AFriendlyFace

A good point! I'm embarrassed that I hadn't taken that into consideration upon my initial reading of the piece. As I said, I had originally thought the poem about love (which I imagine was just some silly preconceived notion I had when going into my reading of it), as such I took those lines to emphasize the surprise of finding love, almost as if it were some sort of ambush, something that did indeed sneak up from the shadows and hurl itself at you when you weren't looking. Your intent and explanation make much more sense and as I said I'm a bit embarrassed that I hadn't clued into that possible interpretation in my first reading of the lines (of course after I realized it was about death I went back and re-read it in that context). I indeed wish that I had initially considered it from a dark angle so that I might have experienced that wondering and brooding, uncertain fear. An apt topic given the way many people throughout history and into modern times have continually maintained a fascination, and indeed love affair, with death. Skillfully done Paradoxically these techniques made it EASIER for me to read because they caught my attention, fascinated me, and caused me to the read the piece more carefully. Well I suppose 'easier' isn't the best word; they made my reading more effective. I paid more attention to the piece and thus got more out of it. Well done It was a pleasure and a small labour compared to the work that went into writing them and providing them for us all to read So thank you Take care and have an awesome day, Kevin

I hadn't noticed that! Thanks for clarifying; that definitely adds a deeper level to the poem! Excellent! Very thoughtful and well done!

HAHA! Thanks Mike! Actually I have finished chapter 4, but I don't want to release everything too soon or I'll run out of chapters and people will get tired waiting, lol! Plus, I want to see what people have to say about the story as it develops Thanks CJ! Well, all in all it's pretty accurate. In fact to be honest quite a bit of it is based on my own experiences, the experiences of people I know, the things I've heard about it, or simply the things I can readily imagine happening. Of course there's creative license, but I am trying my best to conceptualize realistic gay characters based on people and personalities that I know, and put them into an environment that is for the most part accurate, and then sort of 'tell the story' of what might happen with these types in these environments. I'll also say that really 'club culture' depends very much on your own experience of it. Just like gay culture in general or any other gathering of people. You can have a very tame, conservative experience of gay culture OR you can have a very wild experience. It largely depends on where you go, who you're with, and what you do. Here's a good example, a friend of mine is very religious, very conservative about sexual matters and wouldn't dream of messing around outside of the confines of a serious relationship, only drinks in moderation, never touches drugs, doesn't smoke, doesn't dress in such a way that 'puts him on display', and doesn't dance in a hyper-sexual dirty manner. On the other hand I know people who go to clubs for whom all those above statements would be the exact opposite. There's also pretty much all kinds of other people there that fall anywhere in between that very VERY wide range (myself included ), and there's probably even people there who are more 'modest' in their behaviour as well as people who are 'wilder'. So you get a huge range and you get all types of people all under the same roof. There's really nothing to be 'worried' or 'scared' of as long as you 'know who you are', and what you do and don't want to do. The key is to be secure in your identity and not fall into things that aren't right for you. LOL, anyway that's a long answer to a short question, but yeah I think the story is a pretty accurate representation of one aspect of club culture. Thanks You know, I tried to make that scene as unique and original as possible, and I definitely don't think they're similar at all, but I actually had in mind Brandon (from LTMP)'s thoughts and experiences on his own early shopping trips. So what did you guys think of Aaron's reactions? Did they feel real and natural? As I said, I actually re-wrote Aaron a little bit and adjusted my focus for him as a character. In the original draft he was the sort of person who would have enjoyed going, and I actually had the chapter two scene with Jake insisting that he go playing out something like this:

Maybe the sequel takes place IN hell! Perhaps Jerry is plotting to steal the devil's pitchfork and control the underworld by freezing out anyone who opposes him!

Well said, Ieshwar! Exactly, Viv! If it's like everything Luc writes 'grabs' my emotions and won't let go till the end of the story! Once again, well done, Luc -Kevin

Hmm, well that linear path actually reflects more hope than the other way. Anyway great job!

Sounds very difficult. Remember Alyssa is Aaron's friend, so any information you get from her you might want to take with a grain of salt anyway I would suggest just trying to put the whole thing behind you and chalking it up to differences in the way people communicate and behave. I'm sorry it happened to you though -Kevin

Oh my! Frankly, it sounds to me like you and Jeremy are both better off without Aaron. I would strongly caution you against ever entering a relationship with him, regardless of future developments, but that's just my opinion Anyway, good luck and better that you found out now than later! -Kevin

Aren't there compatibility issues at play when you buy new hardware? How do I know I'm getting the right one?

It seems like we would have! No need to run though; take your time. This one will do till you find it I suppose you're right. He actually doesn't have any GLBT friends, so I suppose I really ought to introduce him around anyway. Ouch! Yeah, I think you should dump Aaron! (gosh, I'm being blunt about your personal life, but yeah)

Nothing gets by you! I'd completely forgotten that I'd just mentioned that Woo hoo! I'm both honoured and uhh, excited to be your 69th That a good point I suppose, thanks Gary.

*sigh* I know you're both right... Thanks for the excellent advice, btw.

