NaperVic

Happy Birthday Meeko!!!!! Hope this coming year brings you lots of joy & memories!

Okay, I'll participate, I'm feeling opinionated. But a few caveats: - I only know you from your online presence, so I don't have the same perspective as those who've met you in real life. So hopefully this isn't too far off base. - Viv, don't shoot me, he said to save the pleasantries - Trebs, don't shoot me, he said to save the pleasantries One problem? One word, Marketing I think you have to really considering how you are Marketing yourself. Think about it, you have a target audience ( I'm not looking for perfection, just a regular guy who isn't a complete pig of a human being, and a guy that doesn't exhibit any "swishy" mannerisms). 1) How are you going to let this audience know that you're available? You seem straight appearing and I doubt you'd wear any accessories that give a clue that you might be gay/bi. So sitting back waiting for someone in your target audience to approach you might not garner lots of leads. - Have you considered online personals or ads? - Joining a gay/bi friendly club/social group? 2) What kind of plan would work in your location? Your location is probably dictating a lot about how far you'll put yourself out there. Same goes for your potential matches. Adjust your plan to the marketing realities of your area. 3) Spruce up the Merchandise & Packaging - That could be as simple as smiling more and making eye contact with your leads. Dress in a fashion that your target audience would find appealing. Some may say you don't have to market yourself, that Mr. Right (or Mr. Right Now) will find you no matter what. While that does happen for some people (particularly the drop dead georgous type), I think most everyone else has to put a little effort into it to put ourselves in the best possible light. So maybe you just need to adjust your marketing plan?

If you've made an effort to be noticed or show interest in that guy, that's about all you can do. If there's mutual interest, the balls in his court at this point. For energy focusing, might I also suggest something physical like biking, running, or working out...or all of the above? I find the physical exertion a great stress & frustration reliever. Besides keeping you in shape, there's always good eye candy out on the paths . You might meet some other IRL friends so you won't have to listen to too many crazy family stories.

Krista, at first I read it like this... Which would explain why you hangs out here

My personal preference is for a guy to have a little body hair (some on the chest, forearms, legs, etc). Mentally, I tend to associate a lot of body hair with body odor. All that hair seems to grasp onto more body oils and such and if a hairy person doesn't bathe two times a day, they get ripe. But body hair is just another physical attribute. Some people like, some people dislike, and for some, it makes no difference.

Sharon, Mark------ that was for you , although I'm not exactly sure I used 'whatev' in the proper context. Also, you don't know how tempting it was for me to use 'Str8' of my two uses of the word 'straight', but that would have been downright taunting now, wouldn't it? Chase -- I've read that you can take care of your knees by taking some steps to deal with any pain. But luckily I've never had a knee injury. I think once you have one of those, it's hard to get back to 100%, ever. My right knee has been aching lately, so I've been wearing a strap around my leg right below the kneecap. It helps provide pressure on some of the ligaments and such. I also ice my knees and take ibuprofen when I start feeling any significant pain or burning sensation. I think some of the pain has to do with the frequency and distance of this recent running kick. I'm hoping that once my body gets used to it, the pain will go away. I'm a gym bunny too (lift weights, ride the stationary bikes, cycle class, elypticals), but I've never really enjoyed the treadmills. I think it has to do with some of the sweaty people we have at my gym. When they really get going on the treadmills, their sweat starts flinging all over the place. Since the treadmills are so close together, that means these people get sweat on their neighbors...Germaphobe's nightmare . Mike/Robert - I've been hitting the sack at around 9pm...so that's still a good 6 hours of sleep. And while it would be temping to just let myself go once I land a man, I think the adrenaline rush from running will keep me going. Oh, and a requirement for a future BF is that they exercise. I'd loooooovvvveeeee a running partner BF .

I've been running with the boys regularly for the last couple of weeks. Awesome. They run a really fast pace and they're really working me hard. As expected, any lingering attraction to any of them has dissipated. See, once I find out someone is straight, they're no longer attractive to me in that way. Sure sure, I get sucked into a sappy Nifty story where straight guys turn gay for the right person, but come on, whatev. I came out to one of the guys in normal conversation (there were only two of us running that morning). He was telling me about a friend of his who he always suspected something about him, and sure enough after 14 years of marriage to a chick, came out to himself as gay. I think he's contemplating setting the two of us up. Figures. So yeah, I've been running with the group 3-4 times a week. I've always been a routine guy, so scheduling running M,W,F and one weekend day has been good. Unfortunately, I have to get up at about 4:15am in order to get ready and be to the starting point by 4:55am. Well this past week, I have my dog Mina with me. I didn't want to miss out on running and she's used to getting her walk first thing in the morning, so we got up at 3:15am to do her walk, get her home and feed her, and leave me enough time to go meet the guys for running. Those were crazy days , but I really want to keep up my committment to running. It's kind of addictive.

The somewhat anonymity of the internet allows us crazies to feel comfortable to interact with others in this medium. Whereas in the real world, we may try to present a more 'proper' personality, the internet allows us to put our instability for all to see.

'whatev' - thanks sharon, I haven't used that word and it's fab.

Ohhh and in case you forget Dom, Milo is the brown haired, brooding rich kid who's currently sick in bed .

Just aim low when you shoot him, Sharon. We don't want either of his typing/writing hands injured. I should say we don't want either of his hands injured again . Remember, one of his hands was damaged in the car accident, and then again by the nail from the nailgun. They can't take much more trauma. But Dom, if you start a new story, I'd still read it . P.S. - Glad to hear you're alive and working Dom! Hope you're also finding love (or at least regular sex).

