Former Member

Don was right to bring up the possibility of a therapist, but has the wrong patient in mind. Don is the one who needs to talk out his feelings and misconceptions! Robbie seems to have adjusted fairly well to his orientation!

Wow, Don's still trying to make excuses and refusing to accept reality (surprise, surprise). I'm just glad that Robbie doesn't live alone with Don, and has the support of the rest of the family. Also, Robbie's pretty strong and stubborn so I don't think he'll let Don push him into a corner, which I'm pretty sure he'll try. The idea he put forward about having Robbie see a therapist suggests as much. He thinks that homosexuality is an "issue" waiting to be resolved. And that lacking a father figure might be the root of it, or at least one explanation. He's got a lot to learn. I'm happy to see that Robbie's still standing his ground and realises that Don hasn't changed. I'm also impressed with Sue and Nathan for standing by Robbie's side. Thanks again, Dodger. Another great chapter.

It amuses, yet frustrates me, that everyone is so obsessed with ‘protecting’ Amy from the truth than Robbie is Gay and that Nathan is his boyfriend. She’s already very aware merely because of how they interact with each other and has already told them she knows. Little kids are much more aware of what’s going on and are actively attempting to make sense of what they see. ;-) Don is still a hypocrite. He still has a double standard on what’s acceptable in his home. His idea of compromise was to not ban Nathan. :-( Robbie needs to look up that social worker who he met when he first ran away. Robbie needs to learn more about his rights under Canadian law. Maybe he can get a mediator to assist with the ongoing adjustments with the family. ;-)

@Lux Apollo I don't know anything about this composer (but I'm thinking you might). I've listened a few times, and as always, Plentev's performance is captivating. The poster of the vid did not mention the name of the orchestra, but they are also very good! Perhaps it's a Russian ensemble. Tsfasman - Jazz-Suita

Thanks for posting this. The music is more inviting than I was anticipating

"I see a lot of mistakes when I read over some of the early chapters and I have been trying to edit them whenever I get the time. Meanwhile, the story goes on and chapter 79 is being posted right now. " I was really impressed by the writing, and the plot from the beginning. It has always been a pleasure to read, even when I was shaking my head at some of Robbie's antics. I'm going to read #79 right now. Thanks again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baryton

I bought a 1978 Ford Pinto hatchback (2.3 liter, 4-speed manual) from my older brother when it was a couple years old. It had an all-glass hatch like the car in Cujo, but mine was light blue with darker blue go-faster stripes. (The gas tank was different from the design in the very uncommon Pinto sedan [the sedan had a trunk instead of a hatchback, but had the same profile] and wasn’t prone to the explosions.) My first new car was a 1984 Mazda 626 4-door sedan. Much roomier with a smaller 2.0 liter engine that was more powerful and more economical and a 5-speed manual transmission. My subsequent cars cost roughly the same before inflation, but each was smaller that the one it replaced. 1994 Honda Civic 4-door sedan with a 5-speed transmission. 2005 (Toyota) Scion xA 4-door sedan with a 5-speed transmission. (I sold it so I could stay in my apartment for a little longer, but eventually was evicted anyway.)

On some of the fancier, sportier vehicles, you can turn off some of those features since they can interfere with some of the more extreme behaviors that can be desirable, but are usually too difficult to perform by any but the most experienced drivers. Mainstream and less expensive vehicles do not allow disabling, probably for liability reasons. You wouldn’t want to encourage a high school student to test those features! It’s bad enough when you hear about community college students having their high-end Camaros and Mustangs stolen out of the parking lots. No kid could afford to buy a car like that from money he or she earned from after-school jobs. They’d never even be able to afford the insurance costs! Indulgent parents or grandparents are the foolish ones buying extravagant vehicles! It’s way too tempting for a teenager to drive a top of the line sports car and not race their friends! My parents allowed us to drive their used cars when we first started working. I bought my first new car with money that I’d saved myself – my parents subsidized the purchase by not charging me rent (or for food), but they didn’t pay for anything else. My younger brother’s kids drive his used cars – I don’t know about my older brother’s kids, they’re old enough to buy their own cars now in any case and my brothers aren’t wealthy.

