dkstories

After watching the jibjab video...that's it. We're all doomed. Game Over Man!

try this link for ten songs of the civil rights era... http://folkmusic.about.com/od/toptens/tp/CivilRightsSong.htm or just look up 'civil rights movement songs' or 'womens rights movement songs'

Nickolas, before you try to lump Robert Byrd in with David Duke, look up the facts. Don't lie by leaving information out. Roberty Byrd WAS a member of the Klu Klux Klan. He has described that time as his "biggest mistake" in life. Unlike David Duke who still preaches the hatred and intolerance of the KKK, Robert Byrd says that he hopes admitting his mistakes and the troubles it caused might help young people not leap into similar mistakes. As for Iran, they are a problem state, with many things that are wrong. Their President has taken the place of Saddam Hussein as the 'most evil man' around, although I think it should be North Korea's leader we focus on instead of this man. His actions are a call, not to arms, but a call for engagement. As long as he remains isolated, he will be free to be a maverick without any bowing to the will of the international community. Tie his hands with treaties and engagement instead of isolation and the threat of military arms that we can never carry out successfully.

I don't know if I've ever shared some of this before, although I know a lot of it has been out there for a while. I joined GA, and became a hosted author here in March of 2004, after a period in my life where I saw everything falling apart. I had a major breakdown, attempted suicide, was in the hospital and an outpatient program for several months, and I lost a job I'd held for over five years. At the same time, I found out my grandparents all had alzheimer's and were about to be put into a care home. It was during this time that I started talking with Myr, moved back to California to help care for my grandparents, and found new energy and a new life. GA was part of what kept me alive and growing during that time. I also found my current partner, the man I love, here at GA. We got together for a movie after he kept asking me to coffee or a movie. At that point I had very low self-esteem, probably the lowest self-esteem I've ever experienced. Why someone would want to go out of their way to meet me, I just couldn't understand. Now, well over a year later, we're about to celebrate our second Christmas together and I couldn't imagine having a better life. Sure, there are problems, but you know, when aren't there problems in life? The important thing is that we face them together. God only knows where I'd be now if it weren't for Gay Authors. I think about that a little every day, and I'm thankful for this site and the people here. When Myr and I first talked about what he wanted to do with Gay Authors, what he dreamed of it being, I was so surprised and enthused by his desire to make more than just a site to host stories, but to build a community as well. GA was to be a place where people could go to discuss stories, to get to know one another, and where you could find all the different elements of LGBT society. It was to be a safe place, more than a place to go to for a quick sexual j/o story, more than a place to find a pick-up, a safe place for young people who are gay and struggling to find themselves, and a place where those of us are older can interact with them without having to worry about the minors being exploited. Let's be honest here, one of the biggest disconnects I remember as a young gay person was the distance between older gay men and younger gay men. How many of us only have the idea of older gay men being interested in younger gay men for sex? Where was the friendliness, the passing on of knowledge and experience from those older to those younger? Why was it all about sex? Part of that was, in my opinion, because most of the time the older and younger gay generations saw each other, it was in a place that leaned towards pick-ups, like a bar or a chat room used by people to find others for anonymous sex. There were very few places (Mail Crew comes to mind) where teens and older gay men could talk and become friends without there being overtones of sex involved. For the most part, GA has become such a place, and Myr has worked tirelessly to keep it from being used as a pick-up place. I've got to head to work soon, but these have been the things that GA mean to me...It's also why you will be hard-pressed to find a more dedicated defender of this site. A lot of good has come from Gay Authors. Now it is time that Myr, Joe, Kitty and the others who keep it running get a chance to enjoy the good things instead of all the negative crap that some people have thrown at them.

CJ lives in Northern Arizona lest you forget. There's little else there to do....

