TheZot

Geez, no wonder the neighbor kids are so screwed up. Not that it excuses the behaviour of the little monster, but still... I'd say cut the kid a break, but that won't get you anywhere, and you're not obligated to civilize the little hellion. I wouldn't play his game, if you can avoid it, since you're not likely to go far enough to make that work. Getting furious at him won't help either, unfortunately. About all you can do is take no crap from him, and if you do catch him make it really clear how unacceptable what he's doing is. Don't yell, don't scream, don't pitch a fit -- that'll make it worse. Make it really clear he's behaved badly, you're very unimpressed, and disappointed he did what he did. This might not help -- probably won't. It's your best bet, though.

Thanks everyone. I do indeed let someone else bake my birthday cake, and I know I'll never be truly old until I pass Snowy, so I think I'm safe.

Ignoring whether it's 'too gay' or not, bubblegum pink won't match your skin tones -- it doesn't match anyone's skintones, and the last thing you want to do is go out with your hair clashing with your face. Not good. If you must be gaudy, at least choose something that goes with whatever clothes you might wear. (One can be gaudy without being tasteless)

It's a sad fact of life that some people just suck, and not in a good way. You'll get people who slam you out of racism, or over your grammar, or your age, or any of a dozen other things. Not for any reason, really, certainly nothing justifiable. Just because... they suck. Not much for it, other than to push on, ignore the idiots, and know there are a lot of folks who like you just fine.

Just remember, age and guile beat youth and skill, if you're willing to indulge your inner bastard. Go for it, good luck, and don't forget the pictures -- they'll help with the Evil Plan later on.

Bubba ho-tep is great -- well worth watching. Bizarre, mind, but well worth watching.

You don't even need to be gay and not out -- given that Google knows all (or can at least find an awful lot) it can be prudent to keep at least a thin veil between what you do and write online recreationally and what you do professionally. People get prudish at the oddest times, and it may not be a 100% swell thing for the HR department of the place you've put an application in at to find that you write internet pr0n for fun. Or, unfortunately, if you're running projects or doing consulting gigs and it may be less than good for people you're working with or clients you're working for (or trying to get work with) to find out in detail what you do on the weekends for fun. It really shouldn't matter that you're gay, or hold any particular political beliefs, or are a member of any (or no) religion, or do SCA, or historical reinactments, or any of a thousand other mildly non-mainstream things, but sometimes it does and the resulting hassle is a pain to deal with. It really sucks to lose volunteers or not get a job or consulting gig because someone googled you and found out something completely irrelevant that still pissed them off enough to get in the way. I've gotta admit, that's the only reason I'm bothering with a pseudonym, since it's such a pain in the ass otherwise. I don't really care if people know who I am or that I'm gay, but it's seemed prudent to at least have a little distance between my day-to-day stuff and me as a writer. Dunno if it's really necessary, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, and I'd expect I'm not alone. (May not actually be a good idea, but it seemed like it...)

I came out a couple of months after I put all the pieces together and realized I was gay. Unfortunately for me, I was 32, had been married for eleven years and had two kids. Of all the things I can recommend not doing, that is by far and away the biggest, though I wouldn't trade my kids for anything. You've no idea how much I'd have liked to have done it earlier. That all comes in time. It's a matter of getting out, meeting people, and learning how to deal with them. If you're lucky it comes easily. If you're not, it's going to suck. But... don't worry about it. When you get right down to it, the only person who has to look at you every day, the one you can't get away from, is you. Be someone worth being, someone you can be proud of, someone you're not ashamed to look at in the mirror in the morning. Eat right, exercise, and get in shape if you're not there now. You'll feel better and, if a situation goes to hell, it's a damn sight easier to run away if there's not all that much of you to move. Learn to fight. Aikido or judo if you don't really want to hurt someone, kung fu or tae kwon do if you do. You'll probably never have to use it, but knowing you can will give you the confidence to deal with things if you have to. You'll also find that the confidence that comes with knowing you can kick someone's ass means you'll be in situations where it may happen less often. Learn another language, learn to play an instrument, learn how to cook, and learn how to do them well. Hell, when you do anything do it the best you can, even if that's not very good, and try to do better next time. Find something you like (not something you're good at, mind, something you like) and do it. Throw your heart and soul into it. If you can be out without much crap, do it. Hiding hurts. If you'll get too much crap, then wait, since there's a lot more to you than just being gay. It's an important part, and shouldn't be denied, but there's no reason to dive into hell for it. If you must, wait. You know your parents better than we do, though not as well as you think you do, so if you don't feel you can come out to them, don't. If you can, do it. If you're comfortable with who you are and good at what you do, the relationships will follow, and they'll be with people worth being with.

I do -- I've a theme, which makes it easier. I've gone through tuatha, sprite, redcap, glastig, phouka, danaan, puck and, odd-man out, oni (It's the lone Windows box). One place I worked named the machines after famous assassins and deadly infectuous diseases. (Those tend to be hard to spell, though) Nothing wrong with a Pokemon theme, though if you wanted to be a little different there's always the Pokethulhu stuff instead. (You could name the machine Jigglypolyp or Hastursaur...)

If you're looking for stuff to read, you could do worse than starting in on the that Project Gutenberg has up for reading. Granted, it's all relatively old, as it's out of copyright, but there's a lot of good stuff there to be had.

This'll be an interesting one to get responses on. A lot of authors write because they want the feedback. (Or, to be blunt, they want the ego-stroke ) There's nothing at all wrong with that, especially since the more traditional method of rewarding authors (that is, cash) generally isn't available on the 'net. There are some of us who write for other reasons, though. While I can't speak for anyone else, I know I write because I can't not write. Unfortunately this sort of stuff tends to not actually make it out there, or if it does tends not to be finished, since there's less of a push to get the stuff out and, when it is out the drive that's making us write tends not to be something that makes us finish things. (Which, I suppose, is where a bit of ego stroking comes in handy)

It would be the 'live chat' link in the top link bar.

Well, so much for that. Apparently some combination of OS X, Java, and Camino are unhappy with the current chat system. Don't suppose you'd consider switching to a back end driven by irc or Jabber? I'll even admin the server...

Does it bridge to something else (IRC, Jabber, MSN, AIM)? If so I'd use it, but if it's just another standalone chatroom thing I think I'd take a miss on it.