Irritable1

Happy birthday!!!

I guess it depends on what you mean by "unexpressed." I think there can be a tendency to think of people outside a marriage as this open field of undemanding sexual partners, but they're still people with feelings. If I were to act on a same-sex attraction, I wouldn't just be expressing myself, I'd be in an interaction with a third person, whom I'd then have to consider also. And I'm happy (and, ok, fully extended) in the relationship I have. I don't want to deal with another partner. Edit: Or to rephrase that: I'm living in a house with three extroverts and two pet rats. I'm not having an affair with a woman who will be ANOTHER person I have to interact with and you can't make me But again, I'm free to "express myself" by talking about my feelings as much as I like. So have that outlet and it makes life pretty easy.

Happy anniversary, Myr! And thank you!

I really enjoyed the description of the ride, it was a lot of fun. And good for Robin for being supportive. Rebecca on the other hand... her days among the clan feel like they might be numbered...

Simplistic as it sounds, I think people who are in a monogamous relationship are suppressing sexual desires often just because we have to find a way to turn attractions to other people back into the relationship somehow... or fight them. I married really young too, and I remember an older friend saying to me incredulously, "You mean you really thought you'd go your whole life and never feel attracted to anyone else?" But it's a lot easier to deal with feelings for third parties if you can talk about them with your partner. Solar, I'm in a somewhat similar position to yours because I'm "theoretically" bi and straight in practice. I was able to discuss this with my husband before we got married though, and I don't feel like I'm suffering from not having been in a same-sex relationship. Over the last couple decades I've had a few same-sex attractions (among opposite-sex ones) that I've told my husband about and occasionally discussed with my friends or my therapist (whom I see for other reasons). As Gene says above, if I'd had to deal with it on my own, it would have been a lot harder. It's definitely good advice for you to find someone to talk to.

Happy birthday!!!

Oh my gosh Chris! Insensitive much?? Until the scene at 2 AM I thought Ren was trying to help Chris goad a reaction out of Jonah and that Eric wasn't the target at all!

Happy birthday and many happy returns!!!!

Ok, but listen to the people around you when they try to take care of you, all right?

Yeah, the deck will change in appearance over the winter anyway, right? I don't think it's fair to bust your chops for it longer than a very few days. if that.

The whole thing is disgusting.

Well, this was fun. Boris and Oli are still adorable as always. I'm glad Andrea wasn't deceived... but I must admit I don't know how to feel about that whole menage now. She just let Oli deal with the anxiety and distress for all those years? I hadn't thought that through before. Not cool, Andrea.

This is probably the single most poignant sentence I've read in the last few months. It was a really perfect image, Cole.

Oh gosh, I hadn't figured out till this chapter that this is pre-Patrick. I don't know if I can stand to watch Jeff's sadness again... and what is up with Nate's discomfort about the "Get a room," crack? Curious.

Zombie, is it true what my English colleagues were saying last week, that every time David Cameron's given a speech against Scottish independence, support for the movement's gone up?

My heart was in my mouth throughout the chapter. How is it that the tension never seems to dissipate? I really appreciated the insight into what is driving Corbin's defensiveness.

I'm guessing that the people who lost someone in the attacks probably don't turn on the TV. If I knew that the coverage would be of the memorials only I'd probably watch it--it was a huge historical turning point and deeply significant to us as a country--but I'm too scared to see the footage from the day itself, it was so terrible. I pretty much stopped being able to watch TV news that year though, so I'm probably too much of a wuss to be representative.

This is a really superb one Sasha. Feels like a big advance in your writing too. Congratulations!

as always

This is great Jaro, so glad you took the plunge!

Ha ha ha! That's awesome! And you did such a great job changing up the pace!

Oh gosh, I'm so happy. Yay Boris and Andrea!

Maybe it's just my reverse pedigree, i.e. my kid's obsession, but I can only see a dormant volcano. Maybe one of the ones on Hawaii with slow lava flows every now and then. Sorry to be so literal :-( I really love the doublet of 7-syllable lines... something about the way the short lines flow into the last two is so graceful.

I'm visualizing a sad, internal voice, the inner person who is still afraid in storms and unwilling to show it.

Whee! I'm struggling with the meaning of the middle line, but the last two are really nicely balanced, Ron, very musical.