W_L

Teen kirk or Young Adult Kirk?

Why did you tell us? I am cursed with star trek!

Umm, perpetuate was the option I was hinting towards for that option that it's both an ending and beginning. Open "Circle of life" kind of deal.

To those who don't believe me about my depression status, check out my earlier postings on another board. I made it in January months before me and Mark got into our scuffle over anti-Depressants: posting in january about my lack of feeling I took the advice from my friends over at Jeff's fort and got checked; yes, I do have depression. I don't talk about it, nor do I express it like some others do through their blogs. Depression for me is different than how people view it, I don't mope around talking about how I dislike my life or feel overwhelming sadness; I feel apathy when it strikes. It happens and it goes; I find it is more easy to control or lessen, when you have a focus in life liking working long hours or reaching for a specific goal. I don't talk about my childhood molestation either, because it just happened and I don't feel like talking on a blog makes it any different. I'm 21 years old, but in my brief candle, I have experienced much. Pain, suffering heartache, personal betrayal of my own identity, losing faith, using emotional crutches, and other varied forms of negativity were felt or experienced. Yet, I have also seen people helping out, friendships that last beyond, hopes that abound, and possibilities within everyone. No life is ever truly full, but I have had much in my life to fill volumes.

Knowing there's an end is something that propels people to live as they can. Old Bob, I agree with your idea, very christian concept on free will, but I agree. We make our lives what it can be by our choices and death is always at the end of the road. As for the idea of ending, why do people see death so much as an ending? I can understanding the new beginning process of an afterlife, but a majority do not fear death; yet, they also see it as finality. Even if you don't believe in religion, then you can take the concept of returning to your own roots. Life is only possible through death; in order for a human being to live other things must die even if you are a vegetarian consuming only plant life and fungi. After death, you give something back to the world that created you, the iron in your bone enriches the soil, the hydrogen and oxygen elements return to the earth, and you contribute to allowing another generation of human beings to live. If consciousness is not recycling through reincarnation, then you can still be happy that consciousness was there to begin with. Is conscious reality what defines life and its absence define death?

Dom- 6 days a week, wow! I hope those are not 16 hour days; it is hard to work even 4 or 5 of those. I hope you enjoy your day off and take some time to relax. Writing can wait, if you want to take a small vacation. -WL

This is not a political discussion; more a metaphysical and human discussion. What do you "think" about death as a concept? What do you "feel" about death as a concept? Both are different, since I have realized in discussion many people have varied perspectives on this idea. Death to my views is not a finite ideal; I consider it almost the core ideal to all life. Everything must end, everything must die. It is the unifying identity we share; whether rich or poor, powerful or weak, gay or straight, and any element in between. We will all die. Ultimately, death is perhaps the most egalitarian principle of the universe, if we hold the truth that death is a unity concept and truly the infinity concept of existence. In the life cycle of stars and planets, they die and change into their basic elemental constructs to form new things. In the quantum level, elemental atomic structures age and change their composition resulting in decay and another type of death in reformation. Things change due to death. Emotionally, I feel death is both a fearful unknown and a opening to something else. Even if you do not believe in an afterlife, what death does is free your materials back to the world that made you. When an animal dies, other carnivores will eat them and their bones will decay back as fertilizer for the earth to create new life. It is like a completion rather than ending to existence. How about you guys?

Congrats on reconciling! Alcohol is a strange substance on different people; sometimes, it makes regular people great writers and other times it makes us release inhibitions, where our brains would never go. Reconciling with your boyfriend is great, but the next step is going to be rough. Have you considered reconciling with your friend?

Happy Birthday Comsie! For the GFD Series fame: Careful the cake might bite back.

