September was one of the bigger collecting months for me. The Baltimore Comic-Con took place and I also had the Friends of the Library Sale. After I finally unpacked and sorted everything, I did another recount and updated the spreadsheet. But first, here are September’s numbers.

Physical Comics Read: 12
Digital Comics Read: 0
Books Read: 4
Trades/Graphic Novels Read: 1
Movies Watched: 4
TV Shows Watched: 1
TV Seasons Watched: 1
Podcast Episodes to Listen to: 70

And after the update here are my new totals:

Physical Comics to Read: 229
Digital Comics to Read: 435
Trades/Graphic Novels to Read: 21
Books to Read: 113
Movies to Watch: 187
TV Shows to Watch: 59
TV Seasons to Watch: 96
Podcast Episodes to Listen to: 70

I’ve been thinking about habits.

Okay, that’s not exactly weird. I always do that. When work gets crazy, they creep back in. And I feel like I have to reset … yet again. And now we’re in fall, a season I love, but that I always feel like I miss because work’s so insane that I only see it in my windshield on the way to work. Now I love my job but I hate how “work” just runs your life. Again, not exactly the most original thought. I guess that I’m just frustrated with the exhaustion that comes from the sheer volume of things I need to do each week.

And now I’m flush with comics and other stuff. I keep telling myself I’ll be deliberate, not just disassociating on the couch each night in front of Reddit or something. I keep telling myself I’ll be consistent. Then the door shuts and the habit takes over. My wife had a great point the other day when we were talking about the way we respond in conversations or react to things: basically, we act the way we don’t want to because we’ve been doing it for so long it’s comfortable. In some way, it makes us subconsciously feel better. I can see how bad eating habits or spending habits work the same way. Avoiding a snack or reaching for something that’s not a cookie takes more thought and effort than going for the cookie. Standing in front of the store shelves and doing the math in your head of “Do I need this/can I afford this” is more work than acting on the same impulses.

Thinking about the things from this month that are among the “best,” and it’s tough because of how crazy everything was. Like I said, the Baltimore Comic-Con was in September and it was the obvious highlight of the month. You’ll hear about it on the next Pop Culture Affidavit. Here’s a couple that sprung to mind.

Untold: Mr T. — I Pity the Fool. Netflix’s Untold documentary series is a great one and this latest one about Mr. T and his fame during the 1980s was not just a great piece of nostalgia but a look into his early life and how he got started (on some weird NBC talent/competition show about bar bouncers … back in the day when the network would try just about anything). I was a little disappointed at how quickly it went from the Eighties to the present (okay, I was just bummed that there was no mention of the syndicated show T and T), but it was well done.

And that’s pretty much it. Hopefully, I’ll have more to say in October.