25+ Random Things about Me

This list was too hard to narrow down so my 25, so I'm doing as many as I want. I'll just keep going until my life stops being interesting. Plus some may have subcategories. Be prepared...

1. I was kicked out of the Hebrew Academy in preschool for A) counting sweaters instead of learning the Aleph-Bet and B) Corrupting Lubavitchers. They punished me by making me rake leaves with the janitor Jose. I was 4. That school should have been shut down. Its better now I've heard.

2. I was then held back in kindergarten for:
A) Reckless endangerment of my classmates; One time I tried to stab someone with a #2 pencil during California Achievement Tests. I missed her and instead stabbbed myself in the pinkie. The graphite is still visibly embedded to this day. Ask to see it next time you see me.
B) Not being able to figure out how to tie my shoes the way my teacher prescribed. To this day I still tie them in the special way I devised when I was 5. No bunny ears for me!!
C) One day I told my teacher I changed my name to Susie because I couldn't write the letter N. More on that story here.
D) I kicked the Principal in the groin. Or at least, thats how the legend goes.

3. My brother Brian's favorite "Let's embarrass Susanne" story is...when I was 6 I asked my mom if I could walk to the store around the corner and get an ice cream. She said no. So I went upstairs and stole money from my dad's antique slot machine and snuck out to go to the store. My bro got home 20 minutes later and asked my mom, "why is Susanne walking down the street by herself with an ice cream cone in one hand and a king size Snickers in the other?"

4. My mom sent me to Camp Ramah for a month when I was 8. I refused to send her any letters because I was so enraged. She finally begged me to send her a postcard (see pic). So I started sending hatemail. Sending your homebody kid away for a month with no friends should be considered torture. I missed my Atari...

5. When I was 10 I devised a plan to runaway from home with my next door neighbor Rani Cohen. We were going to ride his scooter all the way to Mexico. Via the 405 Freeway. We stole nickels from the slot machine to finance our trip. We made it down the block before I got bored and told him to turn back.

6. I am OBSESSED with Archie comics. My Bat Mitzvah was Archie-themed with a real Pop Tate's Choklit Shoppe and souvenirs were sweatshirts with a cartoon of me, Archie, and the gang. I'm wearing it right now.

7. My mom refuses to give away the pink tallis I wore at my Bat Mitzvah. She says she wants it to be an heirloom for my children. Fine mom, but my son's will hate you forever if you make me pass it onto my kids because my daughter's sure ain't wearing it.

8. I seriously fear that my children will be as nuts as I was. I thank God everyday how even tempered my husband is. He'll keep them in line. Yeah, him and a strong prescription for Ritalin.

9. I was an Eader Beaver (an Eader Eagle once they discovered Eader Beaver sounded obscene), a Sowers Viking, an Edison Charger, and a Yeshiva Maccabbee!

10. My favorite foods growing up were McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, fried shrimp from Sizzler, and Chicken Parmigiana. Now that I'm kosher I haven't had them in over a decade.

11. I invented the game FTJ (Find the Jew) on a trip to New York in 10th grade.

12. I was kicked out of Bais Rivkah production in Crown Heights with Stacey Gluck for yelling out names of the performers. We didn't know any of them. We just kept screaming Go Chani! Go Rivky! Go Rochel Leah! figuring it was likely that someone on stage had that name. Mrs. Swerdlow the Principal stopped the show to get on the mike to yell at us.

13. Was at the finale of Spring Awakening on Broadway. In fact, saw the show 5 times in the course of 15 months. One time, I saw it sitting between my dad and boyfriend (now husband). Lets just say, the sex scene was more awkward than usual at that performance.

14. Worked for a year in an all Satmar office. Rachel Shtern told me I should have told them on the first day that I understand Yiddish. To this day I'm convinced they were talking about me constantly.

15. My celebrity look-a-like is Tipper Gore. Need proof? Here she is doing Susanne Face.

16. I still have my blankie that I got when I was born and my favorite stuffed animal (Mr. Buns). My husband says he doesn't mind. Good, because I've known them 27 years longer than I've known him. They'd win in a fight hands down. Blankie and I have been through a lot...

