Jared was bored, and no matter what he tried to do, it was just not exciting. He went out with his friends, and he blogged about it. He played games with his girlfriend Allison, and he blogged about that. He went to work, but thankfully he never blogged about it.

In an effort to spice things up, he decided to go sky diving. Allison refused to go, so he went alone. His instructor was a cute girl, and he rather enjoyed his first tandem jump with her. He had a blast and went home to blog about it. He even gave Allison some extra attention that night.

Jared became bored again the next day. Nothing in the house could hold his interest for more than ten minutes, if that long. He decided to go sky diving again, but this time they made him jump alone. Even if he had jumped tandem, the instructor was a big, burly man with a ZZ Top Beard. He did not get the same thrill from it, but it alleviated his boredom for a while again. He blogged about it, and Allison certainly enjoyed the new found attention.

The next day, Jared was once again bored. He decided to try bungee jumping, and again, Allison wouldn’t go with him. He found lots of cute girls there and enjoyed the trip far more than the sky diving. He blogged about it more, and he was more attentive to Allison than ever.

When he came down from the bungee jumping, Jared went out again to cure his boredom. This time, Allison secretly followed him to see what was making him so happy. She found him flirting and carrying on with half a dozen girls then did his jump. The girls all swooned over him.

Allison was furious, but she reined in her anger and went home to wait for Jared. That night, she told Jared she wanted to try sky diving with him. He naturally agreed, as that would help cure his boredom for the next day.

The next day, they went out for the sky diving lesson. When it came to time to jump, Allison got scared and refused to jump. Jared did not jump because she would not. The instructor jumped with the other students, leaving the couple in the plane.

On the way back to the airport, Jared and Allison discussed the events surrounding Jared’s boredom. They discovered that the cure for Jared’s boredom was not death defying acts and the attention of girls. He just wanted to go out and do things with Allison.

I did a guest blog over at MadUtopia about what’s going to be going on here on GT over the next few weeks. Let us just say it involves #FridayFlash and a challenge. Check it out here.

While that is going on, another challenge of sorts went on over the weekend between Amazon and Macmillan. Check this stuff out. Thank goodness I was not in the middle of THIS storm!

All the Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed the Weekend by John Scalzi

Amazon.com Mysteriously Removes Macmillan Book Titles by Paul Boutin

Amazon Pulls Macmillan Books Over E-Book Price Disagreement by Brad Stone NYT

Zinc Blinked by Scott Westerfeld

And if you need more on this, I am sure it can be dug up with very little effort. Feel free to discuss here or at any of these sites (I think my personal favorites are John Scalzi and Scott Westerfeld). I have several more posts on the topic on my twitter feed if you really need more, as I was RTing the heck out of these links. Enjoy, and come back with encouragement for the #FridayFlash February Challenge!

“Yatta!” David cried gleefully while throwing his arms up in the air victoriously.

The three other people around him lowered then shook their heads in mock shame, but after a few moments, they burst into less somber giggles and patted David on the back in congratulations.

“Let’s get started,” David said, and the group quickly agreed. Phoenix had brought the table and his needed materials for the session. Milo had brought the chairs and some sustenance as well as his materials. Katie had brought her backpack which contained essentials beyond only her meager materials. David had supplied chairs and the place for the bi-weekly ritual.

This ritual was special though, being conducted on the special day of Samhain, or as most people referred to as Halloween. The group preferred the more archaic sounding name, as if the name changed their perspective of it to something beyond mere mortals.

Each person went about a task with a sense of duty and urgency. They did not have long, so they needed to begin as soon as possible. They wanted to be ready long before the witching hour. Thunder rumbled outside letting them know that a storm was brewing. The noise also loosened their nerves, and they began talking about little things to distract themselves from the current menial tasks that had to be done before the actual event.

Katie produced several small candles and distributed them around in windows and on shelves to provide mood lighting. Phoenix setup the table with David’s chairs. Milo got out a bag and a leathery mat, which he laid across the table with deliberate delicacy. The writing on the mat was valued by all present. Months of their work was easily evident on the surface that now covered the whole table.

Katie set up a pot on a counter and started bringing it up to temperature. David laid out all of the materials that would be needed on the table. He carefully arranged everything so that their tomes were holding down the corners of the mat that were trying to curl back together. Milo deposited the appropriate writing implements onto the tomes to be within easy reach then took a seat at the table. Phoenix followed suit opposite Milo and produced a folder from his supplies. He pulled small stack of papers from it and set them neatly atop the folder in front of his place.

