AFriendlyFace

While I pretty much agree with you, just to clarify my understanding of it, it has more to do with being proud of what you do/did with your orientation than anything else. But I agree it's not really the best term for it. "Pleased" would probably be more suitable than "proud". "I sure am pleased that I'm gay!" makes more sense than, "I sure am proud of myself for having this orientation beyond my control!" Perhaps we should just call them "Pleased Parades" instead.

And the neighbours have never been the same sense....

Don't let that dissuade you; I think most/many gay/bi boys have had girlfriends in the past. Heck, even I sorta, kinda have.

Wooo HOOO! Good luck on the move, Tim! Let me know how it goes Working out what you want in terms of a relationship is never easy...believe me I know. But it sounds like you're on the right track and that's definitely a major plus! Don't rush. If you'd prefer a 'special friend', however you choose to define that, instead of a 'boyfriend' then that's definitely what you should pursue! I'm sure it'll all work out great for ya Good luck! Kevin

Welcome to the site, Knight! I hope you enjoy yourself! -Kevin

Thanks Old Bob! I'm so glad you liked it LOL, and glad that Sharon made me post it!

Thanks, Tiff! I really appreciate that! It certainly is good when inspiration hits! My problem is really a lack of time and focus, I usually have something in my head I could write, but I can seldom find the time, or make myself if I do have the time, lol!

Thanks!

Thanks!! Well mine's very short! I wrote the whole thing in one sitting. hehe, that's what I'm trying to decide! I can't figure out what signal I want to send or what style I want to embody. Right now I'm thinking of wearing this medium blue, button down shirt, with quite a few of the buttons open and the sleeves rolled up, and this off the wall, blue stone necklace, with a black threading, I would pair that with some black shoes and a black belt, and wear a pair of snug (but no obscenely so) jeans. That's what I'm leaning toward, but I was thinking I might go with something a little more understated instead *shrug*

So I've finally released the first chapter of my new story, Buy Me a Drink. The first chapter is entitled, Hot Mess. Please, please, PLEASE read it and let me know what you think. I was a bit nervous about starting to post it so I'll be happy with all the feedback I can get (good, bad, or indifferent). Here's a link to the discussion thread. A little bit about the story: Bmad is a stand alone story but it's also the first part of what I intend to be a two part story. Indeed it's much shorter than the sequel will be. It's also completely done, and almost entirely edited (thanks Sharon!), and fairly far along with beta reading as well (Thanks Tim!). Thus, failing any natural, or unnatural, disaster it will be released on a weekly basis (or sooner) until it's completely posted. I'm expecting there to be a sequel, and there likely will be as long as I feel inspired to work on it (hint: I'll feel more inspired if people seem to actually be reading it ). Drop by the discussion thread and let's discuss it! I also submitted my Summer anthology entry tonight! I've started almost every anthology we've had for the last couple of years, but I've seldom managed to finish AND feel satisfied enough with the results to bother getting it edited and submitted. Indeed I probably wouldn't have submitted this one either if Sharon hadn't encouraged me to (thanks again, Sharon!). Don't blame her though if you guys hate it I also have a couple of other complete, or nearly complete, short stories that I intend to release over the next couple weeks, and inspiration for at least 4 new serials. HOWEVER, before I get to the new serials I'll hopefully be writing BMAD's sequel AND finishing up Indefensible. On that note I'd like to once again apologize to everyone who started reading it and has been disappointed by the long LONG delay. It's actually still the project that's closest to my heart and the only reason I never continued it was because I didn't feel like I could give it the focus, attention, and inspiration that it deserves. Rest assured that before I start re-releasing it I'll have lots of chapters in place and be very sure that I'm able to finish it within a reasonable span of time. This summer is going to be (and already is :wacko: ) crazy, busy, but I'm hoping to still squeeze in a bit of writing here and there, and fortunately since BMAD is complete it shouldn't impact that at all. I'm sure it seems to everyone that this writing kick is out of the blue, but really I've been continuing to write off and on all along and just haven't felt inspired enough to complete and post anything. LOL, three years ago I came here to be a writer and I'm going to be damn it! Anyway, like I said, please let me know what you guys think! BTW, I have a date tomorrow/tonight, his name is Ryan, wish me luck

Aww thanks, Dion! It really isn't so bad at all. I'm doing just fine

Well that certainly seems well reasoned to me and I definitely support you guys in this! Besides, long engagements can be super romantic!