17. I was on Family Feud. Our episode aired on Thanksgiving Day 2000, the most watched episode of the year. We were one of the more ridiculous families to ever be on the show. There was twirling involved in the dancing at the end of the segment. Oh, and my brother did "the snake" across the stage. Oh, and Louis Anderson hit on him.

18. I was a first team all-league softball player in high school. Other members of the team now play for Team USA.

19. I have been married 5 weeks to the day. I met Evan AKA The Rabbi AKA @RavTex on the online dating website Saw You At Sinai. I am now a matchmaker on its sister site YU Connects. I once did a stand-up routine about how ridiculous I found it that I kept getting set up with Rabbis. Now here I am, a Rebbitzen.

20. I've been on at least 10 cruises. When Evan told me on our first date that his family is also into cruises, I knew then that he was the one.

21. I've been to 14 countries: Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Cayman Islands, Honduras, Israel, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and of course the United States. The next time I leave the country it will God-willing be to take my parents to Israel for the first time. My dad says he can't wait to go to Israel with his son-in-law the Rabbi.

22. I used to go to events at the Balboa Bay Club (setting for the fake Newport Beach Yacht Club on the OC). One year I was part of their annual Easter Egg Hunt. One special egg was painted gold and had $100 bill inside. I saw some little blond babe pick it up and put it in her basket then followed her around until it "accidently" fell out. I got in trouble for that one.

23. I have more than 3000 unread emails in my Gmail inbox.

24. I have never smoked pot.

25. I would have been a terrific lawyer but a terrible law student. Thats why I'll never make the big bucks.

26. Have lived in 8 different apartments in 11 years. That counts dorms...but still, thats a lot of packing.

27. Counting the seconds until I never have to live in an apartment ever again. I need a lawn and I need a backyard. I don't like the idea of having to mow them. I'd just like to know that they are there.

28. I'm nervous about what my husband will write in his 25 things. Oy, I better get a chance to proofread that.

29. I love my parents immensely and know that I should tell them that more often.

30. I am a big fan of PBR. Both the beer (Pabst Blue Ribbon) and the sport (Professional Bull Riding). I can identify many of the riders by face. Thats something I'd be embarrassed about if it weren't for the fact that my husband is able to identify the BULLS by face AND also knows the name of the bull's father (their lineage is generally well documented).

31. I am extremely uncomfortable going places (parties, events, etc) where I don't know anyone. I turn into a very shy version of Susanne. For those of you that know me, its hard to picture a shy version of me. That's because I have since developed a version of myself that makes it seem as though I'm comfortable in any situation, when I'm really freaking out on the inside.

32. I've been to at least 6 concerts that I thought were mindblowing.

6) KIIS FM Wango Tango, 1999. Dodgers Stadium. Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Will Smith, 98 Degrees, Blondie, UB40, Shaggy, and Enrique Iglesias. The line up was just okay, the peeps I was with made it awesome. Including when Garza spilled her beer on the kids sitting in front of her and then spent the next 3 hours buying them snacks because she felt so bad.

5) KROQ Weenie Roast, 1999. Irvine Amphitheater. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Blink-182, Sugar Ray, Live, Kid Rock, Smash Mouth, Orgy, Pennywise, Moby, Lo Fidelity Allstars, The Living End, Freestylers, Lit. What an amazing line up. Plus, I can say I saw Metallica LIVE. Plus, Blink-182 is probably in my Top 10 favorite bands. Yup, me. Country girl loves Blink.

4) Dixie Chicks opening for Tim McGraw. Glen Helen Pavillion. First time seeing my two all-time favorites in one show.

3) George Strait Country Music Festival, 1999. Angels Stadium. George Strait, TIM MCGRAW, DIXIE CHICKS, Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Jo Dee Messina.

2) Tim McGraw private show. South Street Seaport, NYC. For the release of Set The Circus Down. My first time meeting Tim in person.

1) Dixie Chicks private recording session. Time Warner Center, NYC. XM Satellite's Artist Confidential. As I told my boss when I explained that I needed to take the afternoon off. I was going to meet 3 of my idols. Read more about it here.

