Marty

While climbing a mountain the narrator has an epiphany. (Submitted for the 2007 Fall Anthology "The Rainy Day")

I’m sure I’m not the first person in the world to have noticed how holidays never seem to last long enough. Whilst the weeks leading up to them have a tendency to drag on forever, once they’ve started they seem to be over almost as soon as they begin. And, almost to prove the point, another one was fast drawing to a close. Another summer fortnight spent doing what we enjoyed most. Climbing mountains. I don’t know just what it was, but there seemed to be something almost magnetic in the ver

Of course you do realise, I trust, that what may be the real answer is not necessarily the most interesting... I think the naked Joey or the orgy are much more likeable (if not particularly likely) answers! Marty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho Johnny Cash's brilliant interpretation of Trent Reznor's Hurt Marty PS: apologies for posting two replies. For some reason I was forbidden from posting two youtube links in the same post...

Feel So Low by Porcupine Tree (From the 2000 album Lightbulb Sun) Marty

Glad To Be Gay -- Tom Robinson

It's just good to see you back, all safe and sound, Dom Marty

Many Happy Returns !! Marty

Thanks guys ! Strange thing is, I don't actually feel a year older than I was yesterday And the cake was nice anyway, Bondwriter Marty

Sorry I'm late (on holiday....) Hope you had a great day! Marty

Have a great day, Carl ! Marty

Many Happy Returns, Jules ! ! I feel for you with your story about your ISP's helpdesk. Just remember that the people on the helpdesk are often IT bubbleheads. They usually don't understand a word you say to them (especially if you start to use technical words), but have to work down a list of questions and possible answers. If you try to explain to them what you have or have not already done to try and cure the problem yourself, or try to get them to change the order of the questions they are reading, you only confuse them more.... Marty

Hope you had a good one Marty

HAVE A GREAT DAY ! ! ! Marty

Absolutely brilliant, CJ! I'm not a surfer; never have been and, sadly, never will be at my time of life. The closest I have ever come to anything remotely similar has been riding small waves in a kayak off the northwest coast of England (over 35 years ago now) But I was completely drawn in. Your descriptions were so vivid, that I could almost imagine that I was actually on the board with Drake. You are one with the sea, part of it, the deep roar and the sensation of speed combining, reminding you that all visits to the Green Room are, by their very nature, brief. Just one of the many descriptions that caught my imagination as I was reading. I have to agree. It's probably the best short story I've read on here, anyway. Marty

Y A Y ! Y A Y ! ! Y A Y ! ! ! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ! ! ! ! Marty

Have a great day, TR ! Marty

Have a great day, TR ! Marty

Many Happy Returns ! ! ! Marty

Ronnie, I think you'll find, although not being in the US I can't be 100% certain, that it is the HIV situation that prompts this question on the form you fill in. The first cases of AIDS were diagnosed around 1981, if my memory serves me right. Allowing for several years between infection with the HIV virus and the development of AIDS symptoms, this will explain why the question refers to 1977. Certainly here in the Republic of Ireland there is a similar question asked, and if you answer 'yes' to it you will be told that you are not permitted to be a blood donor. Obviously the reasoning is flawed, since the rate of HIV infection per head of population is nowadays greater in the heterosexual population and the intraveinous drug using population. I understand that the USI (Union of Students in Ireland) is currently planning a campaign against this discrimination. The Blood Donation Service here in Ireland regularly runs radio and TV ads, asking people to sign up as blood donors. "Join The Most Extraordinary Club" - or something similar - is the slogan they use. As you say, if there is a shortage of blood products, it is either ignorance, fear, or just bloody-minded discrimination that they still don't allow those people who admit to having male to male sex to become members of the club. Marty

Many Happy Returns ! ! ! Marty

Hope you have a great day ! ! ! Marty

Many Happy returns ! ! ! From Marty

Many Happy returns ! ! ! From Marty

Have a great day, Kanaye !!! Marty