Marty

Yea, my bad! I know that. Just got mixed up with Clo complaining about her back. I'm getting old. Find it difficult to concentrate on more than one convo these days... (I'd normally say "So shoot me" after admitting to making a mistake - but in this case I won't. You might take me literally...)

But I never actually said it was anything sexual... And maybe you need to keep your back out of the basement.

I'm just eating one of my "world famous" home made spaghetti bolognese concoctions...

Now that could be interpreted in a few different ways.... I just hope the reason for you feeling like that is a good one.

Hi right bakatya, BX!

Hola, Page! How's it hangin'?

Hey, Thorn! Shenanigans sound fun. Randy, dude! Hola!

Only ten, Thorn? Only about a dozen, Page? Lightweights the pair of you! *Mental note to self* Try to get at least one of them finished in the next week.

Evening all! It's always fun to pop in here after an 18 hour absence or longer and try to make sense of all the funny wee snippets of conversation...

Thanks, Jason! Another great chapter. Well, at least I now know part of the answer to my final question in the comment I left for the last chapter: why Greg has not spoken to Kyle about the flirting. And good for Greg! He didn't want to do so whilst Kyle may have been in denial. At least now Kyle has come out to him. But has Kyle really been flirting with him? Possibly. Or possibly what Greg (and Nate) may have perceived as flirting may have been more a case of Kyle feeling relaxed enough in his company to let the gay side of himself be more visible now that he knew (if maybe even only subconsciously) that that he was in a safe place to do so. Should Greg have brought up the flirting in the conversation? I think probably not. This was a coming out scene. Kyle needed acceptance. Bringing up the flirting at this point could have made him think that Greg wasn't totally accepting. I think it was wise to leave it for a later conversation. Is Greg really feeling no real "connection" with Kiegan? Or could it just be that damned blind spot still stopping him from allowing anyone to get too close? And what's really going on in Nate's head? It seems that he is almost upset that he can no longer read Greg's thoughts as well as he once could. Does he really want Greg to recover, or has he some need of his own that we're not yet aware of? Questions, questions questions... All of which I am sure you (Jason) will provide the answers to in the following chapters. And I reckon you will now feel the need to remind me again that all I really know about any the other characters is from what Greg is thinking - and that blind spot of his may actually be obscuring the truth.

Continuing the theme of Irish love songs, this one, sung (and composed) by Enniskillen native Neil Hannon, is one of my favourites from recent times. Part of what I like about it is the image of the song writer (poet?) sitting alone in his bedroom trying to write a love song, while his school friends are actually out there in the real world doing something about it (even if sometimes not very successfully). Pale, pubescent beasts roam through the streets and coffee-shops. Their prey gather in herds in stiff knee-length skirts and white ankle-socks. But while they search for a mate my type hibernate in bedrooms above composing their songs of love. Young, uniform minds in uniform lines and uniform ties run round with trousers on fire and signs of desire they cannot disguise. While I try to find words as light as the birds that circle above to put in my songs of love...

Correct! It wasn't obvious. I assumed, because of the -ichor ending(s), you might just like the smell of certain things.

Cool words, yes. Not sure whether I would deliberately use any of them in a story, though, unless they were used in dialogue. They seem just a bit too obscure, and I would worry that I would interrupt the flow in the reader's mind whilst reading. I know this happens to me sometimes when I am reading and have to look up a strange word.... Now, if I were writing a poem it may be a different story...

Well, guys and gals, it's after 1:00 a.m. here.... I'm gonna get some beauty sleep. Stay safe all!

Whilst bounded to this nebulous blob which, with dumbfounded ignorance, hurtles through the cosmos, in but the close proximity of that stellar body called the sun ... ... how can I hope to find the truth of the whole universe, of which I see but a billion-billionth part or less?

Hi, young Albert! How's the craic with you today?

There's not a single bad story on that site. Not sure if I can really pick a favourite, but Reggie's Journal is definitely a contender for that spot... @Ronyx sure knows how to write!

Hi right bakaya, Gary! To tell the truth I never even heard the word clitoris during sex education at school. Actually, thinking about it, there was no sex education at school. We just studied reproduction in biology. Learning how an amoeba splits in two has been really very important to the rest of my life... I think the first time I came across the term clitoris was in 1970 with the publication of Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch.

All grand thanks, Thorn. Just back from scoping out a few sites for a possible photoshoot. Overcast today, but will head back on a day when the light is better. Hope all's well with you...

All I can say is that he's got a nice face...

Don't worry, Timothy... My sex education back in the 1960's was that pathetic that until the eighties I actually thought a clitoris was something that a woman pissed out of.

It's almost supper time here...

Bon Appetit, Tim!

Tsk! Sounds like you're leading that digital dog astray there, Thorn! Just look forward to the peace and quiet once the movers have left.