Journal #5 of 2019 - How my Brain Works

I leave the office building where I work, and turn down Institute Avenue to walk to the barbecue joint at the end of the street. I pass by Panda Express, and two different sub shops.

As I wait for my turn to cross the street, I look above and I see him. He stands atop of the sky scraper, but his black supersuit absorbs all light. He jumps and leaps toward me. My Fitbit on one hand and smart watch on the other. I bring them together in and my suit grows around me, my face quickly concealed before anyone notice. "The [Hero]" someone shouts as I leap into the air. I fly towards [villain] and we crash into each other. He gets the better of me and starts to shove me toward the earth...

And I cross the street.

I cross the street and continue down the sidewalk, Doze's breakfast is on my right. Pancakes actually sound pretty good! As I turn too enter into Doze's, it explodes into fire and glass, sending me across Institute Avenue, crashing me into the public bus. My trench coat crackles like fireworks as it took the brunt of the force. I wrap my trench coat around me and run into the blaze, looking to rescue anyone I see. The smoke is thick and the heat is real and I am able to grab students and point them to the exit when I see him. He drops a dead body and faces toward me. His face is concealed in a ski mask and his coat billows. With my years as a wizard I direct the fire and aim it at him. He's able to move my fire tornado away from him and force it into the sky, bringing all the fire out of the building in one deep boom. I ready another spell ready to level the building with him in it after everything he's done. He. Will. Pay.

I decide against breakfast food.

The sandwich shop is bustling and decide against it too, and at the end of the block is Cocky's barbecue. Something I've enjoyed numerous times. My belly grumbles and it seems to agree, that's where we'll get our grub.

I increase the speed of stride, hungry for the pulled pork that was destined for me. A group of guys exits the barbecue and immediately stop me, pushing me slightly. College kids. I'm tall for who I am, and in somewhat in shape. The leader of the group mocks my outfit. It isn't form fitting and my hair isn't brushed, as I was in a rush this morning. I try to walk past, but am pushed again. They mock me. My quick wit immediately shoots back, but I went too far, and they grow angry. They spew some racist comments and shove me, hard. I don't fall, but do take several steps back. The leader raises his fists and goes for a right punch. I lean back, grab his wrist, my left arm lifts above his right and I slide my elbow down his arm and into his nose, the crunch is audible and he falls back. He scoots towards his friends and points towards me. It's on.
Using my martial arts skills, I blocked the first swing, second swing, and blocked a kick. I jumped back, roundhouse kick into all three of their faces. Jumped into the guy in the middle, clothesline-ing both guys on either side of me. All four of us go down, me landing in my super hero pose.

I turned into Cocky's and got my lunch.

It was tasty.

Journal #4 of 2019 - The Coffee is Bitter, the Doughnut is Sweet.

I get a coffee and a breakfast sandwich from a shop nearby work, and as I walk out, I can't help but love the morning. The street is empty and some shops are still closed. The bus is dropping people off for work and other adventures. It's not yet full of people who need to go somewhere. The world is still prepping for the day, and this coffee shop is there to make it a good one.

Finally saw Endgame. I enjoyed it. I've had more than one friend (and more than one group of friends) await my thoughts on the matter because I poke holes a lot. Makes me laugh and feel kinda bad at the same time. But eh, I'll need to see it a second time to find flaws. One thing has been pointed out to me that I agree with, but I won't mention it here.

Game of Thrones is garbage though. I'll rant about that all day if ya want me to. I won't here, though, not on this platform. Makes me really want to read the books though.

Speaking of reading, MAN I need to pick it up. I don't know if it is just this job, or I'm getting older and require more sleep, or am no longer properly prioritizing (cause I was out of a job for a month) but I don't see myself with a lot of time. I run out of time nearly every day. Grocery shopping, cricket shopping, writing, writing groups, TV, movies, games, reading, cooking, cleaning, and other chores like LAUNDRY, Guh I hate doing laundry... I gotta find a balance, some type of routine. When I get into cooking I cook a lot, and then I'm so worn out. I need to buy a microwave. That would save me some cooking time. Back to reading - I need to read more. I am growing a bit of a backlog, and I dislike it. I have one I'm trying to finish, and another I have been requested to read for a readers group I am joining (gotta read the book to join.)

Next time I have a morning free, I am going to go do some serious writing. I want to rewrite all of The Crate Sword and edit it whilst I write. It sounds like it will be a therapeutic experience. And I'm hoping it will spark more ideas to continue book 2. I have had quite a bit of writers block in book 2. I know where I want it to end up, I just don't know how to write it properly.

Beyond all these first world-y problems, life has been easy. I hardly drink anymore. Work is good. Apartment is good. Social media is good. Real life is good. Family and Friends seem to be doing alright.

All in all, its been a good few months, let's keep this going.

Brandon "Shep" Hoffman

Ha! Boom Baby!

My blogsite has a BRAND new look!

Well, sorta, I mean... it’s a blog, how much different could it get?

Anyway, a couple things - you can access it from my website (Shepsus.com/blog) and the blogspot address has been changed to shepsus.blogspot.com, not the long justathought-shepsus.blogspot.com so if you have me bookmarked, you should update it.

The next phase in my plan is to redo my current website as well. It has been said that the pictures on the "About Me" page are older photos of me and don't currently reflect how I look. Since I have a friend who does professional photography DC Creations, I might hire her to do a photo shoot soon.

This past Saturday I went to a writer’s workshop, I took a lot of notes and left knowing a lot more than I did walking in in about the publishing industry. It is something I am really into. The class was about eight people, and the instructor Yishun, who is a professional author, works at a Literary Magazine and teaches at the University of New Hampshire. The homework prior to taking the test was writing a 300-word synopsis/pitch for your story. It was a bit nerve wracking to read aloud what you feel your novel is, and describe your world and characters. I was the only one who did humor, and the instructor definitely gave me pointers on how to convey that to future agents or Presses.

The other thing the class gave me was writing acquaintances. I got to talk to six of the eight other people in there, and went to lunch with two of them. It was a lot of fun. And similar to my experience to karaoke, it was people in just different walks of life who could sit and eat lunch, age, generation, or thoughts on life didn’t matter. Tony is a father of five who hails from Australia, Jenn is a married woman from Flagstaff. It was nice to just talk about ideas and brainstorm with people who think about stories the way you do. Crazy ideas on super hypothetical “What Ifs.” We are just nerds who found other nerds to nerd about something. I like having these people in my life.

My new job is a lot of fun. I have co-workers I get along with and a good set of skills that help here. I am enjoying it. There are other perks too, like some free food, meeting important people, and a rather relaxed environment.

I want to leave work now, so I am cutting this off here… Sorry for the abrupt ending, but yeah, I want to leave.

WAIT – I got a lot of positive response from the Starbucks observation writing, so I am going to try and do that in the near future. So stick around!!!!!

Shep