KJames

A truly sad occasion, indeed. I only found out about it when I read the post notes after a recent story read. I remember bantering back and forth with NaperVic in chat a couple years ago...he had a high sense of humor that night, and I had been commenting with him on one of Dom's stories at the time...I had been enjoying the story, and he recommended another as the sequel--which was also read and enjoyed. RIP Vic, you were taken too soon!

Hair color: Any shade from black through the browns into the blondes and past to the white blonde. Black and browns with brown, green or blue eyes, and red heads (they fall into the browns/auburns) with green or blue eyes, and anything lighter than light chestnut with blue, especially the blondes!

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

I love religious satire, give me more! More, I say!

I just saw this all the way through, and almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard!!!!!

Well...today wasn't the greatest of days around here. On top of the cold and drizzling rains, along with cold wind, we told my mom she's got cancer. She's had it rough since about the 29 or 30 of June when she woke up aphasic in the board and care where we had her for assisted care. She ended up in the Emergency Room at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, where she was diagnosed with a severe undermined bed sore, and was immediately scheduled for surgery to debrade the wound. Then she had to be on an instill/vac to alternately pump antibiotics into and drain out pus from the wound, for 6 weeks, then back to the hospital for a graft once the wound closed. They transferred her to a nursing home for care. Well...the first graft didn't hold, and she was transferred back to StJH after a week or so, then it was back to the nursing home--for two days--until she spiked a fever, then it was back to the hospital, again. They had to re-do the skin graft; she was in the hospital 3 weeks this time--in trying to 'farm' her case out to nursing homes, she only had 28 days of medicare/skilled nursing left, so no one wanted to take her if it looked like there was going to be any overstay beyond that--so the hospital was 'stuck' caring for a patient (imagine that). Not to be too critical, but St.JH did a better job than any of the other places she was at. The third release from StJH was to Kindred Care, an acute care/injury care nursing hospital in Santa Ana which was the first place to do a CT Scan of her abdominal cavity. They found several masses on her liver and a large mass on her stomach--cancer. Just after the CT Scan mom told her mother, my soon-to-be-92-year-old grandma, that she was tired of all the test and didn't want any more poking or prodding tests. She also was able to refuse a feeding tube, so--in compliance with her wishes as best as we can understand them now, we changed her "Code" status to "DNR", allow comfort only, last night. She doesn't get enough blood oxygen unless she's on the cpap machine--which she hates--so I'm not expecting her to make it to the end of the month. Just yesterday I said, "Goodbye, Mom. I love you," while she slept there and while I don't want her to suffer, and our relationship wasn't 'great', I find myself not ready for any of this.

C James, You know I post "reviews" and "critiques"...infrequently--at best--sometimes only two or three times per story, especially if there's a lot of slow moving chapters or a sudden change of pace or, as usual in your case, a nasty cliff hanger ending! Shame on you for some of those. That being said, I have been enjoying Circumnavigation every time a new chapter comes out. You've planted plenty of surprises in the story...a good deal of which I don't think any of the readers had even an inkling of, myself included. Don't take silence as a lack of feedback...silence is golden. It means they have nothing bad to say about it, or that I choose not do downgrade a previous review. Besides, if I leave a critique or review, it holds until I change it--then, sometimes, I leave a review on the entire story after the finish (I do have to remember and go back to do quite a few of those now before senility and ADHD make me...Oh, Hostess Cupcakes!).

http://www.answers.c...st-and-musician Has quite a little mini-bio, and according to them, he's still alive.

out that he was also uncommonly tall for an elf, at the equivalent of the humans' 6'6" tall at his now 17 years of age, she was astounded and decided to

They're actually going to have something like the tricorder much faster than they think...hospitals and Dr.s offices already use a non-invasive device to measure blood Oxygen levels within 15 seconds--something that used to take a blood-gases test at least an hour to determine.

While it might seem biased to suggest Long Beach, since I live in Signal Hill (surrounded by Long Beach), I think the hotel situation might be more affordable and available than Santa Monica (a resort city) in the summertime. Close to where I live there are 4 hotel/motels (Long Beach Airport Marriott, Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport, Extended Stay America, and Courtyard by Marriott). There is also another Marriott near downtown Long Beach, as well as the larger more expensive chains, Hyatt, Sheraton, Hilton, and Renaissance, as well as a smattering of older, smaller motels near the beaches.

