I’m in the cafe at Barnes and Noble, where I just bought the new issue of Charlie Hebdo. I wish that it didn’t feel so commercially crass to have bought this now.

I’m warming up after the fireworks display at the Lake Superior Ice Project.
I snagged some gyros from Kosta’s Gyros, before I realized that the carload of munchkins I was meeting there was not able to get in — the lot filled quickly behind me, and they were not allowed in. So my companion and I left the lot to join them at the Bong Center and watched the fireworks from our idling car with their two beautiful young girls watching the night sky light up. So much fun.

It was a reward for the youngsters, for them, for selling Girl Scout Cookies at a Superior restaurant lobby for hours.

This was my reward, too, for watching friends play Arkham Horror. (I love hanging out with gamers, but I hate playing games.) The gaming community is strong in Duluth, and I am glad to be part of it (and the stores that support it: Collector’s Connection, Rogue Robot, and Dungeon’s End). I won’t be able to attend Berserkon (I will be away for part of the con), but I am hoping it’s a smashing success. Kickstarter here

I started the day at a scavenger hunt being arranged for someone’s big day. The hunt included stops at Collector’s Connection (for Magic-related scavenging), the Lakewalk (for Pokemon-related scavenging), Enger Tower (for Disney-Princess-related scavenging), Adventure Zone (for Anime-related scavenging), Oriental House (for Supernatural-related scavenging) — all the highlights of the nerd lives of these friends of mine. I hope it ended well and fun — with a “Yes!”

The night before, I went to the Tower Avenue Tavern in Superior. There, I heard Marc Gartman’s Fever Dream and Songs of a Shipwreck. It was a good show, good enough — the venue was relaxed, the drinks were cheap. Gartman played Axel F, and my companion walked up to him while playing to win his Trivia Contest, but of course the musician was lost in the music. When it was over, she was too shy to yell her answer. Ah, well, introverts, unite.

Before that: Shakespeare in Death at UMD. I loved and hated this presentation by visiting students/artists from Lyon. I loved the concept — a play playing with the multiple, very famous death scenes in Shakespeare, making a new, modern tale on mortality. And the staging was such that the deaths were instantly recognizable despite the fact that the performance was almost entirely in French, a language I do not speak. 45 minutes of a language I do not speak was tough. And there were two moments when the staging of things-I-did-not-understand looked a lot like rape scenes, including one gang rape. I needed more help understanding or at least preparing myself for what I was watching.

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Sunday is Helix Day. Celebrate?