A - Age: 21 B- Bed size: Queen C - Chore you hate: Shoveling snow D - Dogs or cats: Cat E - Essential start your day item: Large Turbo Ice French Vanilla Dunkin Donut's Coffee F - Favorite color: Green G - Gold or Silver: I want to say Gold, but I prefer Silver. Not everything in life is gold H - Height: 5'10'' I - Instrument played: Piano/Keyboard J - Job title: Administrative Assistant/Tax Accountant/Walking ATM for my sister K - Kid(s): Yes L - Loud or quiet: quiet M - Mom's name: Lisa N - Nicknames: Wendel, Winnie (I had the same political philosophies as Winston Churchill in High School) O - Overnight hospital stay: A lot, eye surgery to keep Glaucoma eye pressure down P - Pet Peeve: People that act nice, but they do not want to tell you the truth Q - Quote from a movie: Two quotes from Other People's Money: Gregory Peck- "I want you to look at him in all of his glory: "Larry the Liquidator." The entrepreneur of post-industrial America, playing God with other people's money. The robber barons of old at least left something tangible in their wake- a coal mine, a railroad, banks. This man leaves nothing. He creates nothing. He builds nothing. He runs nothing. And in his wake lies nothing but a blizzard of paper to cover the pain. Oh, if he said, "I know how to run your business better than you," that would be something worth talking about. But he's not saying that. He's saying, "I'm gonna kill you because at this particular moment in time, you're worth more dead than alive." Well, maybe that's true, but it is also true that one day this industry will turn. One day when the yen is weaker, the dollar is stronger, or when we finally begin to rebuild our roads, our bridges, the infrastructure of our country, demand will skyrocket. And when those things happen, we will still be here, stronger because of our ordeal, stronger because we have survived. And the price of our stock will make his offer pale by comparison. God save us if we vote to take his paltry few dollars and run. God save this country if that is truly the wave of the future. We will then have become a nation that makes nothing but hamburgers, creates nothing but lawyers, and sells nothing but tax shelters. And if we are at that point in this country, where we kill something because at the moment it's worth more dead than alive, well, take a look around. Look at your neighbor. Look at your neighbor. You won't kill him, will you? No. It's called murder, and it's illegal. Well, this, too, is murder, on a mass scale. Only on Wall Street, they call it maximizing shareholder value, and they call it legal. And they substitute dollar bills where a conscience should be. Damn it! A business is worth more than the price of its stock. It's the place where we earn our living, where we meet our friends, dream our dreams. It is, in every sense, the very fabric that binds our society together. So let us now, at this meeting, say to every Garfield in the land, here, we build things, we don't destroy them. Here, we care about more than the price of our stock. Here, we care about people. Thank you." Danny DeVito, responding - "Amen. And amen. And amen. You have to forgive me. I'm not familiar with the local custom. Where I come from, you always say "Amen" after you hear a prayer. Because that's what you just heard - a prayer. Where I come from, that particular prayer is called "The Prayer for the Dead." You just heard The Prayer for the Dead, my fellow stockholders, and you didn't say, "Amen." This company is dead. I didn't kill it. Don't blame me. It was dead when I got here. It's too late for prayers. For even if the prayers were answered, and a miracle occurred, and the yen did this, and the dollar did that, and the infrastructure did the other thing, we would still be dead. You know why? Fiber optics. New technologies. Obsolescence. We're dead alright. We're just not broke. And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes. Slow but sure. You know, at one time there must've been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company? You invested in a business and this business is dead. Let's have the intelligence, let's have the decency to sign the death certificate, collect the insurance, and invest in something with a future. "Ah, but we can't," goes the prayer. "We can't because we have responsibility, a responsibility to our employees, to our community. What will happen to them?" I got two words for that: Who cares? Care about them? Why? They didn't care about you. They sucked you dry. You have no responsibility to them. For the last ten years this company bled your money. Did this community ever say, "We know times are tough. We'll lower taxes, reduce water and sewer." Check it out: You're paying twice what you did ten years ago. And our devoted employees, who have taken no increases for the past three years, are still making twice what they made ten years ago; and our stock - one-sixth what it was ten years ago. Who cares? I'll tell you. Me. I'm not your best friend. I'm your only friend. I don't make anything? I'm making you money. And lest we forget, that's the only reason any of you became stockholders in the first place. You want to make money! You don't care if they manufacture wire and cable, fried chicken, or grow tangerines! You want to make money!" R - Right or left handed: Ambidextrous S - Siblings: Sister T - Time you wake up: Depends on my mood U- Underwear: Everything, except wool. V - Vegetable you dislike: Cucumbers, no sex jokes asides, I find them bland W - Ways you run late: I get into an argument X - X-rays you've had: Liver Y - Yummy food you make: Oven baked Mac n' Cheese Z - Zoo favorite: Elephants, yeah Republican Animal, but I want a pink Elephant

