"When autumn comes, it doesn't ask..."

"...it just walks in, where it left you last."

My summer of travel and non-productivity is over. Fall is here, and I'm loving it. The weather's starting to get crisp, and football season has begun. Oh, and I have a job, which is nice. Yeah, I'm just waiting tables for now, and today was my first real day, but hey, it's something to do while I figure everything else out.

Speaking of Fall, I've been in a "Heavier Things" type of mood the last several days, and not in a bad way. For those of you who aren't used to how big of a Mayer fan I am (and I'm sure there aren't any of you who fit this description), "Heavier Things" is his second major album, which was released in the Fall of 2003. I think the whole reasoning is because its release coincided with the start of my freshman year of college, so I've been super-nostalgic about those days recently. I've been especially stuck on the songs "Home Life" and "Wheel", because they're truly significant to what I'm going through now, wandering around trying to figure out where I'm going to be in 6 months or a year or 5 years down the road.

Music like this has always taken me back to certain points in my life. Songs, like smells or pictures, have significant moments they're associated with that can pull on my heart and take me back in time. Listening to "Heavier Things" and walking in the crisp air takes me DIRECTLY back to Owen Hall at NC State. It takes me back to pledging Phi Tau, and to dragging out of bed to make noon football games. It takes me back to walking to Fountain with any random people in the dorm, or ordering Pokey Sticks at stupid hours of the night. When I listen to it, I think about visiting friends at Chapel Hill, and my first trip to Auburn. It also takes me back to the feel of going to CLASS, and how now that I'm done with all of that, I actually miss it.

Yeah, Fall is here, and I the "good ol' days" are fresh in my mind, and sure to bring a smile to my face whenever I think of them. Like the start of any new season, I'm ready for the change it will bring, and whatever else lies ahead in the coming months.

DS