Ashi

I actually like this song and Billy Joel. But honesty doesn't have to be lonely.... I see..., your signature....

LOL. My room is my oasis also. I hope you weren't doing anything you'd like your mother to find out (or giving her heart attack). LOL! Yeah, it's nice to have one's private space.

I thought I posted my favs already, but I guess not. If I could only choose one, it's "Edge of Seventeen." I watch it once a while, and will watch it again if I need to lube my eyes. I really could identify with the main character.... The other honorable mentions are: Latter Days My Beautiful Laundrette The Mudge Boy The Home at the End of the World (I was surprised I like it, because it has Colin Ferrel in it) C.R.A.Z.Y. Maurice Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss The Consequence (a very old German movie, was one of the earliest gay movies ever made) The Line of Beauty Prayer for Bobby Sugar And there are probably others. I watched tons of gay movies each year. In general most of them are d*mn awful.... These are better ones.

The sky must be falling if that ever happens. Back in high school, a teacher suggested to girls that they can ask boys out also. One girl (I believe she was the captain of soccer team, erm... I mean football to you... ) was like she blushed and protested that she could never do that. She was very outgoing. You'd never imagine she would be all sassy and girly about it. It's just the social role thing.... Not saying I am a girl, nor do I fee like one, and sometimes I can be independent minded and feisty (I must be a red-head in my previous life). But when it comes to this kind thing, PLEASE, boys should do the honor. Next time if you see a tall guy standing there like a vase, giving you every chance for a little talk, and check back on you once a while, ask him out, for crying out loud.

Yeah, I think that's a good thing. I wonder how much California saved by not hiring people.... I keep shrinking my spending ever since I became unemployed, so I really think it's pretty dumb to lay off people so economy will get even worse. And nobody understand "Wealth of Nation" anymore or what? Government's job is to create jobs and things that encourages business activities (like lowering crime rate, so hiring more police in fact hit two birds with one stone, but that's not what California is doing). Sorry my old finance discipline sort of kick in (it lives with me all these years though I never get around to use it...). Pretty similar here, though it's Northern California we are talking about (though I don't feel this safe in Southern California), though we still lock our doors regularly, but it's not something to worry about if you forgot to do that one day when I was much younger. And neighbors actually somewhat knows you (not intimately, but they'll recognize you. It is a big city after all..., though I have to admit I don't know how my city manages to feel like a town rather than what it is). And I HATE lock the door, especially my room or when I am in bathroom. Sometimes my mom would just barge in and I would have to yell at her, "Can't you knock?" Her response would always be, "Can't you lock the door?" Then I will like, "It's my home too, so why should I?" I really don't feel like locking myself up like some prisoner or something. Besides, lock the door makes the room feels smaller (psychological thing...).

I have loads of these frustration stories.... I just wish they have happy endings instead....

Pisces are the trusting kind, and they're great friends! :-)

In California, we downsize workforce like there is no tomorrow.... As a side effect, in most smaller state parks, you'll never see a fee collector anymore. Instead, you get a collection box. You insert some money into a supplied envelop by the entrance gate, write down your license plate number on the envelop and stub. Deposit the envelop in the box by the gate, and keep the stub and show it on the car's windshield. That's it. I pay my fees. If I cannot afford it, I just make a U-turn and not going in anymore.... I lost my sunglasses a couple times in mall's fitting rooms. Always found them when I returned. I lost my cell phone once in SF's Castro District Diesel Store. The guy called my cousin up (her number was in the phone) and we returned there to pick it up. No unsolicited gay guy called me on that phone afterward (bummer!).

I hope no one got raped.... Boy's Don't Cry is really sad.... Nicely done movie though.

What are you talking about? Nothing happened. That's the thing. Nothing ever happened between us. It's frustrating.

I think they used taters to mean potatoes. It's also used here depends on where you go. Typically in a chain restaurant, they'd ask if you want fries or baked potatoes in standard California English. :-D I totally adore Southern accent for some reason. I used to have a coworker who spoke in that. He always called me "Sweet Lou." That's like our ritual when we first met at the beginning of the day and he'd yelled that. Never got around to tell him that made me sound like a toilet.... I didn't have the heart. He always played "A Boy Named Sue" for me. He was like a HUGE country fan, and Johnny Cash in particular, except not many people at work liked country (it was more of a hip-pop/rap workforce). Your slip also reminds me of something. For those of you who don't speak English as a native speaker, do you show your accent (or getting even worse) when you are nervous? (I do) There is this guy at Costco, we never really talked because he was always nervous around me, even though I gave him so much chance.... Anyways, there was this time he finally talked a little more than "Is there anything else I can help you?" (and not making a proper eye contact with me...) And we got into a little chat, and he was really excited and he slipped. I almost asked him, "Is that German accent?" Could have been Danish or Scandinavian accent. Anyways, do you guys slip an accent when you do that?

I am not sure about others, but hoagies are different from subs or hot dog buns. Hoagies are better, usually use bread flour for chewy texture, and usually more artisan type of bread. Po' Boy usually refers to a type of sandwich, rather than just a type of bread. I've only seen torpedo used in restaurants. Taters are definitely different from fries. At least in California, term "fries" specifically refers to French fries, whether it be regular cut "chips" or spiral cut or crinkle cut. Usually you just cut them in strips and fried them (only fastfood chains did the cheater way by mashing them and then reshape them for texture consistency reason). Taters (short for tater tots) are more hashbrown like, except made into little balls. You chop potatoes into tiny little pieces, mold into shapes then fried them, so you get to taste the little textures. They don't taste the same, fries and taters. Gael García Bernal, oh yeah. He is cool. I watched a movie with him in it, and he played a transgender. That might have been the reason why I rented that DVD. I was like, "Who was that sexy guy?" <-- That's me talking gay, can you tell by my subtle accent? Okay, if you want to speak street gay, it might be, "That jalapeno is so hot, it's gonna be an *ss scorcher." See why I don't speak like that? "Hugh Grant type stuff." Man, that's deep. You almost got me there, bro. Cool. Cool. (notice the repeat) Me and my homey ain't watching nothing like that, not even if chicks drag me like Hector in Trojan War. <-- that's just street, unless the speaker is closeted. I find it difficult to include a character who speaks street because people don't talk like that around me..., so my vocabulary is limited. But I like that street/posh combination for my couples.

