of tornados and summer's end

somehow it's september. today nyc is under a "tornado watch" which allows me to avoid being social and instead stay inside nursing my post-teaching hangover.  something about the whole experience of facilitating a writing workshop. in brooklyn. on a saturday morning.  just leaves me tired.  NY1 is busy celebrating their 20th anniversary. I don't think I watched them much until 9/11.  Tuesday will be the 11th anniversary. shortly before 9/11, I was seriously considering leaving nyc for australia. and yet, here I remain.  still not sure why.  The fall semester in both my grad programs starts about now.  my over-priced textbook hasn't yet arrived and the online readings won't load so that's one class down.  the other one starts monday night.  and a 3rd - about mid-way through the semester.  meanwhile, re-working one of the four failed novels I've written in the past few years.  read something somewhere about research and fiction.  how sometimes it helps. how some writers think it's a bad idea. not sure how I feel about this having done both.  "write what you know" but look some stuff up while you're at it? I don't know how writers have the patience to deal with agents -  people who can't write themselves but have no problem telling me what/how to write? okay, sure. why not.  what's really on my mind today: summer's over. that seems impossible to me but there it is.  I spent most of July in Ireland with a group of students from NYU. maybe I'll write about it on here at some point. post some photos. maybe. next time (if there is a next time), I'll definitely go with less people.  something about a crowd of Americans - a crowd of any people - makes me seriously uncomfortable.  not to mention the reactions we got from the locals.  I did read a lot of good books this summer.  will probably post some reviews here at some point. Today I plan to avoid the phone, maybe watch a movie, and do some work.  maybe write another story about a boy name Fred. although I wrote one this morning about a girl named Florida. she seems to want to stick around so maybe I'll write about her instead.  meanwhile: the Tornado Cometh (or not).