AFriendlyFace

Hi all! Chapter 10: Breaking Up With My Boyfriend is now available! This is the final chapter of BMAD! Click here to check it out! Please let me know what you thought of the story and of the specific chapter! Chapter 9: I Can't Even Think Straight is now available! Click here to check it out. Please let me know what you think! Chapter 8: Turning Japanese is now available. Click here to read it. Chapter 7: The Greatest Story Ever Told is also now available (in this thread I'm afraid). In honor of this chapter I also just started a new poll for this thread. Let me know what you guys think! Chapter 6: The Truth Hurts is now available Chapter 5:The Name Game is now available here! ___________________________________ Chapter 5: The Name Game is now available here! I hope you enjoy it ___________________________________ Hi everyone! Chapter 4: The Eyes Have It is now available here. Please let me know what you guys think! ___________________________________ Hey everyone! Chapter three is up! Please click here to check it out. I hope you guys like it! Please let me know what you thought ________________________________ Hey guys! Chapter two is now available! Please click here to check it out! Then please let me know what you thought via forum post, review, or PM! (or any combination thereof if you're feeling particularly chatty! ) _________________________ Hi everyone! I've just begun releasing my new story, Buy Me A Drink. Please check out the first chapter, Hot Mess, and let me know what you thought! This story is complete and a new chapter will be released at least once per week until all chapters are posted. However, there may or may not be a sequel and much will depend on the feedback and interest the story receives! Even if you hated it, or found it very boring please let me know your thoughts and comments! Thanks and take care, Kevin

We also mustn't forget about our very own Graeme! He's got quite a few greats! My favourite is New Brother.

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

Oh I love that song! "Light my Candle" - Rent

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.

Atreyu - "Falling Down"

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!

Hmmm, I think I might disagree with you here. Nathaniel is certainly more promising than either of his parents, and by the look of things he's more successful than Michael as well. Gabriel probably offers the the most 'competition' in terms of promising/successful/happy characters, because of course the whole point of the story (to me) was about beauty in pain and value in the unspoiled. In that way Gabriel might 'outshine' Nathaniel, but of course in the most simplistic, literal way Nathaniel is still around to do more and be more, and Gabriel isn't. Michael is of the sort that's 'never really been tested'. So how can we know how we would measure up? According to what I took from the story, I rather think that Nathanial and Gabriel weren't tragic figures at all, but rather noble, 'beautiful' figures whose simplicity and purity will live on. -Kevin

Coolness, dude

"Whatever it takes" - Lifehouse

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.

The answer to that is simple: it's not about straight people. Also, there is a time and place for everything. There is a time and place to be respectable and well-behaved, and there is a time and place to indulge the wilder aspects of one's personality. IMO, "Pride" is more about the wilder than the well-behaved, and it doesn't really matter WHAT the straight people think about Pride because Pride happens to be about GAY people, NOT straight people. I don't know about you, but I'm not out to prove anything. That's actually exactly the point I'm trying to make. Event's like the Day of Silence, and National Coming out Day, etc. ARE more about gay/straight relations and they ARE about being respectable and showing a more positive, 'straight friendly' aspect of the community. 'Pride' as it is traditionally understood is not as focused on this, and in my opinion that's fine. Excellent points, for all it's 'infamy' the truth is that Pride parades DO run the gamut from boring and respectable to outlandish and decadent. Just as gay people do. Just as STRAIGHT people do. I'm very much against the notion of altering Pride to suit other's people's sensibilities, especially when those sensibilities ARE reflected in various aspects of the event to begin with. It might sound rude or harsh, but my opinion tends to be if you don't like pride, gay or straight, all you have to do is not go. Right exactly, and PFLAG is another example of a 'respectable' organization. It's all about what people choose to focus on, but regardless of what people choose to focus on I think they only have the right to make their own decisions about what they want to do and whether or not they want to participate in Pride. I don't think it's anyone else's business to decide that we should conform or be concerned about straight people when straight people, while welcome, are really not the 'point' or 'emphasis' of pride at all.

I like that song Garbage "Cherry Lips"

So David Cook is the winner then?

Well this sounds complicated. There's nothing worse than when two people are looking for two completely different things. It sounds to me like Aaron wants something light, casual, fun, and sexual that will physically and emotionally get him away from Jeremy, and personally I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It sounds like you want something serious, intimate, slower, and more meaningful, obviously there's nothing wrong with that either. However, it does look as though you're both looking in the wrong place. If I were you I'd evaluate whether or not you're able AND WANTING to give him what he's after. If you're not, then perhaps he'll adjust to what you want, or maybe you guys can meet in the middle, but my advice would be to not build up very much hopes or emotional investment in this. Certainly not until you do work out an effective dynamic. Regarding the specific sex/top oriented/friction/rubbing/whatever, well the key to good sex is always more about communication, knowing what you are and aren't comfortable with, and being willing to try new things when you are comfortable. I'm sure you could work out a very satisfying sexual arrangement with him. The big question is whether you SHOULD and whether you WANT to? Just my take on it, Good luck and take care! Kevin

Aww, thanks Gary