Satisfied with the brewing pot, Katie took her seat across from David’s seat. David took his seat last and said, “Are you all prepared?”

The others nodded their agreement, and Katie and Milo quickly got out their own papers. David tried his best to give a sinister smirk before continuing, “Then let this session begin.”

The words had barely left his mouth before a closer rumble rattled the windows and door. Moments later, the room plunged into semi-darkness, lit only by Katie’s candles. Milo made a startled noise. Katie started glancing around as if to find a source of the power outage. Phoenix remained stoic and crossed his arms over his chest.

David lowered his voice and said, “This is perfect weather for this. Where were we?”

“About to attack the zombie leagions,” Phoenix said without looking at his notes.

“Ahh, yes,” David said. “Everyone roll initiative, and let The Treasure Box’s Samhain D&D session begin! What a great way to break in our new game store.”

I retired today. It seems odd to me that I should look back and consider my life to have begun at my first job. I was a model of sorts, working in a department store. That was a good gig. All I had to do was stand around and look good.

Then I was hired out of that job and put to real work. I traveled a lot. I worked up a good sweat during Oklahoma summers during house projects. I remember a lot of driving around and seeing lots of blue skies pass by. Those were the days.

Then my life got really rough. I was put to work climbing trees and running and tumbling. I carried lots of heavy tools with me where ever I went it seemed. But I was getting older. I was not standing up as well as I used to. My legs were hurting a lot, and when examined, it was discovered that I had some irreparable damage. My legs had to be amputated from the knees down. But no, I was still not done. There was still light work that had to be done.

I got to be a little lazier, only working on days when no one else would do anything. I could still carry light objects and tools, so I was useful for quick work even if I was not as brisk as before. People might have looked at me weird without my lower half, but I did not care. I was still working, and still doing what I was meant to do.

But I retired today. I am done working. I am worn and ragged. I am unable to continue doing even the most mundane of work from my past. I am broken, but loved.

Brad sighed, thinking about the life of his jeans, his favorite jeans, for almost ten years. They had been his faithful companion from his freshman year of high school. And today, he finally laid them to rest. Even the surgery he had performed to extend their life as a pair of shorts had not kept them going. The holes were too big. The seams were coming apart. Now, he simply longed to have another pair of jeans that would compare to his favorite pair of the past.

“It’s Santa!” Timmy said loud enough to get the attention of the others. Santa was no longer alive, but he was there in the drainage ditch when the others got close enough to see. The flocking children drew the attention of the day care employees, and one called the authorities.

The local authorities were confounded by the Santa for several reasons. First, it was the last day of July. Second, no record of the man existed in their computer systems, no DNA, no dental, no fingerprints, no matching facial patterns. Third, the body was unmarked by any form of trauma, even after an autopsy.

New papers flocked to the story, covering the death of Santa Clause as if people actually believed he existed. They lined up interviews with the children and the day care staff to see if they could piece together the events of Santa’s demise. In the end, he received the following obituary in the Tulsa World:

“Santa Clause (Unknown-July 31, 2009) passed away today, and the devastating loss has left the community numb. Many of the Tulsa residents did not believe in Santa until today, and now many are wishing that they had believed in him more. Children are being especially affected by his passing. The post office has received thousands of letters and cards for Santa Clause, but they will be unable to deliver any of them.”

The blogging community was all over Santa’s death. Michael Jackson’s passing was less noticed than the passing of a mythical icon like Santa Clause. Most of the people mourning Santa’s passing left questions unanswered, whether it was an unconscious act or not. The police had no leads to find a killer if there was one. The doctors and scientists could not find a cause of death. The news papers finally declared that Santa had died because people in the world no longer held the same Christmas spirit as before.

Later that year, Christmas sales began in August and carried solidly through to January. Carols began at the beginning of October and finished in February. Valentine’s Day became Santa’s Day in 2010 in honor of his passing. Retail profits sky rocketed. Six months of Christmas became eight, then covered the whole calendar.

June 12th, 2012

The darkened meeting room held the twelve members of the board, clouded by gentle puffs of smoke from fine Cuban cigars. The head of the board drew a breath around the butt of the cigar, causing the other end to flare bright red and illuminate his face in a fiendish fasion. He smiled and said, “Gentlemen, Project Christmas has been a success.” The other men chuckled politely and basked in the profits of their scheme. And it had only cost one random person their life.

