Former Member

Well if the paramedic/firefighter has buddies on the force, it’s likely that they aren’t bothered by the fact that Paul is Gay (or bi). There are times when small town familiarity works in our favor. A known LGBTQ is often thought of as quirky or idiosyncratic rather than a threat. ;–)

Like several others, this jumped out at me too. Handler suggests to me some sort of special agent. Some sort of government spy agency or similar private group. But maybe I read too many fantasy stories and see too many action movies… ;–) If that’s true and Paul works for the government, I hope they’re both on the same side! ;–)

Sheriff? Park Ranger? Doctor or nurse? With most other jobs you don’t talk about going on duty. ;–) You could really shatter stereotypes if Paul is a nurse! ;–)

I’m a snob. I grew up wearing too many hand-me-downs, so I refuse to shop in thrift stores. My strategy is to buy fewer things of a reasonable quality. My parents grew up during the Depression, so they were much better than I am at saving money and shopping smarter. ;–) Also unlike Corbin, I could be very happy being very isolated for long periods of time. So much so that my therapists were always trying to find ways to motivate me to get out more. It’s my clinical depression combined with mild social anxiety. ;–) I don’t think Corbin is going to be able to defenestrate the stranger on his porch if things get out of hand. While the rest of the chapters could be flashbacks, I don’t get the feeling that there’s going to be a shootout next. I’m guessing he’s a neighbor – or much less likely, the friendly local sheriff. ;–)

Gee… where have I seen that before? ;–)

I‘m not royalty. I’m not pretentious enough to refer to myself in first person plural. I am not a collective like the Borg. I am certainly not a lawyer! I just try to think different, as suggested in a famous ad campaign. ;–)

Many in that age range were infected when little was known about HIV, with a few infected before anyone knew that AIDS even existed. A few people have a natural immunity to HIV, but that is extremely rare. Others were lucky enough to have survived somehow. There are still people who think that HIV only affects other people, so they don’t take precautions. Some people are infected when their spouse or partner brings the virus from outside the relationship or from sharing an infected needle. If you have unprotected sex, get tested!

A writer could be discussing various word choices with an editor – or maybe two songwriters who are collaborating… ;–)

Todd’s mother should realize that heterosexuality doesn’t protect against AIDS! Too many kids think that they don’t have to worry because they’re not Gay – lots of senior citizens too. And lots of People of Color who think that only white people are Gay get infected because AIDS doesn’t just infect Gay white men. Some people lie about their sexual experiences or viral status. It might not be likely but it’s possible to get infected with HIV even if you only have sex once. Just like with pregnancy, the chances are extremely low, but you don’t want to be the exception! Consider the possibilities before you’re tempted. ;–) The HIV test involves a mouth swab and 20 minutes. No needles. No blood. You can often get the test done free through your county health department or a non-profit. ;–) Sharing needles is even more deadly. It’s not worth the temporary high. Things do get better, but sometimes it’s a struggle to get there… ;–) There is still no cure, but many people have achieved undetectable virus counts with medication. The cocktail doesn’t work for everyone and it’s extremely expensive. The meds also have undesirable side-effects. Let me repeat that: there is still no cure!

So we should switch to instant pots and food then? ;–)

We got our first computer, an Apple IIe, in 1984. I got my first Mac, a IIci, in 1993. My sister-in-law gave me her old 7100 in the late ‘90s. I bought a 12" iBook (‘IceBook’) in 2001 and a 12” PowerBook in 2003. I bought a Mac mini in 2013 and a 15” MacBook Pro in 2014. I inherited my father’s old PowerBook 100. I also had a used Mac Plus and a used Cube (with no power supply), but lost them both along with the IIci and 7100 when I became homeless. ;–) From the mid-‘90s until 2003, I worked in a computer store (Apple Authorized, but not Apple owned) that sold Macintoshes exclusively. We sold accessories and software too. I remember setting up our first iMac demo model! ;–)

That’s the great part of having all those things integrated into MacOS (Operating System) instead of having them just added on later. (The OS integrates pdfs at a very basic level which is why you can Print to pdf.) They become accessible in nearly any application. And they always work the same way. It’s seamless. ;–) * Learn Spelling is actually part of the OS. The user (spelling) dictionary is shared across the OS rather than being isolated to a single app. That’s why you can teach it a spelling in a word processor and not have that same word flagged in your browser. ;–)

I wasn’t over the top enough in my response to be clear that I wasn’t too serious? I’ll have to work on my sarcasm some more. ;–) I post silly things that I think are hilarious, but others don’t seem to understand that I’m joking. When Sandrewn posted that he had decided not to close his GA account, but wouldn’t be posting again until next year, I suggested that the most important thing was that I wouldn’t be losing Reputation Points – I even put the sentence between [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] tags and only one person gave me a Haha! (A year or so ago, a popular writer left GA, deleting their stories from GA at the same time, and many people, including me, experienced a huge, instant loss in Reputation Points linked to Comments on that author’s stories. It was such a wide-spread phenomenon that GA was forced to issue a statement about the situation.) ;–)

[exaggerated response for comic effect] I never said that Google was evil in my other post. And what I said does not make any claims of a conspiracy. I stated a fact. You made the assumption that I believed in a conspiracy theory, but I don’t know who you believe they are conspiring with and why you think that it suggests a theory. ;–) Google even tries to track me here on GA – it’s so they can tailor ads to the sites you visit. Of course, Facebook is worse because they try to gather information about people like me who have never had a Facebook account – again, even here on GA. I do believe that the little smirking weasel is evil. I’ve installed filters to block them both Google and Facebook. Are you claiming that Google and Facebook are conspiring with GA? ;–) [/exaggerated response for comic effect] When I Option-Click on a word, it brings up the option to Search with DuckDuckGo.

I’ll just say that I use DuckDuckGo. They don’t track you. It’s my default search engine. ;–)

Aren’t you glad you didn’t get ‘Defenestration’ in one of those games where they give you a list of words to use in a story?

From the Wikipedia page on Defenestration: ;–)

Then Corbin quickly defenestrated Harlan. ;–)

I’m lazier than that. I use Dictionary.app. It looks up in the aforementioned Oxford Dictionary and/or several other options including Wikipedia. But once I get into Wikipedia, I often go off on interesting, but wild tangents.

How difficult is it to highlight a word and Option-Click on it to find the New Oxford American Dictionary definition? Oh right, some of you aren't using a Mac! (Or iOS with its similar ability on iPhone and iPad.) ;–)

Or your characters could just be playing Scrabble… ;–)

So no sequel to tell us how the two guys survive on the prison planet?

Yeeeeeeaaaaahhhh. About Ichor3. Is that on the list to follow Changes, Again? ;–)

When someone invites you over for an evening workout (even if it sounds more like a command than a request), most people would dress accordingly – or at least bring workout clothes with them! ;–) Such an interesting dance they’re performing. Not quite on the same page (to mix metaphors). But combining contrasting styles can make for a unique exhibition… ;–)

There’s a relatively recent Topic in the Forums that veered off on a tangent about a famous person presumed to be Gay who married someone of the opposite sex. I pointed out that there are all sorts of reasons why someone would make that choice. Especially in the past, societal pressure and cultural expectations dictated the behavior of many of our LGBTQ elders. Only a relative few rebelled and faced the ostracism that came with opposing cultural norms. I’m not sure many of us would be willing to lose family, friends, careers, reputation, and even freedom or life without the support, institutions, and legal protections won by generations of LGBTQ who came before us!