A nice, calm (relatively) ending to one of your stories....hmmm....makes me think your next one is really going to be active. You have a name for it, or are you going to make a poll?

Gynecologist

Question 1 = What is your favorite season? Spring. Question 2 = Which of these do you prefer? Lightning Storm. Question 3 - Do you like Castles or Quests? Quests. Question 4 - Do you prefer Chariot or Ship? Ship. Question 5 = Which do you prize more? Firemaking. (Fire can provide light, heat and defense, light alone is just light) Question 6 = What sounds better, the deception of the hand or the fleetness of the foot? Fleetness of the foot. Question 7 = Pick one - Charisma, Dexterity, Constitution, Luck or Intelligence. Intelligence. Question 8 = Which is more important? - Knowing your enemies or Knowing your friends? Knowing your enemies. (Being able to predict what they're going to do would be a valuable ability--you don't need to know all details about your friends if you really trust them) Question 9 = Which do you prefer - The vast and mysterious Amazon or the ancient and knowing Nile? The ancient and knowing Nile. Question 10 = Which of the following is more accurate - The hand deceives the eye -or- Wisdom is correct knowledge correctly applied? Wisdom is correct knowledge correctly applied. Question 11 = Would you rather die young and glorious or old and experienced? Old and experienced. Question 12 = Which attracts you more? - A great imperial capital city of murder, intrigue and fortune or a cozy warm cottage deep in a far off forest glade? A cozy warm cottage deep in a far off forest glade.

Did this add anything to your understanding of the story? Of Will? Did it provoke an emotional response? ===== Wow...what a tear jerker! I was dripping by the end of this from both eyes...haven't done that for a story in months.

Here's one I heard about: Here lies the body of Lester Moore He died with 10 cents to his name, no less, no more

The, "I told you I was sick," headstone has been used, probably multiple times around the world, but I know of one Jewish Father who had it on his at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California... I prefer, "I'll be back after a short vacation."

While I was in High School, there was one guy that was so attractive I fell in love with the sight of him on the first day of my soph' year, and he still looks like he did his Senior year (I saw him a year ago and he didn't recognize me)....and the sight of him still makes my heart skip a couple of beats. I have two regrets, one: Not telling him I thought he was attractive (a big chance 'cause of the stigma in the late 70's), and two: I was in the HS Orchestra (String Bass), and one of the freshman percussion (drums) boys needed to borrow my shirt (he didn't have one) for the holiday concerts during my junior year (78-79)...I let him borrow for the first concert, but not for the second two days later...(that one is my single biggest regret)...both of these could have resulted in lifelong friendships (or not)...but regrets are for chances lost.

Try Mark Arbour, he seems to write his older characters well. Look at Stephan and JP in his most current CAP series, Millennium.

That should have been posted as a short story on here or maybe somewhere else...

Some of those were hilarious...some gross (balut)--it's a western culture v. eastern culture thing--most western cultures prefer to eat anything with bones fried, roasted, baked, or deboned altogether. My egg things? A ) Use them (1 dz) to make my ice cream base--custard--for freezing. B ) Use them (1 dz) to make my late mother-in-law's dessert kugel. C ) Use them to egg cars of people that p*ss me off...the acids in the yolk will eat through the varnish and paint. (If it's a hot enough day, it'll actually fry and burn to the car)

I love it, we have our own 'gay detector' called Gaydar, now we have our own language, Gaelic...which has nothing to do with licking, by the way, but our camp-speak has nothing to do with camping, either, so everybody's happy!

Andy, I will use this time and opportunity to let you know that I've also been enjoying the story. (immensely so) The situations are believable as are the characters, and it does make a nice break from all the fantasy and sci-fi I usually read--to those authors: Not that there's anything wrong with those stories. Hopefully, once you receive your first official rejection notice (pats you on your shoulder) {seldom is anyone published on a first story attempt}, we'll see the rest of Second Shot?

Tiger, Dargon, Fairy, Steve3, Bandage, Arpeggio, Benji, Mark Arbour, TetRefine, Ramon, hh5, Krista, wildone: Well! Now that I'm 48 I have started to shave my beard, daily, it takes 20 years off my image, and I can look 28 again! (Younger, even, than my husband! ) I'll ask for help later to upload a pic of my birthday present. Thanks, everyone!

How about poor phrasing in Church Bulletins? - Weight Watchers now has a weekly meeting in the church multipurpose room, please enter through the double wide doors on the side.