33. I love that something mundane like the "25 Random Things" note has finally gotten some of my funniest friends to write. Some of my least funny friends too, but hey, thats still awesome. Next step, start a damn blog. Its easy! Here's a link: www.blogger.com (I'm www.susqhb.blogspot.com). Not enough time for long verse? Try a microblog like www.Twitter.com and find me @susqhb! And enjoy!

Overheard in Shul

I'll say it again...Twitter has ruined my bloglife. I write on my microblog and then don't have the patience to come back here and expand on it. That added to being busy at work means my blog suffers. My poor baby.

But something happened in shul yesterday that was hysterical. My makom kavua (usual seat) in shul is a seat that is always empty when I arrive no matter how late I am. It has a lot to do with the fact that this particular row is very tight. Not a lot of space. But it also has to do with the fact that its directly in front of a group of old timers in shul who enjoy commentating during services. The exact thing I'll be doing in shul in like 50 years. The topic they are most likely to be discussing is the "young people" in shul who are rude and only there to socialize. This week I came to shul early (during the haftorah) because we were helping sponsor the kiddush after services that was commemorating the 5th yarzeit of my friend Mikey Butler (Mikey was the MAN!). Trying to alter this group of ladies' perception of the youngsters I always make sure to smile and wish them a "Good Shabbos" when I get to shul. They love me. This week I gave them my usual "Good Shabbos" and the ladies all looked at each other and smiled. Then one of them clapped me on the back and said "Now SHE always wishes us a Good Shabbos!" And another said, "She'll make a GREAT Rebbitzen!" And I laughed and laughed, all the way through Aleinu. I will make an excellent Rebbitzen.

Tehillim for Wedding

Its said that on your wedding day you have a direct connection to God. I plan to take full advantage of this. But I don't want to just pray for myself. I'm here for you too. If theres anything in life that you would like an additional blessings for, please let me know. It could be to find your soulmate (shidduch), find a new job or get a raise (parnassah), pray for someone who is sick (cholim), or anything else you feel you need some extra karma on. Please either leave a comment here (if you want to keep it private, still leave a comment, everything is moderated before its published and if you want it not published, just make note for me), reply to me on Twitter (@susqhb), or message me. Try to include your Hebrew name (if you have one) and your mother's Hebrew name (if you don't know it, just include her name). Also, make note of what it is you'd like me to pray for. You don't need to know who I am. If you are somehow reading this, or a friend sent you here to submit a name, thats good enough for me. Many blessings to all! May we see Only Simchas from here on out!

LA Weather

Dear God,

In 2 days I will be privy to the 10 Day forecast for December 28th. That's my wedding day. Please let the weather be beautiful so my guests can appreciate the "divine" (double entendre there, how do you like that God?) weather of Southern California. Thanks.

Your Most Benevolent Worshipper,

Susanne

Dear Person Posting Simcha on OnlySimchas,

Here's the dealio. If you don't know your friend well enough to know the first AND last name of the guy they are becoming engaged to, there is no way in hell that you are the appropriate person to be announcing their simcha with the world. I say this every day. As I make everyone aware, I am a huge OnlySimchas fan! I rejoice in all the simchas posted there. There is a lot of sadness in the world, so sharing your family's joy with the world is a beautiful thing. But I just went on to see what was new and saw this. Engagement of LUCKY CHOSSON & "Chick from Brooklyn" (not her real name, no need to write it here). The Lucky Chosson part was the real name listed for the dude. Here's the story.

A) Not everyone wishes to be posted on the site. For whatever reason, its still their perogative.
B) As stated before, let a closer friend post the damn thing. If you've never met the guy, maybe waiting until a family member or someone who knows them better gets around to it.

Well, thats all I've gotta say. Live long and prosper. But whatever you do. Don't forget to post your good tidings on OnlySimchas!

40 Days til Wedding

Forty days until my wedding on December 28th. The number 40 has great significance in Judaism. So I compiled some different sources speaking about why the number 40 is so important to us Jews.

Take for example from Rabbi Shraga Simmons of Aish:

"The number forty has significance throughout the Torah, and the Talmud.

For example, when a person becomes ritually impure, he must go to a ritual bath, a Mikveh. The Talmud tells us that a Mikveh must be filled with FORTY measures of water, and a person, must completely submerse himself in it. After being submersed, he leaves the Mikveh ritually pure. It is no accident, that in the story of Noah, the rain poured for FORTY days, and surrounded the world with water. And just as a person leaves a Mikveh pure, so too when the waters of the flood subsided, the world was pure.

