Carlos Hazday

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!! I already told my niece I'd be heading to Atlanta in May for her law school graduation since I'll have both vaccine shots by then. Haven't been out of town in over a year. If things calm down a bit more, I may head to Colorado Springs to check out the Air Force Academy over the summer. The inability to travel has bothered me more than having to wear a mask or avoiding eating inside restaurants.

Between weather and the pandemic, people are wanting to travel. Hotel occupancy around here has skyrocketed. I may have to hit the beach this week to check on all those spring breakers.

You and I are about the right age. LOL

@Buz No such thing as too long a comment. Particularly when they're thoughtful ones like yours. For readers being exposed to the extended family for the first time, the way Brett and Cesar approached the subject, would make them think of thoughtful parents. For long-time readers, I wanted to show they learned their lesson after the prenuptial agreement fiasco when CJ and Owen were planning their wedding. One of wingnut's definitions is a crazy person. It's also an old, derogatory name for Air Force personnel. Sort of like jarhead for Marines. Benefits of ownership. Buy and interest in a restaurant, and you too may get a similar offer. There are plenty of examples of wealthy individuals, particularly 'old-money' like Brett's, who've funded incredible organizations. Hell, the Smithsonian was created when a Brit left his money for that purpose. In the present, people like Bill Gates and his foundation have focused on health care issues. Only the utterly selfish or those who lie about their wealth fail to share their good fortune. I have faith Americans will survive one despot's attempt to dismantle our democracy. Won't be easy, and it may take until someone like CJ gets elected, but we WILL get to a better place.

A lot of us older gay men, and even some younger ones, had to find family in friends. I wanted to show that in some instances, we've moved beyond being rejected by blood relatives.

We've had a couple of weeks of high temps and humidity. Summer like. Expecting rain and a slight cool down today. I think our winter's over.

And they'll have to be put down. Now, where the hell did CJ put Lola?

I'm waiting until he finishes writing POM and editing the final chapters of Cadet before I ask him for help.

That's my story too!

But you'd have to come to South Florida to get me, and weather is dreadful. We may not even hit 80 today.

My short attention span made me stop paying attention after Brooklyn and Romeo. I didn't even know there were two other kids. I love the names they chose.

I think gay men are the only ones who still wear jocks. Most athletes go for compression shorts these days. Of course, Andrew Christian and other designers churn out ass-less briefs to provide similar access. But crotch watch any NFL game, and you'll notice they didn't get the memo. Lots of swinging meat under those tight, stretchy pants.

LOL Owen appears in Hail to the Chief, so we know he survives Mexico.

Mann keeps wanting me to kill someone. He even offered to write the section!

Yayyyyyyyyyy! You got the meaning behind Falcon. I may have wasted some time coming up with names for the kids mentioned in that chapter. There are a few more "juniors" in the mix I did not mention. One of them we meet in a future Cadet chapter

How about naked in the pool at a clothing-optional resort? You're too good at unscrambling my thoughts.

fixed even though it's in comments LOL

Scandal, not scandle. LOL Gutting reader suggestions, and modifying the story so as not to be predictable, is a trick I learned from @Mann Ramblings. Blame him!

The wonders of being a teen. One day you sound like the bravest, defending the downtrodden, and the next you're getting spanked for being misogynistic. Of course the entire military's still struggling with how the deal with women. Did you see the latest report about how female service members and officers have to dish out significantly more money for uniforms and accessories than men? Marines would provide an allowance for men's underwear but not bras and panties. That one has already been addressed. They won't pay for anybody's so they're teaching the jarheads what 'going commando' means. They can't figure it out on their own. Hey, sergeant!

I think I have close to 10k words written on CDMX (That will be the book's title. Those are the initials for Ciudad de Mexico, the official name and abbreviation.) Needing a break from writing CJ stories (break is now over) I published Hail in case I didn't get to write everything I'd outlined. I threw in some details like Mexico and kids' names to hint at what would be coming. Writing Brad's story and now Ritch's I've had to make decisions of what happens with CJ & Owen in the future. This chapter's a perfect example. I had to fit Ritch's spring break into CJ's continuity. I selected the school break's dates based on when CJ was available and the Benito Juarez holiday so they could spend two days with the kids. This one was easy. Since Ritch's story runs through May 2024, I had to make sure whatever happened in CJ's life up to then, was accounted for. Some events would mandate appropriate responses. For example, When Owen dies, Ritch has to fly to the funeral. (Kidding!)

Careful... I still haven't written anything on CJ's political campaigns. I can always go back and expand what happened somewhere.

I know another kid's named Brooklyn which I thought was a cool name. One of them, or maybe both, has done some modeling if I'm not mistaken.

LOL Talk to me after chapter 14. You'll see why Nova wouldn't have been a good choice. I already have one of those and I don't mean an old Chevy.

It happens. Of course, some adopted kids are mistreated and as far as I'm concerned their adoptive parents should be thrown in jail and allowed to rot. Ritch was never officially adopted. He acknowledges if he had agreed to it, he would have felt disrespectful towards his biological parents. I've tried to evolve the relationship to the point Ritch calls them Dad and Papa as often as CJ does. One of my original goals was to despict family ties even without blood relations. Mostly with friends but particularly in how Ritch was slowly folded into the clan. With vacation homes in LA, Vail, and NYC, I would not mind being adopted myself.