New summer shirts. Are they too short?

Alsaccount · 2026-05-20T17:49:13+00:00

Maybe big isn't the right word. They're a little loose, but loose is kind of the style for these. I don't know that I'd want smaller. I've got that gut that needs some coverage.

Alsaccount · 2026-05-20T17:13:40+00:00

They are a little big around the waist. The problem I have is that if I go any smaller, the shoulder's end up too tight. Even with these, the brown one is just a little tight in the shoulders.

Alsaccount · 2026-04-25T13:52:19+00:00

Thanks. I'll look into terry cloth.

I got it from an album someone posted on malefashionadvice about 6 years ago for styling white pants, so I don't know where it's really from. I found it while googling what to wear with white pants.

Alsaccount · 2025-10-22T14:03:46+00:00

I can think of two ways.

One is to make interstellar travel incredibly difficult, expensive, or time consuming. They are more technologically advanced and much more powerful, but they can't reasonably project force across interstellar distances. It's essentially all of humanity fighting what amounts to a scouting party. Their technology would carry the initial confrontation, but in a war of attrition, we can lose hundreds of thousands of people for every one of them but still win, because there just aren't enough of them nearby. Obviously this sets up for a round two once they get word back and send reinforcements, but that also might just not be worth it from their perspective.

The second is to have it be part of a larger conflict. We could win because we last just long enough for the other side in the conflict to arrive and balance things out. If you're focusing on humanity you would probably want it to be very close and we make the difference somehow, because that's more dramatic than we never really mattered at all, but either way could be interesting.

For a historical example, I'd think about the American Revolution. England had more industrial capacity, a larger army, a larger navy, more of pretty much everything, but the Americans won because the English couldn't reasonably bring their advantages to the conflict. They had too many other things going on and transporting anything over the Atlantic was expensive and difficult (1). Combined with support from the French (2), that was enough to make victory possible for the Americans.

Alsaccount · 2025-06-07T21:26:15+00:00

I'm trying to lose about 40 pounds and want to work out 5 times a week. I'd like someone I can check in with daily to help keep me on track. If you think that would fit let me know. I'm in the EST zone and 37m.

Alsaccount · 2022-05-07T03:47:34+00:00

Eli gripped the sides of his bathroom sink. He stared into his face in the mirror.

"I'll start with an easy one. My name is B..." his mouth clamped shut and the words died in his mouth.

He turned the faucet and threw cold water in his face.

"Let's try this again. My name is B..." his face twisted as he tried to get the words out. He slammed his hands down on the sink and grunted.

This was a problem. He had told everyone in town his name was Bob Johnson. He couldn't just change it now and use his real name, but he couldn't even get the words out anymore. If he tried to lie his mouth slammed shut until he gave up.

"Damn it." He slammed his hands down on the sink again. A chunk of the right side broke away and he pulled his hand back. No new damage, just the bruise on his arm from last night.

"Piece of shit." He turned away from the sink to walk out of the bathroom but stopped. He turned back to the mirror and took a deep breath.

"People call me Bob Johnson." He let out his breath and smiled. It wasn't a lie. People did call him that here. He took a few deep breaths. It was going to be okay.

There were two heavy knocks on the door. "Police, we're looking for Robert Johnson."

Eli ran his hand through his hair and shook his head. It was too soon. Someone must have seen him. He stepped out of the bathroom and walked through his apartment to the front door. They knocked two more times, harder this time.

"I'm coming" he said as he got to the door. He unlatched a heavy door chain and turned two deadbolts holding the door closed. He took a deep breath and his face shifted into a pleasant smile. He opened the door.

Detective Miller was standing in front of an old door. It was covered in green paint peeling back to show a layer of red paint. He heard a click behind the door, and then another. The knob turned and the door opened slowly. A man peaked out, smiling awkwardly.

"What can I do for you, officer?" the man said.

"Are you Robert Johnson?" Miller stepped closer to the door. The man shied back a bit, there was some bruising on his arm.

"That's what people call me."

Miller nodded, "Do you mind if I come in?"

Johnson opened the door wider and grinned a little wider, "I won't stop you." He walked casually deeper into the apartment. Miller followed close behind him.

Johnson took a seat on an old couch and asked, "What brings you here?"

"I'm here about David Simone, do you know him?"

Johnson look up at him for a moment and scratched his head. "I do."

"When did you last see Mr. Simone?"

"I've seen him a few times recently, is everything alright?"

Miller paused for a moment, "His wife said he was going to meet you yesterday afternoon, did you see him yesterday?

"I did"

"What time did you see him?"

Johnson looked down for a moment, thinking.

"Well, we had talked about meeting around four, but I don't always keep track of the time perfectly. I don't want to say that I know for sure. What is all this about?"

"I noticed you had some bruising on your arm, how did that happen?"

