All Hallows' Eve

It really didn't feel like Halloween yesterday, for some reason. I didn't wear my costume, because the weather said "no" and I wasn't feeling well - being the ultimate music geek, I was going to be a "pants role", but that will have to wait for Dylan and Stina's Halloween party. The sky was bright and very, very blue and the general aura of the day bespake some ordinary day rather than a day of spooks and witches and ancient legends.

It was classes all day, as well, so I was running around trying to get to every class on time. I didn't breathe until about three o'clock, when I took some time to grab a large dark roast at Coffee on the Corner. (You know you're a regular when the man at the counter grabs a large cup as soon as you come in and stands at the ready.) Sean, the man I went on that date with, was there. He had gotten me a birthday present a while back and hadn't had the chance to give it to me - so I got my coffee and visited his car with him, where I unwrapped said gift. It was a Jane Austen day planner for next year (very pretty, with prints and quotes from her books for every week), and a folding paper fan. I gave him a very large hug and went on my way with my new possessions in hand.

The day just didn't have that... feel to it. The chills running up and down your back at unexpected moments, that feeling that you're going to encounter a witch at any moment, that satisfied feeling you get watching the trick or treater's making their rounds. It just wasn't there.

We had rehearsal last night, and we had only gotten through warm-ups and one of my scenes when security called the building - there had been a shooting in town, and the authorities had not yet apprehended the shooter. Security was evacuating all of the academic buildings on campus and going into lockdown. There ensued much confusion about the whereabouts of the shooting, who was shot, when it happened, and why Mary Baldwin was affected by this.

Things are still a little weird around here - we have extra security now and guards posted at all the roads into campus. I somehow doubt the shooter will come to Mary Baldwin - it was a domestic shooting and two people were nonfatally injured - but I am glad for the extra security. And, not going to lie, I was so nervous about driving through Staunton that I took the highway instead of my usual backroad route.

On a slightly more frivolous note, today has felt much more Halloween-y than yesterday. And Chaucer class is getting steadily more interesting. We're reading "Troilus and Criseyde" now, which is slow-going but rewarding. The class has gotten in the habit of finding naughty words in Middle English and writing them on the board for Frank's benefit, and also the benefit of the next class to use that room.