Cynical Romantic

Hey, not to knock sex or anything, but are you putting down hockey? (Yes, I've been to some hockey games that were better than some sex. All depends on the hockey. And on the sex. )

Hey Kevin, glad to see you're back, and unscathed by the hurricane. As for Clay Aiken, well, c'mon, this is what passes for news these days??? Seriously, was there any person alive in North America that didn't already know that?

Check those Japan requirements carefully. Sometimes it's sufficient to prove that you have access to the funds (i.e. through an approved line of credit or credit card, or secured loan). It may not be necessary to have the funds actually sitting in a bank account, liquid. Honestly, I've never researched this for Japan, so I can't tell you the requirements, but I know that's the case for some other countries, so check into it before you panic. Side note: Never mind the paperwork; Japan's expensive. If you don't have the funds, how will you eat?

Eek! Student loans are where it all starts to go wrong! Do yourself a huge favour: Teach yourself money management skills now, or else you will be trying to dig yourself out of this hole for a long time to come. Have you thought about getting an automatic transfer set up on your bank account? That way, when the cheque comes in, you won't be tempted to spend it all right away. Just allocate it evenly and give yourself "paycheques" every couple of weeks, so you'll learn to budget. Also, check to see if your uni offers a course in personal financial management. Mine did, all about budgeting and taxes and financing and mortgages and retirement savings and investments and such. And as an added bonus, it was worth 3 credits and was an easy A. Totally worth it!

Awww.

This is one of my favourite topics, and is really relevant to writing as well. I'm sure it could be a whole separate topic in the writer's discussion forum. Anyway, I happen to believe that there are no such things as "good people" or "evil people". There are only "good deeds" and "evil deeds". And if you can look at the sum total of all the deeds done by people, and judge them by some sort of criteria, then you can weigh whether the person was overall good in general, or overall evil, or - as most of us are - somewhere in between. My problem with cardboard cutout "evil" characters is that, in real life, the warlord with the evil Muhahaha laugh and the world domination or destruction plans isn't sitting around cackling about how he's so evil. Us human beings have an endless capacity to rationalize, make excuses, and justify just about anything to ourselves. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of people who do bad things really, truly believe, in their minds, that they are justified. Most of them even believe they are doing good. Good stories get us inside the heads of the so-called villains, and show us why they are not just two-dimensional evil characters, but why they really, truly believe that they are the heroes. Everyone believes, in their own life, that they're the star and everyone else is the supporting cast, anyway. Conflict between us happens not because a good person encounters an evil one, but because two people, each with different concepts of what is "right" or "good", encounter one another and clash. Take, for example, the devoutly religious kid who outs his gay friend to his parents, in hopes he'll be "saved". An evil thing to do, right? But in this kid's mind, not doing it will be even more evil, because he'd be condemning his friend to hell or whatever it is he believes. (Religious fervour isn't something I understand too well, but I get the concept that those who believe it truly do believe it...) Politics, wars, conflicts, just about every chapter in history is all just aggregation of this basic concept. People clash because they are at odds in their religious beliefs, in their beliefs about what is right in terms of social systems, because they are competing over the same land or water or money or god. Capitalism versus Communism, fundamentalism versus liberty, left versus right... all a bunch of self-righteous assholes who believe they are, for whatever reason, justified in their behaviour in order to achieve power or some goal that they think is right. Although most people - thankfully - have a conscience, and many will express some guilt over the means that they employ to achieve their ends, most will maintain forever that their ends are inherently good and justified. And, if you take it down a notch from war and strife, you can find the roots of pretty much any petty interpersonal conflict we have. In a relationship. He said / she said. He was justified in yelling at her because she forgot to take out the garbage. She was justified in yelling back because he was mean. The boss was justified in firing the employee for the good of the company because the employee was embezzling. The employee was justified in embezzling because the company was screwing its shareholders anyway, and better the money in his pocket than in some fat cat VP's. And so on. And so forth. We're masters of rationalization, and just about all of us will claim to be good people, if asked. Even those of us who aren't. So it's not about nature. Good people can do bad things under certain circumstances. Bad people can do good things. Jezebel's hands and feet were spared because she danced with joy in front of a bride. Good kids are turned into killers by an army that gives them a uniform, a gun, and a cause. Life isn't about being good or bad. That's just passing the buck, abdicating responsibility. Life is about decisions. Each day, each time we're encountered with a choice, trying to make the right one, the one that will have the best effect on the people who matter. Sometimes getting it wrong. Sometimes fumbling through, making mistakes. But trying to do what we think is right, whatever that means based on our own world views. That's all any of us can do. Inevitably, we'll clash because of it, because there are too many versions of what's right, and none is right for all of us. But that's just part of being human.

