Former Member

Everything was just a little too convenient. And I guess there something happened to the US President while they were gone since POTUS was male when they went to the White House dinner – the VP was a woman. Sex change? Impeachment? Resignation? It was the wrong time of the year for an election! ;-)

Dead-Composers Society proudly presents 12 Days of Christmas 2017 Music to keep you merry and bright Please enjoy and happy holidays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen conducts Camille Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël

All I can say is that I’m jealous! ;-)

Cletus didn’t know how accurate he was when he asked if there was a “Philly” back at home. Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. As anyone would know if they listened to the Philadelphia soundtrack. ;-)

This read more like a final chapter than the first chapter of a new story! ;-) It would have made a whole lot more sense if Buddy used Stan’s voice, but he would never choose to use his own voice. Naturally he’d rather hear Mark’s voice coming out of Buddy – his two loves! But putting phonemes together in a way that sounds natural is incredibly difficult! When we speak, the actual sounds that we put together affect each other slightly. We also emphasize individual words and phrases, putting stress where we do to modify the meaning of our words. That’s why words on paper or on the screen sound flat. Computer text-to-speech sounds especially odd because there are many more phonemes in English than there are letters in our alphabet. Some languages have a better relationship correlation between sounds and letters. Languages like Hawaiian and Spanish are much more consistent in their pronunciation too. We literally have dozens of vowel sounds but a relative few letters and letter combinations. We have incorporated many words from non-Germanic and even non-Indo-European languages, often with very different spelling rules and conventions. Computers have to have lots of special pronunciation rules even for common words! The DelKenzie language translation software solves one Holy Grail – natural sounding computer text-to-speech is another, so far still just out of reach. ;-)

You both do realize that the story has long been complete, don’t you? If you are really desperate to find out what happens next, you can read the whole story now if you just can’t wait! Just go to Ron’s website: The Mustard Jar. You can find all of Ron’s stories posted there, including some that have yet to be posted here on GA. ;-) But sometimes the anticipation adds to the enjoyment! ;-)

A friend of mine committed suicide. He had been clinically depressed for quite a while. But he was a middle-aged man, not a teenager. He used to wear a button that said “Ask me about Schwab’s IRA!” Of course his name was Ira. And he worked for Charles Schwab, the brokerage company! ;-)

I guess I’m used to the Anthologies where the authors are secret for a while, then the individual authors reply with their own names. Is there any difference from you using your own name/account to reply? I had forgotten that the three of you worked on this together – it was a year ago, after all! ;-)

We’re experiencing echoes of Joey’s past. Gene going back to the barn. Joey attempting to talk to Gene in the loft. Joey getting shot – although not by Gene this time, and in a more critical part of his body! The more things change, the more they stay the same! ;-) But this time too many people know about Gene’s problem with alcohol. And some of them are aware of the reason he drinks. Gene can’t hide from his demons forever.

Dead-Composers Society proudly presents 12 Days of Christmas 2017 Music to keep you merry and bright Please enjoy and happy holidays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Richard Lewis and Malcolm Sargent, scena from Part II of Handel’s Messiah, recorded in Liverpool, 1959 No. 29: Thy rebuke hath broken his heart No. 30: Behold and see No. 32: But thou didst not leave

The first time I saw a 2 Qt 2b str8 t-shirt, it was in the early 1990s. As far as I know, it was created by the same people who came up with the “I’m not gay, but my boyfriend is!” t-shirts that popped up during the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver, BC, CA. The following year, all the Gay men were wearing their follow-up, “I’m not a Lesbian, but my girlfriend is!” t-shirts. The 2Qt shirts followed soon after. I’m pretty sure I owned some of their other shirts. I can’t remember the company's name right now, but they seemed to be very successful for a while before I lost track of them. ;-) Yes, some of my t-shirts are older than most of you guys! I have a Frameline 15 t-shirt from 1991, before Frameline dropped the space in front of the number. (Frameline is the organization that produces the annual Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival. My impressions of some of the programs at Frameline40 and Frameline41 can be found in The Pit.) ;-) Vic & Hayden will be interesting to read about! ;-)

