I write this as I sit in my local Starbucks drinking my double shot white mocha latte and listening to the conversation the couple beside me is having. He doesn't want to go to dinner with her parents, she is threatening to take sex away for a week.

Must be nice to have someone.

My thoughts turn to the year ahead. October is upon us and autumn is here in full. Leaves gently fall to the ground outside the slightly condensation soaked window, their orange color drifting gently down to the sidewalk where they are trampled by those unaware of what a short life these poor leaves have lived.

These leaves somehow represent me in a poetic way that I can't even begin to grasp. How did I let autumn sneak up on me so quickly? The year has flown by and I have been nothing but a passenger in this wild goose chase. What accomplishments can I even begin to hope to achieve before December 31st rolls around and I am stuck starting all over once again.

The couple beside me has left, their empty coffee cups left discarded on the sticky metallic table. I feel as empty and sticky with resentment as those forgotten pieces of paper and cardboard.

My time has come as well to leave the crowded Starbucks. The noise and heat has become too much for my yearning soul. I pack up my laptop and head outside where I parked my bicycle.

I ride home, my thoughts wandering to how I can change my autumnal outlook. There could be hope for me yet, but what is a person to do without the hindsight that they have created?

Arriving home my cat greets me, his solemn meow a reminder that I haven't fed him. He stands, his stomach as empty as my heart and yet so full of yearning at the same time. My laptop calls for me; I open the lid, its screen coming to life, illuminating my dimly lit dining room. What shall I do to possibly make up for the time I have lost?

An idea hits me. I type in the URL, open the page and begin to write these thoughts you now read.

"I will write for the Odyssey!"