MikeL

I appreciate your response, Martin. You made a very good point about lesbians' reception on GA. As for the first three responses which you disliked, you may not be aware that Camilo and Matt (TetRefine) are the closest of boyfriends. We were merely having some fun at Camilo's expense and the humor was very close to what Camilo himself frequently dishes out. One additional point on the paucity of lesbians at GA, I think, is the fact that gay men, by definition, do not like the thought of sex with women. Most of the members would not read such stories, much less review or comment on them. They may well have good female friends of all sexual orientations, but have little if any interest in reading about lesbian sex. If this seems to be a distinction without a difference, please keep in mind it comes from a straight man. It's just an observation. Hope you are doing well. Have not seen you in chat for quite sometime. Please join us there soon.

Cliff James has released Chapter 35 of Circumnavigation, "The Art of the Deal". And does he ever have a deal for you!

Appearance and ease of reading are probably the most important factors to consider when selecting a font. If you print a lot of documents, you may wish to save ink usage by using Century Gothic (seen here) . It consumes one-third less ink than Arial.

I doubt I'll be there, but I have to say the Jack the Ripper tour is great!

Happy Birthday, Emanuel!

Jake has known for some time that his parents were going to kick him out of the house when he turned 18. Since he was so forcefully removed from his prior "employment", it makes sense that he has hidden some money away. If Jake did come out of the closet, it would make things very complicated for all three of them. We have to wonder if and how Corey and Brett will eventually learn the truth. Then, how will they resolve their dilemma?

Being the boss is not easy. It does change your outlook. While you are to be congratulated on your promotion, it's certain that you never bargained to be in this position. You don't have to like your job, but you do have to do it. While dismissing those who have been deemed redundant, you face the equally important task of rebuilding your relationship with those employees who remain. That may well the more difficult task. Nothing hurts employee morale and productivity more than seeing coworkers lose their jobs and, when there are wholesale cutbacks as you are experiencing, the effect on them may be devastating. They don't know when the next round of cuts is coming and if they will be a victim. There are other factors to consider. The questions are: Was your company so grossly overstaffed that these large reductions will not affect performance? Will you be able to get the work done with the reduced staff? Will you be blamed for the resulting debacle if you can't? Will you be able to keep your job or will management decide it's time to cut the "hatchet man"? When you lose a job, you never want to burn bridges. The single mother's comment was not appropriate even if understandable. I think it's important that you, as the boss, not burn any bridges with the departing workers. Your unspoken response to her may have been the best thing to do. Just consider that the day may come when you are seeking another job. The interviewer you face across the desk or your new boss may be one of the people you have fired. You are learning valuable lessons at an early age. Make the experience work for you. Good luck.

Moi? What did I do?

Cliff James has posted Chapter 9 of Jake, "Party Time". Brett helps Jake with a big problem and Jake returns the favor...sort of.

Happy Birthday, Matt! Sweet Sixteen!

X Here's the real challenge that you didn't address, Camilo. How do you as a multiplier or enabler or whatever, remove that big red "X"? Once a person has been branded as a nobody or a dufuss or simply dumb, how do you move them to the smart side of the street? Perhaps that's something a certain member of the Swarthmore Class of 2014 will have learned.

From Chapter 34: Jim said that Dirk is not gay. That's all he said.

Chase, best wishes on making the grade and making the move to Boston. A lot of determination...and a little political correctness...can take you a long way.

If you'd had eight wives, you'd look like that too.

I wouldn't want to look like Justin Bieber. At my age, it would be rather silly.

May be. Is there a hidden sociopathic reason? Probably not; you just like sex (or need to get more).

I'm guessing Riley wishes he hadn't asked this question. An author's best bet is to include a sex scene, if he is capable of writing a good one, where it is needed to further the plot, but only to that extent. If a lesser amount of graphic description will suffice, use a lesser amount. Sometimes less is more. An author should never include sex scenes that go on paragraph after paragraph, page after page, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

Cliff James has posted Chapter 33 of Circumnavigation, "From Turkey, With Love".

I like well-written stories. The mere implication of something physical between two characters is sufficient to hold may attention. The plot and wordsmithing are more important. In short, the most important "character" in a story is the author.

It really sounds like Mitch may be one of Brett's exes.

We are smoking two pork shoulders (a/k/a Boston butts ). That should be plenty to feed 18 people with a little left over. Smoking takes a while, so we will start this evening for tomorrow's (July 3) lunch.

I don't object to being considered a hero, but...once again for the record...I have never followed a goat trail through a minefield. Unlike most goats, our author has a vivid imagination.

I agree with you, Matt. The best approach to parenting is the middle ground with a balance of freedoms and restrictions (or responsibilities). As the child ages, as he matures, the balance should gradually change to allow more freedoms and require fewer restrictions. While the parent should be teaching the child some important life lessons, it's unfortunate that some parents never learn. No one starts out as a professional parent. If they were themselves well-parented, they have a model to build on. But parenting is frequently a learning process and a trial and error experience for the parent. Not every child is the same; not every child can be treated the same. The younger child should never have more freedoms than the older child; this would only breed animosity from the older child and problems for the parent that they would not be able to cope with. The one thing that has stuck with me about parenting my own sons is that each one seemed easier than the preceding one. I must have been the one who was maturing.