GaryK

That's a weak legal agreement. It's already been tested via a cease-and-desist order from an attorney and Nifty gave-in immediately. I suspect if someone challenged this more fully Nifty would lose and a legal precedent would begin to be established. I've been working with an author for many years. First he published to Nifty. Then he started self-publishing and continued to post to Nifty for PR. Finally he was approached by a publisher who has since published two books by this author. One of the conditions of being published was to remove the published stories from both the author's website and all other websites. I used my IP Attorney to contact Nifty on behalf of the author and the stories were withdrawn promptly.

If you're right about that sentence then perhaps there's still a chance you can help him just by keeping in touch with him. I like how you're not judgmental and that's your avenue to help him without offending him. It might take time, but if you really want to help him, and this is the only way you can do so from your current location, then please continue to try engaging him in conversation. Even a little bit of chatting might eventually lead to him feeling like he can trust you enough to be honest with you. No doubt this will take commitment on your part, and with all you've got going on in your life right now I hope you can find the time to stay in touch with GN.

I guess we all see different things in a conversation. His unabashed reference to being a slag -- regardless of whether you choose to use the modern or more traditional meaning -- bothered me more than the defensive way in which he stated he was happy. I stand by my gut reaction of last night. This young man needs help. I know you're not in a position to easily get it for him. I hope you will continue to try as best you can.

Thanks.

Does the sun simply stimulate your mind too much to let you sleep? Does it just seem odd to be sleeping during a time when you would normally be awake? Or is it something else?

This is typically the age at which major mental illnesses start to show themselves. I'll skip all the background cause I'm not looking for pity and that's what this usually brings on. I had been doing things I'm not proud of including very dangerous drugs, alcohol and although I wasn't aware of it at the time, way too much unsafe sex; always while under the influence of some mind altering substance all through my teens. Still, I was very social and lots of fun to be around. I was even a good student. Honors in mathematics. Editor of the school newspaper. When I hit my early 20's major psychosis reared it's ugly head. I hated myself. My whole personality changed. I went from being a fun and outgoing person to one who was only looking to score some drugs and sex to escape my mental torment. If you couldn't provide both I wasn't interested. It took two years of in-patient rehab to get me under control. I've been clean and sober for many decades now. I found this thread after replying to your most recent PM and then looking at your profile. I had to comment. It's late, I'm tired and I know I'm rambling. I'm sorry. I just hope I'm making sense. My point is you should consider that my scenario sounds a lot like your friend's scenario. This all may be due to some form of a major mental illness taking a firm grip on him at the age when this typically happens. If this is the case he needs medication and therapy to get himself under control. Nothing else that's good will happen until then. And lots worse things could happen if he doesn't get the treatment he needs. In my case a failed suicide attempt forced me into getting treatment. As a loyal friend it should be your job to make sure his family is aware of this possibility and, if necessary, force him into rehab; and more importantly get the medical treatment he needs.

Eric would be confused; assuming he even remembered the events of the previous night. But there would be no doubt that they're in the same bed together. Wilde, now relatively sober and, at the very least, shirtless, would be feeling insecure.

And based on our IM I suspect those sinus pills will have you out again for the night very soon. Sleep well sweetheart.

It seems as if we're being setup for something here. Wilde can now handle the sun. Eric loves his alcohol. Eric gets Wilde drunk. Evil ensues!

See, I knew I'd forget at least one. What about the reality of the situation as I referred to earlier? What Eric has in mind will potentially do more harm, both physically and emotionally to Wilde than I think he's aware of. I try to do my best to keep CJ attentive to the little details like that. I know it might not be as much fun as seeing Eric trying to get Wilde to take his shirt off and anything else that might happen after that. But still, I like the fact that CJ writes good stories while trying to stay rooted in reality.

Which title would that be? He has so many! Hosted Author, Writer Support Lead, Anthology Coordinator, King of Evil Cliffhangers, Goat Head. I'm sure I've missed a few titles.