Aww. Long-distance relationships are tough. Been there. But it sounds like you had a really nice time together, and hopefully soon, circumstances will allow you to spend more time together.

LOL! Where have I heard that before. Famous last words...

LOL! I remember wanting to be everything from a restaurant owner to a ballet dancer to a dictator of an imaginary country. It changed monthly or even daily for a time. But I think I always wanted to be a writer in some capacity. When I was a kid I imagined myself a famous novelist or something. So when I "grew up", I went into advertising. I get to do a fair bit of writing, albeit not exactly the kind I'd imagined, exactly. Strategic reports aren't quite the same as novels. But the bills have gotta get paid, right?

Still a bit buggy, but lightning-fast. Gotta say I'm really liking it. Am normally a Firefox aficionado (gave up on IE a long time ago) but Chrome might be a contender.

Hehe, Eric thinks he's so smart, but he can't fool anyone. They all know him too well. Let's just hope General Bradson isn't as poor a schemer.

I like it when the author puts some thought into the name of a character. For example, what's this character's ethnic background? What led his or her parents to choose that name? Is the name appropriate for the setting (time and place) of the story? Is it a clich

LOL that's the first thing that popped into my head too when I read that. My (straight) single girlfriends and I are always bemoaning the fact that all the hot guys are gay. Then again, that might just be the circles we hang out in...

Yes, quite ticklish. But I find that only a very light touch tickles. A firmer or more deliberate touch doesn't. Jovian, you might try suggesting to your boyfriends that they be a bit less tentative

*Rushes back to edit post*. Dammit, been drinking too much tequila! Does weird things to me, like to Eric.

I personally don't think Cody is going to make an appearance in the next chapter of Changing Lanes, and here's why: The timelines of Changing Lanes and D&CW are off. Far off. D&CW is in the past compared to CL, even though they both exist in the same "universe". So it's quite simple, really: If Cody shows up in the next little while in CL, it would be a huge spoiler for D&CW. No matter what happens. Unavoidable, really. And we all know that CJ and Shadowgod would get their butts kicked for that kind of spoiler, which is why it'll never happen. Gay, straight, bi, whatever, Eric is just using Cody as an excuse at this point. If he ends up with a guy, I suspect it'll be with someone in the CL timeline, not with Cody. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. (At least, unless proven wrong).