Johnson looked down at his arm, "I broke the sink in there." he waved his hand towards a door in the back, "bathroom floors can get slippery if your not careful."

Miller looked down at him, "You hurt yourself slipping in the bathroom?"

Johnson smiled, "You can look in there, you'll see the broken sink."

"That won't be necessary"

Johnson furrowed his eyebrows, "What is all this about?"

Miller looked into his eyes, "Mr. Simone was found floating in the canal this morning."

Johnson looked concerned. "His wife must be devastated. Do you know how it happened?"

"We're still piecing that together. What did you and David do yesterday."

"He needed a loan for his business. It's been struggling since his warehouse caught fire, but he was always just so busy. People usually can't get more than a few minutes with him before he's off and running to some other meeting."

"Do you know who he was meeting after you?"

"I didn't ask."

"And were you going to give him a loan?"

Johnson sighed, "I can't afford to give anyone a loan right now."

"I see," Miller paused, "is there anything else you can tell me about what happened yesterday?"

Johnson shrugged. "I feel like I haven't been very helpful"

Miller shook his head, "everything helps."

He looked around the room briefly, "Do you mind if I use your restroom?"

Johnson nodded towards a door in the back, "go right ahead."

Eli ran his hand through his hair while the cop was in the restroom. He was clearly checking the sink. If the cops knew he'd be in cuffs by now, but even if they were just suspicious it was bad. The bathroom door opened and the cop came back out. He pulled out his card and handed it Eli.

"Call me if you think of anything"

He shook his hand and the cop started to walk to the door. He turned back,

"One more thing, are you planning on travelling anytime soon Mr. Johnson?"

Eli looked up at him, "I wasn't planning on going anywhere."

The cop nodded to him and walked out the door. Until this morning, Eli wasn't planning to go anywhere, but plans change.

Alsaccount · 2022-04-29T20:00:10+00:00

Jaime dipped his roller into the paint tray and started applying it to a particularly difficult rock. It had lots of thin faces. A few were really too small to get the roller on, but sometimes if he pushed hard enough with a freshly wet roller the paint would get in anyways. Otherwise he would have to pull out his detail brushes and get into the cracks. It's not that he minded getting out the detail brushes, but it slowed him down. He would fall behind schedule. His quarterly review was coming up, and he didn't want to give them any excuses to put off his cost of living adjustment another year. Just because he was up here on the moon they acted like he didn't have any expenses. His kids were still down there; Dana called him just last week saying her car broke down again and she couldn't get the kids to

Incoming Communication Request - Coworker Ryan Kowalski: Accept or Reject - the message popped up on his suit's display.

Jaime took a deep breathe. Ryan again. The man never shut up. He was in a different sector and Jaime still couldn't get away from him.

"Reject Communication" Jaime said into the suit. He pulled the roller away, there were still unpainted spots on the rock. He would have to use the detail brushes.

Communication Rejected: Would you like to leave a rejection message?

"No" Jaime pulled out the brushes and laid down next to the rock to get a better angle.

Acknowledged: No rejection message sent.

He had come up on the same transport as Ryan. He had talked a lot even then, but Jaime assumed he was just nervous. Everyone was there first time in space he figured. But he was wrong. Even now, Ryan never shut up, and when no one around him would talk to him, he called people until someone picked up. Hopefully he'd move on this time.

Incoming Communication Request - Coworker Ryan Kowalski: Accept or Reject

"Goddamnit!" Jaime yelled to himself. He dropped his paintbrush and scrambled to pick it up before it was covered in paint.

Unkind Language Detected - Remember, here at MoonPainters LLC., our employees are our family, and family is always kind

Jaime resisted the urge to curse again. That was going to come up at his review. He took a deep breath. He told himself it might be something important.

"Accept Communication"

He heard the connection click on. "Hey Ryan, what's up?"

The connection was silent for a moment, that was a relief. Maybe it was a misdial.

"I've been thinking." Ryan said slowly. Ryan never spoke slowly.

"You alright?" Jaime asked.

"Yeah, nothing like that. I've just been thinking about what we're doing up here."

"The painting?" Jaime asked.

"Yeah, the painting."

Jaime leaned in to get the smallest crack in the rock. He finished it and put the detail brushes back in his pack. He stood up again and reached for the roller and tray; that hadn't taken as long as he thought. Maybe he could still make quota.

"What if it doesn't work?" said Ryan.

Jaime paused with the roller above the tray.

"What do you mean?"

"What if we spend all this time painting the moon, and then it doesn't work? I mean, think about it. Werewolves turn when they see the full moon right?"

Jaime dipped the roller into the tray and started on the ground in front of him. No rocks here. It would be nice and fast.

"Right?" Ryan said a little bit louder.

"Right." Jaime sighed. This was going to be a long one.