It's a silent protest and acceptance in American politics. If he is forced by party bosses and his geopolitical position to say yes, but he does not like it and wants to keep face on his platforms in the next election, then he could theoretically go with a passive acceptance and later on say he didn't like it or if it goes well in public opinion polls, he could rehash and say "I approved it". Yet, both would be correct assessments. American politics like any democratic nation has little nods everywhere. If he does nothing and let it pass, then he gains party support and possibly join his neighboring New England governors in reaping certain rewards. If he signs it openly, he would gain enemies with the states old hardcore group and possibly harm relations with moderates that have given him victory in last two elections. If he vetoes it, then he might incur the wrath of party bosses and gay rights' groups, who will surround his state and harm his already tenuous situation due to the drop in land tax revenues and the lack of sales tax, so his only other state sources of revenues are use and excise taxes. One reason why he will be in a difficult situation is that he needs his fellow New Englanders support to keep New Hampshire strong fiscally due to collapsed land tax revenue. Thus: More gay friendly New England states + one hold out state in New Hampshire = Financial ruin for New Hampshire and Lynch's own unseating. He needs the Democrats and he also needs the goodwill of his surrounding states. However, he can't say no to moderate conservatives and Hardcore Conservatives.

With possibility of New Hampshire surrounded by pro-gay rights' states, Lynch, being a democrat, will have a tougher veto against the pressure that he may be facing within his party and outside with his neighboring states. If he does sign it into law and Maine succeeds with their House vote, then we have an interesting new center of gay rights here in the northeast.

One reason why I'd love to do a scramble for Andromeda storyline; it would be interesting to see the Federation expanding into a new galaxy and meeting truly alien life forms that do not have humanoid sympathies or issues. The old milky way races are politically divided and they will continue to be politically divided even the klingon empire after joining the Federation in the future would never be completely content. The Romulans will want to regroup and the Thoalian are still pretty xenophobic. In the current Star Trek novels, written by DS9, TNG, and Voyager era writers, set a decade after the Dominion war, Two aligned leagues have been created in the galaxy: Khitomer Accords league headed by the Federation, Klingon, Cardassian, and Rebel Romulan Republic along with Ferengis and other races as associate mmbers. Then, you have the Typhon Pact league headed by Romulans Star Empire, Thoalisn Assembly, Breen Confederacy, and other powers trying to lay their claims and control of the galactic power. (search for the "typhon pact" and you will find out what I mean) I advise many of the Star Trek fans to read some of these novels; it's very interesting to know that a First world and Second World alliances were constructed of the humanoid races in the Milky way. As for the Borg, they were recently defeated by the sacrifice of Captain Janeway (she died in the novels to take out the Borg) in a climatic battle that nearly destroyed the galaxy and have left many worlds ravaged.

I won't lie, I have been writing Star Trek Fiction and story lines for years, however, most of them are not really centered for gay storylines, but there are gay characters and some strange sexuality character (think Trill host/generational issues, asexual or homosexual bonding of Founders, and Klingons sexual practices as just small nods). Out of the handful of Gay oriented stories, I actually have an interesting Founder back story concept for why they were hunted as solids and how they could be direct link between humanoid sexual preference and shape-shifting in Star Trek Universe. The story is basically my interpretation on minority variation concepts within species leading to an evolutionary zenith. (Remember TNG episode "The Chase", where the humanoid races like Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and Humans discovered they were all the same species and the Female Founder character played the Female ancestor alien. I took that idea and mixed it with evolutionary concepts to establish Founders as our evolutionary end point, a pure omni-sexual being.) If you like star trek-esque story lines, check out CSU (Clan Short Universe) or E-tours, which combine several elements together with authors of different genres.

