Jeff Burton

Thank you. This is also part of the reason why I froze activity the volunteers that handle this stuff had to read everything I’d written and I didn’t want to make the job worse by flooding them with more text. 😂 That and my muse did need a little break to read. I’ve kinda just been sitting on my hands shaking like a chihuahua this whole time but now I can get back to work.

Of course I’ve known this was coming but the whole thing still humbles me. Instead of a long winded reply, I just want to say thank you to the staff here at GA, especially @Valkyrie and @Cia who never failed to respond to a question when I needed advise on something crazy, to @Graeme and the team of volunteers who had to spend a few months reading everything I’ve written here, and the staff in general for making this whole thing work in the first place. I joined this site back in 2006 but was more of a silent member for most of that time, it wasn’t until recently I actually started posting work and I thank the dearly departed Comicality for that one because I emailed him on a whim and he sent me a 10,000 word reply that basically said, “just write, even if it’s just for you.” To all my readers, commenters, reviewers and everyone whose even just reacted with a like to my stories I thank you as well, because even though Comicality gave me that shove off a cliff, all of you made me fly. And for that I am the most thankful of all. Okay that was still long winded. 😂. Now that this is done, time to write!

I figured he did. ❤️ And yeah I figured that too. 😂 I know I’m a charming fellow. It’s just my default setting. I’ll tell you though if I wasn’t so morally centered I’d be one hell of a super villain.

I’m a prude remember? I see a ring on someone’s finger and I run away. But the restaurant, absolutely. I’m a sucker for good wings. And I won’t even try to Karen you into a discount. 😇

Haha I’ll end up in San Francisco again. I just need to get off my ass and make shit happen.

That’s probably my single most regret. You ran to California to get away from yours I didn’t go to California to be with mine lol. Even if we didn’t work out I think I still would have been better off. Yeah I wouldn’t have been there for a few people but… I should have ran.

Sadly no. I should have listened to him though, I should have just left everything and saved myself a bunch of pain. We would have figured it out.

Man traveling when you’re young and stupid was much more fun. Limited funds, sketchy motels run by a very nice Asian lady who took travelers checks. Like I learned really quick. It was like end of March beginning of April so I learned you can still freeze to death in broad daylight in the shadow of a downtown building. i learned if you see any clouds of any kind and are venturing to the bay to pack an umbrella. (That was the second time he “got it” because I was upset lol) I can’t remember how far we walked while it was pouring down rain but I remember I was so soaked I stopped caring about it. We tried to be romantic and ended up at the beach off Judah St and Great Highway (young and dumb so no money for a car and that’s where the bus ended up) at sunset because I’d never seen the ocean before and because it was spring we both froze our asses off lol But there we were in the dunes huddled and shivering because no one was smart enough to bring a jacket, and we saw the sunset. Whenever I hear the song “Cities of Dust” by Souxie and the Banshees that trip just plays like a music video in my head. A simpler time of two stupid kids in love trying to figure it out.

Funny because the highest I can count without clothes is 11 😉😘😂

And he tricked me! I went three whole days in San Francisco without realizing I hadn’t had any meat. (He was a vegetarian). Sigh that whole trip was nothing but a raunchy nifty story.

That’s exactly what happened to me. He spent the day making puppy dog faces at me because he felt guilty about it but I was mad and didn’t budge. Boy did he “get it” when we got back that night. He made all the right noises so in the end I forgave him but lol.

Hahahahaha. i wish more people did this. Keep your noise to yourself, I have fancy earbuds just for this reason and you can get Chinese knockoffs for less than $20 online.

I actually do this too for the same reasons but then again I was raised with manners and basic common sense. When I lived in a city that was big enough to support it when I was younger I took mass transit (bus and light rail) to work because traffic was horrible, and I was always conscious of what my bag was doing. I’m the same way when I travel as well.

Tyler’s Dilemma is a good read I still have “B is for Brandon” stuck in my head. 😂 Encrypted was probably the most complicated thing I’ve ever written and I seriously want to rewrite parts of it.

