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I haven't written in my novel in almost a week now, and spare my readership the guilt I feel about that, in the interest of writing something, I'm throwing together this post. List posts are the easiest kinds for being rusty and getting back into it. Random thought collections are the second. So here's one of those.

I realized about three weeks ago that for the first time in my life I don't have the end-of-summer blues. I've in fact been looking forward to fall because it will get cooler, and because the swing seasons don't have stagnant thus horrible weather like the stagnant-thus-horrible seasons. And since I've got nothing going on that's ending now--summer break sex marathons which yes always happened--and nothing sucky that's beginning, I'm very pleased about having to wear sweatshirts to work. This fall excitement has exacerbated my happiness regarding the return of NFL season. I've completely made peace with Jason Campbell going to Oakland. I mean, I still think he's a natural born leader and potential hero, and I hope he brings the Raiders to the Super Bowl and goes home with his first ring, but Donovan McNabb is and always has been--though I was blind to it at first--a great addition to the team. Apparently Portis is afraid of Shanahan so is playing better, and Haynesworth will probably get traded. I'm not saying we're going to be good, but we might. Also I realized in typing that sentence that being a Redskins fan is like being a Palestinian. It will be many years before we get a home,--if we ever get one--but we'll still establish religious organizations that reject the existence of every other team that's better than us.

I've been trying to figure out which Magnetic Fields songs from 69 Love Songs are based on Stephen Merritt's reality. I think love is a fairly easy emotion to approximate, and well, by which I mean I think people can be insightful about it without actually having to go about the mess of experiencing it. I don't know why exactly, but I think its a testament to love's goodness rather than anything bad. So songs like "Book of Love" are more specific than maybe the average pop song ever gets, but there's nothing about it that strikes me as observed rather than merely intuitive. The one example of something that seems, if not true to Stephen's love life, at least true to Stephen, is "Grand Canyon." It definitely approximates a condition I will almost definitely never experience as a straight man, but I think a lot of what I'm ascribing to its legitimacy is in the vocal.

Drew Brees is one of the most athletic men in the United States. This is a fact, but it blows my mind when I see him throw a well aimed football 70 yards down a football field. Also if film and music critics were as good as sportscasters I would have Pitchfork stickers on my binder. And a graying Brett Favre has grown into the epitome of the fall season the way Charlie Manuel epitomizes the late-night American Oliver Stone terror and glory of Major League Baseball. As for who epitomizes football, I can't decide. I'm afraid there might not be anyone.

Who wants to go see The Town with me whenever it comes out?