Yum, Gnats!

Fall is a season that brings many questions with it. Over the last week I have pondered such things as which blanket should I wrap myself in? Do I want hot coffee or hot chocolate? Where did I put my slippers? And which book shall I curl up with while wrapped in a blanket, drinking a hot drink and cursing myself for cleverly hiding my slippers away in a new, better place last spring? These are important questions. Today another question arose. Do I say yes to an advanced copy of The Looking Glass Wars? And also ask for one to give away? The book looks good, but if I ask for a copy I have to promise to read and post about it before September 26th. But wait. I just glanced at the email again and it says I have to have the giveaway before September 26th when the book comes out. I can do that! So now you all know to there will be a giveaway soon. I'll have to think of some interesting comment requirement for entry. That's not the only question that came up today, however. Others arose while I was riding my bike home from work. Fall is the time of gnats. There is no way to avoid these tiny bugs. They ping nearly continuously against my face as I pedal home. It's really gross. My consolation is that by the end of the month they will all be dead, killed by a hard frost. But until then, the questions that I ponder are, do I keep my mouth shut tightly and inhale the gnats through my nose? Or, do I chomp away like Ms Pacman, wocka, wocka, wocka? Are you all going eeewww? Sorry. I was planning on finishing Swann's Way last night, I am this close. But I forgot it was the first night of Dancing with the Stars. This meant two hours of fun criticizing other people's ballroom dance skills instead of reading. It's always easier to find the faults in others' dancing than it is in my own. I worry about some of the women's costumes though, they either defy the laws of physics or they have industrial strength tape holding them in place. I am also behind on my RIP Challenge books. I'm reading The Monk and not very far along, though I am very much enjoying it. There has been a gypsy who gave a doom and gloom fortune to the pure and lovely Antonia. A monk in training who is not as he appears. And Ambrosio the Abbot of much renown, 30 years-old and never been tempted. He didn't last long when the fair Mathilda came on the scene. He had sex with her on her deathbed. There are too many inappropriate things to say about that so I'll just leave it and let you all work them out for yourselves.