It only takes a few bad apples to ruin the whole bunch, and in the last few months a handful of people have come very close to achieving the singular success of removing the Gay Authors website from the internet. Just be glad it isn't me in Myr's shoes. First of all, you would not have seen a single new chapter of any of my stories in the last YEAR, at least. Like Myr, I spend a lot of time doing work and other things, but I don't go to school and I don't have to worry about keeping this website up and running. In his shoes, I'd have shut the site forever about six months ago and made sure that every time someone came to the URL, you'd get a message announcing the site is closed and the names of the people who helped close it so you could thank them for their hard work. How many of you want to assume the legal liability that can come with this site? Do you want your REAL name plastered all over the television news broadcasts across the country and the world (through CNN and FOX) when some teenager from this site disappears after meeting up with 36 year old adult in the Gay Authors chatroom. Do you want to deal with an angry mother when she finds out her son as been visiting this site from his home computer and she threatens to sue YOU and take YOUR money because her son visited this site (even if she doesn't win the case, you're still out THOUSANDS of dollars because of legal fees) Look at how many people visit this site. There are all sorts of minor problems that have to be handled from users not being able to figure out how to log in, or they can't read the font because it's too small, etc. Then there are the Authors. We authors can be a major pain in the rear, and not the enjoyable kind at that. Whether it's me sending in my chapters with screwey html that makes Myr spend two hours fixing it before he can put up the chapter, or demanding a new button for a new story because I haven't found an artist to do it for me (anyone, help, please? I need a button for The Rider's Pride - PM me), Myr has to deal with this demands for his time. Then along comes a prima donna who wants his/her hand held, to be coddled and told how wonderful they are, and then they want you to go out and drum up fifty people to comment on their story (btw, if I want to beg for comments, I'll do it myself, and I know if I still don't get any at that point, maybe I should move on to a different story). These prima donnas, you could spend twenty damn hours with them and they're still going to be griping and moaning. Myr, for some odd reason tries to do as much as he (or our staff) can before he cuts them loose. You know, that's one of the things I've always appreciated about Myr, he really does care and want to help people, as does the admin team here. The only problem is, that when their life force has been sucked dry by these prima donnas, our GA admin staff wind up burned out and ready to 'screw the site'. When that happens, when they quit, we move one step closer to closure, and it is all because of a handful of people (as in between five and ten). One more thing, to those people who keep on saying they're going to leave because they don't like things here, disappear for a bit, and then come back, or make comments in threads like this one even though they've said they're leaving the site...get out of here and don't come back. If you're leaving, go. Get your butt out of here and don't stick around trying to cause trouble, stir up muck and then waltz on out whistling a happy tune. People like that are the lowest of scum that exist on the internet and deserve every little bad thing that comes their way. In closing, let's just say that Myr's taken this from a relatively small site into a big success. A few whiners and poseurs who are too damn lazy to lift a finger unless they can get some fancy little reward want to tear it down and ruin it for the vast majority of people. I think it's time that we give people a little taste of what's around the corner. I know this won't affect Sharon too much since most of my stories are Sci-Fi, but I'm going to ask every other Hosted Author on this site to consider following suit. I will not post any new chapters of any of my stories until after January 1st, 2007. You can thank your friendly neighborhood whiner and prima donna for this short stoppage of new stories/chapters. Just be glad that GA isn't closing, because if GA does close, my stories disappear from the internet with it, and only those who I consent to send things by e-mail will ever see a new chapter of any story for me. (Yes, I'm now being a bit of a prima donna, threatening to take my ball and leave the playground with it...but you know, it IS my ball and you don't have a right to play with it and beat up my friend as part of your sick, perverted little games). In closing, let me remind people who do have REAL problems, or REAL suggestions that could help the place out, none of this has anything to do with you. If you can't read a story because of some technical issue, we'll try to help. If we need to get a better font size so those with visual impairments can more easily read our stories and our forums, we're going to do our best. If there's someone out there who is a teenager and being stalked by an adult through chat or PM, please, please, don't hesitate to report it to an admin. You're not going to get in trouble, and neither will the site for stopping someone from stalking a teenager. Real problems will get real answers here, and don't contribute to the mess that has happened over and over for the last few months. Unfortunately, when admin staff are burned out and frazzled from bull-crap put out by other people, those with real problems haven't received the attention or the proper supportive attitude, and I know the GA admin team feels bad about that as well as apologizes. The bottom line, the poseurs and trouble-makers need to be banned within a few days so we can focus on fixing the real problems with site and keeping things moving forward instead of disappearing forever.

Hehe, Robert and I bought a tree last year and still have not set it up this year, although I brought it in from the storage shed (something about both of us being fairly busy). Dogs and cats aren't too dissimilar, although I think you should be glad you don't have to worry about the dog knocking the tree down every time she wags her tail! (Still, wouldn't bet on how many nice, shiny gold and silver ornaments you're going to lose to the cat!) Happy Holidays...can't wait for more Unbreakable Faith!

Ah, poor David...ya know, Robert is asking Zoe if she'd enjoy a trip to Washington State - that's our big white dog that's always hungry. David - since they didn't behave this way before either in Taiwan or at your parents' place, could it be something in the place you are now? A sound, mold, something?!

