
[Mary Gibbons, co-owner of Rocketship, prepares the new haul for purchase.]
Last Wednesday called for a rendezvous at Rocketship with

[Rocketship co-owner, Alex Cox,

Thursday night: SBX and I saw THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, which wasn't nearly as good as THE WEDDING CRASHERS, but well written and acted well enough even though the directing was amateurish bordering on the incompetent. It played like the 2-hour pilot for a new HBO show. Only, in the final throes, our hero loses his virginity. And then what...amnesia?
Friday night: SBX, Rachel, Doug, and Eric, and I, went to Mo Pitkins House of Satisfaction to see our pal Jonathan Ames perform a one-man, one-hour monologue as a part of the Howl Festival. He slayed. The sold out space was in stitches. Poor Ames and his hard knock life. I finished his latest novel, WAKE UP, SIR! and it's laugh out loud brilliant. Do yourself a favor:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/074344907X/qid=1125412718/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-0124858-7523923?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
And, while you're there, why not pre-order THE QUITTER:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140120399X/qid=1125412762/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-0124858-7523923?v=glance&s=books
Saturday: SBX and I took advantage of Prospect Park for a nap, pop culture rag reading, and frisbee. Then she sat like this--

--and I was all like "damn girl you look good!" And so I took some pictures and then I no longer wanted to be in the park around other people. I wanted to be somewhere private and legal with her.
Sunday's planned beach day was squandered by cloudy weather so we cleaned house and bought books. I grabbed Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451, and Augusten Burroughs' RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. That evening, we hosted a BBQ in SBX's backyard, deck, and living room, for 20-or-so of our friends. The communal effort was delicious and merry. The music I played consisted of XTC, Yaz, Louis XIV, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Postal Service, Depeche Mode, The Cure, and Public Image Ltd. It was my "coming out" party. It became official:
I am white.