Gene Splicer PHD

To make themselves feel superior, of course. It's not about the impact they make in an hour: it's about making themselves feel better about their pitiable lives in that moment. That's what it's like when you're thirteen and just got past those parental controls, I guess.

HERE'S your human rights violation - inside a men's room at Sochi:

NICE EARWORM THANKS OBAMA

GOOD GOD YOU PEOPLE COULD OVERTHINK A PLATE OF BEANS

Odyssey and 9.11 both within hours of each other? I am...arbourloaded /sorry Thanks Mark!

BLASPHEMER

Oh sure, of course. You're one of the best authors around for listening to reader feedback. But ultimately, things like story direction and character development/personality traits are all yours, as you say. My dislike of a character or their trajectory doesn't entitle me to complain about it other than maybe an occasional complaint. Hearing the same complaints, over and over, gets tiresome. That's what I was venting about - it's not the story that's the problem, its the constantly-complaining-about-the-same-things-repeatedly that got my neck up. And I do understand Tim's point of view and agree with some of it, but there's only so much you can do. That's all I was trying to say.

Tim: I get it now, it's finally coming clear: YOU DONT LIKE WILL. Guess what? I don't like him very much either, but I don't feel the compulsion to bring it up all the damn time, it's not my story to tell nor is it my place to dictate to Mark how the character should act or be portrayed. I don't like JJ much either. I voiced my opinion about him, got shat on, and now I get it: if I keep harping on the board or at Mark, it's not going to matter even a LITTLE bit about what happens with these characters. And after all, they're fake people, they don't exist, they're not real. They're just not worth my ire. And frankly, I just got ignored for my whining. I learned that it's not worth the effort. If you don't like the direction of the story, or think the characters are that insufferable, don't read the story. Or read it, and get all mad about how your morality isn't being applied to fake people, and get a headache. Your call. I get your distaste, and as much as I like to see your interactions here, it's getting a little old. It may even be a little unhealthy for you to resent these fictional people as much as you do, but that's your deal. Will's not gonna go to church, neither are any of the characters, no one in the story is going to suddenly get your moral compass and adopt it as their own. I realize I'm completely powerless to stop your complaints, so hey, have a great new year and all that. Thanks.

Not hot.

TORONTO IS NOT PART OF CANADA

I could probably identify most of the tribal areas of pre-Roman Britain if anyone needs it, I sure don't... Not sure where Idaho is exactly but I could take a stab What's a "Europe"? FYI I'm in Michigan, nobody knew where that was anyway

I'm alone, been that way most of my life. I've surrounded myself with about 5 people that I can truly, honestly rely on to be there for me no matter what. I've had a partner, and that was great, but the bastard kept moving the furniture around and changing the banking all the time. Stop touching my shit, fool. I get lonely but I'm never really alone, and I stay busy enough to not miss having someone making plans for me and burning dinner.

I was a broken kid. Taught, mostly by cousins and people that screwed with me, not to show emotion, and definitely not to ask for help. Lost my mom at nine, moved to a neighborhood where drugs were easy to get and my dad and stepmom - who was all of 26 when she married into a family of preteens and a busy husband - were still trying to figure out how to live together while being buried by debt. I don't think my parents tried to break the kids, or be bad parents. They were just distant and had no idea how to deal with a kid that flew into rages, was never happy, and, by the time I was 14 or so, spent all my time stoned. I was the kid your parents warned you about, for sure. Were my parents bad parents? Yeah. They were. But not through any fault of their own. They did the best they could with what they had, and that's how parenting is done. You don't, no matter how many copies they sell, learn it from a book. Most parents I know - and now lots of my friends are parents - are winging it. They don't know any better than my parents did, they're just doing it, every day, dealing with things as they happen. Most of the time, they react, rather than act proactively, to what the kids are up to, and I think that's been true of parents since we came down from the trees. But there's one thing I've really learned - as I grew older, my parents fell off their pedestals and became people, dealing, as I've said, with the day-to-day as it happened. Some of their tactics screwed me up, some of them really worked. But I, and I alone, am responsible for my life. I can't blame them for my current life, because they haven't been a part of it for a good long time now. If there's one thing you should teach a kid, it's this: no one is going to help you be happy, no one is going to prop you up forever. Get out there and make a life for yourself. So bad parenting - yeah, it happens. And when it happens to a young child, it's awful. If that kid turns out rotten, well, at some point you've got to put it on the KID to fix the problem. It may be a whole lot of parental influence that makes a bad kid a bad kid - but there does come a point where it's not the parents at fault. It's the kid.