That was quick! ;-) When people enter the ‘foy yay’, do they do a spin like they do in Colin & Devon’s mansion? ;-) Makarovia is buying the property for use as an Embassy? So the land is legally Makarovian territory, right? But Makarovian security should check for bugs and other surveillance items that the US government may have placed, just to be sure. Spies are spies, no matter who is in the White House. ;-)

Those could be options for BB6! ;-) Deze opties kunnen worden voor* BB6! ;-) * Machine translation is notorious for its inaccuracy, but Dutch is a close relative of English so I hope it’s not too bad. ;-)

Okay, now I’m confused. The banner says @aditus was the author, but the replies suggest this might have been written by @Cole Matthews! Or has the GA software gotten the two of you mixed up somehow? ;-)

I don’t think we’ll let you! ;-)

My (Lesbian?) Aunt has not and will never, ever admit that she’s a Lesbian. When I was younger, I never wondered about her roommates. She and they were nurses and not married. It never occurred to me that they were anything other than just friends and colleagues. I don’t know if my mother was ever really aware of her sister’s probable orientation – she could be very oblivious about certain things. My (L?) Aunt and my mother were the closest in age and my (L?) Aunt moved across the country twice to live near us. Their middle sister is very independent and lives in Delaware, far from the rest of the family. Their youngest two sisters are very close to each other – the second youngest is my favorite Aunt. The youngest two didn’t really know my mother well since she was so much older and we only became close to my favorite Aunt because her daughter is my younger brother’s age and we visited each other frequently during the ‘70s. When my family moved back to the Bay Area, we started alternating holiday dinner hosting.

Gifts from relatives were usually arranged around the tree as they arrived from around the country. Unless they were unusually large and difficult to store, gifts from ‘Santa’ (aka mom & dad) were hidden until after we went to sleep on christmas eve. Most years, we were allowed to chose a single gift each to open on christmas eve in an attempt to calm us down since we were so excited. We weren't above shaking boxes to try to figure out what we were getting. My favorite Aunt believed that christmas was for toys and birthdays for clothes. My (Lesbian?) Aunt and her ‘roommate’ (two different women with very different personalities: one fun and sporty when we lived in Hawaii, the other more dour when we lived in San Diego and until 2009 for about 40 years!) were very generous, giving us gifts that included bikes and an outdoor swing set. Other relatives were generally much more practical and sent their impoverished relatives clothing for christmas.

Don’t look at me! I don’t come up with titles! I just come up with ideas for things that could happen! Things that I’d like to see happen. That’s a big part of why I’m a reader and not a writer! ;-) Be patient? But I want to open a gift now! I don’t want to wait until Santa comes! (Poor Santa, he only gets to come once a year!) ;-)

Dead-Composers Society proudly presents 12 Days of Christmas 2017 Music to keep you merry and bright Please enjoy and happy holidays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today is a Sunday two-fer one! First, one for @Drew Espinosa. aniMIDIfy’s animated score of Paisiello’s Capriccio for Piano and Violin And then, Carmirelli Quartet performing the same composer's sublime String Quartet in E-flat major, 1956

Happy Birthday from the other CA! ;-)

Why are Peter and Eric going to Romania? j/k! ;-) That was a nice way for the guys to end their European vacation! It should be interesting to see what sorts of adventures they get up to in Boston. More White House Dinners? A trip to LA to be on Ellen? Grand Marshals in a few LGBTQ Pride Parades? Hosting the annual Makarovia Day celebration at the Makarovian Embassy? A visit to DC for a special exhibition at the US National Holocaust Museum of the Makarovian Experience? A photoshoot for Out Magazine? Posting an It Gets Better video? ;-)

Has Don ever given Robbie advice that wasn't unwanted? ;-)

I wasn’t expecting Musical Beds when Nathan and his parents had dinner with Robbie, Don, Sue, and the rest of the family! ;-)

I don’t understand what Frankie was trying to accomplish. His friends were in a room nearby and could have walked in on the conversation at any point. If he just wanted to push his relationship with Charlie further into the closet, why didn’t he say so and let Charlie decide what he wanted to do. Who knows, maybe Charlie would have gone along with it – I doubt it, but who knows? ;-) It almost felt like Frankie might have wanted to venture Out of the Closet or something. If that was the case, he needed to dump the fake girlfriend first! And a party is the wrong venue to do any of that! ;-)