October is not the cruelest month ...

Ever since my first year in Taipei, I have always relished the coming of October. The month's name is confusing and can be blamed in part on Roman vanity, specifically Augustus and Julius Caesar.

Taipei's climate is generally horrible. It's either sizzling hot or pissing down rain, or both. But October is always a welcome respite. It rarely rains, and the city cools down. Taipei's Octobers don't have the advantage of New England or Mississippi autumns, with the leaves changing colors and the sweet and sour smell of fermenting leaves, redolent of sex, along two-lane highways.

But Taipei has everything else plus some: the layers of clothes, angora sweaters, reddened cheeks and cashmere coats. Over this basin city, to the west, there now rises the tallest building in the world, where one can easily see Yangmingshan, the volcano to the north. It is there where many people go during chilly weather to languish in hot springs pools and stuff themselves afterwards with hot pot or steaming soups.

But enough about the weather. It's time to watch the last US predidential debate via streaming video, hooray!