LittleBuddhaTW

Congratulations, Camy! Sounds like this could be marking a major transition point in your life. So, what now? You've been splashing around in the water for a while, sucking in water, feeling like maybe you were drowning. Now, you've made it on to the beach, to safety. You can stay on the beach, or you can go explore the jungles and mountains, experience a whole new side to life. Decisions, decisions, decisions ... *Hugz* Buddha

Just put a picture of one of my tattoos in my profile ... right after I got it (so it's still red). As for the other one, you'd have to know me VERY well to get to see that one ... lol

I've got two tattoos ... one on my upper back (a Sanskrit letter), and one below my navel (the Chinese character for 'Buddha' ... go figure ) Oh ... and I didn't cry ... or whimper ... it felt kinda cool actually ... :2hands:

Ok, that is so cruel and not fair. I'm gonna polish up my bronze Buddha statue and get it ready to throw at you anyway ... :2hands:

More comments = faster posting of the next chapter of SOOTB .......... (Yes, I know I'm a comment/feedback whore ... )

Hmmm ... I think I could probably be persuaded to do that ...

I was also very impressed by this story, and I hope that we will see more of Birdie's work in the future. The storyline and character development were all nicely done, and the whole thing was quite touching. Definitely one of my faves from this season's anthology collection! One of the things that impressed me most was that even though Birdie is not a native speaker of English (in fact, I believe he's only spoken English for about 3-4 years), his writing is A LOT better than many native speakers, and he didn't even use an editor! As a professional linguist who has studied five different foreign languages, I can assure everyone that that is an incredible feat. Maybe he could even write a story for us in Spanish one day, eh? *Hugz* LB

Last night, Rigel from GA treated me to a wonderful meal at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was my first time eating Ethiopian food, even though some people may have thought I had, since I wrote about that in a previous chapter of SOOTB. The actual experience was pretty much as I described it. The food was spicy, which I love, and the Sam Adams beer washed everything down nicely. Rigel and Mrs. Rigel were also excellent dinner companions, and I enjoyed meeting them and chatting. So, thank you for a lovely evening, Rigel! On a totally different subject, I've never had asthma before, and I've never had much of an allergic reaction to my cats other than the occasional sneeze or itchy eyes, and that only happens if they've been right up in my face for a while. But ever since I've gotten home, I've been having some reactions when I stay down in the basement, which is where the cats are, and we have a computer, TV, DVD player, and comfy sofas down there ... it's basically our rec room. Last night, after being down there for about only 30 minutes, I started having trouble breathing and was coughing a lot. I've never had that kind of reaction before, so I'm thinking it has more to do with the basement than my cats. Maybe mildew or something (although I never had that problem when I was living here during my teenage years). Over the next few hours, it became harder and harder to breathe, and at about 3 AM, I woke up my parents, wheezing loudly, barely able to talk, and told them I needed to go to the emergency room. Fortunately, my dad had had asthma a while back, and still had an inhaler that is used for acute attacks. It worked. However, I'm going to need to go see a doctor now and get my own prescription in case it happens again. It was not a pleasant experience. Ok, on to the story stuff ... I've gotten sooo many PMs and e-mails over the past couple of days, asking what is going on with the story and editing situation. I think everyone has been reading too much into things, and there is no reason to get worked up. Sharon and Kitty will BOTH be working on the upcoming chapter of SOOTB. I think people were making it out to be much more than it actually was. There are NO problems between Kitty and I, so please, no more PMs or e-mails about that. Thanks! I hope everyone has had a chance to read "A Free Man In Paris." I know short stories usually aren't as popular as serials, but Kitty and I both worked hard on this one, so please go read it if you haven't yet, and post your thoughts/comments in the discussion forum. We'd both really like to see some more feedback. And Chapter 24 of SOOTB should be posted this weekend.

Very insightful post, Pete. Thank you. LB

So that's it? It's not fair to tease us ...

BTW, feel free to stop by the Story Archive and rate the story, whether you liked it or not. Just click on the link below: https://www.gayauthors.org/archive/archive....=LittleBuddhaTW :businesssmiley:

I was quite impressed, CJ. At first, when I saw the title, I thought it was going to be a comedy, but it turned out to be really sweet and romantic. And I breathed a sigh of relief when I got to the end and found out that they would be able to continue their relationship. I'm a sucker for happy endings! Anyway, excellent story, CJ! I hope you'll decide to write more in the future! *Hugz* Buddha

Hiya Dom, Thanks for the comment in Dan's forum on my chapter of "Service." I'm glad you liked it! As for changing your e-mail, go "My Controls," then on the left hand side of the screen, scroll down until you see "Options," then click on "E-mail Settings" and follow the instructions. I believe you'll have to wait a few minutes after you make the change to receive a confirmation e-mail, and once you confirm that, you're all set! BTW, I'm really enjoying TOSOM so far. Great story! *Hugz* Buddha

First things first ... Chapter 2 was fantastic! I still think Oliver and David are probably the same person (multiple-personalities), but there seems to be much more going on than just that, specifically when it comes to Oliver/David's parents. There is definitely something fishy going on there. And why can't Oliver go into town? Is it just because of the MPD, or is there something else "supernatural" about him that freaks people out? Maybe that's why the witch threw the rock at him ... she could *sense* something about him ... something powerful. Also, interesting that the sexuality thing hasn't even been mentioned yet (I don't think), except for the subtle innuendos from David about how much Oliver would like Frank. Anyway, great chapter Dom! Can't wait to read more!