Prompt: Yesterday, your character called in sick on their birthday because they knew their co-workers had a surprise party planned. Write what happens today.

Julie groaned and smacked the snooze button on her alarm clock one more time. Instead of sleeping, she used the time to rehearse her story again. Yesterday, she had called in sick to work. Yesterday was also her birthday. The office had planned a surprise party for her that she was privy to via an accidental inclusion on an email. She knew she would be in trouble, but every other month of the year, she was forbidden to take off any time on the first or last few days. Such was the curse of the accountant: great pay, good benefits, horrible vacation planning.

Her story was simple, and she repeated it over and over in her mind, hoping it would be enough: She had laid in bed all day. Her husband Steve had taken care of her all day, up to and including chicken noodle soup in bed.

In actuality, Steve had made her breakfast in bed, and then stayed in bed with her for longer than she could remember. She had thoroughly enjoyed that, but it was only the beginning. Steve gave her several gifts, including a new gold necklace, and he cooked her lunch. He then demanded that they go see a movie. The new Harry Potter was out after all, and who could resist that? After the movie was over, he took her to dinner at a very fancy restaurant. He had made reservations six-months ago. Finally, they ended the night dancing at a very exclusive club, coupled with a little bit of drinking.

She smiled then sighed, and her alarm went off again. “It is Friday, at least,” she told herself. With that last bit of encouragement, she crawled out of bed and got ready for work. It was now the first, so she would have plenty of work to do today.

Julie ducked into a side door to avoid most of the people on her way to her cubicle desk. Shortly after eight, her phone rang. It was George from Human Resources. She winced, trying to keep the sound of fear out of her voice. He asked her to come to his office to have a little chat. She told him that she would be there shortly.

She took as long as she dared going to George’s office, expecting to get written up for calling out yesterday. When she finally knocked on his door, he gruffly told her to come in and have a seat.

Once she was seated, he leveled a glare at her that she suspected his kids feared more than monsters in the closet or under the bed. She kept herself composed enough to not shy away from it, barely.

“Mrs. Wilkes,” he said with gravity that was far too heavy for a greeting. “You are aware of the attendance policies of this company, are you not?” When she nodded, he continued, “Then you are aware that we take calling out fraudulently very seriously. You are also aware that we have a clause about any employee discovered to be lying about illness to get out of work is grounds for immediate termination.”

A shiver tickled its way up Julie’s spine, and she nodded again. She tried to keep her gaze level with his eyes, but she could not help a downward glance when he said, “I have been informed of at least two locations you were yesterday during what would have been your shift. I am afraid I will have to ask for your badge. I will escort you to your desk to gather your things. Your employment here is hereby terminated.”

The words hammered in her ears, and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying. She nodded, stood, handed over her badge, and was led back to her desk.

Where everyone in the office was waiting, smiling, and surrounding a cake with candles and the words “Happy Birthday Julie” on it. She blinked repeatedly and turned to look at George who was smirking impishly. Steve stepped out from behind the crowd and filled her in before someone got hurt. Steve had requested her birthday off when he made the reservations. Through George, Steve had made an elaborate plan to make Julie not want to be at work that day. He had played her like a fiddle, and she finally worked up the courage to laugh at the practical joke already thinking of ways to get even with him later.

For as long as Billy could remember, his uncle had worked as a fisherman in the ocean. He loved to sit around listening to the stories of danger and riches, though as far as Billy could tell, his uncle was no richer now than he was when Billy was born. After one season out at sea, Billy’s uncle came home and confused everyone by buying a ukulele. None of his family understood the strange purpose to the instrument. One night, when Billy heard the tell tale strums of ukulele practice, he crept out to listen intently. Finally, during a pause, Billy asked his uncle, “Why’d ya get a ukulele, Unca?”

The Uncle looked at his nephew and gave him a sailor smile. He set the ukulele aside and patted his lap in gesture for the boy to have a seat for a story. Billy eagerly climbed up and gave his Uncle his full attention.

“Well, lad,” the Uncle began. “Out on t’ocean, some o’us get a bit home sick. We don’t exactly have phones, so we can’t call to talk to everyone. Most o’the time, all we have is a bit o’music.”