According to the Maharal (16th century, Prague), the number FORTY has the power to raise up something's spiritual state. Just as FORTY measures of water purifies a person, and FORTY days of rain purified the world, so too Moses being on Mt. Sinai for FORTY days also had a purifying effect, in that the Jews arrived at Mt. Sinai as a nation of Egyptian slaves, but after forty days they were G-d's nation.

In the Deuteronomy, Moses tells the Jewish people that he had "led them FORTY years in the wilderness," (29:3-4) after he told them that "G-d has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day." So we see, it took the Jewish people FORTY years in the desert before they could understand the things that took place. Accordingly, the Mishna in Ethics of Our Fathers explains that "a man of forty attains understanding." (5:26) (Ethics from Sinai)."

This I found on the Torah.org site:

The number 40 occurs most conspicuously in connection with the Flood (40 days), with Moses on Mount Sinai (40 days, during which the Jews made the Golden Calf), and with the time the Jews spent in the desert (40 years, in punishment for their listening to the spies who had spent 40 days exploring the Promised Land). Thus 40 seems to be associated with punishment. Note that for violating a negative commandment the Torah specifies a punishment of 40 lashes (which the sages interpreted as 39). Perhaps the association with punishment is related to the fact that 40 is the numerical value of "yad Ha-Shem" (14+26).

This is from the Faqs.org site:

Forty days after a child is conceived, the Talmud tells us, the soul
enters the body. Forty, therefore, is a symbol of birth, rebirth and
change. It is interesting to note that it was recently found that
neural activity does begin at 40 days after conception. This also
means that abortion is permitted in more instances within the first 40
days of pregnancy than during the rest of pregnancy.

And finally, there is an idea that praying for a specific thing for 40 straight days is a great segula. I have friends that recited Shir HaShirim 40 days in a row to merit finding their bashert. There is a group, Western Wall Prayers, that will pray in your merit at the Kotel (Western Wall) for 40 straight days. They explain their mission as:

"Chazal (our Sages) have long spoken about the Segula of praying for 40 consecutive days. Whether one recites shir hashirim (King Solomon's Song of Songs), tehillim (King David's psalms) or personal heart-felt words, 40 days is a significant time period to arouse G-d's mercy.

Praying for 40 consecutive days specifically at the Kotel (Western Wall) is a famous practice of Jews in Jerusalem. Most people have heard about the popular Segula through word-of-mouth and have made the pilgrimage for marriage partners, income, children, healing and other.

According to Rav Sheinberger, author of a popular commentary on the Zohar (the definitive book of Kabbalah), the Segula was officially coined by Rabbi Yisroel Yaakov Fischer, of blessed memory - one of the leading Sages of the last generation. Dayan Fischer reportedly said that if someone goes to the Western Wall for 40 consecutive days to pray for 1 thing, it was a special Segula of its own."

I get it. 40 is an important number. I have 40 days until my slate is once again wiped clean. Evan and I will start a brand new life together on this day. I must do teshuva. I must free myself of all my ill feelings towards others. I must make ammends. I have 40 days left to "pack" for this journey.

Who I'm Voting For

On April 26, 2007 I wrote my first of many candidate analyses. I ranked the order of the potential candidates in order of who I'd vote for and why. Senator Barack Obama was #7. The order is as follows.

1) Al Gore (D)

2) Hillary Clinton (D)

3) Bill Richardson (D)

4) John Edwards (D)

5) John McCain (R)

6) Mitt Romney (R)

7) Barack Obama (D)

8) Rudy Giuliani (R)

My defense for Senator Obama's low rating was as follows: Obama Who? Where did this guy come from? I'd never heard of him until last year. He is a first term, junior Senator from Illinois. Sure hes a wonderful orator, hes good looking, and very well educated. But what kind of experience does he have that he should be the leader of the free world? I'm 100% in favor of a President who is not a white, middle aged, male. Thats why I have Hillary (female) and Bill Richardson (Hispanic) near the top of my list. Obama, leave this race right now and run again in 8 years. You will have my vote. I promise. But first you need to put on public record where you stand on the issues. And convince me that you are passionate about Israel a little bit more.

