It is now 12:14:17 AM. My son is sprawled out on his air mattress, fast asleep.

Today is his birthday. He turns 6 somewhere around 9:20 PM CST.

Unfortunately we cannot celebrate his birthday on his birthday as his father goes to work at ten in the morning and will not return until sometime around nine in the evening.

After much circular five-year-old logic my son has agreed to celebrate his birthday on Saturday instead. Which technically would be the 4th back in the USA, so it works out.

For his birthday he wants to go to a Chinese restaurant (Bamiyan), hit golf balls at the driving range down the street, help me make his cake, have assorted banners up, have assorted balloons, open his presents, have us sing the "happy birthday" song, and have all of his classmates come over. Of course, the last request will not happen; which makes my son sad but I am sure that he will have a fantastic day regardless.

His presents are quite wonderful. I still have to purchase Independence Day from iTunes to stick on his iPod. Since visiting with my family last year, he has become obsessed with the movie (but he has not seen it yet).

His uncle (who is six months older than him) has seen Independence Day. Upon hearing that my son was born on the 4th of July, my brother explained that on Independence Day aliens would be coming down to earth. So, now my son insists that on " 'pendence day " aliens will be coming and we need to secure guns to shoot them.

He tells absolutely anyone he can this story.

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Wow. I hate gore and Saw like movies (so the made by some Saw person does not sell me on anything), but this actually looks good.

Ogre, Sarah Brightman, and Anthony Stewart Head? I am there.

I need a few people who build web sites to take a look at a specific web site and tell me what you think. I can explain more in e-mail. It does not matter if your opinion is specifically about the design or if it about the technical aspects or both.

Heck, even if you don't build web sites if you can look and tell me what you think that would be great.

Just comment with your e-mail and I will fill you in.

My husband is unhappy.

There are various reasons for this, most of which cannot be talked about in a public forum as they fall within the realm of subjects you should not mention in public forums (examples include your social security number, employment, on-going court hearings, penis size, and fight club).

But a few revolve around his age. His eye sight is getting worse and he "forgets" to wear his glasses (and they are really nice Prada glasses that look very good on him). His knee has been bothering him and we have yet to find a proper knee brace (which alleviates the pain but makes his knee itchy). All this frustrates him because in his mind he is still in his twenties.

Oh, and he turns forty-five in September and his father died shortly before his 45th birthday (my husband had graduated college at the time).

I want to cheer him up but there is really nothing I can do about most of it. I really need to get serious about making a living off of my artistic endeavors. I am so afraid that no one will like what I produce and that no one will purchase it. This says more about my confidence than anything. But if I can do it, he will be happier and have less stress. In two weeks the stress should be a bit less, but I fear what will happen will only be a small success that is soon forgotten.

Until his birthday comes and goes he will continue to be upset about that. I do not believe I can help in that regard. When a man wrestles with the idea of his own mortality is there anything anyone else can say or do to ease the thoughts that swirl in his head?

I wish to do something for him to help him. It frustrates me that I cannot help him, that I cannot make him feel better.

I want to do something very special for his birthday, maybe bring in a friend-- but there is no one who could come (everyone is always too busy). I cannot take him out of the country for a break (he has five vacation days which double as sick days and he only knows his work schedule by 5 pm the day before, wtf on both accounts?).

Right now he is fencing with our son, using cardboard wrapping-paper tubes. He looks happier than he has for quite a while.

Echoing my Twitter account:

"Just watched the movie In Bruges. Wow. Holy fuck, I highly recommend it."

Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, is not a true story. It is not even a good story.

At best it is an example of a Cinderella-story: a "helpless" girl sits around waiting for a man to save her instead of stepping up and doing what she can to help herself. The female characters are weak, pitiful, shallow creations who exist only for men to take them away to a blissful life with happiness (or so they think).

Yes, the author did speak with a single geisha (who is now retired) to find background information regarding this story-- but it does not make it an accurate story, a work of non-fiction, or a true story. Besides, since when does talking to one primary source when there are hundreds available pass as acceptable research these days? One geisha does not represent the whole group! I am aware that it is a work of fiction, but it attempts to pass itself off as non-fiction (there are many people in anthropology who treat it like a true story, which says quite a bit regarding their intelligence and abilities). Regardless: it is highly inaccurate.

I have talked with many geisha in Kyoto (both geiko and maiko) from various districts, candidly, and this book (and especially the movie) has nothing to do with the geisha world. It has done more harm than good to the geisha community because now you have many people thinking that they understand the geisha world when they know absolutely nothing.

Not only is the book inaccurate, it is on the level of being a cheesy romance novel (and not the good kind, I do love me some cheese!).

As someone who appreciates geisha, is a geisha customer, and as someone who works with geisha on a professional level please allow me to say that you can like and enjoy this book (I will never debate anyone's right to like/enjoy a book or movie), but do not think for a moment it is remotely accurate or that it is a piece of literature.

Tell me: are you doing what you want in life? Are you happy?