There’s a Nissan ad that reminded me that lots of new cars have automatic braking, automatic lane keeping, and automatic parking. Texting and Messaging have made young people lazy spellers. I can just imagine how incompetent young drivers will be!

From the Tales of the City books, I learned that you could build your own Chosen Family who would support you in ways that your biological family couldn’t. And I thought that ST:NG’s life lesson was that there was a reset button between each episode! ;-)

One for you, @northie

Miriam is back because she wants something from the guys. I’m guessing she wants them to adopt the baby. She doesn’t have any better options and she realized that she was sinning when she got pregnant out of wedlock. What a great story that will make! Daddy pushing Daddy in the marathon with baby along for the ride in a racing stroller in front! All the happy news stories that will generate! [I’m gagging on all the saccharine!]

Not exactly my best friend.... someone I knew by his face and that he was one of the "cool kids" in school. Yeah...it was...uhhh... foolish to me that I've had feelings for a boy. (Actually I thought I was turning into some dumb, evil being... from the pressure around.) Well, the days ran by quickly, turning into weeks. I've made "friends" with him. Even though it was him using me... Didn't matter. I was close around him, and had ...ummm... Well they didn't look at me like another idiot. (Actually they did... lol but I didn't know it then.) So the school year passed... During the summer I was again hanging around him. I didn't really know why though...it just felt right. Again when it was him and I... everything was the way I imagined it to be once I get into his circles. When someone else came into the picture... joining our little group...he was someone else... I've noticed that he wasn't the same when others were around...so I decided to cut myself free from the group and returned to being the lone Woolf I always was, but! The feelings never died, and... I was slowly but surely accepting the fact that I'm probably loving a boy. I never discussed it with myself... until the last (or the one before the last) school year.. Yeah... I've told him about it. It took me all that time spent together till then...to be spent with the horrible feelings of insecurity, fear, the pressure from all around... my kind... well it was already a national "minority" and to all that comes the fact that I was...ummm the gay boy. So yeah.. wasn't easy. When I finally told him in person.. then the pressure lifted, and I was ready for any reaction. Including getting put down.. then bullied even more because of it. Yeah... well guess what happened. Nope. I was extremely happy for the reaction. He said we'll give it a shot. Before I've told him that I had a huge crush on him, and the meanwhile I was struggling with the pressure...yes there were some girls, and a few other boys... Yeah I fell for some. Lol But then in the end he was the real deal. The story ends here. The whole story ends with his suicide(a lot of good times later)... but I won't detail that here. Well uhh... that's all folks. As for your magazine...if you need help with setting up a few webpages... I'll try to help you out.

