PrivateTim

Sadly never got the invite. (just kidding)

Disagree all you want, the reality on the ground is different. Young Hollywood male stars escorting different females to the hot spots is called being a player. You might not like it, but that too is a reality for Hollywood male stars who either are gay or thought to be. I won't list the names for obvious reasons, but it is a largish number. I went to a Christmas party at Neverland Ranch and had a sign an 8 page non-disclosure agreement to get on the estate.

Bwah, I think you just fall for certain guys and certain types. I am not sure Bomer was ever destined to be the next Leo.

It is understandable that they are good friends, but being "together as much as possible" is a bridge too far. If Travis wants to remain closeted he needs to be seen more in the company of young women, not just that of a noted sodomite. Travis needs paparazzi photos of him and a hot female at L'Orangerie, The Ivy, Spago, Dan Tana's, etc. And not the same hot babe, but if possible, different ones each time. He might even have to acquiesce to blow jobs from them and the occasional fuck. Travis needs to spend money, maybe good chunks of it, like a certain Hollywood star, to threaten legal action against those wagging tongues. Just about one year after this date, Neil Patrick Harris will come out and show being gay isn't a career killer.

The Schluter kids would have had to deal with a certain level of paparazzi their whole lives. Not a lot, not ten people at a time, but there would always be a stringer or two, hoping to sell to gossip rags.

Thanks Mark for staying on schedule in posting chapters. I am sure it cannot be easy and I appreciate what it takes. It is a devotion to your readers. I think Will was kind of a dick here. So Travis overheard a private conversation. If it was me, I'd have never told Will about it. As it, Will should be touched by Jeremy's gesture of coming to see him. When someone reaches their hand out to you, you don't spit on it. But I guess Will does.

First you have to assume George will find a lover or two on the Spanish frigate. Was it cowardice that led the captain to flee the scene? Was he obligated to intercede if he had no chance of success and then both the frigate and merchant would be lost and maybe with more loss of life than just letting the merchant be captured. And just because the captain gave the order to flee, doesn't mean the officers were of the same mindset. I do think an engagement with the Algerians is in the offing. Surely Cardona's staff must know Granger and Cardona are lovers. Is that not an issue? Lastly, I think the disgraced captain should be posted to Los Angeles and have to deal with Don Diego de la Vega. It could be a whole new series!

You hardly need a Harvard degree in psychology to snare gay boys. Gay boys jump into your boat like Asian carp.

Most likely. Just look at that bad boy.

There are so many tech companies that most people never heard of that got gobbled up by Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, etc. You could have built a tech index fund just based on 100 companies in a 10 mile radius of the San Jose Airport. Just writing down the names off the building would have made you a genius portfolio manager 🤣 Travis by far. Just in the industry there are there more of them, but most are spectacularly good looking and many are willing to trade virtue for an "in". Then there are the ordinary 'just horny' ones, and now as Travis' fame grows, there will be those lifting their tails just to be with someone famous.

I suspect the success of George and Daventry will be more personal success, and cementing bonds with those of their station than success for England. How different might the world have been if British diplomats had convinced Spain to the their side, or even neutrality. There would have been no Trafalgar and how would that have changed things? It was Star Trek that alerted me to how little events could have big consequences.... or maybe it was the Simpson's.

🤣 Which is why I've never understood how they ruled China, India, South Africa, Rhodesia, Ceylon and all the rest. The Walt Disney Company has more submarines than the Royal Navy 🤣

In 2026 dollars, Apple was still a phenomenal buy. Even as late as 2016 you could still buy Apple for around $30 in 2026 dollars. It closed at $250 yesterday. $1,000 invested in Apple in 2005 is worth $130,000 today. That takes into account dividends and splits.

I can see Will pleasing Will, which he does a lot of. Will is a player, there is no way around that. He isn't the worst player I've seen, but he's not the Mother Teresa of players either. I think it is great what they did during Katrina, but if I was going to be critical, it is because the suffering was right in their face on every TV channel 24/7. Yes they responded, but it was one week in between jaunts to Europe, Maui, shuttling between Manhattan Beach and Palo Alto on private jets. Will used to do once a month or so visits to Father Tim's mission in LA, but that was when he lived in LA. What has he been doing lately to use his vast resources to relieve every day suffering? I don't know if Will ever made surfing trips to Baja California, but that was my introduction to the third world. I was 10 probably with my father, grandfather and their surf buddies, heading to K-38 for a week of camping and surfing. As we drove past the cardboard houses of Tijuana, I started crying because I saw kids playing outside these dwellings and I knew it just wasn't right. Nothing my grandfather or father said could console me. No, I didn't devote my life to the poor, yes I did become a money-grubbing lawyer, relieving my well heeled clients of substantial cash, but I did go back to Tijuana at least 10 times over the next ten years on mission trips from my church helping in these neighborhoods to build proper homes, bring food and supplies, and like Travis, play with the kids. I was always amazed at the kids resilience and how joyful they could be in tough circumstances. As I got older, I wasn't able to spend the time I once did, meaning weeks at a time, to help others. Now it has to be weekends and funding surrogates. Here is one of my favorite surrogates. I hope Will finds causes to help relieve suffering long term, not just short term. I am pretty sure he will, more so than his father or Stef, who both have baggage that shaped their drive.

