in two thousand years this place will be covered by ice and the people who will dig us up will be in for a big surprise

My annual winter hibernation is starting a little early this year, I think.

I don't know if it's the cold weather or the meager rations of daylight, but already I find myself building up my stores of books like layers of fat in preparation for the long, bleak months ahead. Usually this doesn't set in until around Thanksgiving, but this weekend was so blustery and my to-do list so overwhelming that I wanted nothing more than to putter around the house 'getting things done' and snuggling up. It was absolutely delicious.

Last weekend was the birthday foofaraw which--what with its pommes frites with truffle oil, kir royales, and karaoke--somewhat glutted me on the whole 'going out' biz. It was fun, absolutely, but excessively draining.

I went for a coffee this afternoon and when I walked out of the café and into the perfectly crisp air I remembered how coffee-laced breath mingles so exquisitely and distinctively with the smells of autumn. The only thing missing from that chord was a slow, sated drag of a cigarette.

Only Revolutions was disappointing. In fact, I found it very nearly unreadable. That said, it did touch me in a strange way and I do love the way he breaks the linear tendencies of the medium. I think David Mitchell did a better job with it, though. I'm in the midst of yet another Jeeves book right now (they are like crack) and then I will probably move onto Alan Alda's autobiography while I wait for my next shipment of books to arrive. I am looking forward to the rumored Hodgmanesque (yes, that's right... Hodgmanesque) humor of the Dr and Mr Doris Haggis-On-Whey books.

I'm considering making Christmas pressies again this year, since a) I am poor, and b) I need a hobby for a number of reasons. Hopefully there will not be another horror like the absinthe fiasco of '04 (although I like to think that the unspeakable nastiness of the moonshine was overshadowed by the--if I may--sublime deliciousness of the truffles). I am planning on some things edible, some things inedible... we shall see.

Oh, and short of flying to London and knocking on doors I have no idea what to do about getting letters of reference from my UCL professors. They seem to be completely incommunicado and clearly are not checking (or are ignoring) their email and voicemail. I'm wondering if I should be thinking about a serious plan B. Not that it would be the end of the world... to be honest, I'm not particularly eager to add to my debt while living on Ramen for two years. I've become a little enchanted by that well-dressed temptress Disposable Income. We shall see. Maybe I can enter the field with just (just!) my History MA.

Ok, apples and peanut butter.

i was drunk on the streets of chicago for 14 days on end

I've decided to stop drinking for a year.

This is primarily because I find myself shelling out $30 for the privilege of feeling like death-on-a-stick the next day and accomplishing absolutely nothing. As an added bonus, this weekend it resulted in yet another bout of nasty tonsillitis. So now I think I will limit myself to the odd glass of vino with dinner. Drinking any more than that just isn't worth losing a day or more in recovery. I might still go out once in a while, but I suppose I'll just offer myself up as the designated driver.

I have tried every hangover cure and preventative measure under the sun. And it's not even that I'm drinking that much and/or often... my body is just unwilling to accept anything more than the most limited consumption. Bummer.

Anyway, despite my aforementioned craptacular state of health, I will go out to eat sushi with my childhood friend M tomorrow night and hopefully not spread the germitude to her. Wednesday I think G is coming over to watch the season premiere of 'Lost' (so excited! I can't wait to see what this season is going to be like).

Tonight, though, I am simply going to ignore the fact that my room is a mess and snuggle up in bed with my mug of TheraFlu. I'm debating whether I am in a state to start The Sea by John Banville (unlikely), flip through the new issue of 'InStyle' (more likely), or watch a few more episodes of 'Jeeves and Wooster' (extremely likely).