It is finals time and I usually drift into something in between studying to peak my mind in order to propel my brain into constructive thought. So I read, Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller, I have his play in book format. After reading it, I remembered this discussion a while ago between you guys and I think I have a new thought. We are asking a question what is a good life and what is going to change after the economy recovers. Then, I realize, Why were we compelled in the first place to seek such things as decadence and grandeur? The American Dream is not dead; it's mutated and deformed in recent decades. The old ideal of honesty, honor, and workmanship have been tossed out for bottom line, lies, and results. The essence of success is the true challenge of our time and the wrongful pursuit for success creates the greatest injuries on our economic well-being. Success is necessary in life, but it is not the absolute reason why you should pursue it. Success is not a goal; it is a benchmark for another set of goals. Where Americans and others have failed to see through affluence as success, we must come to understand that affluence is only one measure of success not the reality of success. In order to pursue money and power, mankind has gone to great depths of corruption and destruction. If we truly respect the ideal of success, then we should walk a few steps back and look at where our lives are and ask: what do I want to do to be fully successful? Not, What must I do to be successful? We have taken desire of success beyond just the objective measure and pushed it to such extremes that everyone must reach for certain things to show off success, instead of enjoying success.

IT PASSED 13-11 New Hampshire Senate passed Same Sex marriage Another site to confirm: Reuters: NH senate passed same sex marriage This is monumental, yes the governor has a high probability of vetoing down the measure, but it says something. Gay rights is no longer a pipe dream; it is fully attainable. The issue now is strategy, what is the next steps. Conservative New Hampshire as I said is the role model for a mid-west campaign and eventually a southern campaign to gain gay equality. The state Senate victory is surprising and powerful statement. New Hampshire is winnable and a tossed up battleground, where it was once considered the bedrock of the north. Now onto Maine.

I doubt New Hampshire, too, but Maine maybe. New Hampshire is the most conservative state in New England, so it's going to be interesting.

I love the novels, where Garak acts as the ambassador of Cardassia's government, but I think he is better as an intelligence director. Post Dominion war should have been done as a series; occupation forces from the Klingons, Romulans, and Federation take over Cardassian territory. It could be almost like a historical reference to the split up of Germany into Allied zones post world war II. It would also be able to touch on modern day issues of terrorism and people not likeing their nation occupied, while getting profiteers of occupation and collaborators. DS9 had explored a lot of ground on terrorism and justifying certain aspects of freedom fighters versus terrorism as lines that can never be drawn in clear light. I remember an episode, where Kira was being stalked by a Cardassian, who lost his family due to one of Kira's terrorist attacks. It surprises me on how many level the storyline works of revenge as an Cardassian individual losing family due to terrorism, but as a society we could say Kira's actions of using terrorism and killing innocent civilians ultimately worked to drive off the occupation forces. It was stories with such great moral ambiguity that I grew into some one that respected Trekkian ideals of peace, while understanding that nothing is ever clean as ideal would want. It is also stories like that, which has driven a wedge in Star Trek Fans. Idealist tend to be older, while the younger guys tend to be more ambiguous. ---- As for the new galaxy storyline, I can imagine an interesting story for it: (In the 25th century, the Federation is now a Galactic power, which spans all 4 quadrants. Klingon, Talaxian, Dominion, and even Ferengi are now members. The Romulans, Breens, and Thoalians are still independent empires along with others. However, the development of early slipstream drive technology from USS Voyager and discovery of a limited supply of special crystals, which stabilizes the slipstream drive technology, are monumental to the story. The technology is limited to long range exploration use, but upon a scientific survey of the Andromeda Galaxy by the USS Titan; it is discovered that the galaxy is rich in the crystal along with other rare resources such as similar "fountain of youth" particles from the Baku homeworld and Natural Omega Particle fissures in space. A Race for resources and colonization occurs between the galactic powers. There are native races and civilization in the galaxy, but they do not have the same innate warring properties as the Humanoid races of the Milky Way races.) Historic allegory to the Scramble for Africa, Colonialism, Imperialism, economic influence, resource management issues like oil, natural gas, coal, and even nuclear material, rights of popular sovereignty, and a whole host of issues could work there way into such a story. For example, I am imagining one storyline now that would have the Federation and Romulans trying to secure an Omega particle fissure, while the Federation would want to study it and use it for energy generation, the Romulans want to create new devastating weapons from it. It is almost like the Uranium rush in Africa by the US and USSR during the height of the cold war. That would make for an interesting storyline, but just make sure if you steal my idea, place me as the source material and give me executive producer rights.

