Meteorological autumn is upon us! Not that you would know that from the weather today, but it does tend to take at least a couple weeks for the weather to start cooling down (or, conversely, warm up in the spring and summer). Of course, in about a month it might be more autumnal and significantly less summery. In any event, I’m looking forward (as I have been since probably March) for the weather to cool down again. Fall and winter are, by far, my favorite seasons, because I’m not a fan of being outside, I don’t like warm weather, and there are significantly fewer annoying insects in the dead of winter than there are in the “dog days” of summer.

Weather discussion aside, it seems like I usually feel a desire to start some kind of new project as a month ends and a new one begins. Today I’ve thought it was interesting that I haven’t really been thinking about anything along those lines recently, though I suspect there may be a few potential causes (existing projects, being busy with classes and work, spending time with “F”) for recent preoccupation.

As far as existing projects go, there are certainly options if I feel like working on one for a time. A few months back I made a list of potential ideas that I wanted to include in a story at some point, and I’ve been thinking recently about using those in a setting inspired by the Mediterranean Sea or Eastern Europe (vaguely, somewhere between eastern Germany and the Ural Mountains), as opposed to the “traditional” fantasy setting based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth (and possibly Dungeons and Dragons, in some form), which is very similar to England or France during the High Middle Ages, somewhere between 1100 and 1400. Maybe I’ve played too much Crusader Kings, but I think a fantasy setting inspired by the Early Middle Ages (somewhere between about 500 and 1000, give or take a century) would be interesting, and as I said something based on Eastern Europe and/or the Mediterranean would be interesting. I’ve thought something in an area similar to Ukraine would be interesting, and allow opportunities for interaction between one or more analogues for the Eastern Roman Empire, Slavic and/or Finno-Ugric peoples, and maybe some steppe nomads, which would be a neat (albeit possibly messy) way to combine Mediterranean and Eastern European inspiration.

Last Friday after my business law class I walked the short distance to the campus library to wait for F. I sat on a couch and was reading something on my phone when I heard a girl say “Excuse me?” a couple times. When I looked up, she added “Are you any good at math?”

I was somewhat startled, and am not confident about my math ability (since it’s always been my weakest subject, or so I feel), so I said something about how I probably wouldn’t be much help, and said “Sorry.” Once I had said that I immediately felt guilty, and (after realizing what a young woman asking me to help her with math could mean) considered going over to see if I could help after all, but I decided changing my mind and offering to help 20 minutes after she had asked me seemed kind of awkward. When I briefly looked at her to make my excuses about not being able to help I saw she had long brown hair, wore glasses, and seemed somewhat tall, which are (to her credit) all things I find attractive.

This might not be the best transition, but I know I’ve read before that people tend to find people similar to themselves most attractive. As a brown-haired young man of about 5 feet 11 inches in height, this is probably some part of why I have a history of thinking tall brunettes are pretty. I know I’ve also heard and read about people being attracted to people that look like their parents, and since my mother is 5’8″ and brunette, that probably also doesn’t “help” my case.

I’m suddenly reminded of what I’ve heard about families having a “look”, like my paternal grandfather’s family being tall, my paternal grandmother’s family being short, what little I’ve heard about my great-great grandmothers (I think I’ve heard that at least two of them were relatively tall), and so on. I’m convinced, for example, that my brother and father look more like my paternal ancestry (at least, if you compare their baby pictures), while I apparently look more like my mom’s family (or at least her brother and possibly her father’s brothers).

That line of thought reminds me that I should probably call and talk to my parents and grandparents, but 11 PM is a bit late for tonight. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday.