Graeme

Thank you! Sorry, I won't be replying to speculation as to which player is gay All I'll say is that you may or may not be right...

I'm not a great music band person (in terms of I like music and rarely know the name of the song or who plays it), but I can see Instinct as being similar to Bon Jovi -- solid rock, but with some variations in their music, and with solid roles in the band that don't shift much (eg. one lead singer, with it being rare for anyone else to take the lead in a song). Of course, I'm probably heavily influenced by attending Bon Jovi's recent Melbourne concert....

Thank you!

Thank you! The true identity of Ken will be revealed...eventually.

Thank you. I'll admit it's one of my favourites, but I'm also a homeless romantic

He was worried. For two days in a row, he had experienced the feeling of wanting to tell someone he’s gay. He told himself, again, that he couldn’t do that. He had to stay hidden. He couldn’t risk losing football through an impulse decision. Even Tony had agreed that if – or was it when? – he came out, he would have to do it carefully. Maybe it had been a mistake to turn down Tony’s invitation to go back to the nightclub, but he was still confused as to what he wanted. He wanted to play footb

Since I'm neither an English football or baseball fan, I'll just take issue with the comment quoted above. It'll depend on the interpretation of 'biggest', but I believe netball is actually the most widely played sport in the world And, no, I'm not a fan of netball, either

Thank you!

Don't forget to check out the story reviews. There's been one or two (give or take a hundred or so) while you've been away

I won't answer that particular question, but it raises a concern of mine. Most of this thread has been about viewing porn. On of the concerns with the industry, along with the industry of prostitution, is that how much are the actors willing participants, and how much are they pressured to perform? There have been several cases here in Australia (where prostitution is legal if licensed) with effective sex-slave rings; women brought into the country from overseas and effectively forced into prostitution. This thread is about pornography, not prostitution, but I see the two as being cousins. I have no doubt that there are many actors in porn movies that enjoy their work and do it voluntarily, but how many are there that are pressured into the work? Does the porn manufacturing have sufficient controls in place to ensure it is all voluntary? There will always be outsiders (as per the example I gave above with prostitution here in Australia) that break the law. How prevalent is it, though? Is it to a degree that it is something we need to be concerned about -- that viewing pornography is encouraging others to break the law to make that pornography?

One thing I've learned is that just because things are a particular way here in Victoria, they're not necessarily the same in other states The simplest example off the top of my head is what we call "potato cakes" in Victoria are called (I believe) scallops (or potato scallops) in NSW. That's why I said above that I don't know how likely it is in Brisbane that they'd use the term 'lorry'. The context of the use in the story is: The character at the time is in Brisbane, so the question is whether the locals (ie. the people in Brisbane) would use the word 'lorry'. I'm hoping C James will join in on this conversation so he can let us know where he got the above statement from. I'll also confess that I missed it when I was doing the beta-read However, I'll also admit that I'm corrupted, because I've worked in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK, so I've experienced terms and phrases from all of those countries. I lived in the UK for a year, so I recognise the term lorry easily and it's natural for me, though truck is more natural.

I was curious to see where C James has referenced some of the things you mentioned. The question on the bottle tree and sheep-vs-cattle farms appeared to be the following in chapter 12 This is saying that the area where the ';desert compound' is located is about two hundred miles west of Toowoomba. That would make it somewhere around St. George, which the Wikipedia page says is wheat and sheep country. However, the story is imprecise as to where they went, so it could also be as north as Roma or Mitchell, though that's moving into more cattle country. My best guess is somewhere between Roma and St. George. Given the climate data on the Roma web page, while it's not desert country, it certainly has low enough rainfall for many people to consider it to be desert-like. Also, a hundred miles west of Toowoomba, where Dimitri made his comment, would make it around Tara, which is definitely sheep country. Was that the reference you were referring to? If so, it's much further west than you were thinking. If so, I agree that it's not technically desert country. The desert region in Queensland is near the borders with South Australia and the Northern Territory, and this is only half-way across the state towards that desert region. As for named deserts, you're correct that they barely make it into Queensland. The question is whether the word 'desert' is being used for a named desert, or a climatic region. In either case it's incorrect to call it a 'desert compound' but the area in question is certainly hot and dry for much of the year and calling it a desert compound gives the correct feel for the location, even if it's technically incorrect. I found the reference to 'lorry' in chapter 15. To be honest, I'm not sure if the people in Brisbane use that term or not. I do know that I've heard it used here in Victoria, though 'truck' is certainly much more common. I suspect it's partially generational, with older generations preferring 'lorry' and younger generations preferring 'truck'. A lot of that would be based on the level of British immigration into the area since, as you rightly pointed out, it's more a British term. Thank you! Researching these questions has been fun I hadn't realised what you'd said about Queensland not really having deserts until you pointed it out, which lead to the research to find the maps I've linked above.

Roommates was one of the first of Krista's novels that I read. It's well worth the time! I didn't read it as a social commentary, as Louis has. I just read it as a good story However, all of Louis's comments are still true -- the story has more depth in it than necessarily meets the eye.

Thank you! The story is finished, so it'll post a chapter a week until it's complete. I don't want it to post faster than that because I've got something else I'm working on that I'd like to have close to ready for posting when this one finishes.

