I took a long weekend away from the biggest part of the grind; didn’t go much anywhere (except for a little shopping and into the city for a few hours with the eldest for dance class), and spent the time getting some chores done, reading some books, and playing some games. I almost feel rejuvinated, which was pretty much the goal to begin with.

Nothing significant, but a few random bits to report:

While I don’t with to jinx weather patterns or the chemical makeup of my soil, I will say that I’m actually becoming sort of optimistic about the greening of my dirt pile yard this season.

Our “wee folk” party (two gnomes, a halfling, and a dwarf) spent a while delving into the early chambers of Shadowfell Keep on Saturday. While our characters were largely successful (we’re eerily optimized, at least at low levels), I don’t feel that anybody’s particularly invested in their characters this time. I expect we’ll finish the module, but I see us letting this batch of adventurers go for a while afterward.

This is okay, because my lovely, nerdy wife has decided that she’s starting preparations for DMing an Eberron-based campaign. She’s just entered that stage that most of us RPG nerds hit in our early teens and immediately recognize: constantly poring over books, world-building and rolling up reams of characters just because. It’s strangely arousing.

During my deep cleaning of the fish tank, I discovered that one of my pomacea bridgesii has vanished. Completely. I once had one escape the tank and live a couple of days in my drain bucket, but there’s no evidence there or anywhere else this time. I’m tempted to blame the shrimp and the tiny (the snails, not the population) pond snail population, but I’ll never know. It’s a mystery.

Twice in the last week I’ve started watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but each time, have found myself having to stop it right before the final act kicks in due to outside circumstances. Or perhaps there’s some other reason, who knows. Anyway, the Blu-Ray package with the IMAX scenes wedged in is impressive, even if the story isn’t, but then, that’s Michael Bay.

I really wish I could put diapers behind us.

Also on the film docket this week were shining examples of high and low culture – The award-winning The Reader was very good and engaging (and not quite what I was expecting), as was Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, a direct-to-disc prequel to the Kate Beckinsale-in-tight-leather vampires vs werewolves series, which actually managed to be better than both other theatrical entries in the series. It’s a by-the-numbers “slave revolt where the resistance leader is in love with the slavemaster’s daughter” plot, but makes this work largely due to the work of Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy, who are leads rather than supporting parts this time. Skilled actors are a definite advantage over eye candy (though sometimes, as in The Reader, you can have both).

Here’shoping the last week of October (can I say “wow”?) is exactly the kind of week we need.