Happy 24th Birthday Drewbie!!! Hope this coming year brings you much love and happiness!

Steve's 'Missed Connection' posting on Craigslist ... Freeway Construction Worker M4M This is worth a try... You came into our store to buy a Pepsi and bag of <yet to be named> chips. I was the the guy smiling at you as I couldn't take my eyes off of you. Our eyes connected for a split second, but the metal mouth girl at the register took your attention away with her blabbing. You've got the most amazing eyes, smile, and rugged tan. If you swing my way, let me know what I was wearing and drop me a note.

Whoa! Crossover. I had to do a double-read after the first several chapters to make sure I was reading right.

Agreed, they make excellent points. I also hope theres lots of leopards in the merthiolate. However, I'm not sure why I'm hesitant or dare I say aprehensive about the boys being disappointed in me. I've been an out and proud gay man for years now, who always went with the theory 'If they don't like that part of me, f*ck 'em'. I had no problem writing people off for less. But.... I like the running thing, I like the 5:00am thing, I like how my miles per minute went down when I ran with them. I like the camaraderie, I like the eye candy, I don't want to lose that. *bleh* in a way, the longer I wait, the worse it will get. I just hope I don't re-closet myself to them. P.S. - There is an advantage to all this worrying. When I think about or worry about this stuff while exercising, I'm not focused on the pain or fatigue of my muscles .

So I had to break up with my two pretend boyfriends and the 3rd one who was a backup. Fantasy over . So I got up early to go running with the boys. Met them at the Bagel shop and we started our run. First off, Damien wasn't around and it was mentioned that he must have had problems with his new baby (strike 1). During the course of the run, I find out that the backup guy has a wife and two teenage girls, and used to be principal of a private catholic school (strike 2). And then late in the run, we find out that Ryan is pursuing a girl (strike 3). I really need to stop confusing my Wish-dar with Gay-dar . Anyhow despite all that, the run was a lot of fun. When we got to the end, I asked what pace we were running and was told 8:30/mile. I couldn't believe it because it didn't feel like I was exerting myself that much. Usually when I run alone, I'm probably averaging 9-9:30/mile. Having others there to chat with and pace you really makes the time/distance/pain go away. So I might run with them once in a while, just to keep me on pace.

No one got my satirical use of the LRITE cause as commentary about other happenings on the site

So I'm still running pretty regularly (about 13 out of 14 days) so that means that I continue to run into my two running crushes at least 3 or 4 times a week. They always have some encouraging words or salutations for me, like 'Heya Vic' or 'Good Morning Vic' or 'Nice job Vic' or 'Looking Good Vic' or 'See you tomorrow Vic'. Perks me up everytime I runinto them. When you're out there running, just trying to keep up your pace, your mind starts to wander. I've started to build up fantasies about my two crushes. Like I daydream about Damien and I spending the day together, meeting my family or how well he gets along with my dog Mina. And even Ryan, I've fantasized about our first dinner/date together, what I was wearing, what he was wearing, what we ordered, how we shared dessert. It's really scary when I am daydreaming about one of them and then I unexpectedly pass by them....if they only knew what I was thinking . For example, last saturday, I did an extra long run and went 9 miles. They don't normally go the direction I went that morning and at that time, but sure enough I passed them. They were also surprised to see me and they were real buddy like with excitement (I was too) that I was as far out as I was. So basically, they're both separately my pretend boyfriends. I've created relationships with each of them in my mind. I think I'm going to take the plunge and ask them if I can go running with them on Saturday. Saturday would be good because it won't mess me up going to work like it would during the week. Although who knows how I'll concentrate. I mean, what if I fall slightly behind and I'm forced to stare at their asses the whole way? God I'm so lame. They've asked me to run with them...twice. And I've been non-committal both times. Oh and ANOTHER guy started chatting me up, saying I should go running with him, WTF! [if LRITE] I'm testing out a new feature of my BLOG. It only allows known LRITEs to read this section. Being a die hard LRITE, is it okay to be happy for Luke now that he & Taylor seem to be getting along well? Luke & Taylor do seem to make a good couple, but I've been worried these last six months about Luke's problem in the bedroom. [/if LRITE]

Lol no. Actually, if Luis were gay, than that would make things fall into the 'everyone is gay' formula that Nick Archer warned against. I just meant that Dom was able to seemlessly weave in straight supporting actors that we could grow to love. Even in Dessert Dropping, where you had lot's of gays (i.e. House of Queers), straights still played prominent roles. Heck, Dom writes straight so well, you have to wonder if he experimented when he was younger .

Oh, I just thought of another reason Luis can't be gay. Being a Domluka story, there has to be some leading straight characters. Lee is filling the role of the Best Gal Pal, and Luis looks like he'll end up being the Straight Best Friend in the end.

I agree! Are you suggesting Luis? I'll have to disagree if it's him. I think Luis is loyal to Jesse and showing friendship to Jesse in his own way, but I don't think that there's attraction to Jesse. Jesse's already getting Quinn-like in his obsessive guilt, I don't think he needs a 3rd person interested in him.

OMG! A new chapter! edit...oh dear, what an ending.

They're called square cut or square leg cut trunks. http://www.swimoutlet.com/Square_Leg_Suits_s/277.htm Hides a little more of the family jewels, but just like speedos, doesn't hide any of the gut .

thanks for clarifying!

Whoa! I though you mentioned in your previous blog that this guy was cute. Isn't this who you were talking about?