Dude, I love that! Until I got to the last couplet I was thinking "What a pretty, romantic poem". Totally caught me unaware that it was about death, but the description works so well in that context too! Awesome job! I think it might perhaps be my favourite of yours thus far. It is also had a good rhythm and I liked the rhyming. I can get a bit picky about rhyming sometimes. I often find that far from enhancing a poem some ill-used rhyming totally destroys the effect. In this case though, I'd say you nailed it. Well done, Kevin

I like it, based on the italicized line, in context with the rest of the poem, I'm going to interpret it to mean that the 'lie' is more an omission than an outright fib, but that even that 'lie' the denying of love and sorrows is still painful. Of course I might be completely off base. Anyway, nice job, dude -Kevin

Congrats on posting, auel! We welcome your participation in the community, be it as a lurker or an active poster! I agree with Sacha, please do jump right in if you have something you want to say! Take care and have a great day! Kevin

Awwww I'm sorry man, that totally sucks! Since you're still on good terms with him I'll skip what I have to say about him cheating on you ( ). It sounds to me like he really shouldn't be in a relationship right now, and only knowing what I know about your relationship with him (which is obviously a very limited amount of information indeed!) it sounds like you probably shouldn't be with him right now either. Don't feel bad, you're certainly not the first couple that's broken up and then had sex again, but I personally do think you're both better off moving on (especially you). So I would suggest that you postpone the still being friends thing. Take a few weeks (at least!) to just get over the relationship without communicating with him. That way, when you do see him again perhaps you'll have less 'passionate' feelings for him (good and bad) and just be left with a more gentle caring toward someone you were close with. Anyway, point is my advice would be to just make it clear that you're fine with being friends (assuming you do ultimately want that), but that you simply need to take a few weeks (or maybe a bit longer) to yourself without seeing him to clear your head and get over things. Just my advice though, but I definitely think you made the right decisions and I'm proud of you -Kevin

Hi everyone, So I realized that while we have lots of threads about dating and romance and relationships, we don't seem to have a "breaking up" thread. Of course no one likes to break up, but I think it's something that many, if not most of us, have gone through at least once or twice. I thought this might be a good place to share experiences, ask advice, or generally just get support. And okay, so I sorta have an ulterior motive too I've been out with this guy, Ryan, a few times, and whereas I've pretty much decided that we don't have enough in common to make it work, he seems to be interested in getting serious. So my question is, do I need to 'break up' with him? We were never like 'formally' in a relationship. We've been out, I think four times now, and then just regular talking on the phone and texting. So to me we're not even really 'together'. About a week ago he brought up the whole, "let's define our relationship' topic, (really this whole thing has only been going on maybe two and half, three weeks tops) and I was thinking that was way too soon to make a decision either way. I basically said that I was having fun going out with him and suggested that we just keep doing that for several more weeks and then see how we both feel and decide if we were want to get in a 'relationship'. He seemed to comfortably accept that answer. Nevertheless, it still seems to me that he views us as a couple, at least to some extent, so I feel like I can't really get away with just making my decision without informing him. I mean I guess I could just call/text a lot less often, and basically 'taper off' our relationship until he got the point...but would that be nicer or meaner? Most of the time with guys I've 'been out with' but am not 'dating', that's just how I handle it. If I decide I'm not interested I obviously don't ask them out anymore and if they ask me I politely come up with an excuse. It's never really been a big deal in the past, and as far as I know none of them were particularly serious either, so it probably wasn't much of an issue. If it were a 'real' relationship, while it would hurt more and be more drawn out, I could more easily broach the subject of 'breaking up'. It's this awkward, in-between thing that I'm not sure how to handle. Having a big, dramatic break up conversation seems like overkill, but doing nothing and letting it die seems cold and avoidant. So thoughts and comments? -Kevin

Split for quote limit

Haha, thanks Tim! I don't think CJ needs to worry just yet, lol ...Besides, I wouldn't go near a cliff! Aww thanks, Benji! Thanks Zilar! LOL, I don't think 6,000 will be happening too soon! Wow thanks, Old Bob! I really appreciate your kind and thoughtful words! It is indeed a surprise that I was not on your friend list! I'm glad you rectified it You have an awesome day too! Aww, thanks Francois! HAHA, It probably is a bit high, Martin

No, it's that mini-cooper that you use to commute back and forth to Jersey in while taking lit classes you hate. We've already established that Awww, I like it! I think it looks good, Joe

"45" - Shinedown

Thanks Gary! Nice to know that I wasn't totally making that up, and even better to have my information clarified for future reference

Aww though, poor girl! It's never fun to realize you haven't been hit on. Well I guess sometimes it's a relief, but it's usually nice if you think people find you desirable.

I'm proud to say that all the people I've had sex with has been after meeting them

Well you ought to be "okay", but uh.... sounds like a 'mature' scent you've got going on there, Robbie On the other hand with some of the body washes and lotions I've used in the past I've probably smelled like a 15 year old girl before, so what do I know LOL this just reminds me of a deodorant commercial so much! It's good to be "Sure"