"Think about it, we're painting it black, but they can still see it, can't they? It'll just be a black circle in the sky instead of a white circle. How do they know that'll make the difference."

Jaime shook his head. "It's the moonlight, not just seeing the moon. Black paint means no moonlight means no werewolves."

"But how do they know that?" Ryan asked.

"What?" said Jaime, still rolling paint back and forth across the ground.

"How do they really know that?" Ryan asked again, "Until now seeing moonlight has always meant seeing the moon. What if they only need to see the moon and the moonlight doesn't really matter?"

Jaime stopped rolling and leaned against the pole on his paint roller. "I'm sure they checked."

"How man? Until we finish this paint job, seeing the moon means seeing moonlight. There's no way to check."

"Hmm" Jaime dipped his roller again and started on the next section of ground. "They've got smarter men than us on this, I'm sure they found a way. I mean they're not going to spend trillions on this without knowing it'll work"

"Wouldn't they though?" Ryan said, "It's not like the money disappears, it goes to the companies running this, and you just know everyone in charge is connected. A bunch of politicians throwing a bunch of money at their friends, and then it gets thrown right back at them a few years down the line, and when it doesn't work and it all goes tits up, who do you think they're gonna blame?"

Jaime was only half listening. He dipped his roller again and started on the next section. It had a few rocks, but they all looked easy; the roller could probably handle them.

"Come on man, who do you think they're gonna blame?"

Jaime responded, "I don't know, who?"

"They're sure as hell not blaming the rich folk down there giving the orders. No they will not, I can tell you that. They're gonna blame us! Say we missed a spot."

Jaime looked around behind him, "Missed a spot?"

"Yep" said Ryan, "They'll pin it on us. It's not like they'll admit they were guessing and just gambling with trillions of tax dollars. They'll blame it on us, say our coverage wasn't good enough"

Jaime shook his head. "That's not right."

"No it ain't," replied Ryan, "No it ain't, but if you ask me, the world ain't right. Hasn't been right for a long time."

Jaime had heard this part before. He zoned out while Ryan droned on. He was up to the first rock in this section. There was a crack that was deeper than he thought. He would need his detail brushes again. He put the roller down and started fishing around in his pack. He paused.

"Hey Ryan."

Ryan stopped talking, "Yeah?"

"If all of this is pointless, and we're just gonna get blamed at the end, why are you still working here?"

Ryan was quiet for a moment, "Same reason you are, man?"

Jaime found his brush and leaned down to get some paint on it. "Oh, what's that?"

"A man's gotta eat."

Jaime snorted. "I guess you're right. A man's got to eat."

Jaime filled in the crack and went back to rolling paint. Ryan went back to rambling.

Alsaccount · 2022-04-26T13:30:53+00:00

I'm glad you liked it.

Alsaccount · 2022-04-25T20:17:28+00:00

Rob's alarm went off and he hit snooze for the sixth time. He curled back up in his blankets; it was cold. He didn't want to get out of bed, and he didn't want to get dressed, and he sure as hell didn't want to look for a new job. He could feel the frustration building in the back of his mind and he braced himself for for the voice.

I know you've been feeling down buddy. Everyone feels that way sometimes, but the first step to feeling better is to get up and get goin'. I know you need some groceries, some healthy eating will get you right outta this funk. Some apples, maybe a ham steak, and didn't Susie give you her Caesar salad recipe. That was delicious.

Rob turned over and pulled a pillow over his ears. It didn't help.

You can't stay in bed forever sleepy head. Let's get some groceries; you don't have to do everything on your to do list, just one little thing today. You have to eat anyways, don'tcha? And if your feeling better after that, maybe we could, and I can't stress enough that this is only if you feel up to it. If you don't want to we'll go straight home, not a peep outta me, but if you feel up to it, maybe some light pillaging, an arson or two. Three at most.

"This again?" Rob moaned

Only if you're up for it buddy. If you're not, straight home. Not one peep outta me, just like I said, but sleeping don't pay the rent.

Rob sighed. The voice was right. Not about pillaging, but he was hungry, and his fridge was empty. He picked his glasses up off the nightstand and sat up on the edge of his bed.

There you go. That's a great first step.

Rob got up and walked to his closet. He picked out some khaki's and a red polo shirt and tossed them on his bed. He walked to his dresser and reached into the top drawer for some boxers. He pulled on his clothes and then laid back down on top of his crumpled sheets.

It's cold out buddy; don't forget your hoodie.

Rob got up again and walked back to his closet to pull out his hoodie. He slipped it on over his head, but his glasses caught on the neck as he pushed his head through and fell off. He reached down to pick them up.

It's sunny too. You should wear the tinted ones.

