Overview

Things are heating up for our boys: https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/7 https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/8 https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/9

I still haven't put a ton of though into my own answer yet and as of the time of writing this, I have 2 days to make a move on it. LOL! The way I approach this every year is by looking at what I didn't like about the previous year. What sucked? What was wrong? What I could have done better? What I didn't accomplish... and then try to decide to take one action to address it. Does that method ever fail, absolutely! LOL! So 2024 was a mess for us. December 2023 was the final IMAGINE Magazine issue with Comicality at the wheel. It's been a year which I STILL cant wrap my head around. So everything posted in 2024 was the current group. I've focused almost all of my attention on what would make Comsie smile, and still do for the most part. So with that in mind, I think I want my resolution to be in the realm of organization. Every month has been a foot race to get articles written or to get pre-made content posted and that process could be way more efficient than it is. I mean, my work flow in life is normally a chaotic mess but the magazine doesn't need to be. So for 2025, I want to improve my project planning and time management for the things that are on a schedule. (I give me until April to drop the ball on this one. LOL!)

I want to apply for a small business loan and open a bakery with a little cafe.

I want to stop eating so much chocolate 🍫

Yup, it's that time of year again. Time to look at the entire sum of our life and decide what parts of it we want to change. It's the same thing every year, isn't it? Maybe you want to lose some weight, maybe you want to get more exercise, maybe give up a bad habit or even pick up a new bad habit... Every year we all bring some form of resolution to the table and way too often, in a month or so we learn how many of them are already off the table. The last person that asked me what my New Year's Resolution was going to be just got a blank stare as a response because, I just hadn't put any thought into it. Honestly, I think it's healthy to consider things in life that we want to improve about ourselves, provided it's realistic. "I want to try to be less short tempered at work." Is a good one. "I want to stop eating so much junk food." is another that if followed through on would be an accomplishment. But aim too high and you are almost guaranteeing that you won't be able to accomplish it. "I want to invent a best selling gadget that will make me a millionaire instantly." Yeah, plan to pretend you never said that one by February. So how about you? Do you have a resolution you want to try to stick to? Do you think that it's realistic and have confidence that you are going to make it stick or did you phone it in this year? If you have one that you want to keep, what's your plan to make it happen? You never know, maybe your plan is similar to someone else's and maybe you both can team up and help each other. It's possible. So is the New Year, how are you making a New You? Or, is the old you your best you in your eyes? (That makes sense, right? LOL!)

Ooops. Forgot to post these last week: Entry 4: https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/4 Entry 5: https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/5 Entry 6: https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/6

Santa Came Early!!! (Okay, stop snickering :P) Just like when I was a kid, I couldn't wait to start opening presents so, you get to as well! This one is from us to you! https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-110/

Funny and adorable!

@MrM @JeffsFort Hahaha! Coy's videos are always hilarious! 😂

Those of you who have been around for the better part of the last couple of decades know that our communities look a lot different than they did back around the turn of the century. Not so much that we are focused on anything different or any more or less involved. It's mainly because we are missing many of the key players from back then. More often now we hear that someone who has been with us for our entire online journey, has finished a journey of their own and will no longer accompany us on ours. As an arguably responsible and somewhat reasonable adult, I know that this is a simple fact of life. Our time here is relatively short and the fact that we shared that time with others makes it so much more meaningful. For me, that is a bit of a comfort until I put just a little too much thought into it. My answer has been a bit altered because of a recent event. An "Real Life" friend of many years passed a way a couple days ago (from the date of typing this) and once again I find myself taking comfort in the fact that they live on in my heart and memory now... at least until I am no longer. So often I have thought about all the shared memories with others that are uniquely mine. Conversations, events, or even messages, just moments that are mine alone. In my offline life this has been most prominent in memories with people like my mother or grand mother, adoptive father or various aunts and uncles that are no longer with us. Not life altering memories either, simple little things that now they are gone, I am the keeper of the only recollection of those events. My mother teaching me how to drive, my grandmother and aunt teaching me how to blow bubbles with bubblegum when I was like 5 while my mother was at work, or how exasperated with them my mother was when she came to pick me up. (lol!) My adoptive father telling me that I was a "Good Boy" on the day he passed or even the time I spent with our own Comicality on the phone trying to get his replacement laptop up and running or of us tossing laughs back and forth as we stumbled while we assembled an online project... They all exist in my memory meaning, when I am done here, those memories are just simply lost. That is upsetting to me. So, today my Christmas want is to be assured that I get to take these memories with me. That they are in fact not going to be lost to eternity when I close my eyes for the final time. That in spite of all the controversy, there is in fact a here after and we get to share those memories with the people we created them with once again. I know that many struggle to find a meaning in the finality of a lifespan but in my life, mixed in with all the bad memories are quite a few keepers. I want to be allowed to keep them. That's what I want for Christmas.

Seeing how he’s finished some of his stories, particularly his short ones, I think Comsie did want to come to conclusions for all his stories. He just never got there unfortunately. Yeah, I think kissed by an angel had one more drama part before it could conclude. The Tyler, Matt, and Sam angle would be a natural path for that just as you are referring to. The one that seems to be getting the most requests for an ending is GFD. That one I believe Comsie had a definite ending for.