No fair. You made me snort coffee out my nose when I read that about Starbucks! They are absurdly expensive, aren't they? I make better coffee than that right here at home. And I don't have to learn all those weird names they give to everything! My father loves iced coffee. Black coffee. No sugar. Mostly ice. The only way I can enjoy cold coffee is Thai style with some sweetened condensed milk in it. I have it on average once a week when I go to my favorite Thai restaurant.

I think I understand what you mean about the MSN site. It's sort of like a personal website that I'm sure Microsoft provides tools for to make it easier to update. When you have time IM me. I should be here all day. Although I will probably take a nap at some point cause I didn't fall asleep until a little after seven this morning and was up by ten, because my air conditioner died and the place was hot. I've spent most of the day pissing Tim off cause we were trying to talk about some serious stuff and I kept getting interrupted by phones calls and visits related to the a/c being replaced. I know he's not really pissed off. But I know it was frustrating and that he understands. I'm gonna talk to him later when we can Skype uninterrupted. The contractor was able to make the current unit work just good enough that the temperature is reasonable enough for me not to move to my father's condo for the weekend. Anyway, when we chat we can discuss a website of your own. I hope you're feeling better than you did last night and that at least one of us -- that would be you -- got a good night of sleep.

Glad you're feeling better. I'll feel better once I get to bed and to sleep. I've got Willie Nelson playing on the iPod right now. I think maybe he had something to do with making the HD work, LOL. Well, I just got Windows installed and some basic configuration done. Haven't setup the WiFi connection and other stuff yet. I still have a few hours of work before it's ready to rock 'n roll. But knowing the HD is better than new is a great feeling. How does one setup a site on MSN? I've never done that. I'm a certified geek and I've got several dedicated servers with my websites and client's websites on them. What are you setting up a website for? Maybe I can offer you space on one of my servers. I made the same offer to Tim. It's one of those things I only do for friends.

Oh I feel awful for you Rose. I hope the long hot bath helps. I hate to see anyone in pain. A friend in pain makes me feel the pain too. Tris, you and your snowboards. Just remember you must skim the mountain with the plane, not hit it. Sheesh, you and I need to have a serious discussion about how to act crazy. ADDED: Spinrite did its usual superb job. Best US$89 I've ever spent on software. My HD is now fully functional with all the bad sectors having been repaired. This software has saved my butt many a time.

Don't hit the mountain. Skim it and then jump out with your snowboard on. Anything less sounds crazy to me.

I guess it depends where you live or go to school. Here in Miami I'd be terrified to take a walk at night. And on campus at University of Miami it's suggested you call for a security escort before going anywhere on campus after a certain hour. There have been far too many muggings and rapes to ignore such suggestions. I hope you appreciate how fortunate you are to be able to enjoy such things. ADDED: I hope you have a safe journey Tristan.

I have a friend who used to self-abuse herself by putting out cigarettes on her arms. The scars from the burns were really bad. When she finally started recovering we discussed what to do about the scars. All the research we read indicated that a suntan would make the scars a little less noticeable. But unless you keep up the level of tanning the scars start to get weird pigmentation that makes them look worse. She wound up getting some long-term microdermabrasion and smoothbeam laser treatments that rendered the scars all but invisible. So, even if Eric does get Wilde into the sun I think that despite his best intentions he'll be making the problem worse. I can't imagine how Wilde, or even Eric for that matter, will feel if in the long run Wilde's scars are even more obvious.

Serious pain? Or just impatient pain brought on by a long download?

It's another sleepless night. I got a new laptop but the HD has several damaged sectors. So while the XP Pro setup disk formatted the drive and copied the files to the HD, Windows would not start the installation cause it couldn't read NTFS.sys. So here I sit watching Spinrite repairing the HD so I can then start the whole process over again.

All she did was get even. Revenge requires one-upsmanship!

Like I stated, it's your fantasy. What about the front, back, top and bottom? /me mumbles to self... innocent my ass!

I'll make a deal with you. Concentrate on one or both of your existing stories to the exclusion of everything else and you can write me into either story and do whatever you want to/with me. How's that for being a good sport? Now let's get back OT. I wonder how that damned manager is gonna get her revenge on Eric for his pranks?

Who is coco and why are you gonna make her?