Cynus

A very merry day of existence to you.

A very merry day of existence to you.

A very merry day of existence to you.

Ac - Achilles Someone dipped this guy in my river.

Q - Quillox The name of a powerful wizard in one of my past stories which was never finished.

Especially if it's in a cinnamon roll. The person below me has successfully executed a diet plan to lose weight.

I like Siggi a lot. Can't say the same for Dmitri. Someone as forcefully sexual as that . . . I look forward to the development as Siggi and Gunni meet.

I am looking forward to continuing this story. A friend of mine recommended it to me, and I can see why. The writing is good and the promise for exciting things to happen in the future is also there. Thanks for writing!

None for this year. Going to be writing a Halloween story though. The person below me can't wait for pumpkin season.

My favorite encounter was a time when I didn't get pulled over but should have. I was in a long train of cars, all of the drivers being friends from my work, and we were going out to a late-night meal after we closed the restaurant. We had to cross a traffic island to get to the restaurant we were eating at, and so we all pulled into the left turn lane at the light to make U-turns to get around the island. All the cars in front of me made it through before the light turned red again, leaving me first in line with one friend behind me. I noticed a cop in the far lane away from us, but didn't think anything of it. The light turned, I made my U-Turn, and then waited for my friend. After he got out of the car he told me that the cop had been watching us the whole time, because apparently there was a "No U-Turn" sign we had all missed, and the cop watched me go and then looked at my friend, my friend made eye contact with the cop, shrugged, and then did the U-Turn after me. Apparently the cop didn't want to give us all tickets, and so he drove off. (Sorry for making this so long) Same Q

M - Marc I immortalize his name everywhere. Rest in peace, my love. May we meet again across the storm.

And I'm grateful you're reading them. Jason may surprise you, as may the others. There's a whole lot in store for the boys in the next little while. Stay tuned.

Oh, it's a crazy world in there, my friend. Everyone is always watching you. If you want to know what Orwell's 1984 feels like, look no further than the Missionary Training Center in Provo. It's almost creepy the way everyone accepts it as normal, too. Go ahead and ask away in the forum. I'll be happy to address it. This change happened on my mission, but I bet they're still talking about it, lol.

I agree with this sentiment. My siblings and I started a book club, and this past month we were reading a book by Rabbi Johnathan Sacks titled "The Great Partnership". It's about how people need both religion and science in their lives in order to A) be able to take things apart and see how they work and to put things together and see what they mean. I think the type of atmosphere you're referring to, where one has respect, careful listening, love and acceptance, is one found in places where people forget the dogma of either religion or science and learn to live according to how things work and what things mean. Love and knowledge are the two greatest forces in the universe, the former, I feel, comes mainly from a spiritual center, while the later comes mainly from a secular center. At least, that's my take on things. A question for all my readers, however. I'm curious what your opinions are of Chris, and the route he's taken so far. On the one hand, he's supporting his friends' sexuality, but on the other hand, he's against them expressing it, not out of bigotry but out of the need to adhere to the rules which they all agreed to follow for two years. The good Dr. noted that Chris is "the steadying force of the group", however, I'm curious as to how everyone sees the potential consequences of Chris attempting to keep everything steady. Everything he's done so far has been a judgment call based off of his own intuition. How long do you think he'll be able to keep things steady before one side tips the scales and he's no longer able to balance them back out with his rationalizations? Do you think he will crack?

That black sense of worthlessness and hopelessness certainly blighted my own missionary work. I struggled with a number of issues during my own service, and though I wasn't trying to, I ended up putting a lot of myself into Gary. There were some people who made it bearable. Chris is an amalgamation of different missionaries I knew who helped me. Luke is an amalgamation of different people I knew who I had a thing for or felt kinship to, and Jason is an amalgamation of the missionaries whom I knew were well meaning, but I kept at arms length for fear of what they would do if they knew about me. The train wreck sure does seem like it's coming, doesn't it?

I'm going to pose a question about Chris in the forum. If anyone gets around to reading this, go and check it out in a few minutes. My goal in this chapter was to show the inner turmoil that a missionary goes through when he's trying to hide his "sins". It's awful when you're out there, surrounded by people who would hate you for the simplest things if they knew them about you. Unfortunately for the Mormons, they are "a record keeping people", and they NEVER forget.

Chris definitely wouldn't mind if they became boyfriends later, and his entire argument is rooted in the mission rules. It's against the rules for anyone, gay or straight, to engage in sexual activity as a missionary, or even romantic. They can't go on dates, flirting is highly discouraged . . . And so, Chris is trying to be a good missionary, but he's also trying to show compassion. As to the letter, Jason only read the first paragraph. We don't know what Gary said in the first paragraph, but whatever it was, it wasn't quite enough for Jason to go completely crazy. Perhaps because he's learned from watching the supervisor that strict adherence to rules is not always the best course of action?

The great thing, I thought, about the supervisor being as rigid as he was, is that it allowed Jason to show one of his positive traits. When the going gets tough and one of his friends is in imminent danger, he doesn't back down. Each of these boys has their good sides, and their bad sides. The good thing about Jason is that he can learn. One of my editors pointed out that Jason didn't react when Luke cursed as he hurt himself. I was pleased to point out that it was because in that instance, Luke was in danger, and what he said hardly mattered to good-at-heart Jason.

“What the hell?” Chris’ question hung in the air as Gary sprang into action, reaching for his shirt and throwing it on as quickly as possible, almost as if he thought he could somehow pretend that he and Luke weren’t doing what Chris clearly knew they were doing. Luke knew better, and he shook his head helplessly and whispered under his breath, “Shit . . .” “Elder Knight!” Gary said as he slid his head through the collar of his T-shirt, “We were, uh, we were . . .” “Gary, stop,”

Yep. Especially that one living in Japan who takes his little backpack to the fish market. The person below me is more a fighter than a lover.

Joy? What is this? Same Q

I've made it just in time, it seems. A brilliant chapter, the emotion was certainly up to par this time around. I'm quite impressed. Once again, I find myself relating to Ace, and I'm glad he was able to get in touch with his emotions. I think most of us have gone through times where we distanced ourselves from our true emotions for the sake of a friendship, only to find out we never had to do so. Glad that Michael was able to overcome it.

ace

Well, you could always read mine, then we'd both be grateful. There are plenty of great stories around, and I'm sure you'll find something to love quickly. Try browsing in genres you like, and I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for. Either way, welcome to GA.

I - Ignacio In my wayward past, Ignacio was a petty thief I worked alongside. He specialized in stealing watches, and boy was he good at getting them off a person's wrist without them even knowing.