Is summer over already? Wasn't it just this morning I was assaulting the racks of the Franklin Ave Goodwill, probably foaming at the mouth more than a little because something in the sunshine that day told me that this was MY day, the day I would prevail over National Grid and Target and my bank account, the day I would buy my entire summer wardrobe for twenty-eight dollars? (I discovered the precious gem that is Bed Stuy when I briefly dated this boy who lived by the Tiny Cup; cigarettes are eight dollars there. EIGHT DOLLARS. 'The Perks of Being a Hood Rat' hits shelves next month.)

I suppose I'm ready for fall, though. It is my favorite, and stuff. At any rate I'm ready to get past this awkward part of the year where I freeze my ladyparts off the entire time I shower and get ready at four in the morning because it's too early to fire up the ol' woodstove and I spend far too many minutes deciding whether or not I have too many clothes on, because what if it gets hot later? And school is never an appropriate temperature (this is true for every school building I have been inside of, ever) so my notes wind up either undecipherable due to violent shivering OR drenched in a pool of my sweat. YUM. Also everyone is always sick. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: If you don't cover your mouth when you cough, I picture myself having to comb phlegm out of my hair later on. That is an unkind place for you to send my brain to.