OH my gosh!

That's what I was trying to point out; that Joe was unlikely to be involved, not that I thought he was. Well as I said, I don't think he was involved, but if he had to do his 'talking' with a AK47 that might explain why he needed to be in person

I agree with these points! Helen isn't so bad at all, IMO.

Ohh, I love Father Ted!

Wonderful points! Also an excellent analysis! Good points! LOL, saying it like that makes it sound so sweet and intimate! Very true Actually, while it might seem as though I meant to be urging you on to rush into asking him the gay/bi thing as well, I have to that was NOT my intention and I very much agree with Gary on these points! I'm seldom a fan of being THAT blunt about it, especially in a relatively new friendship. I definitely think you should take your time with it before getting to that point and you should be as unconfrontational as possible about it. Eventually when you feel the time is right you should tell him that you are bi, but I really don't think you should ask him if he is, and if you do certainly do that well after you've already told him you're bi. Otherwise you probably will scare him off...plus that's kinda rude and overly forward IMO anyway. Good luck! Kevin

It wouldn't let me view the vids. Said they were no longer available.

Viewing it as a party versus a regular, every day 'slice of life'. Let's assume for a second that we have a 20 or 21 year old straight male, completely stumbling drunk, wearing nothing but I pair of low riding shorts, and hanging all over every reasonably attractive female he meets. Does he have a 'problem'? Is he a lascivious alcoholic? I think this very much depends on what context he's in. If it's a Friday night during his Spring Break and five of his buddies are with him doing the same thing, then while I'm neither condemning nor lauding his behaviour, I'd certainly refrain from saying he had some kind of significant emotional/mental/psychological/social problem. If on the other hand it's a Wednesday morning and he's in an academic or professional environment and behaving as I described above...well that's certainly a lot more troubling and he may indeed have deep, problematic issues. Or at the very least deserves to, and probably will, get into trouble. In that same way if you're a drunk, loud, half-naked gay guy at Pride it doesn't necessarily indicate that in a different environment you couldn't be a completely capable, well-disciplined, polite member of society. An on-looker judging you as a an immoral sociopath would be completely unfair. Those are excellent points, Procyon! I certainly can't disagree with any of them You've got a good point that if the majority of GLBT people are uncomfortable with the events and want to 'clean them up' then indeed that should happen. I would very VERY much argue against doing that simply to please straight people though, especially non-allies (as I said, it's just not their party or their business). Personally speaking, thinking back to the Pride events that I've attended I honestly can't recall a single dildo being waved in the first place. It may indeed have happened and maybe I just didn't notice or don't remember, but I don't think it's pandemic to these affairs in any case. But yeah, in general I think you're dead on with your analysis of why the wilder, 'bad' behaviour might be occurring, and also I'd like to once again point out that while it is there to some extent it's really not by any means a universal feature of these events. Have a great day all Kevin

