AFriendlyFace

Hey Shannon! It's ALOT of fun! Never too late to get started either! Good Luck! Have an awesome day all! Kevin

May your day be excellent and your year even better! Happy Birthday!

Hi Steve!! Welcome to GA! It's really great to have you here! Hehe well then here's a 3rd (even though I already welcomed you ) Welcome Graeme! hehe, it really is great to see so many awesome people and talented writers! I can't wait to read more from you guys! All the best, Kevin

Shucks! I don't get to compete, but I'm dying to find out all the answers!! I also can't wait to see who wins!! Good luck everyone! Kevin

Wow! This was a really great chapter! Besides being well-written and all around hot it also seemed to really progress Andrew and Jarred

Happy Birthday Miso!! I hope your day is filled with joy and happiness May this year bring you everything you want all be thest, Kevin

Congrats Dez!!

Good theory I think Jay was just lying to Oliver about his name so that if Oliver said anything people would think he was talking about Jeremy. Great cliffhanger! Can't wait to see what happenes! Kevin

Excellent points, Captain! My opinion is that David emerges for a specific reason. Like if Oliver is upset or something. So I had thought that as long as everything was going well between Oliver and David it wouldn't happen. Of course you're right anything else could happen to cause David to emerge and that would be pretty weird! Also welcome to GA! It's great to have you here; I look forward to seeing more from you! Have an awesome day and take care everyone! -Kevin

Glad you decided to post E! OHHHH that would rock!! LOL, any chances of that happening? Have a fun day all! Kevin

Thanks for sharing, James, those were funny! Have a great day all! Kevin

That would be cool! Great review, Michael! I agree on most points! -Kevin

WOO HOOO! Congratulations Joe! I can't wait to read the next 1,000!!! Take care and have a fantastic day! Kevin

Hi Sharon, I suppose my previous post was rather insensitive and I should have clarified my feelings more. The entire 9/11 situation is, at least for me (well surely for everyone), very complicated. It's primarly the political mass (mess?) that comes attached to 9/11 that turns me off. Most political things do have a tendency to make me smile and nod while waiting for a chance to make an escape. Having politics thrust on me is also one of the quickest ways to tick me off. I'm perfectly willing to discuss religion calmly for hours, but when it comes to politics it's one jumbled mess I have no desire to even begin to untangle. Also as someone who doesn't see anything in black and white I wouldn't begin to assume that there's a "correct" political ideology. My somewhat jaded view on politics is that both the major parties (and any other sizable political body) is sufficiently screwed up, and corrupt to such an extent that I really don't care and don't see the point in trying to depose one party for another. On the more positive flip side I also think that each party (and sizeable political body) is filled with good, well-meaning people doing what they truly believe is best. Again I just don't see why I (just myself personally not other people, I'm glad some people do care) should waste my time and energy messing with this delicate balance when I don't belive in the cause in the first place (and again I'm glad other people do). I'm also tired of people telling me "you haven't got a right to complain if you don't vote (otherwise participate)". What they're failing to note is that I don't complain. I don't discuss it at all. I'm not asking for the perogative to be lazy about it and then spout off my views. I'm asking for the perogative to be left out of it! I realize that regardless of what "side" someone's on my political attitude is likely to be recieved frostily. When this is coupled with the fact that by the very nature of my political opinions I have very little interest in converting anyone else to my way of thinking (indeed I concede the fact that it's a good thing more people DON'T think and act as I do politically), it becomes readily obvious why, unless I feel obliged (as in this case), I don't clarify my political position at all. That said I'm basically a liberal (and I may possibly even vote that way, just don't expect to see me campaigning for any party), but I use the term as a way of describing my likely position on individual issues (I'm more open to the notion of campaigning for a specific issue). Indeed I'm happy to discuss specific issues. I have opinions on: gay rights, prayer in school, social security, abortion, euthanasia, and even the "war". However, in the case of the last one I'd rather not discuss it, and in the cases of: prayer in school, abortion, and euthanasia my relativism is such that I'll only express my general opinion and refuse to believe that there really is an absolute "right or wrong" in these issues (they should probably all be decided case by case, which of course isn't practical). Anyway once the "D" or "R" words are brought into the debate or someone tries to tie one issue to another I once again loose interest in continuing the conversation. I realize that my views on all of the above are riddled with inconsistencies, paradoxes, and perhaps outright fallacious reasoning. I'm fine with that thanks and have no desire to change (though I do reserve the right to completely alter my opinions by whim and without explanation). Anyway now that I've ranted about that I'll address the actual issue. I think it's disgusting the way people have tied politics to what should (IMO) simply have remained a tragedy and time of mourning. However, I'll confess that since I didn't have any direct personal involvement with 9/11 these "patriots" and "pacifists" (note the sarcasm) have succeeded in giving me a knee-jerk, "here we go again" reaction to anything relating to 9/11. I in no way mean to trivialize that tragedy and suffering experienced by those involved. I think it's awful what happened and I'll be the first one to sympathize with and be supportive of someone who wants to tell me their story. Indeed I'm very moved by your story and very thankful that your sister was okay and that you and your family have a stronger appreciation of each other. However, while I can be supportive of you and others who tell me their stories, I can't be supportive of John and Jane Doe, whom I've never met and will never meet, who lost their son in the attack. I would be upset by hearing their tale and I would want to help them and reach out to them. But I can't. It's for this reason that I avoided the news coverage (and always avoid the news coverage of other tragedies) when it first happened (I did donate money and blood in an effort to be helpful in a practical way, but it's emotional support I'm talking about here). Instead I chose to reach out to and help the people directly around me. I chose to go on listening to and trying to help with the day to day problems of those with whom I was directly involved. There was a girl I knew who for the first day was concerned about her father who was in Washington at the time (he was fine), and I did do my best to console her and be supportive of her. There were also countless other people who were upset and scared in general. I uniformly (and probably to my own emotional and psychological detriment) internalize the problems of those around me. I do care. It's also not particularly difficult to get sympathy and support out of me. I'll coddle anyone and I actively keep an eye out for people who might be upset and in need of a kind word. However, there's pain and suffering all over the country and the world. EVERY single day marks the anniversy or something horrible for someone. I'll do my best to be there for the people around me on these days. But while I wish I could save the world, I can't. So I'm not going to feel bad continuing my life as normally as possible on any given day. So please if anyone reading this is hurting or upset about something by all means feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to console you, sympathize with you, or just "be there". But again my focus is individuals. I'm very sorry if this post offends anyone and I also apologize to Dom for essentially hi-jacking his blog. I just felt called upon to clarify my position. That said though I'd prefer not to talk about it anymore. Take care ALL individuals, and may you EACH have an awesome day, Kevin

