So many choices! So options! So many decisions! This is why fall is my favorite season. In summer’s heat and humidity, things sort of slow down and we (and by “we” I actually mean “me”) get lazy and bored and boring. But once September’s here and October’s only a calendar-page-flip away, we get re-energized. And we do need energy, because after weeks of not having anything to do, we suddenly have too much to do. Of course, by “anything,” I mean things that are fun and I want to do versus things that are not fun and I don’t want to do — think eating chocolate chip cookies versus cleaning out closets. Anyway, fall weekends mean choosing. Do I go to the concert or the football game? Do I visit the arts and crafts show or watch the homecoming parade? Do I hang out at the street festival or go hunt for the perfect pumpkin? Of course, money, time and gas availability are factors, but it’s still fun to have choices.

Friday night, I had to decide whether to be part of the debate crowd in Oxford, Miss., or watch on TV  — and the uncertainty of whether the debate would go on or not didn’t help. Anyway, I dilly-dallied around until it was too late — which is my usual way of making a decision — and so traded the excitement of downtown Oxford for the comfort of an indoor screen. Naturally, in my typical contrary way, I immediately wished I had made the effort to go! Oh, well. Anyway, you can feel as if you were there by reading the blogs at http://www.djournal.com — the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal newspaper in Tupelo, Miss. I’m not sure who “won” the debate, but I am sure it seemed more of the same big talk, vague promises and it’s-not-my-fault excuses. Oh, yeah, and the classic I-predicted-this-years-ago-if-you-all-would-have-only-listened. The closer we get to November, the surer I am that I’m choosing to take a pencil with me to the polls. I’m just saying.