My husband saw a game at Target that looked like fun, so he
bought it. He said it got good reviews and that it was #1 in Japan. Something
like 10,000 were sold in the first month or two. It’s called One Night Ultimate
Werewolf. He thought it would be something fun we could do as a family because
one day the kids will be too old to want to hang around us anymore. It’s sort
of a card game and a board game without the board. You download a free app for
an announcer to guide you which helps a great deal. I don’t really like board
games, but it was fun. The games are quick, like 5 minutes. My youngest son and
I got the werewolf cards in the first round. Everyone has to close their eyes
until the announcer tells you to open them. Everyone plays the role of the card
they get. The announcer says something like, “Werewolves, wake up! Open your
eyes and look for other werewolves.” My youngest son and I opened our eyes and
knew each other was a werewolf. He put his hand on his mouth to stop himself
from laughing. Everyone else had their eyes closed. I thought he was going to
give himself away, but he didn’t. The Troublemaker can switch your card with
another person’s card while your eyes are closed, so you don’t know if your
role has changed during the course of the game. The game was so fun that the
kids wanted to buy the Vampire version and the Daybreak Werewolf version. You
can combine the games and play with the werewolves and vampires together or
play the games separately. We just heard that the alien version is going to be
on Kickstarter in a few days. I was guessing there would be a zombie one first. We are looking forward to playing the game again this
weekend.
Our gardener fixed the leaking pipe in our yard and fixed
all the other sprinklers while he was at it. Yay! Apparently, a huge root from a
nearby tree grew under the lawn and broke the pipe. He cut it with a shovel and
tore it out. It was about a yard long and 2” thick. Almost immediately after
that, our dog started acting strangely. She came out of her crate and started
panting and pacing. For three days she was acting as if she was afraid of
something. She tried to hide and went in and out of the house. She went into
our bedroom where she knows she is not allowed. I put the baby gate up which
usually stops her from crossing, but this time she knocked the gate down and
hid in our shower in the bathroom next to our bedroom. She has never done this
before. I couldn’t get her out of the shower. I tried scolding, threatening,
and sprinkling water on her. She wouldn’t budge, so I left her there. Our
bedroom door was closed, so she couldn’t get into it. She wouldn’t even go back
to her crate or to her bed which make her feel safe.
At first, I thought the root released some sort of tree
spirit. I did a thorough blessing of the house, my car, the front yard, and the
back yard. I didn’t really feel a difference, though. Then I heard about the
earthquakes in Italy, so I thought the dog was feeling some sort of EMF from
the Earth due to the earthquakes. She seems to calm down in the evening and
nighttime. Maybe something geological or astronomical is blocking the energy or
EMF from reaching us at that time. In the daytime she really freaks out. After
the aftershock on Wednesday, she calmed down a lot, but that was closer to the
evening on our time.
I texted my friends to see if their pets had been acting
strangely, but they were all fine. Only my son’s friend’s dog was panting and
shaking on Wednesday. His dog also went back to normal after the aftershock,
just like our dog. I read that there have been major earthquakes not only in
Italy, but Japan, Indonesia, and Myanmar almost every day since August 19. I’ll
have to monitor my dog and the earthquakes to see if there is a correlation. My
youngest son said he saw a red creature in the doorway to the hall after I
blessed the house. I think it was his imagination, but I lit some sandalwood
incense just in case. Five minutes after I lit it, the dog came out of the
shower after being there for almost 2 hours. Odd.
Last weekend my aunt’s ashes were placed in a mausoleum.
During the prayer, a hummingbird flew into the glass window over the altar and
knocked itself out. It happened right when the reverend said my aunt’s name.
Almost everyone saw it, except me (of course), my mom, and my youngest son. My
husband said it was loud, but I didn’t hear it. I was concentrating on the
prayer. My cousin was freaked out. She was clutching my husband’s elbow saying,
“Did you see that? What was that? What does it mean?” Everyone thought it was
dead, but it disappeared, so it must’ve gotten up and flown away. My other
cousin’s girlfriend walked in late and said she felt wind by her legs, so it
must’ve flown by her legs. I wasn’t afraid at all. My other aunt just giggled
and said, “That was my sister.”
I turned on the sprinklers yesterday and discovered that the
sprinkler heads that the gardener fixed were starting to act like they did
before. One was weak and another one shot straight up in the air. They were
fine on Monday when they were fixed. *Sigh* I’ll just have to deal with them
when the gardener comes back. For now, though, I’m celebrating the other
sprinkler heads that are working.
I’m also celebrating my progress on building a web
portfolio. I have my query letter and dummy ready to send out to agents, but
they want to see a link to a portfolio which I didn’t have. Jumping through hoops...
It’s not quite done, but it’s getting there. Not bad.
My cousins in Arkansas drove an hour to see my sketchbook on
The Sketchbook Project Tour. That was so nice of them! I’m pretty sure they are
the only family members that went to see my sketchbook out of my 100+ family
members. I love them!
I’m reading El Deafo which has renewed my desire to create
comics. (My desire to create comics waned in the past few weeks because I've been stressed out about the crimes in my neighborhood. There were two more this week.) I wrote down a few good ideas I got this week. I just have to do it.
Good or bad, I just have to get it done and let the chips fall where they may. The flame is being lit again. It also helps that I'm listening to the TCJ Talkies podcast where comics creators talk about their craft.
What are you celebrating?
Check out the blogs below for your reading pleasure and please visit our hosts' blogs:
Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/
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