Donna and I went to see X-Men 2 last night and it was good. Maybe a hair below the first, because the writing/story seemed a little rough in this one compared to the first...and, without giving anything away, I just have one thing to ask: What the hell was Iceman doing at the end? Picking his nose?

Anyway, I've liked X-Men more than any of the "comic-book-to-movie" genre. I've kind of always said if I read comics, X-Men would be the first...just have always been intrigued by them, I guess.

I never really did get into comic books though when I was younger, I guess because I wasn't really exposed to them. I guess that's the only real way as a kid you "get into" things. We had a drugstore on the corner of my parents' block that sold everything. But it didn't carry comic books, at least not that I knew of. There were no comic book stores in the vicinity of my house, and my friends never were into them either. So I didn't have the exposure. It's kind of like the NHL. Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz prevented cable-less people from watching the Hawks by putting them on Sports Channel. So I didn't watch them, and thus never got into hockey as much as other sports.

I miss that drugstore, as it's long gone now. I remember the first time, how happy I was, that my mom let me go there to buy baseball cards. That was important because it was the first time I was allowed to cross 51st street, the busy street, by myself. I was 17 years old...just kidding. :) This drugstore was pretty big...we never really went into the "grocery" area, where they had things like cereal, canned goods, etc., because we never really needed that stuff from that outlet. I do remember the pharmacists being nice people and knowing, as all neighborhood pharmacists do, us by name and knowing pretty much why we were there.

Now, the drugstore has been gone for awhile. The "grocery" half has been replaced by a Hispanic-owned furniture store (I only know it's a furniture store because I've looked in the windows. The sign's in spanish. :) ) and the small, corner-shop area is an ice-cream shop--but not a sit-down place...it's a paleta shop. Which is fine with me too, because nothing beats a 40-cent strawberry leche (sp?) ice cream bar from the bell-ringing, cart-pushing paleta guys. Of course, it's probably more expensive than 40 cents now...I haven't had a paleta in so long. ahhh, the memories.