Unfortunately in that way I suppose it does, but I think the people who view it that way are 1) making a serious oversight in judgment which a rational person should pick up on and avoid and 2) failing to take into consideration their own 'indiscretions' and general human nature. All I'm saying is that Pride runs that gamut from very respectable to very wild, a rational, unbiased person will see this and make appropriate conclusions. If the person is already biased, then I'm not as concerned about what they think because I think there are far better times than Pride to try to convince them otherwise. A good analogy is that most people wouldn't be eager for a perspective employer to watch them let their hair down and party with friends. Making a decision about someone's potential as a good employee based on this information is unfair and misleading. In that same way making a decision about a gay person's morality and responsibility at a pride parade is unfair and misleading. In all honesty I don't think the traditional, undecided straight world should be 'invited' to pride events (it probably doesn't matter if the allies and homophobes are because they've already made up their minds). It's unfortunate and IS true that they'll probably be there. In that way I would prefer for them to see positive, responsible behaviour, but honestly as I said I'm just less concerned with having them see it in this instance than I would at other times. Besides I really think most reasonable people who aren't already prejudiced will be able to conclude that evaluating people at a big party isn't really the best time. I definitely agree with this point. I think that to the average gay person 'Pride' has little to do with pride. It's just sort of an excuse to party as a big gay community. Again I would draw parallels to Mardi Gras and St. Paddy's day. All three events are ostensibly about celebrating a particular culture, and all three events have participants primarily from a specific culture, but I don't really think the main objective of the average reveler is really directly related to any sort of 'mission statement' or anything else. It's just a good opportunity for those groups to get together and have fun together and celebrate their commonality and membership in that group, which is of course in itself a kind of celebration of the culture and ideals, but to a much less restricted, focused degree. In any case, I'm really not advocating that people go to pride parades and model the worst kind of behaviour. I'm not saying we should purposely thumb our noses at society and give them extra ammo. Indeed, as I said I voted 'other' in that I didn't think the parades were either completely good or bad for us. The only reason I'm adamantly defending them is because so many others seem to be attacking them or trying to 'clean them up' and make them PG. I just don't think that should be done. There is much to find contemptible about such events, but I think gay people are censored more than enough in society as it is, why not allow one weekend a year for gay people to be a little wilder and more out there if they want to? No one is forcing all gay people to do this, and no one, gay or straight, has to participate in or attend the events if they don't want to. I would similarly argue against 'cleaning up' Spring Break, or Vegas, or Amsterdam, or The French Quarter, or...* I'm not saying going to these places and doing the standard, stereotypical things that people associate with them are meritorious, positive ways to live one's life, but I think they should exist as options for people to participate in if they want to, and I'm against trying to turn them all into Disneyland. We're not living in Puritanical times and I for one am very much against returning to them, so let's leave our 'sin centers' in tact for the wayward partier. I firmly believe that decisions of whether or not to partake in these things, with all they have to offer, should be left up to the people themselves with their own morals, ethics and values as a guide, and with the encouragement and direction of their friends and families. So I'm not saying we should all strip down to our underwear, get drunk, and walk down the streets waving dildos, but if any of you want to do that, while I may indeed personally try to dissuade you and while I further agree that such behaviour should indeed be illegal the rest of the year, I will support your right to do this during Pride if you so choose, and I'll further encourage onlookers to view this in the appropriate context. Take care all and have a great day -Kevin (who will be going to Pride, will be lightly partying, but will not be taking things to extremes) *I mean no offense to anyone who lives in Las Vegas, Amsterdam, New Orleans, or a popular Spring Break destination. I'm aware that your cities offer much more than this, and I do not mean to insinuate anything negative by my remarks.

Hmm, Well I really think it probably was Mario or Dimitri, and I'm leaning toward Mario since Dimitri is a more significant character. However, I still felt compelled to vote for someone other than them, so I selected an unknown air force personal, but I'm probably wrong in that. I don't think so. There's only the two of them, and they're both 'experts' so I'm sure they'd be working in complete conjunction. But all the evidence indicates that Joe does not live with Jerry and that they haven't seen each other recently and aren't in contact. It rather seems 'too easy' if it really is either Dimitri or Mario, because now the element of surprise is completely blown, there's only one left, AND the air force is on the way as well! Tough odds indeed for whichever one remains.

It does look as though one of them might be resting peacefully now though Good chapter, very exciting, nice quick pace! I quite liked it and am looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Coolness, dude

I agree that you need to strike up a conversation with him and befriend him. From there you can better play it all by ear and work out what to do next. One rather important question, do you like him? I mean are you interested and attracted? You only said you thought HE might be interested and attracted. Do you feel the same way? Also, to what extent are you 'out' at school?

Well my opinions are based on direct experience. I've been for the last two years and will be going again this year. Whereas I haven't 'marched' in the past, I'll probably be marching this year.