This is usually the time of year when all my friends go back to school and I'm stuck at home with my only consolation being a quixotic ambition to read a book by Tolstoy or Saul Bellow or the remaining Shakespeare plays I haven't touched, when I find myself sitting at a local Starbucks at one in the afternoon nearly falling asleep by the tapping of milk spoons, or driving aimlessly around Roswell-Alpharetta under the dubious pretense that driving aimlessly is a profoundly rich experience.

Somehow, that time of year has persevered, even though I'm at school with friends, I'm actually making good progress with The Adventures of Augie March, and I'm taking mass transportation like Dr. Leary takes the funny drug.

Thank god...I leave for St. Louis tomorrow.