wildone

Great to hear that you are happy with the past year, and setting yourself up for another good one. All the best to you and your family and friends as well in 2010.

Now Jack , last year Alberta and their ugly oil boom meant that they contributed 14 billion extra to Ottawa to be distributed around the country to the six have not provinces (In which Newfoundland is not one, they are a have province now). Guess what, the total payout was 14.2 billion so that means all the other 3 contributed 0.2 billion, AND guess where 8.355 billion of the transfer payments went to? Quebec you say? You are correct. Quebec has always been the beneficiary of booms in Ontario and other provinces since equalization was set up. I believe Quebec has taken 77% of all equalization since it's inception in 1961. Just stating the facts . I believe she was refering to Britain. I don't think us anglophones have ever been accused of having a stiff upper lip. Now, now, Quebec is only 1/13 of Canada. Robbie, I'm sure you would feel welcomed all across the country. Note: If you think Jack and I are being less than friendly, it is another Canadian trait. Quebec against the rest of the country, or visa versa . In reality, I respect Jack and his opinions and Canada is much better place with Quebec in it than without it. I would agree

Happy Birthday Jack Your profile says you are turning 4 today , well I am spilling the beans and let everyone know you are 24 . Have a super birthday and many days to come.

That's okay, we are willing to step aside for Bahrain. After all it is the friendly thing to do

And in addition to that.... My two and half year old nephew points at every picture of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and says "Goat". I figure CJ moonlights by drinking some tequila (hence the red nose) and confuses childern around the world.

All I have to say to that is....WHAT?

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!! Remember not to decorate your houses after having a few too many egg nogs and rum.

You know what, I will even go even further than that, as I have inside information that I haven't been sworn to keep secret: Look out Trevor Steve (runs to hide in case Graeme is lurking around)

I'm going with a different way altogether. I think Dirk is well aware of Trevor's attachment to his Mom, even though she has been gone for so long. I would imagine why Dirk is so uneasy with him is that he has possibly met a woman and he is feeling intense guilt over seeing another woman. Also worried to death of Trevor's reaction if he finds out. Will Trevor think of his Dad as cheating on his mom? Couple of things stood out to me, one was his dad was supposedly going to one of the weekly trade shows in Miami. Does that mean Dirk is gone once every week overnight? Second was the boxes of tax receipts, I really wonder what is in there? Thanks for the chapter CJ

Welcome To GA Does this mean we cannot talk about you in chat anymore . Just kidding. Don't be a stranger as you may have some insight on some dirt on Cia which we may or may not need in the future . Hope to see you around Steve

You have pissed off a nation my friend. I will be putting in 32 million votes for you on their behalf

Good to see the debate is heating up for this prestigious award . I would like to point you all to another forum regarding renaming the cliffhanger award . It is great to see one member of the WST has already weighed into the debate and had a suggestion .

I like that idea; The Cliffie Kind of has a nice ring to it. Well he is the first one elected and since all others will be after him, I guess that makes him a mother to all others so yeah, the Queen Mother of Cliffhangers would do. The only problem is, could the goat dress as smart and be the fashion diva for hats that the original queen mom was? Give it a rest?? As long as CJ writes, he shall be subject to the huge amount of teasing that he rightfully deserves So your vote is for the Queen Mother than Jan ? Yes, after reading Twilight, you are definitely in the running for the award, whatever we call it . I take it that if all else fails, you might be trying to take it by force ? Cool, this could get ugly, lol.

Hey all, So I have read the new rules regarding the Reader's Choice Awards for this year and in case you haven't seen the two big ones, they are: Premium Content stories will not be eligible for the GA Readers Choice Awards and that the King/Queen of Cliffhangers award will only be awarded to one author twice. It is the second part that I wanted to discuss. I agree with the WST that made a decision totally independent of the Goat to change or shall we say add to the rules for this award. It was designed to be for fun and to have one author continually win it may have deprived other deserving authors of being a King or Queen for a year or two. I see that Tiger has started an aggressive lobby for Mark Arbour to be the next King. CJ has been lobbying for Graeme to be King. I have heard rumours that our beloved Krista may be our first Queen here at GA . All are deserving and who knows who will win? I noticed the other day that the Golden Globe awards nominations were announced and that got me to thinking (scary in itself ). Usually awards have some kind of name attached to certain ones like the lifetime achievement award and such. Since the King or Queen of Cliffhangers is a special award, why don't we have a named award too. In this spirit, I want to lobby the WST to rename the award to: CJames Memorial King/Queen of Cliffhangers Award Yes, I realize CJ isn't dead, but what better way to pay homage to the goat who created the need to have the award in the first place. If I was an author, I would be honoured to receive an award named after one of the best cliffhanger writers of them all. Please post here if your in agreement to have the name changed as suggested above, or maybe another suggestion. Maybe if enough of us lobby here we can influence the powers to be to change the name. Let's see what we can do .

