CassieQ

Wow. This was beautiful and tragic and lovely and haunting and...wow. I love the way you write.

I'm 43 and would happily be put down for a nap, lol.

Alltopia, Sparkling water, Hiding in Plain Sight, Take me to Your leader, For Ever Young. I also knew who wrote Nox or Not? which was probably cheating, but I counted it anyway.

I made my own list, just for my eyes and guessed six correct, which was honestly more than I was expecting.

So far, so good. The Creep is here but leaving me alone and a patient brought in a 4 month old hairless cat that I got to hold while she exercised, so I'm pretty darn happy.

This lefty is pleased because The Creep isn't working today. I brought in the pepper spray my sister got me. The canister is bright pink and it looks like a toy, so hopefully I don't have to whip it out.

Thanks for everyone who made me feel less like a crazy lady.

For now, I want to keep an eye on the guy, to see if he's a moron instead of a creep. My boss isn't the greatest and the HR department is still new to me. I'm bringing my pepper spray with me though.

I did bring the lunch scenario up to one of my colleagues. She laughed at it, which is why I'm feeling uncertain about things

I might need an impartial take on something that is bothering me. I hope it's okay to ask here. We have this new guy at work. I haven't talked to him much, he's quiet and keeps to himself. Cool. The very first day, I'm in the break room and he's there. Trying to be friendly and welcoming, because the first day at a new job can be weird, I ask him how the morning was. He's all "fine". Trying to engage, I say "It can seem overwhelming at first" and get a very condescending "I've done this before. None of it is really new to me." Okie-dokie. We get employees with this kind of attitude sometimes. It's a little obnoxious but mostly harmless. So I fix my salad and sit down at the table to eat. Now granted, this room is not large, but this guy decides to stand next to me, not like in my space but kind of looming over me while doing whatever on his phone. Without speaking. It's a little awkward and uncomfortable but he's a tall guy and I'm an average sized woman who is sitting down. So maybe it's just me. But he just stands there, doing whatever on his phone and not talking for another few minutes before leaving. Then today he comes into the break room this morning while I'm putting my lunch in the fridge. I say "Hello." Nothing. Rude, but whatever. Then at lunch, I'm again in the break room and he is there, sitting at the table with his laptop, taking up more room than necessary. I silently make my salad and sit down across from him, which is the only convenient spot where I don't have to move someone else's stuff. He doesn't talk, I don't talk. I'm on my phone, then I see movement and look up, right into his phone. He had lifted it up past the top of his laptop with the camera pointing right at me. I have never seen someone holding a phone that way when NOT taking a picture. So maybe it was a selfie, but his face was blank and he kept it up for a couple minutes. I was extremely uncomfortable, to the point where I tried to move a little bit. He finally brought it back down. It sounds benign writing it out, but the atmosphere and everything, it was very wrong. And then he did it again. Camera pointed right at me. I was so freaked out at this point that I was starting to get angry, so I silently picked up my phone, and held it up with the camera pointing at him. He put his back down and didn't do it again. I finished eating as fast as I could, and booked it the hell out of there. I went outside to write, and when I put my pen to the paper, I saw my hand was shaking. I get that sometimes I can misread people. That happens to me a lot too. I have this habit of intimidating people when I don't mean to. And I don't want to brand this guy as a creepy when he might just be really socially awkward and unaware. But I've never had someone put me on edge so easily before. Am I hugely overreacting here?

I highly recommend everyone checking out the Secret Author stories, there's a great selection.

I know the feeling. Lots of rain here today and under a flood watch. I believe we have Debby to thank for this one.

Cute story. I thought Devon was a bit too nice about his boyfriend abandoning him on the cruise but it all worked out in the end. I adored Jason, btw.

Well...it was in the title. Wow. I was really digging the historical romance developing, then...wow. I might have to read this one again.

Jason has amazing friends. Owen is still my favorite though. Well done!

A sad story, but damn, it was beautifully written and made me ache for the characters. Kudos, Secret Author.

This was fascinating. I like the beginning a lot more than the courtroom drama, but the entire story was very well done.

I too had to read it twice. As a fan of ambiguous endings, I liked this a lot. Secret Author has one helluva imagination, it was a cool idea.

As someone who is going to Tybee Island for a vacation in September, reading a story with a shark attack in the second paragraph was...uh...interesting. But aside from that, I loved this story. I love the writing, the style, the dynamic between the characters, basically everything about this. A superb story, Secret Author!

This is very cute. I like stories involving animals. I recently read Cujo, which also involves animals, but this was a lot nicer and sweeter, lol.

My best friend Maison agreed to kitten sit for his older sister as a peace offering. He wasn’t banking on losing one of them.

I'm very glad you didn't get caught in the Crowdstrike mess. Apparently it's been causing chaos in some of the airports.

This is very cute and sweet. I found the tidbits about enchantments and kin very interesting as these are not concepts I am familiar with. Fascinating!

Not too far. I'm staying in state, just another part of town. But I've lived in my current place for 12 years and the view driving to my house has always been one of my favorite things.

It's been a rainy, gray week. This morning I had to go to the hardware store and when I was driving back, the mountains were wreathed with this beautiful white fog. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I move this winter, but I hope my new home or commute has views just as lovely. If not, it's mornings like this I will miss.