I highly recommend “American Splendor,” which I saw last night. I was thinking of writing about the parallels between Harvey Pekar’s comic book and the world of blogging, and yet now I see that Harvey Pekar has a blog.

This has been the most social weekend I’ve had in a while — hanging out with friends, making new ones, meeting new people. It’s been a welcome change. And all against a background of invigorating fall weather.

Friday evening after work, before meeting my friends at NYU for the movie, I sat at Au Bon Pain on Fifth Avenue near Union Square, eating a bowl of delicious pumpkin soup near the front window, doing the difficult Friday New York Times crossword puzzle (and completing it!), watching the world walk by. Everyone in their fall jackets, either heading home from work or heading off for their Friday night plans. The beginning of the weekend. There is nothing so optimistic as a fall Friday night with plans.

I’m finally getting used to the fact that it’s October. Part of my brain still thinks it’s August; I have no idea what happened to September. But suddenly it’s chilly, and it’s getting dark earlier than it used to. I like it. It was strange to put on a jacket last week for the first time in months, but then I remembered that my fall jacket makes me feel good.

October is one of my favorite months; the weather is cool enough to give everyone a burst of energy but not so cold that it drains that energy away. Autumn is when everything is new. The arts come back in full force, the Oscar-worthy movies start to appear, new people move to the city, new activities begin. The *click* of the year’s calendar turning that final corner.

I left Au Bon Pain and walked down to NYU, happy with the weather and happy with weekend plans. (Within a matter of hours that day, I’d gone from having no weekend plans to having three different social engagements.) And then, while walking, I ran into a college friend of mine and his girlfriend. We chatted for a while. Then, when I got to the movie, there were more friends than I’d expected.

And then yesterday I got to hang out with two different good guys, I ran into a third, and early in the afternoon I even got a long-needed haircut. I was freshly shorn, I was happy with the way I looked and felt, and I was With Plans.

“Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff,” as Harvey Pekar says. A nice weekend is one of the many things in life worth appreciating.