When I was on the Fox News Channel's panel for undecided voters I said I considered myself undecided because if my Democratic choice (Senator Clinton) was not the nominee I'd consider voting for the Republican candidate. After all, McCain was two spots ahead of Obama on my list.

I had liked John McCain for a long time. I always thought he was a Moderate Republican. Didn't blindly vote party lines. Instead he voted what he believed was best for America. That was until he chose Sarah Palin. Governor Palin as a running mate is the antithesis of what all moderate voters saw in John McCain. She is just not what I would want to see in a potential running mate. Was Joe Biden ever pranked by a Canadian radio show using a ridiculously fake French President Nicolas Sarkozy accent? And if he was, would he have fallen for it? No. The woman who did fall for the prank, the woman running under a 72-year-old man with a history of health problems, is not ready to be President and frankly never will be. She is unable to make her own decisions without being schooled by instructors. She does not have the intellect to comprehend the complexity of world issues. She does not have my back when it comes to women's rights. She does not have my vote and therefore, neither does the man at the top of the ticket.

Tomorrow, I am voting for the lesser of two evils. I am afraid to vote for the Republican ticket because I am scared of empowering Sarah Palin. I am disappointed in Senator Obama for not choosing Senator Clinton as his running mate. Together the Democrats could have sailed to the Presidency. Now we are looking at a potential 2000, one party winning the Popular vote while the other wins the Electoral count. Its far fetched but its possible. It could happen again. There are other Hillary supporters out there that are hoping for an Obama upset to open a 2012 Hillary run. I want the Dems to win today! Not in four years! I'm not going to be like McCain, picking someone who my advisors decide on. I will choose the man who is best for America. And that my friends is Senator Barack Obama. I hope you all (especially those in the swing states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, listen up, I'm talking to you) agree.

Shana Tova Greetings from Susanne

Dear Friends, Fam, and Followers,
I wanted to write you this year to make sure you have wonderful Rosh Hashanah and a meaningful Yom Kippur. At this time, as we are beginning a new year, we must take time out of our busy schedules for a bit of introspection. With each new year we must grasp this clean slate and ask ourselves, what can we do this year to be a better friend, a better parent, a better spouse? Let's fill this year's slate with Torah, and Mitzvos, and most importantly Love. This is the Season of Love (those noticing the Rent reference, nice work). Let's commit ourselves to loving not only our friends, parents, and spouses, but Klal Yisroel as a whole. Only then can we actually see ourselves coming closer to the ultimate redemption, the coming of Moshiach. This year has been a busy one for me. This year I met Evan, my future Rabbi Hubby. For all of you who always insisted that I'd end up a Rebbitzen since our days at Darchei Binah, well, you won that bet. I've learned a lot from Evan. He is one of the most selfless people I have ever met. Always there to lend a helping hand to a friend. This makes me want to help others even more. Whether its helping them find somewhere for Shabbos, deal with the big issues, or my new hobby, finding them a shidduch (if you haven't yet, send me what you're looking for!). I just want to be a better person. I've tried hard not to push away my friends because of a relationship. I've lost many friends who have gotten so wrapped up in their relationships and weddings that I promised myself for years that I would not do the same. Hopefully I didn't sleight anyone since I've been so overwhelmingly busy this past year. With this in mind, I hope that you can somehow find it in yourself to forgive me for any of the transgressions that I have committed, whether I did them knowingly or unknowingly. I will of course do the same for you. May all of our relationships with our families, our friends, and our fellow man be stronger this year than ever before. I hope this coming year will be filled with nothing but Simchas for us to share together! I hope for a year of blessings and prosperity for us all. Gmar Chasima Tova!
Love,
Susanne

PS If anyone's emails were left out, please know it was done unintentionally. Hopefully all of my loved ones will receive this message somehow through my Twitter page (www.twitter.com/susqhb) or my Facebook (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=502647624&ref=name) or my blog www.susqhb.blogspot.com.