Theatre, illegal download, and blue ray DVD. I am an ex-trekkie, but it's still addictive. Wonder how JJ Abrams will keep the Romulans from being seen, because it can end up pretty badly for older die-hard fans. I'm fine with re-imagining old concepts, Battlestar Galactica went from 1970's campy family friendly entertainment to 21st century controversial, politically stimulating, and transcendent drama. If they have to create a new series, keep it in the 24th century or do it in the 23rd century. Enterprise was just bad. They need new 24th century ideas, simple; Get Ron Moore, Jeri Taylor, and Ira Behr back and do the occupation arc of Cardassia (look up dominion war and you will know what I mean). By the way, Ron Moore did a good job with insurgency and terrorism on Battlestar Galactica, so I think it would make great drama for Trek to have it. New 23rd century stuff; talk about the 2nd five year mission, which Gene Roddenberry had written scripts for an entire season entitled "2nd Phase". You just need to tweak the pilot and viola, you are recreating classic Star Trek without ever stepping over continuity. Okay, I need to stop; I am a big fan of the franchise and very knowledgeable about the universe and histories.

Who can say no to Star Trek? Seriously, Star Trek and Terminator Salvation just cause I want a conclusion to my Terminator fascination even without Arnold.

Seriously, I've been writing about gay history from the beginning of recorded history for a while and I keep forgetting to open a discussion on the topic. Let me start with Ancient history up to Hellenistic era aka Alexander's empire The earliest fictional/semi-historical account of same sex relationships came from the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh. Enkindu, the big wild hairy man, was the beloved of Gilgamesh, the unpredictable and emotionally immature king. Sounds almost like reality between certain gay couples with calming influence of one partner meeting the unpredictable nature of the other. I took certain liberties, when writing Love and Again, but I would contend that Sumerian culture was pretty open during that time in their history to have gay epics be mainstream, possibly due to the influence of their rulers. Moving forward in time, Zoroastrian traditions as the first monotheistic hated and despised homosexuality in every land it crossed into. My 2nd story was based on biblical accounts, but there is also historical basis to speculate that the repression after early homosexual acceptance came from the first wave of monotheism. Zoroastrian traditions would later go into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam sadly including the anti-gay sentiment. Then, you move westward and you got history of Greece and Crete, where legends were very open to gay relationships to certain degrees. In the Iliad, there is an oral tradition that Achilles and Patrochlos were lovers, which is interesting side note durian classical era of Greece. Additionally, the Dorians, although Quasi-fictional/historical, are usually depicted as very pro-gay relationships among adult men and in certain places among boys and men. Anyone, claiming descent from Dorian nobility or Herculean nobility as my 4th and later stories go on to describe, would be under the same traditional concept that they should have homosexual relations along with heterosexual ones. Now for the Lesbian community, you guys appear in history around this time period with incipiant female love stories and poetry. It's interesting to note that Lesbianism was not much countered or acknoledged in the early periods as male homosexuals. I have to explain my dislike for Athens. Athens has always been the place, where gay writers and advocates point to what a good democracy should acknowledge for gay rights. I can understand why they point to Athens, but I must counter there example since it must be done. Let me state for historical record, Athens would have been the death knell for gay rights, if it was not for Thebes preserving gay traditions. Socrates' execution among other notable thinkers and supporters of gay traditions was in fact an Athenian purge. Democracy does not guarentee equality or rights; the ideals of gay love became less inclined as Athenian public used homosexuals as scapegoats after their lost in recent wars with Sparta and her allies. I posit the Athenian tradition as a warning for future generations of gay men; don't believe that winning certain freedoms in a democratic society means you gain it indefinately as the winds of fortune change, so does the winds of public opinion. Thebes would have been my choice for the open city of gay rights. Not just for the tradition of the Sacred Band, but they also have many legendary stories such as the first gay couple eloping to Thebes. As for Alexander's ideas, it is a high point of contrast and understanding gay love versus pedophilia that was part of Greek tradition. He believed in equal love as taught by Aristotle, who was student of Plato whom was student of Socrates. Certain things that he hated was pedophilia for pleasure sakes. It is implied in historical record and our culture, American, Greek, or otherwise, will not accept that Hephestion was sleeping with Alexander more than once. Hell, Alexander only had one son, who was born after his death, so the likelihood of paternity is doubtful. Alexander married woman like many other gay men after him to show he could continue traditions, while only loving one man. There are even stories from Plutarch and other ancient historians that Hephestion usually spend his nights with Alexander in the same tent, so come on how much more proof do our society need to say Alexander was the first monagomous homosexual. Other parts of gay history and documentation of same sex relationships can be seen in the Far Eastern Chronicles of Confucius Dialectic. This line of stories and history is covered in my off site story, Worlds of Difference, eastern history is another round of stuff. In the far east, it was not age structure that propelled early homosexual unions as in early Greece. There were even vows of brotherhood that we could almost assume at points were gay marriage declarations. Now that clears up the 15th century BCE- 3rd century BCE of gay history. Some people say there is no such thing as gay history, hehe!