New Kid seems like it might have a proper ending, that girl that's been after Ryan but saw him dating Randy on Saturday outs them AND accepts them, and they proceed out and happy together. The last episodes seemed to be trending that way. Although time was dilating in that series, sort of. I think the last 30 or so episodes over the last decade are all in the extended Spring Break- it's almost as if it was narratively finished but the characters were still living. Ariel seems more of a problem; his whole almost-supernatural kinetic discharge thing maybe is so part of him that he's just meant to be a pure embodiment of teen anxiety. One narrative path out of that problem: Tyler comes clean about Sam and Matt and tells him about his history with Randy, and then Ariel demands to catch up to Tyler's body count over a couple of really porny episodes. That'd be one of the natural conclusions to the narrative arc . . . but would it be corrupting the story's central idea? If you take away the crazypants bundle of nerves from Ariel, what'd be left ? Comsie (who I'm sure you knew better than I did) seemed to be more interested in savoring the tension than in resolving it. So maybe it's right to just leave it poised where it is, sad as that may be.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, @Mattyboy. However, I’m up in the air about how to do a fan addition to any of Comsie’s stories. It’s a tall order to follow up on any of his stories! His voice was so unique. As I continue reviewing his archive, I become more and more sure of this. I’ll keep it in mind, though. I’d love to see how many of these stories end! ☺️

If you ever wanted to branch out from Billy and Brandon: I don't know if it's possible or appropriate for someone to write Ariel and Tyler (from New Kid and Angel) out of the anxiety mess that Ariel's in on that terrible Monday, but if there's someone for it, it's probably you @MrM . They deserve the relief, but maybe it's not true to Ariel's character that he ever gets relief.

A new cover by Cormac Thompson! (Title: Days Like These, by Janis Ian)

I managed to see the movie in the Cork Film Festival here in Ireland in November, and the movie was beautiful, quite possibility the happiest LGBTQ+ movie I have seen dealing with this age group. Its still doing it festival run, but it is scheduled to release in Germany on the 16th of January 2025 according to my IMDB Pro account, and on the Belgian trailer it says February, so I'm assuming it will be out in cinemas by March or April outside of Europe, possibly streaming on platforms by summer next year. Mubi might be the first to have it, and I do recall seeing Peccadillo Pictures being attached to the project as the distributor in the opening credits.

I really want to win the lottery.

I really want to see Anthony Schatteman's new film, "Young Hearts". The internet has been teasing us for almost a year, now! Heck, it might even be closer to two years! It's supposed to be released on December 18th, I think? Assuming that isn't more false information, of course. The media has been pretty conflicted about when and where it will be available. Speculation runs from Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix for streaming; a hard copy MIGHT be available from Strand Releasing, or possibly A24. See, it's hard to nail down anything solid, isn't it? It's soooo frustrating, but I really, really, REALLY want to see this film so bad! It looks soooo cute in the trailers, you know? But, there you have it: I want to see a foreign film ASAP. That's at the top of my list to Santa this year!

Whenever most of us are asked what we would like for Christmas (or whatever holiday or event you celebrate when gifts are exchanged), we typically choose the realistic items. Clothing, electronics, a vacation, something fun... Things that are not so selfish or just realistic. Sometimes, there are things that we may have in mind that we want but, it wouldn't be realistic to ask for. So the question this month: "What I 'REALLY' Want For Christmas" Let it be something selfish, or outlandish, maybe embarrassing, or maybe just something impossible. There's nothing wrong with having hopes or wants but, why keep it to yourself. I know I personally have plenty of things I'd love to ask for but then, where will I get all of my new socks from? Hehehe! What do you have on 'YOUR' list?

Late but still on time to have turkey before everyone else! That's how we roll! LOL! https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-109/

Waitaminnit!! What's going on here?! Gavin Casalegno....got married?! WHUT THE ACTUAL F***?!! I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm happy for the dude and his wife. Congratulations, Gavin and Cheyanne! It's just, it's such a shock, you know? There's gotta be so many people, guys and girls alike, who are probably wishing it was them instead. I hope Mrs. Cheyanne Casalegno (neé King) realizes how lucky she truly is to have him. Congratulations, again, guys! I wish you lots of happiness!

Love it, we really should consider altering the featured artist sections of the magazine a little because I honestly have trouble getting everything else assembled as well as seeking out and researching facts about the artists we've always focused on. Too often, I feel like I have no idea what i'm going to do next. I started building a list of artists from this thread alone and it occurred to me that "Page Scrawler's Picks" could be the new title of it. Just sayin' I mean, I am kinda stealing your playlist And yes, Robert Levey was in issue 91 looking and sounding a little younger:

I want to post a final update to thank everyone for their kindness and for being a bit of a lifeline for someone who meant an awful lot to someone who meant an awful lot to us all. I miss Comicality worse than I ever could have expected and after decades of him always being out there and being Comicality, I don't think I could have ever anticipated how to handle saying goodbye to him; it still feels like that next post or email could come from him tomorrow, which is still hard to accept. Helping his mother at this time both gave me the opportunity to get to know someone in his life that he kind of sheltered from his online community and persona, for reasons that only he could explain, as well as show her how loved his son really was by so many. With each dispersement from this campaign, I got to witness first hand just how floored she was at how many people were affected positively by her son. But with the most recent dispersement, she feels that more would be too much. This is the text I received: "Hi Jeffrey, A quick note to let you know that I received the check yesterday. Thank all of you for your kindness. You guys have done more than enough, if any other funds come in, please give it to one of the other members of your writers’ guild. Since there is so much bad weather happening, I am sure some of the other members can use a helping hand. This would make me happy. I look forward to hearing from at your convenience. Take care and be safe, and again, thank you very much." So today I am disabling the campaigns ability to receive donations. For Comicality I want to thank each and every one of you for for making this positive impact in the life of the person who meant so much to him and for standing united with me as a "Shacker" which would have made him so proud. For him, I'll attempt to relay a hug and a thank you to each, and of course, one final "Seezya."

Robert Levey was already featured in Issue 91, I believe. But I like the way you think, Jeff. How about these little punks, instead?

A lovely cover by Cormac Thompson. @JeffsFort Also, here's a picture of Cormac sitting with Jacob Tremblay at summer camp in Washington.