Former Member

I can’t say I was surprised by what happened. Their story arcs were very clear. The trajectories couldn’t be shifted in time. Fate (aka Gary) is a fickle mistress! ;-) But everything hasn’t been finalized yet. Even if Jimmy gets a new job, that doesn’t preclude them dating. In fact, it might be better if they weren’t spending all their time together! ;-)

Must be stashed in one of those off-shore tax havens… ;-)

@drsawzall, Eric likes taking ideas we’ve submitted. I’ve made plenty of suggestions that he’s used! Sometimes the story goes off on tangents because of suggestions! ;-) How many of those Kelly Prestons are male? ;-)

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Well, in your eventual epilogue, maybe Amy and Luke will get married in 15-20 years! ;-)

I guess it’s a good thing that Sue & Don haven’t started planning an addition to the house. I don’t think the family could take another massive adjustment right now. I’m thinking that Alex & Luke are likely to be sent to live with a family we haven’t met yet. ;-)

You’re just trying to get us to hate one of your characters more than we already hate Uncle Don or Tyrone! ;-)

Yes, Jack of All Trades does take on a completely different meaning! Hmmmm. I wonder if anyone has registered that URL yet… ;-)

I loved the story. I’d hate to be one of Jack’s clients though! But maybe an apartment owner is also a client… ;-) But I have to admit that the first thing that popped into my head was All Worlds Video, the Gay porn producer most famous for using the plentiful Marines and Sailors in the San Diego area. Apparently the company was supposed to be ‘The Best of All Worlds’ but people read that as if the video recording was a ‘best of’ compilation. So the name was shortened to just the last two words. ;-)

It’s funny how I never thought about the similarity between Police (with its variations in different European languages) and ‘polis’ as in metropolis. It’s interesting that we’ve derived so many words from Greek, often scientific, yet most are not part of our everyday language. Even though English is a Germanic language, the Norman occupation of England added a huge percentage of words with Latin origins. And California English has a significant percentage of Spanish words added, although most commonly in geography and food. ;-) It seems like Greece has gone from being the center of the (ancient) world to being Europe’s frontier. Greece is being forced to deal with not only its crippling debt problems, but also the majority of Europe’s refugee problem. While it sounds like the Greek people are doing everything they can to assist the flood of people trying to get to the more affluent parts of Europe, there has to be fatigue setting in when it seems like no one else is helping. It’s a good thing that Eric Simon wasn't thought to be one of those fleeing refugees and placed in a refugee camp. I don’t recall reading any description of Eric’s Simon's appearance, just his use of the English language. Would the story have progressed the same way if the villagers thought he was African or Middle Eastern – even if he spoke only English to them? ;-) On the news in the US, the ‘default’ race of someone mentioned in a report is white. A racial description is usually only mentioned when the person is not white. (This often happens with gender too, with male being the default in politics, business, and other contexts.) The effect of that is to exaggerate the perceived numbers of criminals who are non-white even more than the criminal justice system does. Mentioning race and crimes links the two subconsciously. People who do not have daily contact with others of a different ethnicity often rely on unconscious bias. This leads to situations like the Starbucks arrests.

No tobogganing! Way too cold! I’m not a fan of snow. ;-) Hey, I didn’t say I don’t enjoy watching them on TV or reading about them! I love watching the Gayer Olympic sports! I’m not a fan of biathlon or similar events. I don’t know why people would put up with pets who are so disruptive – I’m messy enough on my own! (Kids are okay – as long as I can send them home to their parents when they get to be too much for me to handle.) And it’s fun to see Faris & James dealing with the chaos while safely on my side of my computer monitor! ;-)

Wikipedia mentioned that the ’82 model added the blue oval logo in the grille… ;-)

Yet another cold winter-associated event I will not participate in. I have weak ankles, poor coordination, and poor balance. When I was coerced into trying roller skates, I could barely stand up or move – I had to have support on both sides of me to get around the rink! Just another box checked off the ‘Is he Gay?’ checklist! ;-) I’ll leave iceskating to the Bay Area Olympic and Nationals athletes like Peggy Fleming, Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi, Rudy Galindo, Tiffany Chin (born in Oakland), Debi Thomas, Karen Chen, Vincent Zhou, and Charlie Tickner. ;-)

Why are we being treated to multiple images of a 1982 Ford Country Squire? ;-)

Mormons? Jehovah’s Witnesses? Scientologists? I’ve had LGBTQ friends who grew up in Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness families and I’ve heard about the struggles they faced. And there have been many frightening stories about the Scientologists… ;-)

That’s where the time-travel fits in! ;-) Tyrone would have suffered from a massive scandal way before he reaches 20! He’s probably got a long list of victims who were paid off by Dewsbury and company. Maybe even a few who were underaged when he victimized them!

Yes, grandpa! ;-)

I still have no clue who that is. Quebec. It’s like a whole ‘nuther country! ;-)

No offense, TalonRider, but you are quoting a recently convicted sex offender!

No clue. Not even after I looked up the name on Wikipedia. There are a bunch of people listed, but none are familiar to me! ;-)

We’ll know what happened if the next characters have the last names Baretta or Columbo! ;-)

You could have chosen Nancy Walker, the lady from the old paper towel commercials. She was Mildred on McMillan & Wife*, Rhoda’s mom in Rhoda, and she directed the insane disaster, Can’t Stop the Music which featured pre-transition Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner and the Village People! She was well-known so long ago that few would remember her! ;-) * A sexist title for a show that featured the closeted Rock Hudson and Susan St James as his beard.

Authors used to use the phonebook. But those don’t really exist anymore! And the ones that do only list people who haven’t paid to be deleted and have a landline! ;-) You could pull first names and last names from your hotel clientele… ;-)

Okay… Kelly Preston? The wife of the man Mad Magazine once called John Revolting? Really? ;-) And Karen Walker? You want me to believe that the wealthy multi-millionaire who works for Grace Adler (in Will & Grace) is working as a nurse? I wouldn’t let her take care of my worst enemy! ;-) At least Rain’s last name isn’t Wilson… ;-)

I think you mean a very well endowed prosthetic! ;-) I watched Spartacus on my computer when I was homeless. A friend gave me a movie file as they became ‘available.’ While the shelter had a TV, it was mostly tuned to basketball and other even less interesting programs because the choice was a majority rules decision. (Women were allowed to watch the men’s TV, but even Gay men were not allowed to watch the women’s TV because at some point, one or more men snuck into the women’s dorm to have sex with a female resident. That meant that no man could be trusted to be so near the door to the women’t dorm.)