Billy tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

The Uncle continued, “So at night, we’d all sit ’round and one person or another’d pick up an instrument and play it. Then they’d either sing or we would.” The Uncle watched Billy’s face and gave a soft sigh. “Billy, have you ever been alone for a really long time?” he asked.

When Billy nodded, the Uncle said, “And after a while, you started to wonder if anyone was going to come back.”

Billy nodded again, though his Uncle had not actually asked a question.

The Uncle’s smile returned, matched shortly thereafter by the boy’s, and he said, “Well, out at sea, we feel that way too, only in reverse. We wonder if we’re going to come back, you see. And music helps us retain our connection to home.”

Billy got the confused look on his face again and asked, “But Unca, why would ya get a ukulele? We ain’t from there, and we don’t listen to that music ’round here. It can’t remind you of home. Why not a guitar or piano or drum?”

The Uncle chuckled softly and said, “My boy, there is more to it than that. Music is not limited to just this place. It is here, there, and everywhere in between. And who said I intended to remind myself of home, young one? Our captain is from Hawaii, but no one knew any of the songs from those islands. I am spending a little of my time to give the gift of music to someone that has been away from home far longer than I have.”

#FictionFriday’s Prompt: Where your character is committed to a drastic or extreme change

===============

“You cannot spend all of your time and money like that! It isn’t healthy!” Laura screamed at James, not for the first time this week on this subject alone. She stood at the doorway, watching him.

“It is not that bad,” he said, as usual. He completely disregarded her opinion on this subject.

“You missed work twice this week, and you forgot to pick up Billy from school!” she said. Technically, she had lied. He had missed two full days and left early on a third, but who was counting.

He said over his shoulder, “I have been feeling under the weather, and Billy needed the exercise anyways.”

“It was twelve miles!” August in Oklahoma was not the time for such insane exercises.

“A lot of exercise.”

“He had just finished football practice!”

“Fourth quarter conditioning.”

“No. No. Do not give me that bull shit. You fucking forgot your son!” She had heard this line of illogic many times before. Some kind of macho uber practice technique. She did not buy into it.

“I did not forget him.” Billy’s feet would disagree.

“You completely forgot him. And how about Sarah? Did you not forget to feed her all day yesterday? Did you not forget to change her diaper? Did you not forget to talk to her so that she knows you love her?” She clenched her hands into fists. She fought the urge to pulverize him.

“So I didn’t change a diaper. She didn’t complain.”

“Cuz she can’t talk!” Sarah was not even two months old.

“Are you just going to yell at me?”

“Will it do any good?”

“Probably not, but I need to know before I sign up for this next round.”

“You have to be kidding me. After all that, you’re still going?” She threw up her hands in frustration and spun on her heels to leave the room.

“Heck yeah. We’re gonna clear Flame Leviathan on hard mode!” James called after her.

Laura pretended not to hear him. She left the house. When she returned later, she had signed divorce papers and a sledge hammer, and James was already asleep. She left the papers on the smashed remains of the computer and took her kids to her parents’ house.

I am setting up this post in advance (Monday), because I doubt that I will be available again before Thursday. I was sorely tempted to visit the bunker that Nathan Bransford said he shared with Dick Cheney, but practical and romantic notions kept me from booking that flight. Sorry Mr. Ex Vice President, but I have someone more important to visit. Today (Monday), I am hopping a flight to California to rescue my lovely fiancee and begin the process of moving. It is at bare minimum a 20 hour drive back, so Tuesday and Wednesday are basically gone. Thursday, I will be recovering. In the mean time…

C. E. Murphy is an awesome, nice, friendly individual, and I can honestly say that I did not expect as much of a return on my review/interview as what I received. I am not bragging; simply stating facts here. From one day being linked from her sites, GT’s visitations per day jumped from about 25 on average to an all-time new peak of 210 in a single day. That completely decimated all expectations I had. I blinked at Google Analytics when it told me 70+ after an hour or two of being linked on her page. Whether she understood who I was, what I was doing, or how much of a difference her small act would affect me, I cannot say. My impression is that she would have done it whether she knew or not. And Mrs. Murphy, if you happen to read this, you are always welcome at my gaming table. Seriously, folks, she is a really approachable and helpful person. Pick her brain, chat her up, just remember, she is married according to the jacket of Urban Shaman!