I agree with everything Sharon, Vic, and Ben just said. This is a community, where we want everyone to participate. The idea of needing 5 posts to access the "Sneak Peeks" forum is just one way to encourage members to participate in the forums rather than just lurking. As an author myself, I find your (Addiction) post extremely offensive, as if you think it's your *right* to read anything an author posts. The authors here, Dom included, spend a lot of time writing and working to make this a positive and fun community, where readers and writers can interact with each other, discuss stories, or whatever other issues they may want (i.e. coming out, etc.) And if you're really that opposed to participating in the forums, you can wait a few extra days until the story is posted on Dom's site (which it is now -- the first two chapters) ... it's not like it would kill you or anything. Ok, rant over ... LB

Here it is (in two formats) ... https://www.gayauthors.org/anthology/summer...lebuddhatw.html (Special thanks to Luigi for doing such a wonderful job with the design/layout! ) OR http://littlebuddhatw.gayauthors.org/short...n_in_paris.html (And check this one out to see Xandra Kitee's fantastic logo design! ) And, as usual, many thanks to Kitty for doing such a fabulous job editing! Also, Xandra Kitee was a great help reviewing the story (twice) to make sure it was accurate and authentic when it came to the French stuff. So, big thanks to both of them! I look forward to hearing everyone's comments on this one. It was a lot of fun to write. Enjoy! *Hugz* Buddha

Or you could just use Netscape Composer, which is extremely easy to use (as simple as typing in Word), and creates nice .html files, web pages, etc. That's what I use to convert all of my chapters into HTML, as well as what I use to create and maintain my website. You can get it free from http://www.netscape.com. Xandra Kitee does a fabulous job with logos, but there is also logo design freeware out there that you can use to create your own logos ... not as nice as what Xandra can come up with, but it can do the trick. LB

Yep, that would be me. I have all kinds of facial washes, masks, cleansers, etc. My fave brands are The Body Shop, Clinique, and Kose (a Japanese brand). The person below me is wondering how we drifted away from the topic of Ben's mouth-wateringly beautiful bum ...

Thank you very much, and welcome aboard! It's good to have you here! LB

I wouldn't be so quick to judge Kyle, yet ... we still don't know exactly why he's angry at Cameron. It could be, like someone else suggested, that he's angry at Cameron for keeping something like that from him, or who knows ... although the fact that he told his girlfriend is a bit troublesome. I'd hate to see Kyle turn out like his dad. I'd like to be able to believe that kids nowadays can make decisions for themselves, set their own moral compass, and not blindly follow bigoted, ignorant, and stupid parents. A suggestion for GaryO ... you should put "Cameron" in the topic title when you start a new post, because on the main forum page, people will just see "Chapter 16," and won't know what story it belongs to. Also, when Vance starts posting new stories, that will get confusing as well. LB

I've got a question ... How do I find a boyfriend?!?!

Chapter 24 has been sent to Kitty ...

So ... Ryan acts like an asshole to his brother (who is suffering from cancer) and Connor, tells Connor that he doesn't love him anymore (believe me, that hurts worse than any insult anyone has ever thrown at me), and then, he is faced (both figuratively and literally) with the person who assaulted and raped him and hears that his ex-boyfriend was going out with a girl ... I have a really hard time accepting that Connor didn't have a "right" to flip out a bit at Ryan. In fact, I have seen Connor get criticized for an awful lot of stuff that I would never imagine criticizing him for. It's really thrown me for a loop, and I don't really understand the reactions to Connor, in general. Perhaps that's why I've been having such a tough time writing lately ... LB

Yeah, that is really odd. Nifty posts just about anything. I had another friend recently who submitted a story to Nifty, which he had done before without any problems, but Nifty had problems with that one, although I don't think they ever explained why. It did eventually get posted, though ... after a couple of weeks. I didn't even realize they took the time to read through story submissions. Oh well ... all I can say is to be patient and see what they say (although I wouldn't hold my breath for a detailed reply). Good luck! LB

I'm very impressed. This is quite different from Dom's previous stories, and it's a nice change. Even though writing in the third-person narrative is "new" to Dom, it flows nicely and he seems just as comfortable writing in the third-person as the first-person. I agree with C James' theory from the Sneak Peaks forum that Oliver and David are the same person, a split personality. I can't wait to read more!