HDWGH – Story 29 – Remote Dud

From The How Did We Get Here Series

Now: Brian Kirby did not expect this! He pressed the detonator and should have heard a very loud boom. Instead, he was surrounded by a bunch of flashing red and blue lights and a big (some might say) oversized police officer yelling at him to raise his hands. This was certainly not the way he thought this day would go.

Before: Rachel Phillips loved her boyfriend. She loved him in spite of the fact that he never really talked about his “job.” He would always come home talking with such vagueness, that some of his tales could be applied equally across donut shop owner, car mechanic, and opera singer. Tonight, he had finally opened up to her about what he did for a living. Not only was she horrified to find out that Brian was a well known and well paid hitman but that his next target was a friend of Rachel’s from college. She worked really hard to hide to horror she was feeling.

She had to do something. Under the guise of walking her dog, she left her tiny Brooklyn apartment and headed down India Street. This explained everything to her. The apartment over looking the East River waterfront in a new development seemed way too much for someone Brian’s age to afford. She called the police and told them everything she knew including how he had planned to kill Rachel’s friend.

Rachel kissed Brian goodbye that evening and sat on her bed. She would just sit here until the call came in from the police.

Then, she would pack up her belongings and leave. Well, she continued thinking about her situation, it was the beginning of the month and this apartment cost over $5000 a month. Perhaps, she would leave at the end of the month. Fuck Brian. Fuck Brian in his hitman who wants to kill my college friend’s face.

Great Idea

I have been pondering writing a screenplay. I’ve been working on a crapload of short stories because I love writing them. Every once in a while as a writer, you come up with a story that would probably make a good movie.

I think I have that story.

I am currently finishing up the last chapter and rather than wrapping the whole thing up into a nice bow, I’m going to leave it hanging.

To be continued…

That sort of thing.

Vacation Ends

This was one of the few vacations that I’ve taken where I had a very clear agenda about what I was going to accomplish.

I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten most of the things done that I’ve wanted to.

I completed a few courses so I feel good about that.

There is still a lot to do as far as organization but I am off to a solid start.

I’ve never worked so hard on setting up the next vacations that I have. The next time I am off will be in July and by then, the pool will be in full swing but I’ll get to spend the entire time outside enjoying all of the things I’ve set up.

I hope everything will be worth it. I’ve spent a tad more than $20 dollars for an inflatable pool which is how thing whole thing got started.

If I were drinking, I’d hold up a glass and raise a toast to a week that I hope won’t suck too badly.

A Good Life Lesson

This is going to sound painfully obvious. It is very obvious but I fell into this trap at home. I was watching a productivity video and it flipped on the light bulb for me.

Would you like to know what it was?

Well, I’ll tell you anyway.

Certain things belong in certain spaces. I did an audit of my office and wow, just wow!

You would not believe the amount of crap I moved out of the office so it could be placed where it actually “should” be.

Coffee products = kitchen.

Bedroom products = bedroom.

Basement things = basement.

I had a lot of things in places where they shouldn’t have been.

My office looks better as a result.

Note: The picture is not my office. It comes from here.

HDWGH – Story 28 – Just Wading Around

From The How Did We Get Here Series

Now: The Perkins family stood outside of their house as water flowed out of the front door and into the street in front of their house. The house sat in the middle of a cul de sac so, all of the neighbors had a front row seat to the birth of the “Perkins River” as it would come to be known in the late edition of the local newspaper.

Before: Todd Perkins and his little brother Tony knew better than to throw the football in the house. Over the years, they had broken their fair share of living room furniture including a vase that their grandmother had passed down through the generations. They had just finished watching their famous team play and felt like tossing the football around. It was raining outside so tossing the ball around in the house had been the only option for them as they saw it. There was another stupid option to “not” through the ball in the house but the boys didn’t much care for that option.

Tony threw Todd a pass that quite frankly was a little too wobbly. Todd still made the attempt to catch it but it got by him and sailed into there kitchen. He heard it bounce of something and land in the middle of the floor. At this point, the boys felt like they had pushed their luck and decided to stop throwing the ball inside the house.

It was about 2:00 am when the kitchen sink facet had decided to come loose after being jarred earlier by the football. There was a sound of metal hitting the tile floor and then the water began gushing out onto the floor. No one heard the water. It wasn’t until momma Perkins made her way downstairs in the morning that the full effect could be appreciated. There was screaming, some yelling, and momma Perkins may have peed herself a little.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard

I just got around to watching this movie. I love both of the main characters.

If you want a nice explosion, guns, action filled type of movie then you’ll love this one.

I thought Selma Hayek’s character was a hoot and so much of what we don’t usually see her doing. She did channel the stereotypical Latina anger issue thing which I thought was hilarious. She was just so angry. All of the time.

Samuel L. Jackson always is great to watch.

I’m not going to talk about plot but if you are looking for a movie that just transports you somewhere else for about an hour and a half, this movie will fill the bill.

The Mystery of Dark Matter

Today’s random thought is about Dark Matter.

As I was sitting here at my desk thinking about all of the things that we are so close to achieving as far as space exploration, I had a wandering thought.

Actually, it was more like a question.

Why do we waste so much time trying to understand something that we made up to explain something that really doesn’t need explaining?

There is air. There is space.

Can we move it along, please?

There are infinitely many more things out there that need to be analyzed, probed, and then probed again.

We are wasting so much precious time on something that may or may not exist. Some people will devote their whole lives to this and to me, that is such a waste. A waste of someone’s life.

I personally believe that if it wasn’t for all of these “side projects” we would probably already have a colony on the moon and also on Mars.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if all of the scientists were focused on achieving one goal. The could all have their roles to play but what if they were all driven towards a common goal?

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Revisions versus Writing

I am a first draft kind of guy. I can sit here all day long and pound out original material like nobody’s business.

When it comes to revisions, I hate it.

I’m doing it now. I have to go back over the last few stories I’ve written and complete the first revision. I have some beta readers who are willing to read my stories and give me feedback.

I plan on giving these stories to an editor when I think I’m ready to publish them.

Self publishing is something new I am trying but I don’t think you can or should publish anything without an editor looking at it.

My grammar can be awful sometimes. Anyone who reads this blog should know that by now.

That is all I have. Nothing Earth shattering. Just a post about how much I hate editing myself.