Gay men who fetishize feminine men. Gay men who reject feminine men. Gay men and women who fetishize (insert fetishized race here) Gay men who reject the company of gay women, regardless of the scene Gay women who reject the company of gay men, regardless of the scene Gay men and women who reject the company of transgendered people Bi men and women who reject the company of gay men and women Bi men and women who reject the company of straight men and women Gay men and women who think it's perfectly fine to try to "turn" straight men and women Straight men and women who think it's perfectly fine to try to "turn" gay men and women Misogyny in gay culture: Yes, it exists and it sucks. Misandry in gay culture: Yes, it exists and it sucks. Gay culture? Does it exist? Sure. Surround yourself with gay people - it's easy to do, just make all your friends at (insert gay community hangout here). You'll meet people just like you, you'll meet people that share your mindset, and you'll meet people that are just as perfect as you think you are - as long as - they meet a specific body type - they be of a specific color - they have a specific education level - they be of a specific age. If you're not meeting the criteria, you're out! It's like high school. Want proof? Look at grindr (twinky young types), Scruff (bear types), etc. etc. etc. and on and on it goes. You'll also meet some great people who share your worldview, who share your background, who are safe to be around. They won't challenge your thinking, they won't raise a ruckus, but I bet they play some cards or want to go to a movie or whatever. Just don't challenge those worldviews or those judgments - or you're out! Just like high school. Back when the gay bar was the place to hang out - you had your twink bar, you had your leather bar, you had your dyke bar, you had your black bar, you had your (insert specifically targeted audience here). Meet the new audience, folks - online is the same as offline. The gay "culture" has moved from the gay bar to the online forum, and it's the same.damn.thing.all.over.again. Nothing about this discussion, nothing, is new. "Let's talk about "gay" culture!" "No, I'd rather talk about queer culture." "I hate the word 'queer'". "Well, I like it". Y'all can't even decide on synonyms. Let alone, as has been pointed out, the differences in being gay in different countries, and the resultant cultural differences in THAT conversation. I spent some time, early in my out life, trying to be an "activist". What a joke. We were fighting for three things: more $$ for AIDS treatment, equal housing in a specific city, and trying to drum up support for a candidate for a local office. We were so focused we couldn't even figure out a platform: - The lesbians hated the AIDS fundraising because it took away from their pet project, the equal housing thing. - Gay men didn't like the equal housing thing because the lesbians had taken it over. - The candidate couldn't even get anyone to hand him a microphone. So the group broke into factions within the organization - all arguing amongst themselves and not even talking to the larger group, but within their factions - so vehemently about the right way to go about whatever it was they were doing, that it turned into three separate circlejerks. The organization's leadership resigned and was replaced 4 separate times...in six months.Which is about the time I gave up and went to the bar..to meet up with some 18-24 year old blondie with a big dick, because that's what I was supposed to do. And that's why labels suck - they put you in a box, where people who look in the box have specific expectations of you - how you look, how you act, who you hang with, where you go. If you step out of the box, well, you're out! Go away, you're weird. I was supposed to go hookup with some idiot, because that's the box I was in. It took awhile, but I got rid of the boxes. "Gay culture" is so fragmented, so argumentative and circlejerky. There's culture clash from outside the gay culture because everyone has another culture to belong to. Yes, being "gay" is a sexuality. It's also a culture. And here, in the US (and on this very message board), it shows a very privileged, very "elitist" attitude toward others who aren't just like us. Welcome to being human, as shitty as it is sometimes. Which is why I find that as I age, I don't care about the "gay" thing anymore. I'd rather meet people who share activities (like cards, and movies and whatnot), and not labels. Lately, I've gotten interested in local bands, through a gay friend of mine. We go to bars, and watch bands play. He knows a lot of the bandmembers, which is fun. We very, very rarely even mention being gay. It's just not important. And a lot less frustrating than being around a bunch of picky, elitist weirdos who think their shit doesn't stink.

Oh, I hope I didn't come across as saying it's always the parents fault. I've seen many people that have had very good childhoods turn out to be not-good people. Yes, nurture is a big part of becoming a good person - but it's not everything. Sometimes bad people are just, well, bad on their own, no outside help needed

I consider a parent a failure when they are screwing up their kids through their own devices, ie. being addicted to drugs, being criminals, abandoning them, leaving them in a dumpster. As bad as it is to "return" a kid, I'd rather see them get a chance at a better life through being "returned" then having some adoptive asshole "father" teaching them to roll joints on their adoptive sister's bare ass because his buddies thought it would be funny. Which did happen to a friend of mine growing up. When he was about seven, I think. Sometimes you measure success by realizing you're failing.

Because people who look for reasons to be mad about silly things often look silly themselves... Silly people.

You're right, Kitt - the US has maintained at least two carrier groups in the region since October, 2001. Lots and lots of carrier based bombings, boat and ship interceptions, and humanitarian aid. The Navy has played a central role in the war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom

They don't poop either. NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE IM NOT LISTENING

Keep in mind that old JJ has been abused. We haven't been clued in to what that's done to his thinking about sex, other than he was in 'love' with his coach...

I use facebook to keep track of family that I don't speak to much, twitter sometimes too. My online presence is limited to that, and sites like this where there's no connection to me IRL. But I generally keep a very very low profile, and I don't want people tracking me down. In fact, I just changed my facebook name to include umlauts and accents in it, which defeats facebook's new "anyone can search for you" policy.

Not to derail (much), but here's an Italian take on how English sounds to non-English speakers (listen to the song, it kinda grows on you if you like that 60's - 70's vibe). It's definitely interesting, but I have no idea how accurate it is: To me, it sounds like we have lots of "ayes" and glottals in there. Any of you non-native English speakers want to weigh in on how we sound to you?

It wouldn't pass, Graeme is right. You'd need a wiki page for "gay fiction on the net", of which GA would be one reference of many. Then you'd need wiki pages for authors, and where they're hosted. And then you'd probably want one for popular stories, and link that back to the authors and to the sites. It's a bit of a rabbit hole. If the only page is GA, it's a stub, and those have to be rather specific and be pretty "important" to their subject topic.

An interesting discussion about the article, with Jay Roberts participating - his nick on the site is "robatsu" - over on metafilter: https://www.metafilter.com/133300/Everyone-wants-to-believe-that-they-are-special

Would it be a real imposition on the community to ask for a JJ thread instead of constantly coming back around to the character in this one? As I said, I do like the character, but I really would like to see other aspects of the storyline. I said I wanted to talk about frank - well, how is he? What's his reaction to losing his son? Will he go overboard and do something over the top? How is Gathan? Is Matt going to meltdown? Lots of aspects to the story, but it feels like it's the all JJ, all the time channel here. Maybe I need a break.