Okay, just playing devil's advocate here for a moment: I mean, that could very well be the explanation. A lot of hints seem to suggest that it is. And I know a lot of readers are hoping that it will turn out that way, that the "emptiness" of Eric's encounters with girls is because he was chasing the wrong gender all this time, or at least shut off from the possibility. That's a perfectly possible explanation and it may turn out to be right. But it's not necessarily the case. I'd suggest that it's more likely to be that Eric is merely finding his relationships with girls empty not because they're with girls but because they're not relationships. Eric is in a unique situation for his age; he's got access to all the sex he could possibly want, and at the same time, he's never in the same place long enough to form real ties with everyone. He's under pressure, due to his career, to live up to his "womanizer" image. And he has a healthy appetite to try anything once. But like I said on another thread, for people like that, when love hits, it can hit hard. Casual sex is empty in the long run, and "something missing" doesn't necessarily mean he's gay or bi, it could mean that he just wants more out of an encounter with a girl. Like, some actual emotional investment, maybe. As for whether he's gay or bi, well, maybe, maybe not. Let's exaimine the evidence: -He has zero hang-ups. None. He's not one to shy away from something because he's afraid of it. -He kissed Cody. While drunk on Tequila. -He's obviously supportive of his brother, Chase, and his boyfriend Brandon. And maybe a little jealous of what the two of them have together. -He's taken it upon himself to choreograph the male stripper act for the bachelor party. -He feels there's something missing from his current sex life. -He told everyone he wants to go to SF to see Cody and figure out where it might lead. When we examine the evidence, we see that all of it is pretty ambiguous; there's really two possible explanations for all of it. His lack of hang-ups could make him more likely to want to give men a try, or could indicate that, if he was bi-curious, he probably would've "experimented" a long time ago. He kissed Cody, but that could've just been the tequila or the desire for tequila talking. He is maybe a little jealous of Chase and Brandon, but is he jealous because they're gay, or because of their close emotional attachment, that Eric doesn't have? He is choreographing the stripper act, but is it because he's interested, or because he has experience with that sort of thing, being a performer himself? He feels something's missing, but is it men? Or love in general? He told everyone he wants to go to San Francisco to see Cody, but we know he's really going to the Canary Islands so that's just an excuse. Is there truth to it? Or did Eric just figure it was convenient, given his audience, and that it might throw Helen off his trail? See, there's really no way of knowing, one way or the other. I suspect that, because this is CJ-land, it may well turn out to be Option A. But in real life, it's probably more likely to be Option B. I mean, Eric has not exactly suffered for lack of opportunity in his sex life, and Barbra's right, he's a little bit old to be realizing these things for the first time, maybe. Or maybe not. Wait and see, right?

Oh Eric, Eric, Eric... thinking you can outsmart Helen is really not too bright, is it? You should know better than that.

Wow, mothers always know, don't they? Or, suspect, at any rate. Anyway, good for you for having the courage... and your mom sounds really awesome, so I'm so happy for you that she reacted well. Sounds like you have a great family!

I find this amusing. I mean, greeting cards exist for everything from "Hug Your Cat Day" to "Congratulations on your Divorce". And they're complaining about cards for gay weddings? Give me a break! The AFA needs to get a life. By the way, if you ever want to send someone a card for an odd or totally pointless occasion, there's a great list of weird and wacky holidays here. (Left Handers day was August 13th, and I got disappointingly few greeting cards from you folks... what's wrong, you got a problem with lefties or something? )

This is just a silly toy, relying on stereotypes. Virtually everything I've ever written that I plug in comes up "male", though I'm obviously a woman writing it. Ironically, one of the few pieces of writing I tested in it that came up "female" was one of my few attempts at writing a story from a male point of view. Of course, it was a first-person point of view, so I have to wonder if Duncan is maybe onto something. Anyway, I think this site is more for entertainment than about anything serious.

Well, the general is either unrealistically naive (unlikely), or has allowed his fear for his son's life to seriously cloud his judgment (much more likely). At first, you set it up so it seemed like he had a solid plan, but now it seems like he's going off half-cocked like some amateur, making stupid mistakes and making himself extremely vulnerable. At least we have a setup for a big showdown...

Haha, you think that's bad? I remember back in my student days, I worked retail. Now, the store that had hired me was a new store about to open, and they had an employee orientation session for all the new hires. I not only arrived to the first session late (ensuring that everyone was staring at me), but as I entered the room, there were these dishes of candy on the ground that they had set up for some sort of activity. I proceeded to trip over one of the dishes, landing on my face and sending candy flying everywhere. Talk about a first impression! (I worked at the store for four years... longer than just about everyone in that room including the manager. And yes, I am a very major klutz.)

Ah yes, whatever did people do before Facebook? All those pesky phone calls or emails just to tell a bunch of people that you're married or gay or living in Kalamazoo or whatever. Pain in the ass, I tell ya! Now, all it takes is one FB status update, and everyone you haven't seen since the third grade gets to know all about your life. Gotta love it! (By the way, this is off topic, but what's with all these people posting pictures of their babies as their profile pics, anyway? I mean, we get that there's a baby boom on, but isn't that just a little over the top?)

Tsk tsk, what's with all the breeder comments? Jack and Vic, you're both probably more likely to reproduce than I am, if things go my way. *To population control* (And as for why there are so many of us here? Ever consider that maybe it's just that us women are saps for good stories? )