NaperVic

That's what my mom said

Yeah, once you lose the trust, justified or not, it's not a good situation for either party to be in. Trust until you get burned, then cut bait.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Apparently, a picture can elicit phone calls & emails to my mom and sisters... A HighSchool friend was visiting for the weekend and we took a day trip to Santa Barbara. This picture is of the two of us...on the beach...on Valentine's Day. I was pretty sure everyone knew I was gay, but I guess this confused a few relatives or perhaps gave some of them hope that I switched teams again . I can imagine my mom wistfully pondering what it would have been like if my friend was their daughter-in-law (we had gone to prom together back in H/S), what the pontential grandchildren might have looked like. Kinda nice to know that I can pull off straight acting/straight appearing . P.S. - It was sunny and 79 in Santa Barbara. Nice ocean breeze...*sigh*

I'm liking positive, optimistic people lately. I find myself being more drawn to them and avoiding or spending less time with negative, debbie downer types. Whenever I get exposed to negative people...you know, the ones who seem to complain or find fault in just about everything....It sucks the life out of you. It's no fun to hear how this is pissing them off, or that's bothering them all the time. Don't get me wrong, we all gripe. But the glass is not always half full. Positive/encouraging people are just more fun to be around. For example, we were running intervals last tuesday and after a particular grueling set, one of the guys smiles and says 'good job'. No big deal, but it did make me feel a little better (especially as I was gasping for breath). The opposite happened at a dinner party on saturday night with a bunch of friends from work. It turned into a giant complaint fest and I probably walked out of there more drained then when I arrived. That's not what dinner & drinks with friends was supposed to be. But instead of just hanging around with positive people and get the benefit, I realized that I had a resposibility to be positive too. That other people might be drawn to the same things I'm being drawn to. So in honour of lent, I'm going to try being less bitchy and try to be a more optimistic/positive person. You know, try to smile more . I'll also try to avoid negativity (or at least not acknowledge/encourage it). Take Care®, Vic

Nice pictures 2nd most senior domaholic. And you look cute as a boy too!

I liked being surprised and happy in the end. Oh no, look what that acronym spells --- SHITE

Meeko, dude. I don't understand what you're going through. How can you be obsessed like this? Constantly checking on GA? Refreshing the WT index page, hoping that a new chapter might popup since the last time you checked, what, 20 minutes ago? Dreaming about it, really?

abnormal? Did he give anything for it or recommend anything? Hopefully it's just a we'll check again next year kind of abnormal.

"redneck hell" - Alabama "the gay mecca USA" - San Francisco "the middle of nowhere" - Nebraska

A while back, I was raving about how low maintenance hanging out the straight boys can be. (Blog Entry - Satisfied by Straight Guys) Well, apparently, they can get all sensitive too. I got this text yesterday from one of the guys I run with. Thanks for letting me know you were going to run yesterday! I didn't go because you said nobody was going! Then I find out from Gerry you did run...So it's pretty clear that you just don't want to go run with me! This from a 40 year old married father of three teenagers. He asked me on monday if I was going to run on tuesday, and I had said no and also mentioned that most of the other regulars weren't going either..so he decided not to go. Well at 4:15am on tuesday, I felt guilty about not running so I got up anyhow and headed over to the meeting spot in case anyone did show. Gerry must have told him I was there...so that's what must have gotten him all miffed. Luckily I have lot's of practice digging myself out of holes, so I was able to smooth things over. I'll just have to be more sensitive and considerate in the future. Boy periods...it's not just for gays .

A cigarette or glass of wine works for her too.

Happy 17th Birthday Alek!!!!!!! Hope you enjoyed the movie and hope you have an awesome year!

Happy 25th Birthday Joey! I hope the next quarter century brings you lots of happiness and fulfillment.

The IT guy who should be taking care of that is probably in a chat room .

foo foo drinks are sooo sweet and yummy. However, they have way more calories, and the whipped cream on top probably has more saturated fat than a big mac. I think I read in a book somewhere that as a gay man, you have an obligation to start watching those at some point. Let's see, you're 25, that's like gay 35, so it might be time to switch to beer . Just kidding! I love my daquiris, margaritas, belinis, etc.

Not exclusively . I think the major points I was trying to get across are: 1) the awards process shouldn't be so engineered or complicated, or 2) the number of awards awarded shouldn't be so numerous when the number of actual voters don't warrant such effort. If the number of voters for the voting year 2009 is as low as 2008, perhaps a more back to basics award structure should be created. Like two awards, 'Best Story of 2010' and 'Favorite Author of 2010'. Take Care®, Vic

Perhaps just the total number of votes per category will suffice? That's too bad But that fact does provide data to help you decide how granular/complex the awards facility should be. Thanks for the insight!