Welcome Back Lacey . Take it easy and pop in when you get the chance.

Hopefully Mom put you to a good working . So, lets discuss SA. I'll admit I may be one of the people to nudge you to do some more writing on it, but know that is because I have liked what I have seen so far. Also, there is a fine line between a author needing a push, and pushing so hard that the author wants to throw up there arms and run away. Hopefully you are not at that point . As far as deleting everything and starting over again, you have every right to do so. At first I was skeptical when DK decided to rewrite Vampire Jared as I really liked the story. Then he 'deleted' it and began the rewrite which I'm even enjoying more. Hint to be taken from here; don't permanently delete the original, save it somewhere you can reference it in the future and just pull it from being on-line. Besides, when you are a nationally best selling author, think how much that original draft or attempt will be worth . Just remember whatever you do, it is your decision and nobody else's.

Thanks for the maps too, CJ . A question about the Caribbean, are the waters pretty shallow throughout the area, or just around islands? I would imagine the number of cruise ships that head to the area they must overall be fairly deep. Why I ask is that I believe the wreck of the Ares supposedly wrecked off the coast of Bimini, but no wreckage was found. I am trying to solve the story after 4 chapters, how am I doing?

A few of us were chatting with Chris today and he mentioned that Lacey might be home as early as tomorrow .

Happy Birthday Johnathan Hope you have a great day!!!

Happy Birthday Jan I hope you have a super Birthday, maybe you might just get to ride a coaster or two for a Bday present Enjoy the day Steve

Wow CJ, great chapter with a lot left to my imagination. Like what exactly does Trevor look like in a speedo I really liked the interaction between Julie and Trevor. I really liked the way she outed Trevor in order for him to out himself to her. I am also now curious about her comments about Trevor's dad. I too am going with the belief that Trevor is totally misreading his Dad's attitude when he brings up anything gay related. I am going to comment that I sort of feel that each chapter has been an introduction of certain characters and certain routines of said characters that will be important in the future. Things like the anchor story may not just be for humour but also a key to something that happens further in the story. I just don't trust you to be so innocent . Hey, can I make one more suggestion? I was thinking all your stories (okay, maybe not FTL), have all taken place in actual places in the world. Places that can be seen on a map. No matter how many times I look at a map of the southeast coast of Florida and the Caribbean, I can not remember exactly where they are. Things like how far from home port to Cocoa Beach to Bimini? If all the places are factual, any chance of getting a map of the most common areas of the story? I realize if I say this and it exceeds the territory of the Bermuda Triangle, then I might just get a map of the globe , but if you can.... Thanks for the chapter, Steve

Great news to hear Chris. Get well quickly Lacey and yes, I miss you too. Hope you are feeling much better soon. I won't forget your well wishes myself so want to throw a lot of positive energy your way. Take care , Steve

I was surprised when I saw how a certain religion looked at how the loss of child, in this case due to accident, and through the strength of their beliefs in how that child was helping in the afterlife made their death possibly easier to bear. Whew, what a long sentence I know this religion prepares everyone to deal with different difficult situations they may encounter. The pessimist side of me says that it is only to minimize normal human emotion so they can get back to serving the church quicker, but I really think they do help in the long run.

Pepperoni and Salami (but if it is from one of the American chains that are up here they don't have Salami, why the hell don't you Americans have salami????)

45!!! Add a minus in front of it, and you're close to what it is up here . Besides, you can just snuggle closer to the hawt husband of yours to warm up. Tell Rich that that is part of the spousal obligations that he signed up for . If that doesn't work, we will have a string of gay men lined up at your door to help out . I'm glad you shared and got what you needed to get off your chest. You know Tony appreciates what sacrifices you made for him, and I'm sure he will never forget the 'normal' life that you and Rich gave him so he could succeed. I sure somewhere in the future you will see your efforts paid off and more. Just seeing him graduate HS, Undergrad and soon Law school will be acknowledgment of everything and more that you have done for him and your family. Happy Birthday Davey (hopefully I'm not too late ) and glad to hear your better. Lastly, Viv, give AM a huuuuuuge hug from me, and congratulations for doing such a great job in her first year!!!