Had I known...I'd have been a Rabbi

I just spoke to a lovely rabbi in the Greater Philly area. When I went to her shul site to double check the address I saw that the other rabbi in her shul had the same last name. Its not the most common name, so my guess is that they are married. It comes up pretty often when I find that two rabbis at a congregation are married to one another. Obviously I'm not referring to Orthodox institutions since they do not ordain women. I guess in the Reform and Convervative movements when a couple meets in Rabbinical school, they have a good heads up that their suitor is like minded in terms of their connection to Judaism, making it a good match from the get-go. Of course, there was one time when I called a congregation and asked for Rabbi X and the receptionist asked, which one, and I said Rabbi XX, and asked, oh, are they married? She said, um, they're divorced. Awkward! But anyhoo, point is, had I known how easy it was to meet my match had I gone to Rabbinical school I would have gone years ago. Well, it took some time, but at least I did in fact find my Rabbi. The question now is, when they announce us for the first time as husband and wife, do they say "Rabbi and Rebbitzen", or "Rabbi and Reverend"? :D

Am I a Stern Girl?

This morning, for the first time ever, someone asked me if I was on my way to Stern on the train. She needed directions I presume. I was wearing the same exact thing I've worn pretty much everyday for 10 years. Denim skirt, polo shirt, and zip sweater. What could possibly have been different today that made her query me and not the girl next to me also wearing a skirt and long sleeves? Must be the engagement ring....

Wedding Music

We booked whats supposed to be the most excellent Jewy band in LA/Orange County for the wedding. I was just sent a website where you can view all the songs that the band can cover. First thing I noticed. Not nearly enough Tim McGraw tunage. Or any for that matter. I think more Orthos need to play Tim at their nuptials. I was just going through the wedding band's song list and....Oooh Beatles, lets see what songs are listed here.....OMG.....Do they really get requests for Eleanor Rigby from couples?! Isn't it about chick who died alone? Really?!! Some people seriously need to rethink what songs are really about. Yup pretty song. Not exactly appropriate sentiment though. Like I'd LOVE to walk down to the opening bit of a Rascal Flatts song. Its a beautiful string piece....but its a song called I'm Moving On. Again, not sure the right kind of appropriate for that moment.

Spin

It seems as though every other post I'm apologizing for not writing more. And here I go again. Sorry loyal readers. My life is hectic. Be patient.

So heres the story. I'm packing and throughout I've been throwing clothes in the laundry bag to be washed. Tonight was when I got through the four loads that needed to get done. I then proceeded to fold the laundry (this alone took all night, its now 2 am). When I finished I counted 43 freshly laundered pairs of underwear. This can be seen two ways depending on how you spin it. I'm not completely sure its natural to own that many. But I'm a sucker for buying undies in bulk. As many of you know, my favorite store is Costco and when I make a trip I usually pick up another package. If its a cute design, two packages. Thats one way to see it. I just have an undie fetish and own so many that I have to wash a ton whenever I do the laundry. The other is, How the hell long has it been since I've done laundry? Don't think about this too long. Might make you gag a little. Anyhoo, this is what happens when you can't sleep and decide to blog in the middle of the night. You write embarrassing things. Good night all.

Our Wedding Monogram

One of my bestest most talented buds put this together for us. I think its amazing. My only goal was to have all of our Hebrew initials incorporated somehow, and bonus points if I had to do some detective work to make out some of the letters. Can you find them all? Shin, Mem, Aleph, and Yud. And of course a Resh for Rosenhouse. :)

Dear Anonymous

Dear guy who has way too much time on his hands,

You know who you are. You spend all day on my site driving up my sitemeter, thereby directing more traffic to my site and more ad money to my pocket. For that, I thank you. I originally just planned to ignore your ridiculousness, but instead think you deserve a thank you. Feel free to keep posting inappropriate comments to my various blog posts. Calling me whatever names you'd like. I really don't mind as long as my numbers keep going up. After all, you've figured out that I'm not posting them. I'm not even reading them. Everytime I get an email saying "Anonymous" has posted again, I laugh to myself. Its a shame that this wuss who won't even identify himself is hiding behind his sense of invisibility. Hiding behind the AOL account that he uses to connect to the internet. Why don't you spend your time more wisely. Throw the ball around with a buddy. Take someone on a date. Call up an old friend who you've lost touch with. Anything must be better than reading my blog. But while I still keep you busy, knock yourself out.

