It's that time of year again (La Rentrée! Back To School!), the one where I'm super excited about starting new projects, feeling optimistic about my capacity for success, renewal and transformation.

It is also the time of year when I have my seasonal malaise regarding living in the US, and want to move back to Paris. Real bad.

I've signed up for two classes -- a printmaking one and a writing one -- and I'm hoping to get recharged. I'm a little bit concerned about autumnal burnout, but I don't want to worry about something that hasn't happened yet. For now, I'm looking forward, curious about what might develop.

While I'm packing more and more activities into every new week, I'm also having to consider eliminating things from my plate. As you know, I have about ten different jobs going at once, only a few of which pay actual money, and it's getting to the point where the advantages are no longer outweighing the time I'm investing daily/weekly/monthly. I have an idea of which projects I want to abandon, but I have to figure out how best to approach things.

Last night, we took ourselves to the movies and saw Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life. It wasn't great, but there was enough about the film that I loved visually to make me forgive the abrupt ending. And of course with nothing but Gainsbourg on the soundtrack, you could just close your eyes and enjoy an hour or so in the dark. Before the screening, I had a very nice glass of wine at 'Ino. It was accompanied by some utterly unmemorable bruschette. How hard is it to take a piece of toast and make it good? Have I become such a jaded New Yorker that I can't appreciate bruschette unless it's got mind-blowing umami punch? Jesus.

I'm pretty sure I can get sub-par bruschette in Paris, too. I'm not naive.