Mortaine’s Blog

We took the dog to the park again today. Sunday afternoon, around 4:00 PM. The park was completely empty– no one was there at all. The soccer fields next door were full of little kids playing pee wee soccer, but the doggie areas were a total void. It was weird.

Anyway, about 10 minutes into our visit, another dog showed up. I think Hammer does better when there’s one or two other dogs there– not a whole pack. He interacts better, and today he even got to trotting a couple of times, at first traipsing after the other dog (trying to catch his tail for sniffing purposes), and then when we called him to come over to us. We’re trying to build up some strength in his legs and body by taking him to the park more regularly and encouraging him to trot a bit. He’s still limping quite a bit, especially on the gravel of the dog park. He seems to have no problem running down the hill behind our house, however, so I suspect it’s a “hard gravel ouchy” thing that he will probably get used to if we keep taking him there and toughen up his pads a little bit.

After we got home, I realized I had left my purse (with wallet, Palm Pilot, and digital camera) at the park, so I rushed back there to pick it up. I wasn’t too worried, but I must admit I was a bit concerned because I try very hard not to forget my purse. If I don’t stay in the habit of making sure it’s with me at all times, then I will definitely lose it– I’m just not organized enough to not lose it.

Before we left, of course, I did head over to the gaming shop. Fairly typical: too many wargaming toys and stupid MTG card games, not enough RPGs (or not enough of the ones I play, anyway). Why is it that the game shops only carry 3 or 4 modules, and about 15 game supplement books? I don’t get it– DMs spend way more money on game books and materials than players. I think the game stores are catering to the “character leveling” player– the kids who have been really ruined by Everquest and who don’t know a good role-playing session if it hits them in the noggin.

I bought some dice. I’ve lost or misplaced or loaned out my black d20, my white d10, and a few other important dice. They’re important in the sense that I need to be able to make a set of dice for a forgetful player in a minute’s time, and I try to color-match them when I can. I also bought more orange and yellow dice, because my collection of those was somewhat low. And a full set of kind of raspberry-colored glittery ones. I won’t mention how much I spent on the dice, but it was, as usual, way too much. I should just wait for a gaming con and to the “dice bin” where you pay a flat price for as many dice as you can fit into a certain sized bag.

Oh, yes. And as usual, going into the gaming store was weird. The sudden and unexpected introduction of that much estrogen into the shop could have sent some of the boys in there into shock, you know. But I tried not to be too conspicuous. Just rummaged through the dice, paid for them, browsed the sparse RPG book selection, and departed, my purse rattling with new plastic dice. Honest, I wasn’t trying to scare anyone!

Oh, and to my great amusement, someone sent a “why aren’t I subscribed” message to a listserve that I used to maintain but quit over professional differences. The organization even offered to pay me last week if I would do a one-time update of the listserve. *chuckle* I turned them down– not only am I too busy to do that, but I think I’m still to pissed at them to want to care. Before I stopped helping them, I turned off the list moderation, because they didn’t have anyone to approve messages (and, mind you, they asked me to turn it off). So, what they get is pretty much their own fault.

Naturally, one of the winners subscribed to the listserve responded–to the listserve– with a question about why he had received the message from the person trying to get back onto it. I doubt he will receive a response, however, since anyone with half a brain is gone, and there’s almost nobody technical left at all.

Bleah. What a negative thought to go to bed with. Ick. Anyway, I’m off to sleep, hopefully to get rid of this headache, too!