X2: X-Men United, lots of fun. What you want from a summer blockbuster and, as an old comic book fan, I think they did a nice job with the characters, particularly laying the groundwork for the Phoenix storyline.

Identity was creepy fun with a "twist" ending. I love psychological thrillers and it's got a great cast.

Salomé and the kids are sick again! Feels like we haven't gone more than a week without at least one of us being sick the last few months. She stayed home so I had to get the kids ready and to the babysitter myself this morning. I don't know how single parents do it! Can you say late for work again? 10:08am. 25-minute delay for a sick passenger at 59th Street clinched it.

Caught some of Westside Rhyme's 2nd Anniversary show last night. Kind of weird vibe in the air, couldn't really put my finger on it. Stayed for about an hour and a half before we broke out to Maya Azucena's birthday party at Nublu, a cool little out-of-the-way spot on Avenue C that looks like it's closed from the outside and has only a single blue light hanging by the door to identify it. Inside, it's like someone's living room with a bar and enclosed patio in back where a little rat-dog was running around and shitting all over the place! Finally heard Maya with [most of] her band and they were really impressive. On the way there, Sabrina, Oscar, Jayme and Youlanda squeezed into my car with Jayme and Youlanda actually sitting IN the kids' car seats. Funny as hell!

Earlier, I talked with my ex-girlfriend, CB, from my Army days who recently relocated to Houston from Nashville, in the early stages of divorce. We've stayed in touch since I got out of the Army - making her the friend I've known the longest at 11 years! - even met each other's spouses when they came to Virginia last year to check out the area. The marriage was doomed from the start but they kept trying and eventually had a kid and kept trying but, in the end, it just wasn't going to work. Basically, she's fiercely independent and he's not. At all. He's also a little younger than her, and shorter. Seems he's now moving to Houston, too! Good thing for their son but awkward overall I'd have to think. Anyway, not to put her business out there, it just struck me as crazy that the vast majority of my current friends are from the poetry scene and that I've only known them since 1997 at the earliest. Have some occasional email contact with a couple of old high school friends, no one from Miami or the Army (except CB) and that's as far back as things go. I've never been good at maintaining friendships after the primary connection is lost. The bad thing about that is you lose sight sometimes of where you've been and how you were. As a writer, it makes it harder to mine those experiences.

Thought for the day: 2am White Castle isn't so cool the older you get. :-(

Today's web site: http://www.barnabyinn.com/ or http://www.chelsealodge.com/, because we need a break badly!