Former Member

They didn’t have computers back in the ‘40s or ‘50s where her attitude came from! ;–)

When I was about 12, one of my Aunts sent me The Hobbit. It didn’t appeal to me initially, but when I tried it again later, I devoured it and begged for The Lord of the Rings series. To tell you how tight money was, they wouldn’t buy the all three books at the same time, I had to wait. But my minister father was happy to supply me with several CS Lewis series! They also gave me several (hetero) coming of age books too. In high school, I got Watership Down. After I started working, I started reading Ursula LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton and Robert Heinlein. I read all of Heinlein's books (I think) and later realized I didn’t agree with his Libertarian politics. Piers Anthony and Alan Dean Foster were also early favorites. Octavia Butler was a more recent favorite, recommended by my best friend. Samuel R Delany was one I had to search hard for because his books were often out of print. With most of the other authors I read, I didn’t go out of my way to find all their books. I once had huge collections of novelizations of Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars. All those are long gone, victims of multiple moves and eviction. I used to have multiple hundreds of books, but nearly all of them were mass market paperbacks. I left my hardcover Harry Potter books and the two Tales of the City hardcover compilations (the first six Tales published as two books) behind when I was evicted. Of the several dozen I have now, more than a dozen are hardcover, including all the Tales of the City books (repurchasing the two compilations and buying the last three separately since they were never published in hardcover compilation form). ;–/

Back in the ‘90s, there were a bunch of First-Openly-Gay biographies. I remember one was the first Openly Gay FBI agent (J Edgar was never Out of the Closet). Greg Louganis’ Breaking the Surface came out during that period too. ;–)

Ah, the classics: The Hobbit, Douglas Adams, and Ugly Betty! ;–) Okay, you got me. I’m not quite as old as your father. But at nearly 60, I could just about have had a grandchild the age of someone like Wesley8890. ;–) When I was in my 20s, I read primarily science-fiction/fantasy. Then I added Gay fiction. When I worked in a bookstore, I read a ton of LGBTQ biographies. ;–) But at the same time I was reading tons of magazines. Over the years, I have subscribed to more than a dozen car magazines (for the style and design, not the mechanical aspects); early video game (Atari 2600 era) and computer magazines (Apple II then Macintosh); Advocate, Out, and Noodle (a short-lived, San Francisco-based Gay Asian title) magazines, and model railroading magazines. Oh, and Gay porn magazines (for the literary articles, naturally!). ;–)

Poor Geoff. Joy is stubbornly trying to force him to change his horrible homosexual habit, but she’s got a losing hand with Pete Douglas turning out to be a Joker rather than her trump card. The trouble is that Joy only sees a series of negative things attempting to force her to accept something she sees as evil. Even Tony cleaning up the mess and replacing her lightbulb was perceived as a transgression on her privacy. I don’t know what Joy would see as a carrot to all these sticks. ;–) Gloria is very kind to assist with shopping after their disagreement. A true friend even if she hasn’t forgiven Joy yet. But Joy cannot apologize for something she ‘knows’ is right.

Compared with an ancient person like me, Page is a young adult! I’m closer to the age of many of your grandparents than your parents. Back when I was your ages a Walkman was the latest tech! ;–)

What? I don’t get points for having found out that London, Ontario also has a river named after the much more famous English river too? I thought it was very clever to pretend to describe London as being on the Thames, but crossed out and clarified! ;–) I had never even heard of London, Ontario until there was a mention of it in the late, great Canadian comic strip, For Better Or For Worse! ;–)

He might like visiting Tom in London (the one on the Thames in the UK) even more! ;–)

My 12” laptop (pre MacBook models) was named “Footlong.” I stole the name from a customer when I was working for a computer store. In Apple's TV ad, Yao Ming loved his 12” PowerBook while Verne Troyer was thrilled with his gigantic 17” PowerBook. ;–)

So they get my three wishes? ;–)

As outrageous as rents are in the Bay Area, buying a house is ridiculous! In some parts of the Bay Area, the median price of a house is over $1M! And instead of building more housing, many cities are developing even more office space for tech and biotech businesses. More jobs means more competition for the existing housing stock, increasing the values to sky-high rates. The city I live in is in a less desirable area with housing stock that’s mostly older. We do have a BART/Amtrak station here, but the freeways that cross the city are almost always congested during rush hours with commuters living in newer suburbs further out. Gentrification has so far bypassed my city even as rents continue to rise. A couple of successful city Measures have increased taxes on vacant and undeveloped properties in an effort to encourage property owners (especially absentee owners like banks and other financial institutions who repossessed property during the mortgage loan crisis and just boarded it up) to do something instead of letting it sit there getting vandalized and illegally occupied.

Or maybe a week in the country on a farm outside Cobourg? ;–)

I always wonder why people leave GA. Is it voluntary? Did they get upset about something here? It would be much easier to just stop visiting than it is to close your membership here…

I can’t recall if it’s from visiting southeastern Pennsylvania or from seeing Witness, but I’ve seen reflectors on the backs of Pennsylvania’s Amish buggies. I’d think that they’d need them at least on their sides too since they wouldn’t be very visible when approaching intersections either. I guess they can’t force people to put bicycle-style headlights on horses? ;–)

Yes, Connor is Jon’s best friend, but he’s Closeted to Jon. Connor is also the one who enticed Woody into getting the webcam that precipitated Woody’s troubles with Dewberry (very close to Dewsbury, huh?). Connor has also given Woody some very quick head while Jon was out of their room. Connor’s younger brother Ross is Woody’s age. ;–)

Not always true. They might be the same biological gender, but there’s at least one case where an identical twin Transitioned and her twin did not. You can watch the documentary, Red Without Blue on YouTube. SF Gate (the San Francisco Chronicle’s web presence) had an article updating us on the twins in conjunction with the documentary’s appearance at Frameline31.