Would you believe that I only discovered this story 3 days ago, and I've spent all of my free time reading it? What a powerful and addictive story you have here. My thoughts so far? I'm very surprised with Don, I have to say. His reaction wasn't good at all. At first I thought he had the wrong end of the stick and was angry with Robbie because he had discovered that Robbie had been involved with drug users and had been meeting Alex. Especially when he talked about it being "illegal". But then when no one thought to go to Alex's for days to see if Robbie was there when he ran away, that idea lost a lot of weight. I suppose it's still possible. But Don's reaction was extreme and I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive him for that. Whatever he has to say to Robbie, won't be able to change that, unless it really was a misunderstanding, and not about his sexuality. I think it speaks a lot about Don's mentality and the type of person he is, to react like that. So aggressive and hateful. That would spell the end of our relationship, at least in any meaningful way while I still had to live there. I expected him to probably be a bit 'funny' about it. But his reaction was way out of line. Robbie's far from a perfect person (which is cool because I like imperfect characters it makes them interesting... as well as frustrating at times ), but his sexuality is not, and should not be a problem. The only person who can claim some genuine grievance, is Fran. Robbie gave me the impression that he already knew he was gay before he left for Canada. So his whole 'experiment' with Fran seemed strange to me. I can understand that he might have been trying to explore and change his sexuality. But he mentioned a couple of times not being certain he was gay until he met Nathan. But he talked as though he was already certain back in the beginning, with Tom. Nicola has redeemed herself in my book. I'm glad that she has Robbie's back in this. Sue, well, she's certainly taken the news better than her husband has. Daniel, I don't think his problem was ever with Robbie being gay. The way he handled Nathan's sexuality was telling of that. I thought he was angry and distant with Robbie because he had found out that Robbie was hanging around with Alex - which again had given me the idea that Don's reaction was about that, I thought that Dan had confided in him because he was worried about Robbie hanging around with Alex. Speaking of Alex, he's also proved himself to be a good friend, despite his environment and lack of parental role models and being a little rough around the edges. And Nathan. What can I say about Nathan? He's perfect. I would have loved to have known someone like Nathan in high school. Robbie's a very lucky kid, but he needs to cool those hormones a little. He seems to be oversexed. Even for a teenager. He says he was close to having sex with Alex in the basement, even though he's in love with Nathan? The hornyness he feels around Nathan is understandable and normal though. Well it looks like I'm on the same bus as every other reader here now. Where I am patiently awaiting next chapters, instead of being able to 'binge-read' the novel. Thank you very much, Dodger. It's been a while since I've read a gay story online. I used to read a lot in my free time, on GA, but I haven't had much time recently.

Ummmm...Counter strike global offensive. But mostly play something that has a story... Like the Diablo series. Or Decision 3(that's a flash game... and maybe it falls into the "less important" story category.) Oh well. GTA SA was a good old classic. Not really in to these flashy new stuff on the market.

Nothing personal, @TalonRider. It’s the disgusting fraud who was quoted. A hypocrite who presented himself as squeaky clean, but clearly was not!

Mozart's remarkable Litanies are not very well known. This is odd considering how popular his masses are. I blame Alfred Einstein, the great musicologist, who published a dismissive paragraph in his book saying the Litanies were not worth preforming. However, K. 195 is one of the most fascinating and faceted compositions of sacred music that exists. The central movement takes us near the gates of hell and then provides a with a vision of the Virgin Mary. This recording is new to me, and I find it has many wonderful attributes, especially Barbra Bonney's rendering of the Agnus Dei. This recording I have known and treasured for years. The Salus infirmorum (beginning min 14:57) still raises goose bumps, as does the key change into the glorious Queen of Heaven segment.

Gislebertus, The Weighing of Souls, detail of the Last Judgement. Saint-Lazare, France. @Parker OwensThe salus informorum of the next piece makes me think of sculpture like this.

Eew! Eew! Eew! (Sorry ladies, I don’t want to even think about it!)

What a nightmare evening! Of course you’d have to drag me into a bar in the first place – my friends know I don’t like them, but at least you can’t smoke in public places indoors in California! They’d know never to leave me alone like that! ;-) The invading group of strange women would make me uncomfortable too. (Sorry ladies.) I don’t do well with strangers…

Sorry, Eric, I’ve been emailing a non-GA friend in Florida east of Orlando (he just got cable/internet back this morning). But I hadn’t thought to worry about my GA friends in Georgia and South Carolina – @Wesley8890 has been good to keep us informed about his experience. So I guess I need to check with my friend in Atlanta next. It’s getting more and more difficult to keep the Vampire infection a secret. Will George be able to come up with a cure that will allow everyone to Come Out in True Blood fashion? How will they be able to keep seekers from intentionally getting infected and cured just for the side effects like extended life?

When I’m in therapy, my deceased parents are in there with me! Most of the negative thoughts have their voices. Aside from their heavy-handed religious viewpoint, they were reasonably good parents. I cannot imagine how much more I’d need psych help if they’d been worse! ;-)

After my father had surgery, he had lots of time to think while he recovered. He decided that while he didn’t like the fact that I’m Gay (mostly on religious grounds since he was a retired Protestant minister), he realized that he would rather have a relationship with me than continue to push me away with religious objections. He did tell me he was sad that I’d never be in heaven with the rest of the family and him when I died.