Now this is more like it. I swear when I left the house on this cold, drizzly, grey October morning, it felt like I was the only human in the world. I love this time of year... when it actually acts like this time of year.

Matty Price gave me my first Blu-Ray DVD this week. (We're going to have to come up with the Blu-Ray equivalent of "shinydisk" - suggestions? Shinybludisk?) He gave me The Fountain, which was an inspired choice, and I promptly went out and bought Pirates 1 and 2 to go along with. Yep: I am three disks in, and I don't even own the player yet. I'm going to get Casino Royale, 2001, and The Simpsons Movie while I'm at it. And maybe Fantastic Four Two, just to fuck with The Man. It's a wide-open field of needless spending. DVD bankruptcy has proven pointless now that the TV season has started anyway; just keeping up with the three remaining shows I watch takes up all my lingering DVD-watching time. I swear, there was a time in my life when I could support eight or nine programs through the year and balance it with tapes of stuff from the year before. Where does the wasted time go?

Meanwhile, the question of the ages is rapidly becoming To Beard or Not To Beard. The beard is getting an almost eerie volley of support from all quadrants of my life. I guess I've finally nailed the ratio of body fat to facial hair because this is the first time everyone hasn't been like "if you don't shave that off you will never get laid again." Plus, it is awesome for the pensive stroking. I've got the Obi-Wan Kenobi upper-lip curl down pat. Perhaps I will go all rustic till springtime and dispense wisdom from my lean-to.

OK there's a 3-year-old blonde girl giving me trouble, I gotta go. I've just had a spectacularly productive morning at the Starbucks, not writing-wise, but everything else-wise. (Hallowe'en party! Costume details! VCR 9 prepping! Personal development follow-ups!) I believe I have earned the right to read Spider-Man.