Here's the easy way out for me at least: I am more inclined to jogging rather than the gym scene. (It might change, because I see some very hot guys there, but love and exercise should never mix. You might end up breaking up and in a fit of madness go on binge eating and in a week find out you gained 20 pounds. ) There are two types of diets, I've seen work: 1. Eating more small meals throughout the day to increase your metabolism. 2. Eating one to two small meals per day and utilizing vitamin liquids or other good fluids to substitute for meals. (My diet) The small meal thing is dependent on the person's willpower. The liquid diet is more alligned with a person's capacity and for me it works much better. Jogging about 90-120 minutes a day is awesome. I love jogs due to the ease and enjoyment that you can have in just a simple run. By the way, the usual jogging routes are filled with hot skinny looking guys with cute asses, another good reason jogging is fun.

I noticed James posting the top 10 evil children book and people responding, but why hasn't anyone pointed to good children books. I just remembered one with a moderately good movie to boot: Charlotte's Web It's my favorite, I admit, because I felt really bad for Wilbur *(Strangely enough, I am not a big pork eater, I prefer steak). I like the idea of the entire story and there was a romantic cross species relationship under-toned throughout the story between Wilbur and Charlotte. It went into the most beautiful ending, where Wilbur helps care for Charlotte's eggs after she dies and it becomes almost like a subtle allegory to gay relationships and adoption issues. Thinking of it in that term brings tear to my each time. I might be over thinking a children story, but the theme of acceptance between a spider and lonely pig is beautiful. There is a real relationship between the two seeking companionship not among the norms of their species, but something different. The last part with Charlotte dying and giving custody of her children to Wilbur is such a powerful and moving realization at how much trust and love these two have for each other. You can apply it as a heterosexual piece as well, but I tend to feel the differences in species may expand that idea. It can be a class-conflict, a ethnic, and dare I say homosexual romance parallel. Kids will enjoy it and will root for Wilbur desire to survive and Teens/Adults will love the existential themes as they grow up and re-read it or see the movie. I don't know about my subtle analysis on the themes in connection with gay issues, but I do recommend it as a children story about acceptance, love, perseverance, and hope.

To be fair, I just changed the error. Nitpick grammar professor, I can guess the college freshman must love your class. However, I am honest; I am an ethical man, not truly a moral man, which is one thing that American law takes into account more than ethics. Won't you agree Mark or can you not differentiate ethics and morals? Also to Tiger, I was a former Branch Vice chair of the Republican Party, so I wouldn't discount my membership that easily.

After arguing with Both Tiger and Graeme on the pedophile thread, then Mark Arbor, dkstories, and Xeran on the Torture thread, I realize something about myself: I am an ethical man, who doesn't believe in absolute laws or the attitudes of society. What's ethics? Main Entry:eth