KJames

You stole that idea from my sig lines...

The only other possibility, which just dawned on me before I posted this, is that she had been diagnosed with an incurable cancer and didn't want to sit around and waste away. So she took the boat out and ended up hitting a bout of depression and chose to sink the boat rather than continue to suffer the effects of the cancer's spread. I wish you'd have him take the papers out of the security hidey-hole and read more...

And the scary thing is that, since Benz spun them off, they're probably the most stable US Auto Manufacturer right now, despite having closed 7,000 dealers. IIRC, Ford is the only US Automobile manufacturer that has never run on government loans, as GM is doing now, and Chrysler did during the "K" Car era of the early '80's (Krappy Kars).

I understand where you're coming from, but I disagree with school systems making volunteer service mandatory--it takes away from the meaning of the word. Although, I stand by my statement that the area I was in High School would never have been able to handle that many volunteers each year.

The problem I have with that is that it creates a glut of people for community service organizations that they can't accomodate. If my school, and its counterparts did that, they'd have been flooding the area with students looking for "Service Hours"...my school senior class alone would have been looking for 51,200 hours at a 40 hour requirement, if that were expanded to the other two schools in the district at that time with senior classes (one school was new and only had Freshman and Sophomores going in), that figure could be expected to flood the South Orange County area with 153,600 volunteer hours needed. That's enough hours for 2 employees to work 36.92 years at 40 hours per week--long enough to retire!

James, you must be the ultimate prankster, that is just too funny! Try taking it, they're actually a good tool to help you understand you yourself. === I'm at: .125 Utilitarian .500 Moral Rights .875 Justice

Welcome to GA, Mrs. Bird. And when the time comes, you might want to have your son sign up here, too. To tackle your question on what the draw on gay fiction is: Most gay teens face being ostracized and shunned in school--left alone--and it can generate some terrible, horribly insecure feelings or depression (bad depression), or they are outright harrassed and beaten up nearly constantly--and there are all manner of situations in-between. I was lucky, I was left alone, and that was fine with me--I could deal with it as an only child--but I wasn't out at school, nor was I out at home. The teasing from others' based on their perception of me only because of my name--words--was what really hurt the most; they didn't know me, so how could they say such horrible, hurtful things? I hope that times have changed enough that your son has a good, honest, respectable circle of friends who won't leave him over this. Gay fiction does the same thing for gays as 'mainstream' fiction for all; it lets us escape to a reality where we are accepted and supported by others, loved and cherished by someone special and where we can contribute in our own way to that relationship. It helps us become better people by letting us learn our 'life-lessons' based on what should happen, rather than fighting to make it happen; then we can go out and make a difference in reality based on what we have learned about treating others or how relationships should work, hopefully without making too many pratfalls along that way. What the draw to gay fiction is for guys is that there has to be some sex...not a lot, but some, and the description has to be vivid enough to get us our rise, but calm enough that it shouldn't be on 'nifty' instead. Think "Little Old Ladies Who Read Paperback Romance Novels with a Shirtless Long-haired Guy on the cover"...and you're close. The stories that are just about relationships, well--they may make us feel all warm and fuzzy--it's like a 'chick flick' or a 'feel-good' movie for most straight folks. The main thing is that most of them are uplifting and portray us positively and affirm our right to exist without fault. Most of the stories contain some kind of sex that is male-male, and it ranges from what movie censors would call "G" to "XXX" depending on which author wrote it--however, since sex is part of a healthy, loving relationship, just not the only part, I don't feel that you should skip those parts...you might even learn something (If I do say so myself, oh-wait-I just did, didn't I? )--or be entertained, some of the authors use a sexual situation mixed with humor and make me laugh. Some of the stories are in the realm of Science Fiction or Fantasy and as such, some parts of social situations or customs are quite different--for example, Gone From Daylight: Taryn's Song, and the rest of the original GFD Series by Comicality, our resident Vampire expert--or the Book of Heroes series by David McLeod--or the two excellent Science Fiction serials written by dkstories, Dreams of Humanity and Dreams of a Father (which also contain descriptive sex). For relationship stories, the one that comes to mind is Desert Dropping by Dom Luka, otherwise checkout author Graeme, most of his stories are about relationships and very good also. For something a little more modern, I recommend Mark Arbour's Chronicles of an Academic Predator Series (It's the Title of the first story in the series and it's an odd title considering the first connotation that pops into minds), go to his page (search Authors for him, and click his name), click on CAP and you'll go to a listing of the stories, in order, for that series. It starts Spring of 1962, and so is a fairly modernly set storyline (the current story, The Box, is set in the late 1990's), complete with a true 'atomic family', and the author's team is even trying to put together a family tree for all the characters, the poor dears (You'll understand my sympathy for them after you've read it). Don't rush on Mark Arbour's series, you'll be going through at least 450 chapters plus. Yes, 450, he runs 40-50 chapters a story, easily. Another one that is set in modern days and is still in progress is Circumnavigation by CJames (no relation, as far as I know, but my dad's clan is at about 250 people and growing) and has little sex to date. A Word of Caution: You will find stories on here that relate scenes of child abuse, and there are some horrible, terrible, painful depictions...all of these things have a basis in truth somewhere. If you read one of these, you might find yourself stopping and starting again after a while. There are also depictions of death, some expected, some unexpected, as with any good store-bought novel; some of the situations are with children, not all are from natural causes. Again, welcome, enjoy your time here; support and love your son whichever direction he chooses, but always enjoy yourself and .