I do love the commercial! There was this excellent site that had a bunch of "gay" commericals. I can't remember the link though. If I find it I'll let you know Take care and have an awesome day! Kevin

I agree with all that! Take care David, I hope you enjoy the new job and adjust quickly all the best, Kevin

I'm glad you're happy with the new guy, Dom I've carefully wrapped myself in a cocoon of apoliticalness and I'm not coming out! That's not to say that I agree with the war, in fact, being a pacifist, I object. I'm just not going to waste my time and energy following it or getting emotionally involved. Probably makes me sound dreadfully selfish, but I'm content to leave it in the hands of others. So for me 9/11 barely registered. However, coincidently I happened to have a bad day on my own anyway. Well take care and I hope you have a teriffic week! Kevin

Hey Robbee First off, I love that poem. *sigh* I've often thought this quite a bit myself. I've decided it's best to try to make it better without becoming a part of it Just my thoughts on it though Very true . Grandparents are great! good luck! I'm glad things are going well. I hope you get everything else sorted out, and good luck with the writing!! (I'd love to see some sometime if you felt like showing me ) Take care, dude, and have an awesome...EVERYTHING Kevin

Hey Luc! First off YAY I can't wait to read the anthology! Secondly: YAY!! I can't wait to read the new story LOL, just a little FYI you probably don't care about, "Ghost of You", I believe, is also the title of a Good Charlotte song . Decent song, but I bet the story will be superb! Take care and have a great day! Kevin

Yay!! I can't wait to read it!

I really enjoyed this story and the last chapter! I'm a little surprised that Ryan and Connor got back together since I was predicting that Connor would be alone or with Ben when the story ended. Still Ryan and Connor was what I wanted so no complaints. I'm glad Natalie won the talent contest, and that was really nice of her to include Connor like that. Also, while I'm not going to question why Trent was wearing a dress I am going to question what he was doing at the school. I thought he was a senior the year before? Shouldn't he have graduated? I seem to remember Connor being nervous about performing for the senior prom because Trent would be there. I guess it could have been the regular prom but I was thinking it was specifically for the seniors. Anyway great chapter, excellent story, way to go David! Nice editing Kitty and Sharon! Take care all and have a great day! Kevin

Hey everyone! Nick just released the first chapter of Staking My Claim and it's an awesome start to what looks like a very promising story! I really liked how Nick incorporated all the recent stuff with hurricane Ernesto; it gave it a really current feel. The first chapter mostly seems to have been a rehash of My Jump Off, but from Andrew

Hey everyone! I was thinking since it's standard practice to start a new thread for each chapter when the author has their own forum (and thus there's no concern about flooding a shared forum), we might as well give that a shot! I'm thinking in the next few weeks and months Nick's reader base is really going to take off and hopefully we'll be getting tons of replies per thread anyway Take care all and have an awesome day! Kevin

Hi everyone! This was a great chapter! I loved the way that Kevin described the peanut and honey sandwich his grandmother brought him; that did sound really awesome! I also liked the transition from a happy, peaceful day with Justin to a nerve-wracking worrisome evening at home, then back to, what to Kevin seemed like, a happy,