Thanks Mark for your latest chapter of just the right length! I have cast the evil eye on two provocateurs who have dared to question the Master in his own house! They shall be smitten! 🤣 But no, seriously, thanks for this chapter, on schedule and humming along. I think it is a foregone conclusion that Will is going to top Colton at some point. Colton will be on a mission. The question is, will Will and Austin hook up? College boys are not known for their strong resistance to temptation. If I was betting, I'd bet in the affirmative, even if just because it would good drama. Mark has created candy, but just a small sparing bit. There are only 7,000 undergrads at Harvard from all over the country. OCC has 24,000 undergrads, mostly from Orange County and mostly Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach. In other words, roughly 12,000 males like Will and Travis. It's no secret I wanted Will to go to UC San Diego, which doesn't have as many hot guys as San Diego State (35,000 undergrads), but the college kids from all the schools in SD hit the same spots because San Diego really isn't that big. Will could have had a field day in SD or at UC Santa Barbara.

But as we know, he will fail. It will be the 'diplomacy' of Lord Nelson who flips the Spanish.

Well I was in elementary school.... so....

Well yes, but my dealing with French men has not been as fortunate.... they were cun_ _ , but the letters on the end were somewhat different.

Thank you Mark for this surprise dropping of a chapter of PoA. I've wracking my brain as to what holiday March 11 is 🤣 Madrid is a very pleasant 3 hour high speed train ride from Santiago de Compostela, after about an hour conventional train from Ferrol. Amazing that it once took days and before that, it took weeks. So nice to see Cardona again, he is one of my favorite characters. Nice to know that after a period of alliance with France that eventually Spain will join England and Portugal for the Peninsular Campaign. I hope all those characters we love survive to that time. Undoubtedly a few will be lost at Trafalgar, but I hope George is able to save a friend or two. As I've said before, I am a huge fan of Spain, probably caused by a great trip there as a pre-teen, but I love the food, the people, the southern coast and probably because so much of Spain feels like So Cal in climate and topography.

Knock off this peace crap! We want "CLEAR THE DECKS"!

The Hurricane Katrina wasn't the real issue, it was the storm surge that followed. The whole debacle was decades in the making. The Mississippi River used to meander its way down to the Gulf, zigzagging back and through wetlands and marshes. Someone (Politicians? Businessmen?) decided that was a waste and they created the 76-mile-long Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, removing all those natural defenses. When Katrina struck, the surge was such that it came rushing down that artificially created water way. It may have even magnified the effect. Why didn’t that happen in previous storms? No idea, but Katrina was a “perfect storm”. Add to that the notorious corruption of New Orleans and the failure to repair/maintain the levees, and that the Lower Ninth Ward really was “lower” as in below the level of the lake, everything came together to spell disaster. Twenty years later the Lower Ninth Ward is still not close to normal and probably never will be.

Well I've never been to New Orleans, but I did read three John Grisham books..... No, actually I've been there quite a few time. My first time on my own I was a 17 year old heading into my senior year of high school and I was there was four friends and an adult advisor for a leadership conference for high school students. The drinking age was 18, but if you looked older than 15 they seemed to have no problem serving you. I remember feeling naughty the whole time I was there because NO just felt so decadent 24/7. I mean where else could you get pancakes and a Schlitz at 1AM?

I think when you say "state" here you are meaning the federal government or maybe government in general. The way it is supposed to work is local help first, meaning city & county resources, then the state government (in this case Louisiana), then aid from neighbor states in what is called mutual aid agreements. The last line of help comes from the federal government in the form of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The key in their name is Management. They are supposed to do what Will was doing; coordinating other agencies, marshaling resources, reallocating resources and the like. They don't have the manpower to be first responders. That is for people on the scene. "The people" stepping in isn't unusual either. It happens in the form private organizations like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Samaritan's Purse, and foundations like the Schluter Foundation in this story. It was nice seeing the teens responding, but certainly Will should realize every day is a tragedy and struggle for someone, somewhere through his work with the mission in LA. The media turns the cameras on the big things, but often ignores the tragedy right under their noses. Thanks Mark, not just for the on-time chapter and the effort it takes to make that happen, but for a very emotional chapter. It is awful feeling powerless in the face of such a massive disaster. You can hold one five year olds hand, but know there are 10, 20, 50 other five year olds whose hand needs holding and you cannot be there be for all of them. It can be overwhelming.

Patti LuPone was the best Evita ever. Maybe the best Broadway leading lady ever.