October is hands down the prettiest month in the Mountains. It's also filled to the brim with tourists. They're great for our economy, but there a pain in the ass sometimes. Forget getting a table at any restaurant for the entire month of October. My mom and I went out to eat Friday night and we had to wait almost an hour for a table. Also these people have no idea how to drive. I will admit the Asheville is confusing as shit to try to drive in, but add in some lost Floridian in a massive SUV and it driving in Asheville becomes downright dangerous. I've seen people cut across four lanes of traffic to try to get to an exit. It almost becomes a game for me to try to guess what kind of crazy moves some lost tourist will pull when driving down I-240. Thank the FSM for them though because they keep our economy afloat.

Back to October though, I think it's the most interesting month to be in the mountains. Aside from the fall colors, it just amazing that in the span of a month there can be so much change. In the beginning of Oct the trees have usually not began to turn, they're still mostly green and full. Temperatures can still be rather summer-like. By mid-October usually the leaves have changes and the skyline is ablaze with the yellows, oranges, and reds of fall. Sweaters and hoodies come out and in the air there is that smoky smell of fires being lit in stoves. Then usually by the end of October all the leaves have fallen, the skyline is brown, and the trees stand like skeletons, jutting their bare branches into the sky. It's even been known to flurry on Halloween. There is no other month where you can witness so much change. April comes close, but is now way a spectacular

This year the leaves seem to be a bit early. It's the beginning of the second week a majority of them have started to change. It should be a pretty leaf season this year though. Last year it came real late. The leaves didn't start changing till almost the last week of October. Maybe they're making up for it this year.





Lastly I'm now addicted to something more powerful than heroin, and that is Guitar Hero. A bar downtown has the game, and I can't keep away. I'm even considering buying a PS2 just so I can play the game in the privacy of my own home. I know I must resist, but it's grip is too powerful. I feel my life spiraling out of control, soon I'll be neglecting my friends, work, and other important things like SG just to play GH. Someday you'll pass me on the street, a ghostly shell of the man I used to be, fingering the air wildly, with a half crazed look in my eye, and a prominent facial twitch, and you'll say to yourself as you hurriedly rush by, "If only we could have kept him away from the Guitar Hero. Curse that blasted game!" Save yourself before it's too late. Know the dangers of Guitar Hero.