Good storytelling. There is some sort of a mean spirit in the way the main character treats the psychologist (or in a way a displaced discontent toward his mother). Almost like a contempt. I am not sure I like it, but it makes the story even more believable and real.

I sensed a lot of..., I fail to find a proper word for it. It's not exactly discontent, but something yearning for more in the deepest set in the tone of writing. When I read your letter to yourself, I felt the same. Your writing is both real and surreal. I almost feel like I am witnessing a person who has amnesia but just begin to recollect his memory, or maybe just begin to explore his life, though nothing quite makes sense to him yet, despite his ability to analyze is not handicapped in any way. In any case, I feel a sad undertone in these chapters. Not a face-open sadness, but somewhat concealed one. I do wish your life is happier than your stories.

Compared with Chapter 3, I think this one is like a piece of heavier thread-count linen. Both chapters are finely written, but this one is more dense and has a luxury amount of detail in it. It's the way I like it.

Weird chapter. All the previous chapters are all somewhat unreal and have a dreamy undertone, though never break away from reality. This one is almost like Twilight Zone as Conner put it. And it is almost Gothic, whereas others are more like fragments of memory with noirish undertone.

Funny, I was actually trying to rent this version of Great Expectation and found this thread.... I rarely find people who are "beautiful" sexy. I rarely find physically perfect people "loveable." I don't know..., I appreciate beautiful people (like Booth), muscular hunks or whatever the way we rank beauty, but none of that actually means anything to my emotional attachment. I don't mean I won't ever fall in love with a hot guy (actually I did have a crush on a guy who was pretty handsome, in my subjective measure of course), just that hotness makes no difference whether I like the guy or not. I really think personality trumps over physical beauty. As for the original question, whether Booth is "too beautiful." I think people just mean he was not correctly cast as Pip. I never imagined Pip as being a superfluous handsome guy in any way.... Like Princely Orange Peel said, Estella is meant to be beautiful, but Pip isn't. He probably looked gentlemanly like, but I don't get the impression he is a "pretty boy." Won't work for the storyline, but won't stop me from renting the movie either. BTW, I kind of disagree with people who think Booth looks ordinary. He is beautiful alright, in an androgynous way. Very standard model look. I won't say he is "perfect" but perfection isn't what makes one stand out from another. I find plastic look very unattractive. Andrej Pejic is "beautiful." I will have a hard time saying he is "handsome" which I probably could still bring myself to use the word on Booth (just barely though). I think Pejic is far more beautiful than most female models I've seen, which is kind of intriguing.... And I agree with whoever said objective beauty (should I rephrase it to "conventional beauty"?) vs subjective beauty. I would not date either Booth or Pejic (even if they would entertain such thought... probably not), though they're really beautiful people by conventional standard. But now I know your type of guy, Zombie. LOL! "...could not walk down the street without causing death and mayhem." LOL. Beautifully phrased.

I say no starch, you starch. Starch no pay. Anywayz.... I was in Jorsey earlier this year and didn't notice any special accent. Maybe it's too close to NY where I went. I think Connecticut police officers spoke in a very distinct New England accent. And how about them street language? I was around some dudes once, and they were like switched to standard academic language when they talked to me, when I just heard them using street slang! Like gays would switch when they talk to guys.... And I watched way too much British drama.... Sometimes I don't notice any difference when I talk to a British. The only difference I found between British in California and British in London was when Londoners talked, they didn't give a bloody shiiite. Then there was this Australian customer I helped once, and he was asking for "Pi phone." For the longest time I had no idea what he was talking about, and he looked frustrated. Then I figured..., oh, pay phone. I would say public phone. This was before cell phones were popular, of course. OMGsh, I am showing my age....

Not in Indy, but I watched Prayer for Bobby. Lovely movie.

There you go. Now use that charm to turn the whole town gay-friendly.

Well..., you shouldn't laugh hysterically.... Just give the advice. Most of them will listen. Just because he is an officer doesn't mean he is superman. You can't expect everyone to know everything.

No, that's not salmon, that's peach! Salmon is more matte and duller in shade. Trust someone who was in fashion industry, peachy boy.

Anyone clicked on the trailer at the bottom of the video clip? The Magic Mike.... Channing Tatum playing a stripper. F*ck! I am going to explode!

Ouchie. Those in-laws. If someone invented an in-law zipper, that'll sell like hot cake.

Umm..., you'd never know if there is a gay community around. I don't think I live near a gay community either. Anyways, just wear your T and see if they give you a fist or they give you a wink. LOL! You? Ugly? Well, at least you're young.... Anyways, I don't believe you. Besides, it's the inside that counts. If gay people all hate you, then this site would be called Straightauthors (or at least bicuriousauthors). Anyways, quoth Holden Caulfield, "You're a real prince, a gentleman and a scholar, Ackley." Though I think I may have misquoted. EDIT: Just remembered Jamessavik is a Leo.... No wonder he didn't find my teasings funny.... Oops. Sawry.