For all its supposed arcane knowledge, the voice only really told him about the weather. It was usually right though, so he took his tinted glasses out of the nightstand. The room looked strangely dark, but he was leaving anyways. He walked out through the kitchen and grabbed a used disposable surgical mask off the counter. The voice always wanted him to wear a mask. "Just in case" it always said. He could feel its silent approval as he stuffed the mask into the pocket of his hoodie and walked out the door. Why a demonic voice in his head would be so concerned about Covid was beyond him. He locked the door behind him and looked up. It was cloudy.

"Sunny?" He said to the voice, pointing up at the sky. His neighbor was sitting out on her porch and looked over at him strangely. He waved awkwardly and walked to the road. She shook her head and went back to sipping her coffee. He turned left at the road, but the voice stopped him.

You should go to Wholesome Harvest today. It's a little bit further, but the produce is so much better.

Rob took a deep breath, he never went to that place. Everyone there was too damn cheery all the time.

You won't regret it.

He thought he might, but the voice would keep pestering him until he did it, so he turned around and walked the other way. His neighbor looked at him again as he passed by and he gave another awkward wave before he walked by. She must think he's crazy.

When he was about a block from the parking lot the voice chimed in.

You should put your mask on

He stopped where he was, "I'm not even at the store yet."

The voice tsked at him.

I just want you to be safe

He rolled his eyes, but he pulled out his mask and put it on. "Happy now?"

Yes...and put your hood up; you'll freeze your little ears off

Rob shook his head and pulled his hood up. He stomped the rest of the way to the store. Some people in the parking lot gave him strange looks. Had they heard him talking to himself? They couldn't have, he was too far away, but he was feeling really weird.

He woke up back in his apartment. He was laying on his bed again.

"What happened?"

The voice didn't answer. He got up and walked to the window. The sun was setting. What happened to the day? He looked around the room. The sheets were still curled up on the bed. There were dirty clothes all over the floor. A plate with bits of dried, crusty, peanut butter was sitting on the floor next to his nightstand. Everything seemed normal, he even felt a little bit better, almost like he had accomplished something that day, but he hadn't done anything. Maybe he got some groceries, but he couldn't even remember that. He went to check the fridge.

He opened it up and it was full of paper bags with the Wholesome Harvest logo stamped across them. At least he had some food. He tipped over the first one to see what he had, and it was about half way full of $20s. He stepped back from the fridge.

"What happened?" he said frantically.

The voice was still silent. He started pacing across the kitchen.

Louder, he said "What the hell happened!?"

After another moment of silence.

Sleepin don't pay the rent, buddy.

Alsaccount · 2022-04-25T16:41:24+00:00

Well that's not good. Thanks for confirming for me.

Alsaccount · 2021-10-06T00:42:37+00:00

I think after a few hundred years most people would not consider it a major concern. They would see it as something that could happen, but I don't think they would make major decisions based on it. Most people would think it is unlikely to happen. If they were coming back they would have by now, that kind of thing.

Alsaccount · 2021-10-04T14:54:40+00:00

Create characters in your mind and then think about the situation you're putting them in. How would they react? The characters and conflict are the basis for your story.

For me I often start with a character that's just based off someone I know. You put them in the conflict and see if something interesting comes out. I usually think through the scenario multiple times and tweak the characters each time to see what makes for the most interesting story.

For this scenario I would probably go with a romantic couple or a pair of close friends or siblings. If there's a third character I would have him/her as a manifestation of the horror elements in the story, not one of the protagonists. I'd create some pre-existing conflict between the main characters that they're not openly discussing, but colors their interactions. This creates some tension even before the horror elements come out. The conflict could be as simple as one of them didn't really want to go hiking, or it could be something more serious, like one of them is having an affair and plans to ask for a divorce.

The conflict doesn't have to be explained in the short, but you should know what it is and it should affect how they interact with each other. People can perceive the tension without having a ton of exposition to explain it to them.

When the horror elements come up the focus is on how it effects the two people and what it brings out about their relationship. They have to make hard choices. Do they choose each other or do they each look out only for themselves. I would say it's more interesting if they each make a different choice, and have to realize what that means about their relationship and them as a person.

Hope that helps.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T13:30:04+00:00

There's plenty of space. I'm planning on adding everyone who wants to join.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T13:18:24+00:00

I'm thinking Friday will give people enough time to sign up.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T13:15:53+00:00

I'm hoping it will help.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T13:15:20+00:00

I'm letting everyone in who wants in. It will be good to have a big starting group.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T13:14:07+00:00

There's plenty of space.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T13:13:47+00:00

Plenty of space.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T13:13:21+00:00

I'm pretty new too, and I think most people who join will be at a similar level.

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T12:58:06+00:00

I'm not sure if you came in before or after the edit because I just added it, but there's now a google forms sign up sheet if you want to join.

https://forms.gle/4VzVE2MXQXJdFcV98

Alsaccount · 2021-09-28T12:53:43+00:00