I'm beginning to wonder if Dirk didn't sabotage his wife's boat similar to the way he attempted to disable Trevor's Atlantis, with malicious mischief? Then when she needed her motors or some other essential piece of equipment to function it would not, perhaps messing with her navigation equipment in such a way that she might have been run down by a freighter on auto-pilot at night with no living supervision? Finding the boat would mean discovering the leftovers of any tampering, possibly with fingerprints--something Dirk definitely wouldn't want to have happen. It was described earlier in the story that her boat had been 'taking on water'--why? According to the description of the boat, it floats even when flooded because of the materials used in construction. Something smells like a goat that's been rolling in fish carcasses in Denmark!

I'm working on it... Lacey, you are NOT a sham...and you post 'em whenever you feel like, you only take the photo when your skin looks good. Yeah, yeah, I know, semantics. But it's all in how you say what you say, ya' know what I mean?

I thought the only thing you did on a pole was a 'sit on' for government protests...(unless you're thinking of a different, shorter pole)?

I don't think you can use too many smilies in a message, however, the messaging system will restrict how many you can use in one message...

I haven't done that in over 30 years...I'd probably break my neck if I tried again... How to tell if you're in Canada: Look for the sunbathers lying on the snow covererd front lawns. Bugeye, you have what appears to be an artfully decorated front yard.

I've gotta upload a pic for you poor guys and gals...

I seem to remember a few years ago one of the figure skating teams had costumes made that disguised them as opposite sexes, so the female appeared male (with top hat and--short--tails), and the taller, more muscular male, appeared female (including a wig for longer hair), their routine was hilarious. With the 'female' lifting the 'male' off 'his' feet and all...

I don't mind a tongue piercing, as long as I'm not expected to have it...but when I see someone with a pierced lip I laugh, because I start thinking of a 'dribble glass', where there's a hole drilled in the glass on one side. They're a gag gift so that someone drinking will accidentally pour some liquid on their shirt/blouse as they drink.

I was gonna post that, Lace! But I wasn't sure how old the shirt was! Eyes? That's it? You're kinda cute for a slightly chubby black kid...

The young...just because nobody names you specifically doesn't mean they don't crush on you, dude...with lips like those, you must have a great booty!

Why is there something wrong with 5'3"?

White trash recipes my foot! I'll have you know that when they dump that buket of boil on the table at The Crabpot in Long Beach, CA, it costs $13.99 each, and it's good stuff! Waiter: May I interest you in a dose of Nyquil, sir? If you'd settle for 'Daddy', the age difference would work...and I love to cook, anyway...

I'm impressed, Lacey! Nice banner for that story...

I'd be crushing on most of the guy friends in my friends list... God, I'm such a slut about that... ...oh, wait, this is GAY AUTHORS--lots of Gays here--that should be: Yes, Mark Arbour, you're included, ya' big baby!

I've debated the west/left v. west/right coast issue with some friends from back east for several years...if you look at a globe the left coast is the west coast, but if you're looking south (or at a map putting the south pole at its top)--toward Australia--the leftcoast is the east coast. Go figure...

It's a good thing she broke it off with him, then, otherwise their relationship was headed for the "Oprah could put this on her show" bin. Seems she was more upset over not finding anything to prove it than she was over his 'cheating'.

I hate those kinds of schemes...we tried that as part of our business strategy for contract review and legal consultations, but the attorney's never had 'time' to call back, so the plan was discontinued. Funny thing is, they threatened to sue, for breach of contract, but we called it, three attempts and no response in the servicing clause and we were off the hook. So, their followup was lousy, and so was their own contract.