Sara Alva

I don't think laughing at a typo is criticizing. It happens to the best of us, and when it's funny, it's funny.

I would say that a young person could make it through a decent amount of Central/South America w/ money saved from a weekend/night job. I knew someone who backpacked most of central America, in about a month and half, and he did it with money he'd saved himself. I would have done it as well, but whenever I head down there it's for visiting family and not really for vacationing. The countries in the EU cost more money for us Americans, of course, so you might not be able to get as far there nowadays. I backpacked through Spain on the cheap (staying at hostels, etc.), but I did have to dip into my parent's money a little; the dollar was doing terribly against the Euro the year I went. I'd encourage anyone to travel/study abroad. As cliche as it sounds, it really can change your worldview. One of my close friends in college was a borne-and-bred southerner with some very entrenched beliefs. He'd never been out of the country until after we graduated, when he backpacked through all of Europe. After that experience and a summer in Americorps, he has reevaluated his stance on many things (including gay rights, hooray!) and I believe he is a much better person for it.

Aww, Maria, I love your typos. I really needed to laugh today. When I'm in chat on my iPad, talking to Cia, the autocorrect always changes her name to CIA (central intelligence agency) so it seems like I'm shouting. I was typing my story one day, not looking at the keys, and I shifted my hand one key to the left while typing Jared. It came out as JEWS (hit J properly, then the caps lock, then the rest of the keys one key off). I looked back at my screen and was totally confused until I figured out what had happened. Not as funny as a lamb falling from the ceiling, though

Read this back when I was in lurk mode, so I've stopped by to say thanks for the fun read It put a smile on my face; love short stories like that.

Well, I agree with that. Love can certainly be where you least expect it, and it is good to keep an open mind to the possibility of it.

hehe I guess I'm too much of a self-doubter to ever trust my instincts in a situation like that. Sweet story, though

But was that first sight? You got to know him first before you met, right?

At first sight? Nah. That's lust. Or you're just in love with the idea of someone, not the actual person. I wish Disney would stop promoting this ( although I guess they've gotten somewhat better over the years). It's not good for impressionable youth.

Well, crap, the quote-y button won't work for me. I guess I'll have to use old-fashioned quotation marks. My favorite LOL moments: "“Yeah, that’s the worst thing of mine you had in your mouth.” Peter shook his head." and "Jason took Peter’s hand and put it on his crotch. “He still thinks you’re hot.” Jason’s smile was matched by Peter’s. “Do we really think his opinion is all that informed?”" I also really loved the moment you had Jason observing Peter eat, resisting the urge to help him. It shows Jason's character--and his understanding of Pete's--so beautifully. I know this'll probably make me sound lame, but one of my favorite parts of this story has been watching you refine your craft over the course of all the chapters. The little details you throw in, the dialogue, the foreshadowing, and the emotion you portray continues to impress. Oh, and because Trevor and I were taking in chat about his voice of 'dissent'--I don't think all chaps can be the height of melodrama. If we were reading this as a book, cover to cover, we wouldn't even stop to think about it being less pivotal than others; we'd just keep on reading.

Poking around GA Interesting turn there at the end. Here I was thinking Ed was the one "in control"--that he knew 'the score' with his basketball buddy and was drawing it out just to be a tease-- but I guess sometimes it's easy to forget that all of us have our insecurities, our needs and desires that we keep hidden from others. Good story.

So, I know this was written years ago . . . but it's new to me This was a really touching piece. So sad through the entire thing, until the beautiful ending with the note of hope . . . I love stories like this.

yeah lucky for him he doesn't live at home most of the time Thanks for your review!

Yep, Connor could probably do with a lot of practice in holding a conversation. Thanks for your review!

Aw well the good news is you have now confirmed it is officially a baby, lol. Woulda sucked if it were something else.

Love the banter between Jason and Darryl. It comes off as so natural, and always makes me smile. So, Peter took the news rather well . . . Wonder if that'll last in the long run. Trevor's review down there made me laugh. I wonder if I could even get a one bedroom in south central for 700

Darnit Frosty I thought I was gonna be first now that I'm all caught up! Anyways, nice to see Matt trusting Dan more now. And I think it's probably a really great thing for their relationship that Dan has some power now; it will help put them on more equal footing, as Matt wanted.

Lol. That sucks. For the future, perhaps you could deliver to the workplace. I've had flowers sent to my school before; it's nice 'cause then all your coworkers know you're loved. Oh, and there's always Edible Arrangements. Pricey, but haven't had problems with them delivering to places across the country. Hope you can find out about the possible twins on Wed!

Hm, I just read Anyta's foreshadowing review, and now I want to go reread the chapter and try to figure it out, lol . . . but I'll get in trouble if I don't leave this computer soon. I sorta wondered what SimonJames mentioned-- if Jason would offer for Pete to move in w/ him. Somehow I think Peter wouldn't be up for it unless they split every last little thing 50/50, which would probably mean they'd have to move somewhere else together, and then Jason would be living in a much less glamorous way than he's used to . . .

Admittedly, I know very little about poetry. In fact, a lot of it I just don't get . . . but I thought this piece was clever and interesting. It was bitter, but in a funny way, and the end totally cracked me up. Also, I loved the running w/ scissors reference. I tell my students that constantly! Now I'm gonna be thinking about this poem when I do . . .

Oh man, like the others said, I wasn't expecting that secret. That would be a really, really hard thing to live with. The forgiveness part-- so touching.

Oh tipsy Anyta

So I was glad to see Pete apologizing a little-- I'd thought he was rather antagonistic in the fight scene . . . and of course he could have swept all that under the rug easily what with being in a coma and all, but he's a really stand-up guy. Wonder if there'll be more to come on Pete's feelings about Jason not pressing charges for what happened at the pool hall . . .

Well, I work with the little ones, and just to ease your mind, they don't seem to need 24/7 sugary sweet love to sustain them. Seriously, I smile like a few times a day, and the rest of the time chastise them for bad behavior or for not paying attention, and they still hug me and tell me they love me at the end of the day But I think you're right. I bet it's the weird vibe from the surrogate that's making you wary to be friendly with her. You seem to be pretty nice to everyone around here :-)

You're totally inspiring me to write fantasy again. When I was little I used to sit in my room and dream that I was a telepath-- I thought it would be the coolest thing in the world. Of course Matt has a bit more going on than just that, and it may be more of a responsibility than a gift in his case. Dan is a pretty mature fellow, taking on Matt's burden in a way, just by having a relationship with him.Also, I wonder how he feels about the two versions of Matt . . . I mean, we know he likes "old" Matt, but could he come to prefer one more than the other? And how would that make Matt feel?Oh yeah, and that secret . . . Better be in the next chapter.

Oh yay I'm glad Dan didn't drag on the whole "not telling him yet" thing. So yeah, some answers in here, but then you also create more questions . . .