New Potter Trailer

Positively frightening. And they didn't even show the really scary stuff (like the inferi in the lake ""shutter""), just Dumbledore's visit to the orphanage to visit the young Tom Riddle. Now everyone says that it wasn't until HP 4 that Rowling got really dark, and while thats kinda true, it wasn't until this book, HP6 that I was chilled to the bone. One of my faves of the series and the one that I think fleshed out the Dark Wizard's backstory and really because of their duality, in essence, Harry Potter's. I remember the first time I saw the first trailer for Sorcerer's Stone. I was in DC for the summer. And we went to see that horrible movie AI just for the trailer. Just seeing the trailer was an event in itself. So enjoy!




If above video is not available, try clicking here. Movie is being released in the US on November 21st. Go see it!

BREAKING NEWS! SavvyAuntie.com Launches!

Back in March I briefly offered a shout out to a site that I heard was in development entitled Savvy Auntie. The particular post was on the book The Panic Years: A Guide to Surviving Smug Married Friends, Bad Taffeta, and Life on the Wrong Side of 25 without a Ring by Doree Lewak. The book and the elongated title explains, touches on relationships with your friends who are married (while you are not) as well as those who have kids. I remember thinking in Stern after my first close friend Alissa got married, wow looks like shes winning in this race called life. Then a year later her first son was born and I thought, damn, not only is she winning, she's lapped me. That was in 2001. She just delivered her THIRD child b"H in May, one week after I got engaged to my fiance Evan. So I guess I may have gained ground in this race, although, it'll be years (if ever) for me to catch up to her and her bountiful fam.

For a long time I just accepted the fact that there was a good chance I'd be an old maid. Its widely believed that there is a "singles crisis" (their words, not mine) in the young frum world. So anyone who doesn't fit into the teeny tiny box of whats an ideal man or woman in the frum world just might be single for a while. For a woman, you can generally read that as thin, because thats pretty much all frum guys are looking for. Although, not always true, I have some incredibly hot, professional friends who remain single (gentlemen, contact me for their numbers). Guys in the frum world are just generally stupid, so thats why they let these lovely ladies slip through their fingers. For men, they must have a six figure salary. Bald, fat, and toothless are not factors. Those guys still have no problem finding wives. As long as they take home 100K.

Since there are so many women getting married later and later in life, many are putting off having children. That doesn't neccesarily mean that they aren't actively involved in childrens' lives. A large majority of my girlfriends have extremely close connections to their nieces and nephews. They take them to the circus (as my bud DJ did last week), they act as confidants, and they get to be another adult that loves the children unconditionally and spoils them rotten. Every kid needs more than two adults to fill that last role. When I was little, I needed like 20 aunts and uncles to yield the amount of attention my precoious younger self required.

Right now SavvyAuntie.com is being launched like literally as I type this blog. This website can act as an online community (the first of its kind) for hip aunts, great aunts, godmothers, and my own personal coined term quasi-aunts, to communicate with one another on all the important things it means to be an aunt. Biological or not. For instance, two weeks ago I went to my quasi-niece's first birthday. Being a woman in my late 20's with pretty much no experience around little ones (I've changed like 5 diapers in my 28 years) I had no idea what to get her for a gift. Had I had this community to turn to for advice, I would have had a much easier time of gift buying. I would have known a Playstation wasn't a good idea (just kidding, I found like some ball thingy, for ages 1-3).

All that said, yes, I plan to, God willing, one day have a family. Not neccesarily anytime so soon. I'd like to enjoy married life for a little while before popping out a little one. For now, I'm content doting over my two nephews who live in Las Vegas (when I see them, which is usually once a year if that) and my brand new nephew (Evan's brother's son), as well as my countless other quasi-nieces and nephews, children of my close friends. They're awesome little tykes. And I'm their Aunt Susanne! If you fit this category, visit SavvyAuntie.com today!

Mormons are cool!

Okay, so this is my 301st post. No fanfare needed. I keep getting these funny ideas to write about and when I get to my desk at work or my laptop I become so busy with other stuff I never get around to articulating the humor to y'all. So since its been awhile I thought I'd come on here and punch in a couple quickies.

