(Assorted Snippets)

t has been an uneventful day. I didn't go to sleep until after 2 this morning/last night. Then the felines were pouncing around at 6 wanting their breakfast. (Actually, I'm not so sure it's food they want, as much as it is a desire for me to get up and play.) So I wound up going back to bed a couple of times.

Once up at 6, I finished reading through a couple of "Advocates." Good, sexy article about boy bands, and the fact that they have started to recognize their gay fans. There is no doubt that boy-band-music is catchy and tuneful enough to stick in your head. So I try to give it some respect, even when a lot of the songs sound the same. And that merchandizing may play an even bigger part than musical ability. But at the same time, I know the tunes are sonic ephemera.

Also completed the two most recent "New Yorkers." Very fascinating article on the building of a library in Alexandria in hopes that the city can again claim after 2,000 years to be home to a great library. Some interesting theories on what happened to the original. The most sensible theory is that time and natural disasters eroded it over the centuries. There has been the long-held belief that Julius Ceasar set fire to some ships in the harbor which then spread to the library. Use of this proposition cropped up in the famous Cleopatra movie of the 60s.

In the midst of this, I watched part of "The Prince of Egypt." Just as I clicked over, I caught Moses' dream about the slaying of the slaves. But the animation of the dream was all done in bas-relief style like hieroglyphics. What a brilliant idea! When Moses awakes, he runs through the temples looking for the pictures of the event. Also a very clever concept. Moses is drawn in a very sensuous, sinewy style with large sad eyes.

Around 6:30, a friend and I went out to have dinner. He called his boyfriend who wanted to know if were interested in having dinner with him and his father. (Pops does not know that son is gay.) I blanched at the idea of attempting to take on the sinister cloak of hetrosexuality in such a situation. Yet, at the same time, I recognize that it has to be up to the individual to decide how and when to discuss the issue. And such discussions can be far more traumatic for some than others.

After our usual debate on places, we crawled through the evening traffic to a Japanese Steakhouse which was crowded, hot and noisy. The conversation swirled around relationships, computers and the church we belong to. If there were any nuggets of wisdom, I don't remember them.

PAX!