It's the holiday season...things slow down a bit between now and New Years...which is not to say that everything slows down...just that it's not quite as busy around here...

Dom, I know you're pissed at your step-mother, but why do you have to take it out on us? (TOSOM 13's ending is what' I'm referring to here...when's 14 going to be put up?) Grrrrr

Training dogs is no problem...unless you have someone like Trebs in the house. If you really want to get rid of the cats, though, we can help. We won't even make you clean up the mess after the dogs get through with them.

You know Dom, I find writing helps relieve all the frustration. Sorry to hear about all the drama, and I truly wish I could say I never had anything like that happen to me. A little bit of advice...do christmas at your place, but go ahead and invite your father...just let him know that as long as his wife says you are not welcome at 'her' home, she's not welcome at yours...

I've noticed lately that there have been problems with fanfiction's email system. I have gotten no chapter alerts from them in a week or so. This happens on occasion and then when they clear up the log-jam, I'll get a bunch of them, old and new at once. That might also affect their registration system.

Dom I've not only reported the author's abuse to the administration over there, I posted a review of the story wherein I let people know who read the review that this author has plagiarized the work. Now, with fanfiction.net, it usually takes a day or two for them to take action. They get a lot of 'abuse' reported and have to wade through them, doing at least some basic level of investigation. I know I linked them back to GA and your story site, specifically Desert Dropping. It's pretty fracking obvious from the first two paragraphs it's plagiarism. Let's let this author know he's been caught...when fanfiction.net finally acts, you can expect it to be quick and complete... http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3183005/1/ (thanks to someone for sending me the link...Robert and I were trying to find out where it was on the net.)

Name the site, name the author and let's kick some cyber-butt. In other words...let's get them and make them pay!

The Firefly series is available on DVD (yes we own it). Enjoyed the movie as well. Beware of BSG though...Friday's episode was another example of how great Battlestar Galactica is today. It's probably one of the best sci-fi shows of all times.

What made it really interesting was that while I was outside, I'd been imagining in my mind what a orbital space battle might look like from the surface of a planet. Let's just say my imagination went into overdrive for a moment when I first saw the meteor...

Spike and Xander forever!

In the past week I've seen a couple of beautiful meteors in the skies above Sacramento...including a nice bright explosive one that left a blue/white trail in the sky for about a minute...

Don't forget there's been riots in Jerusalem by far-right jewish believers protesting the holding a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.

Father, give us grace and mercy. Father, help us this next week and a half as we go into national elections, and Lord we pray for our country. Father, we pray that lies would be exposed. We pray that deception would be exposed. The above is a quote from the morning service prayer that this 'pastor' used during last Sunday's services...

He who shouts the loudest, has a skeleton in the closet...

What's really scary...is how many people on BOTH sides will believe it without thinking about it...

The whole purpose of the separate ABC style liquor stores is to do exactly what you folks are saying they do to you: Make you feel dirty going there. It's a good old Christian method to curb the imbibing of unpure spirits (in other words a lasting remnant of blue laws).

In my early 20's, I moved back in with my mother while attending community college. She tried a lot of similar rules to what your mother is using because she knew I was gay. At that point, I remined her I had moved out when I was 17 and I was ready to do it again. Eventually we reached a compromise that was livable for both of us. As time went by, she didn't even blink an eye at a boyfriend staying the night, although it was a few years before she reached that point. The point of all that...talk to her. Be forthright with your plans, but don't be insulting or rude. Familiarity breeds contempt and it is far too easy for a parent and child to know exactly what buttons to push with each other...even if they're not consciously choosing to push those buttons. Tell her that you think her added restrictions on you are because of your bisexuality. Let her know that it is unacceptable to you to continue living in such an environment and that when you are legally able to do so, after you complete high school, you will be moving away. If she wants to know why you want to attend college so far away, tell her its because you feel the need to be away from an unhealthy home environment. I still miss my mother. She was too young at 48 to die. One thing I take great consolation over is that before she died, both of us knew that we loved and accepted each other for who we were as people. We still had our disagreements, we still fought over things, but there was no doubt about where we stood in each other's hearts and minds. Part of that was because of her, and part of it was because I stood up for myself and confronted her bigotry when it happened. It wasn't easy, there was a lot of heartbreak along the road, but in the end it was worth every ounce of effort.