I think Connor & Ross will not only help Woody & Lucas at school, but also get Jon to see some sense at home too. The one I’m worried about is Woody’s father. He has shown himself to be unsympathetic to Woody’s needs and interests. I think Woody’s mother will keep Glenn & Glenda more closely in line than she has in the past. Woody has been overlooked too often in the past since he’s the middle child – I say that as an often-overlooked middle child myself! ;–)

I don’t know about you, but I have to pay rent every month! ;–)

So I guess this means I don’t get three wishes? ;–) Sorry, for some reason, I thought you were reading this story too just like @Wesley8890, @chris191070, and me.

Stress seems to bring on the dizzy spells. It would probably be safer for Robbie’s health if he and Connor don’t kiss! But I suppose even considering whether or not they’ll kiss would be stressful enough for the nervous nellie and he’ll probably pass out anyway!

I’m glad Robbie has given up on Nathan. Aside from being too high maintenance, he never seemed like a good match for Robbie. The major thing he had in his favor was availability: he was the only Gay classmate that Robbie knew when they first started dating. ;–) I’ll withhold my judgement of Connor until we’ve learned more about him. He’s certainly very different from @Ronyx's Connor from It’s Not Easy Being a Tree. But @Page Scrawler might have preferred that Woody not have Connor interested anymore so the path would be clear for Lucas! ;–)

Our Clipper Card is much more complex due to the number of transit entities and jurisdictions involved. The Bay Area is usually defined as the nine counties in the region, but definitions differ. Historically, most things were planned locally, as in city by city or at best by county. With transportation, that means we have more than a dozen bus systems, each with their own fare structure, funding sources, and priorities. Layered over that are the rail systems – two that are owned by bus systems (SF Muni Metro, VTA light rail), Amtrak California (Capital Corridor [to Sacramento] & San Joaquin [to LA using a bus bridge through the Tehachapi Pass]) is a state subsidized enhancement of the national system (to the point where the state owns locomotives and passenger cars), and Amtrak operating long distance trains (Coast Starlight [to LA and Seattle] and California Zephyr [to Chicago]). And we have several ferry systems that cross the Bay in various directions. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) was designed in the ‘60s and was the first modern (post-WWII) mass transit system built in the US. They really tried to sell the system to skeptical residents by having sloped noses on the end cars to look more futuristic. That theme was carried through with the brushed aluminum bodies. BART uses a non-standard wide gauge to allow ‘first-class’ width seating. Operations are computerized from central control. Trains were projected to arrive every couple minutes, so no one would ever need to stand. The system was designed with too few switches, crossovers, and sidings – with none through the critical Tubes that run under the Bay. Unfortunately, the sloped noses made shortening and lengthening trains complex and difficult, so when additional cars were ordered decades later, the new ‘C’ cars were designed to function as end cars, but can be attached in the middle of the train. The non-standard gauge means that all equipment (including maintenance cars) used must be custom built, adding to the cost since nothing can be purchased ‘off the shelf.’ The computerized controls never functioned as promised and safety requirements have meant that five minutes between trains is achievable under unusual conditions with twenty minutes more common. The unique ‘X’ configuration of the system would be easier to run by computer if either all the lines ran from one point (SFO/Millbrae) out to the ends or if the lines only crossed each other. Unfortunately, they do both with trains needing to interact and cross each other. Because most of the central parts of the system are underground (under downtown Oakland, and to a certain extent downtown SF) it would be incredibly expensive to add parallel rail lines to boost capacity. Because of design deficiencies, BART cannot run 24/7 except under extraordinary conditions (as it did after the section of the Bay Bridge collapsed during the Loma Prieta Quake) because it needs to shut down every night for maintenance. BART is currently running at capacity and is awaiting new, higher capacity trains that Bombardier is already late delivering. There are proposals to add a second set of Tubes under the Bay with new lines that serve areas with congested bus lines. There are proposals to add infill stations between existing stations and extensions to serve outlying areas. There are proposals to add street car service to parts of the East Bay. I’m sure that the cost to build all of the proposals would be in the multi-trillions of dollars. DC is currently unfriendly to these sorts of infrastructure projects, so the lack of funding will keep most of them from being completed. But at least a few will need to be built to avoid gridlock.

They say that PKs either revolt against the restrictions and try to break all the rules (eg Son of a Preacher Man) or they follow in their father’s footsteps (eg the odious Franklin Graham, the homophobic Yolanda King, and numerous others). My parents believed that I rejected their church (true) and intentionally ‘chose’ to be Gay just to spite them (false). I avoid being noticed in part in reaction to being placed on a pedestal merely because of my father’s profession and partly to avoid embarrassing my family (cultural as well as related to my father’s job). I might be very open about my experiences here on GA, but I don’t think I’ve shared my last name with anyone here (a very few know my first name). I think I’ve probably shared enough information here that a very thorough investigator could probably figure out who I am, but why would anyone care? ;–)

My father was a minister and viewed everything through that perspective. It was one of many issues where we did not agree. Unfortunately for me, he didn’t ask me how I felt about his lifestyle choice that made me a ‘son of a preacher man’ and a PK (Preacher’s Kid). :–\

Hmmmmm. Gwyn. From just north of Cardiff. Sounds like Torchwood is going undercover – investigating Dea-Con for Aliens? ;–)