Scary

Inspirational song: Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)

My daughter and I walked into a home store that took over the space where our JC Penney used to be. It was the first time we made it there, and we were at most three steps inside the door when she said, "Oh, no, this was a dangerous idea." Spread out in front of us were several large, mostly black, sparkly displays of Halloween decorations. I'm amazed we made it out of there still financially solvent. Believe it or not, I only bought one autumn-themed fleece blanket. She got a skeleton dragon inflatable for the yard. We did not, however, purchase the one thing I was in search of, either there in At Home or Marshall's where we went next, which was a replacement ottoman for my living room. Nothing was just right.

Everything has felt slightly off today, especially since we learned some rather shocking news of the unexpected death of someone we all knew, but had been estranged from for several years. We are all still processing some incredibly complicated feelings, so I won't elaborate further, other than to say for me, the news is kind of floating like oil on top of water. It's there and I can see it, but I can't quite integrate it through my consciousness yet.

We had friends gather for games as we usually do on Wednesdays. Half of our crew didn't make it, for either being out of town or preparing to go away. So we played Wingspan and wrassled with an increasingly tired baby until it was bedtime, first for the little one and then for us. We called the game early. It is a long and complicated game, and this was the first time I was playing solo. I played competently, but I still came in last place. One of the group brought in the new dice he bought to go with the character he is creating, in order to join the campaign he had previously declined. He is making a character very much like the scary guy from Terminator 2, so his dice are chrome and digital and futuristic. They are awesome. I got new ones this week too, from a Kickstarter I backed a year and a half ago. These have sharp edges, big numbers, and a core of glitter-filled liquid that moves and reflects when you roll. Not quite as modern as our friend's, but much more appropriate to the kind of player I am.