Former Member

Gee, you must work for really low payoffs! I’m on Disability and on a very fixed income! I don’t have good money. ;-)

Everyone agrees on Anna so I don’t need to add anything. ;-) Do they sell ice cream by the liter in Kentucky? It used to be by the gallon and half-gallon, but Nestles decided to shrink the carton to increase their profits. They still sell pints though. The only standard US product size that I know is metric is the 2 liter soda bottle (and the 16.9 oz bottle that’s secretly metric: 0.5 liter). I don’t know about alcohol though… ;-)

What? You mean you haven’t charted out the plot and character development before you started writing? I’m shocked!!! ;-)

Thanks for reminding me! I forgot to mention my thoughts on Hat Guy! I think he’s an investigator hired by Rudolph. I think the hats are a transparent attempt at an undercover disguise. ;-) I’m surprised Lydia didn’t hit on all the Marines! There are a lot of sexy Marines out there! Very clean-cut and usually in very good shape (unless they bulk up and get roided out – I’ve known some of those too!). Too bad the cutes ones think they aren’t butch enough and cover themselves in huge, ugly tattoos!

@Bndmetl, of course! She’s done several side stories and done crossovers between her two major stories. (But she won’t be able to read this until she gets her internet access back!) ;-)

So JAM will become a side story. It seems like a certain Aussie has influenced you! But we need chapter 12 before you start working on 13! (Superstitious people skip 13, not 12!) ;-)

I know not all Marines are homophobic (I’ve known several Gay ex-Marines), but a large percentage are very uncomfortable around LGBTQ people. I’m sure things are changing now that no one is forced to hide in the Closet anymore. Plus younger people are more open-minded than their parents and grandparents (who are themselves slowly becoming more comfortable with LGBTQ people). Unfortunately, the military (especially the Marines) is more conservative and repressed than society in general. I’m glad none of my friends bet on the things that I do. Of course, I’m very predictable, so it wouldn’t be very interesting. No one would want to bet on me being adventurous… ;-)

And yet you’ve left us with a cliffhanger at the end of chapter 11! No fair teasing us too! Will you be revealing tidbits from chapter 14 too? ;-)

I’m surprised a student would admit to unwelcome feelings for their best friend. Even if none of their classmates knows who wrote the paper, the teacher does! I know that I never would have admitted to feelings like that in a paper! I would have been too afraid not only that my teacher would know my big secret, but that others would be able to figure out who wrote the paper especially since it was read out loud! (Of course, I didn’t Come Out until I was in my mid-20s – and that was a long time ago!) ;-) Of course, in the Jurassic Period when I was in school (in a very conservative Navy town), no teacher would have ever read such a paper out loud anyway! ;-)

Gene seems to be trying so hard to please everyone else, it’s only when he’s alone with Joey that he’s started to let his guard down and ask about Allen. Unlike Star and her hateful brother, Gene and his brother don’t seem to be quite so unalike. Gene’s antipathy towards Allen, Joey, and other Gay people seems to be an act to ingratiate himself with his father and best friend.

Better you cry today than mess up your makeup tomorrow for Halloween! I’m sure I know who you’ll be dressed up as! (You’ve given us plenty of hints!) ;-)

I guess there wasn’t any way to forestall Ted and his interview. It was inevitable. At least they got to control what they revealed. Hopefully Olek has alerted his embassy officials in the US and arranged to have extra security for Peter. School and local police should be on hand to protect Peter. Probably the FBI too.

Not so much if you went to a public library. When I was homeless, my laptop display died (it was 10 years old). I bought a 19” LCD display and hooked them up to continue to use the laptop. Since the laptop’s batteries had already worn out (and been replaced a couple times), the laptop needed to be plugged in for power anyway. When I got my first Disability check, I bought a Mac mini. It was very transportable and the LCD display plugged right in. The display is big to carry around, but I managed. There was a guy I saw at the local library using an old CRT display with his tower. You wouldn’t be the first to be using large equipment in public. If anyone asked, you could always explain the circumstances and most would understand. I would keep the extra monitor(s) at home though. Just bring the smaller one… ;-)

Laptops and tablets (with an external keyboard, of course) make life easier. But my priorities are obviously different from yours. I choose to do without lots of stuff that others think are essential (but I look at what they think are necessary and shake my head).

Creepy! And they’d be illegal in California – even the eggs couldn’t be sold here. But I’m are there are other states that would give them tax subsidies to encourage enormous farms with franken-hens.

I’ve had a few supervisors and mangers who might have deserved a fright like that… minus the sword and actual death, of course. ;-)

Very creepy!

So many interesting details in a deceptively simple story! ;-)

It’s also important for Peter to learn Queer history quickly. He may not see himself as a spokesperson for the LGBTQ community, but the press will. There are so many examples of newly Outed personalities saying things that are false, not correctly phrased, or insulting to parts of the community. It’s extremely easy to say or do the wrong thing. Getting assistance from one of the big LGBTQ rights organizations does help to avoid those missteps. Peter will not want to claim to be the first Openly Gay Prince, that would an (Asian) Indian man. If Makavovia legally recognized Same-Sex Marriage, or even any other form of legalized partnership for Same-Sex couple other than adoption, before the ‘90s, we would have heard about the country, no matter how obscure. In the period after WWII, Gays were persecuted even in Progressive countries like Finland and Germany. If there were a welcoming country Gays would have flocked there. As the political climate changed, Gays and Lesbians traveled to the Netherlands to have their relationships legally recognized (especially after Same-Sex Marriages were permitted) – similarly LGBTQ couples travelled to places like Vermont when it became legal there. Lists were compiled with the legal status of Same-Sex relationships. A country that recognized legal Same-Sex Marriage would have been noted and pointed out. Even tolerance would have been enough to cause notice in times of repression elsewhere. No country is obscure enough to allow those thing at those time and still be unknown within the LGBTQ community – unless it’s magical! ;-)

Coffee shops are not like fast food restaurants in urban areas which typically post signs limiting your stay to 30 minutes. Usually those limits are imposed nearly exclusively on those they identify as homeless. Since I didn’t look like the stereotypical homeless person even when I was, in fact, homeless, I was never asked to leave even though there were times I spent several hours in them. ;-)

Oh no. I hope Allen's alright. Another excellent chapter, Ronyx

Prince Eric? I wonder what a therapist would say about that? This is an interesting pattern you have. ;-)

Just get better! We can wait impatiently for the next chapter. Plus if you’re not feeling good, you might have nasty things happen to JAM! ;-)

I have ‘acquired’ it, but haven’t gotten around to watching it. I also have Shameless (UK). But I’m still trying to get caught up on Doctor Who! ;-)

Well that’s a dramatic change! Geoff didn’t seem very happy with his job before and now he has the chance to try something different. But when it’s happened to me, it’s been devastating. I have dysthymia to begin with and my reaction is to go into a fairly deep depression. It takes me a long time to recover and start looking for a new job. Hopefully Geoff deals with things in a more healthy manner than I do! ;-) @Timothy M. That's why I’m on Disability. That and anxiety. ;-)