While I have not seen the specific outcome of return traffic from this comparatively large influx (and may not see it for a few weeks in fact), I am hopeful. I have posted some good stories here, and they are available to anyone to read. Since 90% of that traffic was brand new, let me simply say, thank you for visiting and feel free to come back, read stuff, and comment. I have tried to make this blog as “open” as possible while keeping it on this server and within my realm of web-control.

I am also thinking of borrowing an idea that I saw on Jamie DeBree’s blog with a list of what projects will go up on which days on one of the side bars (modified a bit to suit my own personal preferences). Thanks for the follow back and link on your roll, Jamie! (Yes, in the realm of self-promotion, I really do have little shame)

Basically, for this post, I am giving a blanket thank you to folk that have visited lately. I appreciate the visits and the reads.

Wednesday: Results/Reaction from the Editor Unleashed Flash Fiction 40 Contest.

Thursday: High Points from a California to Oklahoma Road Trip Part One.

Friday: #FridayFlash, #FictionFriday, and Chapter Six of The Veil of the Heavens

Saturday: What I have Learned on Twitter

Sunday: One-Liners (current front-runner for name suggestion for continued experiments)

Monday: Monday Machine (told you I would find alliteration!)

Tuesday: Displaced Voice Part Two (yes, another trip, driving to Cali and back again, I suddenly feel like a Hobbit…)

The fact I have 7 days worth of posts planned astonishes me. Now I just have to stick with it. See you all on Thursday. Try not to break anything.

Several people have made comments about the less than readable design of GT. I get it. This is not quite what GT was originally meant to be, and therefore, the theme that I made it for does not quite fit. It would not be a big deal if I were not attempting to get people to read large amounts of text on this site, but I am a writer. Lots of writing is what I am supposed to be putting up. Putting up lots of writing does not do much good if no one stays on here long enough to read it all.

To that end, I have decided to revamp the basic theme that I have designed on this site. It may be a few weeks before it happens, but I do intend to do so eventually. I have a very, very busy few weeks coming up with a couple of trips out to California and back to Oklahoma. It is a shame that I cannot do the web site stuff on the drives to and from California. I could probably try, but that would really annoy at least one person. I would prefer not to do that just yet. Suffice to say, I will be making GT more readable in the not too distant future. I am thinking of using blues and black for the new theme. Much as I like red, it is not helpful in terms of readability, especially when combined with yellow, orange, and white.

Also, some of you may have noticed that the story that originally started from #FictionFriday called Space Walk has kind of taken off on its own. It now has a second part, and as of last night, a third. I am devoting that particular story to Mondays. I have not yet thought of a catchy name for it, but I am open to suggestions and will eventually get a good one for it. So far, I have a few ideas based on allitertion with Monday, but I am sure they are taken else where. If you can accomplish a catchy name, alliterating with Monday, please, feel free to share. I will totally give credit for the name to whoever shares.

Next, I have a friend (Connor) that is supposed to be helping with a logo. As with the Monday event, I am perfectly open to suggestions for logos as well, just understand that I am not exactly a rich author yet. I can only provide credit and linkage for any artwork that folks might want to share. Just leave a comment if you are interested, and I will get in touch with you about the “direction” that I would like it to take. Although, if you put something together before that and provide a link, I will certainly check it out and get back with you.

During my trip into Tulsa this week, I performed a little experiment. Tomorrow, I will post what I did on Wednesday night that turned out wonderfully and just might improve everyone’s writing once you read it. Trust me when I say you do not want to miss out. It certainly got one author a good sale, and I had not heard of their publisher either. They are on my list to query now too! Maybe it will help you.

Ultimately, this site is growing very well, and I am incredibly happy with the progress thus far. I know that I have gained several of those mysterious True Fans that are so elusive. To all of those, I simply say, “Thank you.” I appreciate your support and kindness, your comments and criticism, your visits and clicks. I hope you continue to read and enjoy my work, and I hope that my occasional rant like this does not put you off.

Personally, I find these last few weeks to have been quite eye-opening in terms of who reads and comments on my stuff (even verbally). Because of that, I wish to have a small give-away of sorts. Send an email to edjohnson@geektreasure.com or comment here. If you email, set the subject line of only the first letters of each paragraph in this post. In the body of that email/comment, explain why you should be selected for the chance to read all of The Veil of the Heavens as it is currently written. Also, upon finishing reading, you will be given a guest spot here on GT to post your review. I am not sure how many people will enter this little contest, but only one person will get the prize. That person could be you! I will halt entries on the 15th of July. I will announce the winner on August 1st.