This morning on the subway two young Mormon elders got on the train. A man in his 30's initiated a conversation with them and he chatted about faith, family, and spirituality with these young missionaries from 175 to 59th street. I give the Mormon faith major props. Not that I'm in favor of any religion proselytizing (Jews actually turn away prospective converts), but making people explore life's positive attributes, even if its a 30 minute conversation that doesn't translate to anything, is a great thing. I mentioned before that I grew up in the Mormon stronghold of Orange County, California. My high holiday services (since the synagogue wasn't large enough to hold all of us once a year Jews) were held at the local Mormon temple each year. They had seating for 1000! The Mormon faith puts a strong emphasis on family and moral values. My father is a district commissioner for Eagle Scouts in the area and a large majority of the young men he meets with come from the community. Our next door neighbors growing up with a large LDS family. I remember when the mom first came to my mom after we moved in and started talking up the religion, my mom said straight out, "listen, you don't try to convert us, we won't try to convert you. We'll have a better friendship that way". Religion was never really mentioned again. We had a great relationship with this family for many years. Thats all I really wanted to say. So the next time you see an elder or a young Mormon lady (not sure what their title is) be sure to say hello. You can usually recognize them by their big lapel name badges, their bicycles, and their backpacks. Good times!

300

This is my 300th blog post. The End.

P.S. Today's a Woot-Off!
Will this be my lucky day where I finally win a bag of crap?! Woot= One Day, One Deal. A Woot-Off is when they continiously throughout the day post new products at dirt cheap prices. The "bag of crap" is life's most coveted possessions. If you Woot, you know that I'm talking about. Oh yeah.

RIP Tim Russert

Tim Russert died this afternoon in DC at the age of 58. Honestly I'd never known who he was until the 2000 election. When the state of Florida toggled back and forth between Al Gore and George W, Tim remained our constant. I was like, who is this guy? All the other networks had expensive FX on the screen with a map of the United States and a ton of blue and red numbers. But there on NBC was this guy Tim Russert and a whiteboard that was probably picked up at Staples before he got to the studio. I watched him until 4 AM as he explained the electoral college math and what it would take for each candidate to become President of the United States. I was fascinated. Of course, the state of Florida eventually landed in President Bush's hands, but for those few hours in the middle of the night it could have gone either way. And Mr. Russert was the one who helped us understand. I went on to do my thesis paper on the electoral college. And Tim Russert had a lot to do with that. I'll always remember Tim...and his whiteboard. Thanks Tim for making politics make sense.

10 Years

10 years ago yesterday, on June 11th, 1998 I graduated from Edison High School in Huntington Beach, CA. I've mentioned before in my blog, but I'll happily say it again, I LOVED high school. I made some good friends, went to some great parties (mostly at the Nadler hacienda), hit a lot of softballs, won a lot of gavels (from Model UN), was Student of the Month (in a school of 1,600, thats pretty impressive), and was almost named Prom Queen. I like to say I was runner up because we didn't have a runner up but if we did I'm sure it would have been me. :) I never got great grades because I was lazy as shit but I stayed above 3.0 throughout my time there. I was supposed to graduate with honors but was one Spanish class shy of the requirement. I hated Spanish. Spent 2 1/2 years in remedial Spanish and can say "Yo Hablo Susanne". Thats about it. I wish I could have foreseen living in the barrio affectionately known as Washington Heights where Spanish would have been infinitely helpful.

And then we graduated. We wore our green robes and sat in the heat in the Edison Bowl. What I regret is that I didn't really appreciate the impact of that day. There were people there that I saw every day for 4 years. Now I haven't seen them in 10! I wish I took more pictures. I wish email was more widely used back then. I wish Facebook existed. I wish we had Myspace. I wish I'd stayed in touch with my peeps. I wish I still had my old 1982 Honda Accord Hatchback. I wish I had applied myself more.

We have our 10 Year Reunion coming up this November. I can tell you I am so excited to see all my old friends. But I can't help but think, what if I could go back 10 years and do things differently. Would I be a lawyer like I'd always planned? Would I be the observant Jew that I am today? These are questions that we cannot even think about. We need to love the life we live. And thats what I'm doing.

Happy 10th Anniversary Edison High School Class of 1998!