A small shipment arrived today: a bottle of well-aged Guyana rum and six cans of Sofia Coppola blanc des blancs faux-champagne--- little magenta cans with a straw attached. Something usually found backstage at Fashion Week, Miss Ginny tells me. We'll just have to chill them and wait for the weekend. The Demerara rum...may have to be opened a bit sooner.

Ms. Chang is on her way to Princeton this evening--- shopping for a graduate department. Princeton, Duke, Stanford, USC. Princeton for the prestige, Stanford for the climate and the locale. I do have to envy her--- she's doing Russian Lit, and she's thrilled with what she wants to study. And of course I'm thrilled for her. Ms. Chang is more than just an L-Girl from my Past--- she's bright and intense and focused. I'm looking forward to calling her Dr. Chang one day soon.

Ms. Chang did write me last night to say I'm going to have to think about this...but crisp, long-sleeved buttondown shirts are a definite must for you. A nice tan blazer would be a good look, too...just not too heavy of a fabric. Tweed is good sometimes, but I would balance it out with a light-blue shirt. As for trousers, I really do have to think about that because fabric matters... I do trust her fashion judgment. And now I must get Miss Ginny to give me her sense of how I should dress...

More Pico Iyer... I think that may be key...

There was a GoodReads comment sent me last night that may have been from Lissy at emigree. I was too afraid to open it then, and now it's lost. GoodReads doesn't bank all comments in one place. So...I may never know which of my own reviews or comments she was replying to. More's the pity. I really do trust Lissy about books and ideas.

I do need to talk about books and ideas. I need that more than I can say. Voices on the aether talking about books, about ideas--- I do miss that.

So--- Guyana rum on an autumn night... There may be something to be said for that.