![](https://images-cdn.reedsy.com/auth/avatar/633897/954ed2ec085dbad86cdc61b6d97c168e9eb03d85.jpg)
Philip Clayberg
Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020
Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020
Submitted to Contest #98
Submitted to Contest #95
Submitted to Contest #94
Submitted to Contest #93
Submitted to Contest #92
Submitted to Contest #91
Still at the rehab center/hospital. Waiting for a hospital bed (in exchange for the regular bed at home), toilet adapter, and shower bench. With those out of the way, I'll need to get a new pair of glasses (the pair I'm wearing is about four or five years out of date). Hope this "wait mode" doesn't last the end of October. Can't believe I've been away from home for a little over 3 months already. Feels like forever and I badly want too go back home every single day. Since I can't speak ex cathedra, I will instead speak from my hospital bed. Maybe it isn't as grand, ornate, or huge as a basilica, mosque, synagogue, or cathedral, but it will do for now. I hope that you're all doing as well as possible. Been here for almost a week and not sure when I'll be back home. Soon, I hope. Hope that you're all doing well. Happy reading and writing. It is almost the Ides of June. The anonymous down-voter (or some clone of them) has unfortunately returned. I don't understand what they think they get out of it, but for those who do not understand the meaning of the score 666: this is the Number of the Beast (aka the Devil, aka Satan). I think they're saying, "You're evil. Just like the Devil." Which is *NOT* what this website is about. This website is about creativity, friendship, support, and encouragement. Not mistreatment, bullying, and browbeating because some anonymous person thinks they can just come in (with impunity) and treat some of us like dirt. Then leave, laughing their heads off at us. Please. Those of us who still care about what this website stands for: Do Not Let The Anonymous Bully Get What They Want. Show Them That Friendship Is And Will Always Be More Powerful Than Bullying Is. May your imaginations be filled with lots of inspirations and fun and interesting ideas. Happy writing! ----- I'm a 53-year-old man (54 on July 7th). I was born in a U.S. Army hospital in southern Germany. I currently live in Pennsylvania. I first tried writing stories when I was 15, but to say that they weren't that good is probably being entirely too kind. I tried writing stories again when I was in college (in the late 1980s and early 1990s) and they were okay. I still had a ways to go, apparently. I kept writing, trying to improve as much as I could. I've also written poetry over the last 30 or so years, but mostly the prose kind (a story in poem form), not the rhyming kind. I love to read and have happily been a bookworm since I was in elementary school. I prefer to read science fiction, fantasy, literature, and nonfiction. Btw, I submitted a short story this evening (Feb. 27, 2021) and, within minutes, it received its first like. I'm really not used to being this popular. I'm very thankful for the encouragement and support I've received at this website. Without it, I seriously doubt that my writing would've improved as much as it has since late July 2020. I've tried to reciprocate as much as I can and as often as I can. Yes, I can play piano and keyboards. If you want to listen to an improvised composition of mine, feel free to go to YouTube, look up my name (Philip Clayberg, I mean) and "A Bremerton Christmas". The slideshow consists of photos I've taken in the Puget Sound area over the last 10-15 years. If you want to know more about me, just ask.