http://www.heavenlymindedandearthlygood.blogspot.com/

He is a university professor, a Christian, and an amazing guy that I am happy and proud to call my friend. He and his beautiful wife Anita, were in California a few months ago and we visited and talked for 12 solid hours. He is a Christian that can discuss scripture/theology/religious dogma and politics like a human being. He never, ever condescends or patronizes. And he listens. Talking to Ruben is a satisfying exchange of thoughts, ideas, and feelings and you never feel disrespected or patronized ... and that is saying a lot when you consider what discussing politics or religion does to most people LOL!

I am a person of extremes. I can be irreverent and sarcastic and at the same time I am very spiritual. A sometimes practicing, sometimes non-practicing Catholic, but mostly someone who has always read and searched and thought about the deeper issues in life (though you'd never know it by the tone of my blog) and Ruben is someone that I feel so fortunate to know because we essentially agree on so many things that it might surprise a lot of people.

I want to share a quote from Ruben, which I don't think he'd mind. I found this statement so powerful because it is so simple and profound at the same time:

"As a Christian, I have long been humbled by the fact that I cannot prove a single religious doctrine that I consider universal. The only thing I can do is prove my faith by the goodness with which I treat others. That is all of my religion the world can see."
-- Ruben Rivera

Isn't that beautiful?! So please, if you are curious about spiritual matters or you are already strongly rooted in faith, check out his blog. I think you will find it most enlightening.

THERE IS A GOD

CANCELLED! After only two episodes!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Let's hope it starts a trend ... NEXT, JERSEY SHORE!

R.I.P.

Rest with the angels dear Elizabeth.

A "REAL" REALITY SHOW

In light of everything that is happening in the country, the end of unemployment benefits for so many at Christmas time, joblessness, tax increases, bailouts, war, war and more war ... I decided to share some of my thoughts and ideas. Tell me what you think ...

Since the Year One, the "have nots" have always wondered what it would be like to be "a have". I am a "have not". Well, not really, but compared to Snooki, I am. So ... I was watching Joy Behar the other night and lo and behold, there is yet another celebrity reality series about to debut ... David Hasselhoff (of drunken "eating a hamburger off the floor" fame) and his two, hot chick daughters are coming to a channel near you. I found myself completely dumbfounded. WHY? I don't know why. All I can tell you is that I was aghast at the thought that this moronic has been has been given a reality show. And though I religiously watch The Housewives and Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab ... David Hasselhoff is somehow ... not the same.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times ... LET ME PITCH A REALITY SHOW!!!!! I suggested The Housewives of East L.A. ...instead of watching a bunch of botoxed blondes hiss at each other you could watch a gaggle of E.L.A. LOCAS go at it. BUT NOOOOO. No one took me seriously. So how about this idea:

Take someone like Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump ... basically any super rich, spoiled, immature, greedy creatin/right wing politico and take away all their $$$$$, their perks, their botox and personal makeup artists/stylists, Brazilian blowouts, $5,000 suits, Chanel bags, limo drivers - (you get the picture) and give them a working person's salary, say $35,000 a year. Make them pay rent, or a mortgage. Give them two kids and a spouse, or let them be single with a kid or no kid at all. They can have a savings but not millions and millions. Maybe $2,000 - and that's being generous. Then give them all the issues/problems/stresses of an average working person. Health insurance, car problems, rent going up, mortgage problems, kids getting sick, etc., the regular crap that happens to people on a daily basis. Then, make them do YOUR job every day, for a year. Whether it's working at Starbucks or working in an office or driving a truck for UPS. Realize that you will probably NEVER get a raise, but your taxes, rent and everything else will continue to go up. Everyone they encounter CANNOT treat them like they're someone special/rich/famous, therefore they have to deal with superiors, co-workers, etc., without the benefit of having ANY IMPORTANT CONTACTS WHATSOEVER. They cannot reach out to that famous attorney, or influential friends, etc., et al. Oh, and no spreading your legs for Playboy either ... the average gal doesn't have those kinds of contacts anyway. Basically, they're on their own and have to deal with life like a regular person. Put up with horrible bosses and impossible co-workers. THEN, watch them maneuver that life for a while ... say a month or two then BAM! Lay them off AND GIVE THEM 6 MONTHS of unemployment insurance with maybe, oh, let's say, two job interviews in the course of six months to a year and watch while they go through the frustrating process of filling out applications on-line (because that is the only way to get a job these days, and remember, many employers have right on their job post statements like "we are only looking to interview people who are currently employed" .... cause you unemployed people are too desperate and you suck). Watch, as they send their resumes into cyberspace. Watch as they wait for a phone call or something in the mail with a prospective interview. Watch ... when they don't. Watch! When they get A CALL! AN INTERVIEW! They schedule it. Drive to it. Pay for parking. Then they're tested for approximately two hours. Then it's over and you wait, and wait and wait. For weeks and weeks and sometime more weeks. Then, if you've interviewed at a "nice" organization, they'll send you a letter telling you they have hired someone for that position and good luck to you. However, nine times outta ten, you NEVER hear back from anyone ... just ADD WATER, MIX AND REPEAT ... 17,000 TIMES. Watch the once spoiled, wealthy, ungrateful deal with the stress of applying for job after job after job never, ever, knowing if anyone saw your resume, read it, considered it or laughed manically as they threw it into the circular file. Let's see how they pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Oh oh, two more weeks of unemployment .... rent/mortgage due .... babies to feed .... xmas coming.

The point of this reality show? The uber rich/ultra conservative politician hopefully learns compassion and understands, from the heart, that not everyone out there on unemployment (a) doesn't want to get a job; (b) has no ambition; (c) just sits at home and waits for their check. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW THAT STATEMENT PISSES ME OFF. Those of you who read my blog know that I was unemployed for two years after being laid off in May 2008. So come on Kim, Paris, Donald Trump - who wants to take me on? Do America a favor ... let us watch YOU suffer for a change. You'll always have your fabulous life to return to ... the rest of America however, doesn't.