Former Member

…And I lived in Honolulu when I was a child. It’s the perfect time to live there. You’re not aware of how expensive everything is. Plus you don’t realize that the only reason it takes all day to drive around the island is that you keep stopping! ;-) I’ve been housed for about five years now, but I was homeless for two years. I was always careful to thank those who helped me, but I knew some guys who were ungrateful about everything. The food they got free wasn’t what they wanted to eat. If someone was giving them something, they wanted more of it. They were always unhappy and never understood why people weren’t friendlier to them. My experience was very different, people liked talking to me while waiting at the bus shelter or in lines. Attitude is not the only reason, but it makes a big difference! (Plus if you have a reputation for being friendly and cooperative, people sometimes bend the rules for you!) ;-)

I don’t know much about Manitoba, but I remember hearing Winnipeg, Manitoba was the address Billy Graham gave if you were donating in Canada – my mother always watched his televised revivals. But I thought Alberta was the Province with all the less-open minds in Canada. (But neither is anywhere near as bad as some US states!) I’ve been to Vancouver. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco. I was there in 1990 for the Gay Games and everyone was so friendly! It’s a beautiful place that would be my first choice if I ever had to leave the Bay Area. They don’t call it British California for nothing! ;-)

I love how autocorrect creates such interesting Comments for me to read here! ;-)

Can the Neals adopt me too? ;-) Unlike what some people think, your circumstances have roots in your parents’ circumstances. If they are wealthy or at least comfortable, you have a huge advantage over those whose parents are struggling financially. Finances dictate where you can live. Wealthier neighborhoods almost always have much better schools. Better schools with more resources give you more advantages. Finances dictate whether you need to work after school or whether you can participate in extracurricular activities, including sports. Wealthier schools also have a more varied curriculum (including music and arts) and more extracurricular activities as well as Advanced Placement classes available to their students. Colleges and Universities look for extracurricular activities and other details beyond just test scores when they decide who to admit. Wealth gives some students multiple advantages over others. ‘Self-made men’ almost have almost always relied on resources provided by their parents that others do not have access to. Things like the man who managed to file for bankruptcy several times even though he started off with a million dollars from his father. Certain men got out of serving in the military during the Vietnam War era due to College Deferments (see the previous paragraph) and parental influence, others didn’t have those advantages and were drafted to serve in the war (not everyone had the resources to evade the draft in Canada either).

I was lucky and didn’t get ‘baptized’ when I changed his diaper! ;-)

Or he just overthinks things too much! ;-)

As long as he’s not on his horse pulling you by a rope while you’re running, naked with your hands tied together, to wherever he takes you! ;-)

Interesting how Bryan’s body automatically took him to Ava’s house even though his mind was conflicted. Kind of like how Bryan kissed Rob back, then verbally rejected him. ;-)

Happy Birthday, Wesley!

I only miss the Tyrells – especially Loras! The rest deserved to die in the destruction of the Sept.

Do they have a word for mascara? ;-)

Yes, the spacing issue has been fixed, but I can’t put it in Reader View in Safari even though it’s visible in Reader View in Firefox. Thank you for including the Trevor Project info. There are resources for people who are depressed – I see a psychology therapist regularly (and a psychiatrist periodically) for my depression and anxiety so I’m speaking from personal experience. Talking helps, but sometimes medication works for some people too. There are no instant cures (I’ve been asking my therapists to wave their magic wands for years!), but things really do get better. If you need to talk and don’t have anyone else, send me a PM. I’m not a professional, but I can listen. But try your friends first, they know you better than I ever could.

You didn’t cry over the reactions of us elders here in this thread? ;-)

Unfortunately for me, I spent the first two decades of my life in church. My father’s church. He was a Protestant minister. Very conservative, but not the fire-and-brimstone type. I rejected my father’s church and organized religion. It always fascinates me how a natural disaster is ‘god’s punishment’ and gets blamed on Gays and abortion. Unless it hits Tulsa, home of Oral Roberts University. Oral Roberts. Such an ironic name for a man who probably only had sex with his wife in the missionary position, under the covers, with the lights out – and his eyes closed! (But that also means Mrs Roberts probably never had to consider whether to swallow or spit it out. Too bad she couldn’t kiss it back to Old Oral!)

In the city I live in, there are probably more ‘churches’ than there are liquor, cigarette and check-cashing stores, fast-food restaurants and pot dispensaries combined – and that’s saying a lot! But crime, unemployment, and drug-use are all very high. And those ‘churches’ have very small congregations. Religion doesn’t seem to be answering the questions being asked here.

Not just a 6,000 year old book (that’s been heavily edited over the centuries from orally told myths and fairytales), you have to have a priest or minister to interpret what that book says. You might misinterpret the messages of love and devotion between same-sex pairs hidden in plain sight. And you might start hating the ‘wrong’ people! We wouldn’t want you to confuse moneychangers with upstanding pillars of the community like bankers! We’d never spice things up to make them more interesting and exciting!

The US, but also Jews and Muslims. I’ve heard a couple reasons why it became so prevalent in the US: to prevent masturbation, and during WWII to ‘disguise’ the Jews in the military – then after the war, ‘so you’ll look like daddy.’ What would fast-food restaurants serve us for breakfast? (Thank the Pork Marketing people for that!) ;-)

Be fruitful (unless you’re Gay!) and multiply! Because the world isn’t overpopulated enough yet. We need to crowd out all those heathens – and we haven’t even started on the Moon or Mars yet! ;-)

Leviticus is just a list of ritualistic purification rites. No one talks about not having sex during certain times in the month – or refraining from sex after the birth of a child, a longer period if it’s a girl, of course! ;-) Their bible also demands that all male infants be mutilated. Fortunately, fewer are following that primitive practice.

Even if ‘it’ stopped working, I’m guessing that Paula stopped putting out long ago. Billy doesn’t have any siblings… ;-)

Don’t forget #.05: Thou shalt not be Gay. It is an abomination that overrules all other Commandments! And, of course, #11: Love the sinner, hate the sin. What? That’s not in the bible, not anywhere at all? How can that be? It makes it so much easier for me to be condescending and sanctimonious! We need to slip that into the bible somewhere!

Advocate.com has an article about the creators of the short film!

There’s a line in the current Cadillac Escalade ad: You can buy a car or you can buy a Cadillac. Which is completely true, the Escalade is an SUV – or in other words, a truck! It’s just a very expensive, station wagon-like truck! ;-) Forty years ago, people would have put you in an insane asylum if you tried to tell them that not only would Cadillac and Lincoln be selling trucks, but that they’d be their best sellers! In the ‘70s, the big King of the Hill competition was between the Cadillac Eldorado and the Lincoln Mark IV (or which ever model was current at the time). Now the big competition is between the Escalade and the Navigator. And instead of targeting pimps, they’re targeting drug dealers… ;-)

Kind of like the low IQ exhibited by many of the members of the European Royal houses? ;-) Harry is pretty, but he hasn’t always been smart. HIs father, Aunt, and grandfather aren’t geniuses either. And then there’s his great-Uncle… ;-)