I remember the thread where you made some of these similiar suggestions in the past and it seemed that explanations were given as to why/why not things were done a certain way. My understanding is that decisions were made by a committee that took into account suggestions as well as practical experience from previous years. Here's the thread Readers Choice Awards Suggestions [personal opinion] As a reader/voter, I feel we have too many categories as it is and that the number of categories should be pared down. 16 separate categories would just seem too overwhelming and too granular. I know in that case I probably wouldn't vote for many of those. I also wish the number of votes for each category (and possibly) each finalist be published. There was a good reason given why those numbers are not published (to preserve the feelings of nominees when the number of votes was dramatically different). However, I also feel that providing those numbers would help quantify the value of the award. Or if they can't be published, perhaps drop any category that doesn't garner at least 50 votes (or some other number)? For example, I run in races. They give awards by 10 year age range. Placing 2nd in the 40-49 male age range means more to me when there are 30 runners versus 3 runners. Each readers choice award should mean that a significant number of voters cared enough to vote. I have no idea on how many people actually vote on these, so if we're into the hundreds for each of these categories, my points are mute . [/personal opinion] Take Care®, Vic

Congrats on running! I went running Wednesday morning too while it was lightly raining, it was pretty surreal (well, at least until one of us landed a foot in an unseen puddle).

my condolences Eric.

http://archerland.disbelieve.org/ FYI.... Some people already knew this, but I thought I'd point it out here. A message on the archerland website says it closed on December 1, 2009 . Good luck to Nick. I'm so glad GA continually takes steps to be viable, sustainable, and be a resource for years to come. As Myr has pointed out many times, it's difficult for one person to maintain a story site.

Sounds like you guys have great chemistry! Just enjoy things and don't worry about what may or may not happen in the future.

So I've had this one gym crush for several years now, and today, FINALLY, I got his name. This is a monumental moment for me so I had to blog about it. I think I mentioned in previous blogs of taking the same cycle class he's in, or following his car when I saw him leave the grocery . When it comes to him, I seem to throw common sense out the window. I didn't get his name like a normal/sane person would... like overhearing someone talk to him or something direct like ohhhhh, say talking to him and asking him his name.... Today I was browsing pictures of a 10K running race that took place this weekend. I was going to run in the race, but backed out and decided to do an 11 mile training run with a friend instead. I was browsing through the pictures to check on people I know. While paging through the 2000 pictures, my heart skips a beat when I see a picture that shows my gym crush running. I couldn't believe it! Well, they don't do anything easy like put the names of the people in the pictures, so I have to MacGyver it and do some sleuthing. There are pictures from many phases of the race and then there is a listing of all the runners in the order they finish. I focus in on the photos from the midpoint to the end of the race. I do know a few people in the race, so I find them, and then find where they placed. I found a buddy Fred and then see where he placed. I then count the number of people (via pictures) my gym crush is away from Fred. Now this isn't an exact science because since these photo's weren't taken at the end, the people may not have finished in the same order they show up in the pictures. Well, Gym crush was consistently running with a girl, they looked like friends (hopefully just friends). So I looked for M/F pairings that finished within a few seconds of each other. Everyone in the race wears a race bib which has a number (unfortunately, the number isn't cross-referenced with any names...otherwise it would have made my job easier). However, each bib does have a coloured sticker which tells you what age group the person is in. Gym Crush and his friend both had the same color. I find another friend who has that same color and that tells me that Gym Crush & friend are in the 30-39 age range. There are two pairs of people that they could be, so now I look at the person after each of these groupings. I google these names, but don't get any hits. However, one of the last names is distinctive, so I facebook search that last name. I find a female version, and when I look at her pictures, she shows her husband, which matches the picture of the guy right after my Gym Crush and his friend! So with all that info, I was able to figure out pretty much who he is . I finally have a name. And now I know he runs races!!! I'm definitely not skipping any more races! Vic P.S. - I'm a stalker

When I first saw the title to the blog, I thought 'Oh yay, a promising personal ad I could respond to'

Nice Drew That was probably when she met Emily (Milo's mom) when she wanted to have the wedding on their property. I remember laughing when Emily called her 'Mrs. Nelson' I'm so happy to hear that you're on a writing binge, but hopefully you are binge-ing for your own sake and not due to satisfying us. Don't burn out. Because no matter how much you write, we'll always want more.