Former Member

If I had trouble, I’d have said something specific in agreement with @ColumbusGuy this time – our setups are very different and we only occasionally have the same problem. I am glad that at least a few of us realize that a single individual’s experience is not necessarily universal. Much like sexual orientation, a sample of one does not negate the experiences of others.

Forgot to post this yesterday, but here's the perfect Valentine's Day opera. Long live Love!

Microsoft often creates non-standard formats that get adopted by other companies but are not true international standards. Since most computers use Microsoft Windows, those users aren’t aware of the problems. As more people use Macs, Unix, tablets, and smartphones these sorts of problems will become more apparent. The use of proprietary formats like Flash and Java are counterproductive in today’s more open world.

It’s consistent and has been happening for a long time. I’m sure I mentioned it years ago. You tried a few changes, but they haven’t fixed my problem. I stopped mentioning it and save the chapters from Firefox every time. However you format your text, the GA software doesn’t properly code the chapter as correct form of text. This prevents Safari from allowing Reader View mode. Firefox is less strict about observing standards and does allow Reader View mode. Reader View mode switches the background to white and the text to black (no matter what the site displays) and gets rid of extraneous junk like ads, navigation bars, sidebars, and other distractions. (Safari’s Reader View mode can optionally reverse the usual format to white text on a black background and allows you to select the font used [including making the font size larger or smaller], among other choices.) There have been one or two other authors whose text also exhibits the exactly same problem, but it’s been quite awhile since I’ve read any of their stories. ;–)

I think the sentence given to Stanley was much more fair and reasonable than time in prison. This gives him a chance to improve his life. Incarceration would have been a sentence to a lifetime of poverty. By encouraging the wrestlers to support and respect each other, Junior has given Chris and Bobby a chance to get to know each other – possibly giving them the opportunity to fall in love. ;–)

It doesn’t surprise me that Scotty would want compassion for his attacker. One of the problems with our justice system today (in the US) is that too often the goal is to throw the accused behind bars for as long as possible. Not only is that incredibly expensive, but it’s counterproductive too because the accused doesn’t learn anything good from being incarcerated. Just the fact that they’ve been convicted means they’ll have trouble getting a job for the rest of their lives. Alternative punishments are less expensive than imprisonment and much less costly to society over their lifetime. An intelligently developed alternative would help the offender understand why what they did was wrong. Quite often the offense they were arrested for is just a symptom of larger problems in the offender’s life.

I rarely look at the ‘front page’ because of the way the Notifications work. I looked at the top and bottom of the chapter and didn’t notice a second author’s name mentioned as coauthor or collaborator. I did however look at the ‘front page’ this time and noticed the Viking Valentine tag and clicked to find out what that meant. I did notice @aditus’s Cupid Central included there. ;–)

My advice to Bash & Scotty is that just because you see positions in books or in porn doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll enjoy doing them, no matter how great everyone else seems to think they are. Some of it is individual preferences, some of it is that different people move in different ways or are more flexible. You might enjoy things others find boring or painful. If you try it and don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again. ;–)

Do you mean @Timothy M.’s ‘collaboration’ with his muse? ;–)

I hope the recent trend towards much shorter than normal chapters, as exemplified by Ronyx’s Apple of Her Eye and Geron Kees’ newest Charlie Boone story, will not influence the length (or brevity) of the next JAM chapter! ;–)

Clearly that man wasn’t good enough for you! I was watching the PBS Newshour this evening and they had a relationship expert on who said that you should stand out by being high(er) maintenance. Not that you should be a Diva, but you shouldn’t just jump because someone wants to meet in 5 minutes. Expect more, insist that he treat you in the manner you deserve. ;–) We love you just the way you are! ;–)

Oh the embarrassing Sex Talk©. Yet another reason why I’m glad I never had kids. With my luck I’d have had to explain hetero or Lesbian sex! And those are bits and pieces I don’t even want to think about (no offense to anyone who has or enjoys them). ;–) At least Bash’s mom didn’t demonstrate condom usage with a banana or dildo – although a small dildo might have been an informative gift for the boys. ;–) I wish my own older brother was even remotely as understanding and nonjudgmental as Junior! ;–)

Scotty forced Bash to explain what he meant by what he said in his letter. This means that there are no misunderstandings like they experienced previously when they didn’t talk about what they were feeling. Clarity is always good. ;–) And then they did their fooling around! ;–)

Bash is so lucky he has Uncle Vince and Uncle Chris.

For two boys who are otherwise so much in sync, it’s surprising that they’re so out of sync when it comes to dealing with their feelings for each other. ;–)

I’m not sure why no one has Commented on this story yet. It certainly is well-written. The characters are very engaging. The premise might not be unique, but it’s obviously a topic that’s popular. Bash & Scotty are a pair I want to read more about! ;–)

It’s always fun to return to the A/I World. I don’t think we knew where Guardian Angels came from before. I guess I thought they were born into the job or something. So now it’s something to aspire to! Hey, I’m Agnostic, this makes just as much sense as any other fairytale! ;–)

You’re just bound and determined to teach me Danish, one word at a time!. Well it’s not going to work! I’ve had friends try to teach me words in (Mandarin) Chinese and Basque and it never sticks. I barely remember bits and pieces of the three languages I took two years each of in school! Theoretically, my Spanish and French should be reinforced by what I hear around me (especially Español) and embedded into English. I sometimes watch the English language news broadcasts of France24 and NHK (which often feature stories translated or subtitled from their original native languages). But my brain just can’t grasp anything but English. ;–)

Gary thinks he’s so slick! He thinks his well-educated teacher-mother hasn’t already put the clues together and realized that her son is Gay. He thinks he’s the first kid she’s encountered who has struggled with his sexuality. ;–)

Whatever is causing your problem didn’t affect me this time. It’s clearly an interaction between the formatting from the software used to create the text and the site software that isn’t properly interpreting things. Unlike my issue with Ivor’s formatting, I was able to successfully see this story in Reader View mode in Safari. ;–)

There was a complaint about how short the chapters were in Ronyx’s first story (even though there was a warning about the brevity in the first chapter). After reminding him that authors have feelings too, I mentioned that I could refer him to an author who has suffered from complaints about the extraordinary length of his postings (including mine). And then the very next day I find this story! ;–) Sooooooooo, do any of those dates look enticing? I could come up with more holidays, including others that are less well-known! I’m certain Charlie and Kip are willing to be very inclusive. ;–)

Just as I was thinking of you as an example of an author who was notorious for extraordinarily long postings for a reader complaining about short chapters! It’s almost as if Skwish caused you to write this just to confound my expectations. But now that we have this appetizer, how soon before you post the entree? March 17th? March 21? April 1st? April 22? May 1st? May 5th? May 22? ;–)

Thank you, Renee, and everyone. It's nice to be included in such a direct way

I don’t want their Reactions discourage you from Commenting in the future, but please remember that authors have feelings too. ;–) I’m sure you have insightful thoughts about the story we’d all enjoy reading. Please note that this chapter had no grammatical or spelling errors (that I noticed, anyway). And no one charged you for the opportunity to read this or any of the thousands of other stories and poems on this site. ;–) If the brevity of the chapters of this story bother you, no one is forcing you to read them. @Ronyx has written many other stories that feature longer chapters. There is also at least one author who has had to deal with suggestions (including mine) that his story should be split into chapters rather than one extraordinarily long posting. If you PM me, I can send you links to a few of those stories here on GA, which are also well-written, but in slightly different genres from this one. ;–)