Today was cold, it was oftentimes overcast, and I was kind of depressed. So I went shopping.

To give you an idea of how deep my melancholy was, I went to Target to buy my first vacuum cleaner that cost more than $30. It is a miracle, and I almost want to cry. Target was packed with people — the crisp fall day perhaps making people shop as they winterize cabins and prepare to hunker?

I stopped at Collector’s Connection, which I discovered will move in a few weeks, just down the way in the same shopping complex. Is it evil to hope that they hold a “please don’t make us move this crap” clearance sale soon?

The Mall was packed, too. We visited the Halloween shop in the mall lot, in a big tent. Clever stuff, all priced high but then discounted.  I guess that’s the way. I l0ved the animatronic display — worth a look to see what creepy means in the 21st century. Five guys (our first trip there in a long time) for lunch, a walk through the Mall to Hot Topic (where I look always for new Dr. Who merchandise — can’t wait for the 50th anniversary, at the Zinema). Later in the mall, we ran into one of my favorite wildlife volunteers and local musicians.

Cafe tables at B&N were hotly contested. But I managed to snag one and relaxed with a salted caramel mocha.

I went to the fundraiser put on by my friends at Wildwoods — the Raccoon Rummage at Central Hillside Community Center, Lake Ave & 4th St. I bought some Masters of the Universe mini-comics — reliving the simpler time of childhood. Also some amazing home-made goblets, and some tea pots that can be strip-mined for steampunk accessories. What was most awesome, to me, was three-fold. Number one, there was tons of cool stuff. And number two, the staff at Wildwoods (with whom I volunteer but I do no fundraising, so I knew nothing of this plan) set the price as “pay what you can” — which meant that the neighborhood could afford to use this fundraiser to buy what it needs, while I was still getting great deals on mini-comics. Nice to see a sale that serves Wildwoods and the neighborhood equally.

I stopped by the Essentia/SMDC/Whatever Center for Personal Fitness on the way home. For the first time, I used a treadmill and some kind of stair thing. My hip muscles are not used to working.

Part of me regrets a day spent almost entirely as a consumer. Maybe this blog post makes me a producer for ten minutes. But it’s late October — Ottertoberfest, even, is behind me, much less Lester Park and Chester Bowl fests. Cold is coming, and my heart is sinking.