This was my biggest concern with the story -- the sheer number of characters involved. Hopefully, the Dramatis Personae will make it easier.

G'day! There may be a Toowoomba west of Sydney, but there's also one in Queensland. It's the one in Queensland that appears in the story On the other matters, please note the difference between dialogue and narration. For example, I agree regarding lorries being called trucks here in Australia, but that should only apply if it's an Australian saying it (and an Australian who doesn't have a lot of American influences). If it's in narration, or if it's in dialogue by someone from another country, then lorry could be correct. I do most of the Australianism checking for C James, but I'm by no means perfect. C James, however, does a lot of research and usually picks up on the things I'm not familiar with. For example, the Queensland Bottle Tree. However, I agree with you on the matter of the flights. Europe to Australia is generally via Asia. However, it's certainly possible to go via the USA if money isn't an issue, and if they want a short stopover in their home country before continuing the tour. If they did it that way, flying into Brisbane is certainly a possibility. I can't comment on most things because that's C James's place, but I could respond to some

LOL -- please remember that this is not the top tier of competition. It's the second tier. As such, sponsors are not lining up....

Thank you! The two deeply cared about each other. It just wasn't to be, unfortunately

This is moving off topic, but here in Australia: Primary school: The first seven years of schooling, starting from the age of four or five. Characterised by having a single primary teacher for most subjects. The first year is called Prep or Kinder, depending on which state you live in, followed by years/grades 1-6. Secondary school: The next six years of schooling. Characterised by having a different teacher per subject. In later years (starting around year 9, though that depends on the school), there are also optional/elective subjects, allowing the student to tailor their studies in the direction they want to go. Please note that this is different to what TetRefine said above, where he put middle school as part of primary. Australia generally doesn't have a middle school -- it's primary and secondary, with our secondary covering both of what the USA call middle and high schools. On an education basis, we also have a parallel technical education system of apprenticeships combined with tertiary studies. These do not require that a student completes secondary school, as a person can start an apprenticeship from the age of 16 (I think). This is geared for those students that want to become carpenters, electricians, plumbers, motor mechanics, etc. The tertiary studies involved give them documented qualifications in the area in which they have an apprenticeship. I believe they also give general business skills (not sure about that) as many people who take this education stream will end up starting their own businesses.

To some extent the poll and the response are very much North American focused. As an example, there are several posts above that talk about the college social life. In Australia, most students live at home when studying for a tertiary degree. That's because most of the population lives in the capital cities, and that's also where the universities are largely located. I had a forty minute train trip each way to Melbourne University each day when I went there, and that's not uncommon. Some students will rent apartments/houses nearer the university, but most still live at home. As for the qualification, I did a combined maths/computer science bachelor degree, and then did an extra year to get a B.Sc(Hons) in computer science. That extra year is also a lead-in to a masters, but it taught me that I wasn't suited to doing research -- my mind didn't work that way. I'm a great problem solver, but when I didn't even know if there was a solution, I got a little lost It was only recently that I learnt that how the USA issues qualifications is different to Australia, and that's because one university was moving to a USA model. Most universities assume that what is called in the poll above the 'under-graduate studies' is actually specialised studies in a particular area. That is, you come out as a chemist, physicist, lawyer, mechanical engineer, civil engineer, musician, etc. You've already specialised into a particular area. The idea of a general undergraduate degree followed by post-graduate studies to specialise is something new, and only one university (to the best of my knowledge) has gone with that approach. Word of mouth has them losing students in the process, too, since why go to one university to do a four year degree and then have to pay more for additional studies to become a lawyer, when you can go elsewhere and get a law degree in four years? In the initial post, I would say that the finance clerk who lost there job lost it for generational reasons, not education level. I'm a computer consultant -- I've been working in the industry for over quarter of a century -- but a lot of my knowledge is still self-taught because the technology has moved on so much since I left university. There are huge holes in what I know, because it's been a waste of time to learn something until I'm going to use it. If I don't use it In my experience, what allows someone to keep a good-paying job is not education level but domain knowledge. What do they know about the area they're working in? To be honest, after a takeover my product knowledge in the new company is woeful. However, my general domain knowledge of the area in which I work is great. That means I now do a lot of high level analysis work. I can't do the low-level technical implementation or detailed design, as they require product knowledge, but I can do analysis and high level design work and that's what I'm now doing. All I have is a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree, and there are people below me with Masters... but they lack the experience in the industry or the specific domain knowledge that I have, and that's why I'm ranked above them. The extra degree looks good when changing jobs, but after almost 30 years in the computer industry, I'm still only on my third job. I've been in this one for more than fifteen years (and two company takeovers), and I was in the previous one for more than ten. Education is important, but after a certain point industry experience counts for much more than educational qualifications. That's why I still have a job.

Thank you! To be honest, I'm not happy where I ended the story, either. I just need to find the time, motivation and inspiration required for a sequel....

Yeah, Rick doesn't know how to stop digging.... Thanks for the Skippy reference! That takes me back a long way

LOL Thank you! Maybe I should've added 'Mystery' as one of the genres

I considered it, but I thought the list was already complicated enough without adding extras Especially as a number of the wives/girlfriends don't make an appearance in the story.

Peter is pretty straight down the line. He has to play office politics at times, but as you saw in this chapter, he doesn't like it and sometimes he can't do it.