It was a beautiful beach day here in NYC. Full of vim and vigor and borderline manic levels of optimism, I decided to take Josh and his pal Amanda (“the love of his life,” as he informs me) to Coney Island. So we went. We rode the rides, played the arcade games, ate cotton candy (more colors not found in nature but wow, does that sugar make you feel like you can do ANYTHING) and then went down to jump in the waves/play in the sand. All well and good. I even bought a beach umbrella and figured out how to use it after only fifteen minutes of mutterings that made me look like an escapee from the set of “The Sopranos.”

And then I noticed the clouds rolling in. Big, thick, dark, “I’m-a kick your butt” clouds. Whole cloud POSSES pumped and ready for action. Okay, so we’ll get drenched, I thought. No biggie. You know what is a biggie, though? Lightning. Yeah, nothing quite says, “Let’s talk staying in the gene pool” quite like dodging nature’s laser light show while carrying a metal beach umbrella. Whee, big fun. We made it on the F train just as the sky broke open with all the force of a new garage band learning the complete Ramones catalog.

Oh well. Now, of course, it’s beautiful again. Whaddya gonna do? Timing.

I’m compiling my summer reading list. Here’s what I’ve got on my table so far:
The Boyfriend List
Shrimp
how i live now
Godless
Rhymes with Witches
Stained
Funny Little Monkey
Reading Lolita in Tehran (must finish it)

There are tons more, of course, but these are on the top of the pile. I’d like to take a reading vacation where I lounge around in my p.j.’s drinking lemonade, eating chips and salsa and reading nonstop. Sigh. Heaven. What’s on your summer reading list? Any recommendations?

I’ve also started “musing” on book #3. That involves a lot of strange reading of its own. (Knights Templar. Norse and Indian mythology. Icelandic travel brochures. Oh, the usual.) Hard to believe it’s time to dive in again when Rebel Angels isn’t even officially out yet.

Did anyone get to see all of Live 8? I saw some of it but did not get to see some of the acts I would have liked to have seen like Razorlight and The Killers and Richard Ashcroft.

I’m making chicken tacos and bean tacos for dinner tonight. No avocado shall be spared.