I managed to pound out the first chapter of Encrypted’s sequel. I still don’t have a name for it yet but yeah at least it got that. i need to let it sit for a couple of days before I let anyone read it though. I may wait until I get a couple more written, you guys know how I like to rewrite things as new ideas blow up, I’m trying to get the majority of this one written before I start posting though. It’s slow coming but my muse is starting to let me see scenes in my head again which is usually the first step before serious keyboard pounding happens lol. Some other stuff, I went back and reread life in suspension, it’s my goal for 2026 to have that one completed by the end of the year as well as get my alien wizard story going again. Ive also had this alien first encounter thing I’ve been working on since last summer that’s got a few chapters in because I totally want to do a space opera. Il trimming back a little on what I had planned to get done just so I’m not absolutely overwhelmed, it’s just the sitting down to do it bit I’m struggling with right now.

Hahahaha I did see that post you wrote but I’m not that imaginative. 😂

This story ended up being an interesting one, many here seemed to love it and it’s got a sequel in the planning stages. Thanks for reading it Cassie.

Yikes. Yeah definitely not Kansas anymore. The ramifications of all of this is actually terrifying when you think about it.

Totally happy to see this is finally making it to posting. I have a feeling Malik is about to find himself not in Kansas anymore, because really who leaves a perfectly functional interdimensional gateway in one of the most shady locals imaginable lol. @CassieQ great job on this, with the art work @Thirdly did I was already curious about this, but yeah chapter 1 has a nice hook.

I'm still trying to figure it out too. I've got ideas but it's hard judging if it's going to be any good or not, last thing I need is another story on "temporary" or "long-term hold." I really do want to get back into writing. When I started writing Encrypted I was able to pump out 74,290 words in a 4 week period, or 18,572 a week. That's the fire I want back, it was just so easy the works just came, until they didn't. I need my next idea to do that, something I just can't stop key pounding on. I've already got the premise and plot for the Anthology in October so I guess that's something but, come on brain, give me something I can work with already. Or at least give me some focus so I can finish one of the half baked ideas I've already got going on that I'm 2 to 4 chapters into lol.

More than one old story. Shadowgod managed to finish a couple, but one of his longer serials Dreams and Clipped Wings which was a sequel to the one I posted was never finished sadly. He's also got some very well done short stories. Vegas Sun is probably my absolute favorite of them. And yeah I'm midway through Chapter 10 of I'm Gay: A Nifty Story.

It does actually. I live in Texas so when the wind starts blowing from the north and doing that swirly thing it does when it hits the gulf air blowing in from the south the atmosphere gets a little unstable and usually that means high winds. Our property butts up to a huge giant field of nothing for as far as you can see so the wind literally has nothing blocking it and it just blows with a vengence. My car has literally been green with pollen for the last week and I usually have to rinse it off every couple of days because it's just that bad. The pollen is so fine it's literally dusting my car for finger prints because you can see all of them because it's that crazy. I have an inhaler now, after not having one for 15 years and it's helping me breath. But yeah would be great if we could get past this so my eyes can have a break from being irritated.

That's crazy because San Francisco is the only place I've ever been in the Spring where I can actually breathe without an inhaler. That 2005 trip I mentioned in another post was the first time I ever got to visit and the entire time I was there was amazing because my nasal passages where blessedly clear. When I got back to Texas, I was literally choking again when I got off the plane at DFW, literally got slammed with a sinus headache the second I hit the jet bridge it was actually funny at the time.

I know the story lol. I was totally tagging a story here but it wasn't that one. This is what I had in mind: The author was an old online friend that kind of disappeared into the ether, we used to sit on IRC and talk a bunch he was the one that originally tried to goad me into writing but I was going through some IRL stuff back then. However, I did help edit a couple of chapters of that story in a few places, as well as another. I still read these on a regular basis and it a twinge of memory hits me every time when I read a piece of dialogue I helped write. I miss Steve. But anyway, the mustang I imagined when I wrote that part of the chapter you referenced is displayed proudly in that work, so is the motorcycle stuff lol. It's a good read and a beautiful story, written by a talented individual. Also I'm about to start updating that story again as my muse is working itself out and I'm writing again. You may see updates here in the next couple of days.

The highlight of that trip was when I fell down the stairs going down to one of the bart stations in downtown. And yes we still missed the train. 😂