notTed

Was channel flipping today and found my newest crush (!): Canadian figure skater Jeff Buttle. Wow, what a smile (and the bod aint too bad, neither, honey!). See his web page http://www3.sympatico.ca/john.angel/

Poetry used to be a lot bigger deal than it is now. Maybe the Hip Hop guys can bring it back. While I love to read, I don't like being told what to do, so making me read something for a class ensures that I will plow thru it w/o taking the time to enjoy it (Isn't that what they call "Cutting off the nose to spite the face?"). All the poetry I read growing up was for class assignments, hence, I never really took the time to read it for enjoyment. While in grad school, I participated in a student church group (don't worry, it was Episcopal....Catholic Lite, Has all the pagentry, but 1/3 less guilt.) Upon graduation, the nice old guy who assisted the Youth Minister (but hardy ever spoke...very reticent), gave each of us a poetry anthology as a graduation gift. For whatever reason, some months later, I actually read some of the stuff in there and found it very enjoyable. So much so that I did the uncharacteristic thing for me and wrote a thank you note some weeks later telling him how much I enjoyed his gift. I received a reply from the man's son saying that he had just passed away and that it meant a lot to him that his father had had an impact on some of the students. Don't know why but the whole scenario touched me. I still have the book and still re-read it occasionally. Hmm....guess I have thrown this discussion off track...sorry about that. pax, notTed

Whoa, there. Don't like musicals? What else don't you like? Judy Garland? Parties w/themes? Legolas? Hair products? This is a very serious infraction and may even cause Michael to take back your toasters.... As a therapeutic exercise, you need to: 1.) Drive to the nearet mall to do some serious shopping (watching QVC does NOT count, unless you buy...); 2.) Listen to Madonna's Evita soundtrack (which, as a bonus, includes Antonio Banderas singing, too!); 3.) Sign up for whatever unsolicited credit card app you receive next in the mail, in order to support your shopping habit; and (in Dom's case...) 4.) Post TWO (2) chapters to DD by next Wednesday, not just One (1)!

Fear not, Dom. You are not a writer of 'friction stories' so don't worry about whether readers 'close the deal' in your love scenes. If that is what the reader is looking for...they're in the wrong place. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy those as much as the next guy, but that is not what your stories are about. You describe relationships, people coping w/issues, and the 'sex' scenes are really about lovemaking. So, keep doing what you're doing and forget that performance anxiety. As for the aunt....I would drop her from the invite list (or stock up on Solo cups!). pax, notTed

Sure, Friendly, I play spades all the time. It is 'bridge lite'...sort of a gateway card game we use to lure people into the card culture. Once hooked, we then move them up to the big stuff....Trump, then Contract Bridge, and, finally, when they are hopelessly hooked, Duplicate Bridge, the Ultimate Addiction! LOL

Good God!

GAC? Que es?

Age: Ike was in office when my knees first saw the light of day. W: Used to be 180 and I will get there again, dammit! HC: Dark brown to grey Right-handed (who cares? I guess if you wanna play tennis against me, it matters.) Male Gay...took me years to admit, then more years to quit trying to stifle my true nature. The good news is that those years in the wilderness were rewarded by finding my true soulmate (see below). Married since '99, no kids (Soapbox issue: Who cares what the Law says, S/O and I were married by a licensed minister before God and our families....the legislature can go pound sand.) Briggs-Meyers: S/O is a therapist. He has clinically diagnosed me as a terminal butt-head, though lovable. Aquarian Practiced law for 16 years, now Controller for a technology contractor I run periodically to keep the pounds and inches off (not entirely successfully...); I have been known to smack a tennis ball or golf ball around, though golf mostly just pisses me off. My major avocations are competitive sailing and puttering about in the yard. I also read voraciously. Currently, I am reading Diarmaid MacCulloch's history of The Reformation...I am sure you've heard of it. Games were very popular in my house growing up....board games, card games, crosswords, etc. My current game of choice is Bridge. Unfortunately, its popularity has waned for reasons that are unclear to me. I am generally decades younger than the average competitors I play against....in 10 years, I may be a party of one! Love all types of food, both the healthy vegetable stuff and the gooey chocolatey things....hence the need to run. Greatly enjoy losing myself in big, romantic, spectacle type movies and/or slapstick comedies. My family will not sit near me during comedies because I laugh so hard it embarasses them. Music? eh, not my bag, really. I listen to NPR. I do love to dance, however, S/O and I don't do it well together as we both like to lead. My favorite dance music is Beach Music (If you don't know, don't bother to ask. It's a regional thing peculiar to the Southern Atlantic beach towns.) Oh, yeah. I am from south of the Mason-Dixon line, which means the rest of you talk funny.

LOL--I am writing this with my evil grey cat sitting on my lap. Not that I want him there, that is his decision and I have no real say in the matter, which tells you something about him and me. Our cat is the Alpha dog in this house....he regularly chases the 2 (large) dogs around the house.

Dom, I just finished Chapter 25. Thank you.

Question: It appears that most European (rather, non-North American) men are not circumsized, while most North American men are.....why? Is there a settled medical opinion? Societal preference?

The s/o loves Halloween...it ranks right up there w/Xmas and Easter as on of the Big 3. Our house has been decorated for a couple of weeks now. Our party is next weekend so as not to conflict w/the kids' things. We're expecting 40 or so. I will not be in costume so as to make those who chose not to come in costume comfortable (that's my excuse, in any event!) Dom, if you need cheering up, feel free to attend. So, what is it you saw that bothered you? Gonna tell us? We're your friends, you know. If you can't tell us, then who?

Friendly, friendly, friendly.....Let's not forgo a golden opportunity, here. No need to wait until Tuesday. Contact him now, borrow his notes and check on whether any assignments have been added, altered, etc. Don't want to be surprised on Tuesday, do you? Maybe make arrangements to meet at the Student Union or Library (or his room ). Is he or isn't he? That is the question, of course. He may simply be responding to your clearly indicated desire to be friends. You just need to get in there and engage in that verbal 'probing' to see what you can determine. Music? Drop in the casual reference to George Michael, Melissa Etheridge, or Elton John (Or, "Just what is Eminem's issue? Think he may be overcompensating?") Depending on the reaction, you could confess a secret delight in old Judy Garland albums, but that may be a little obvious. TV? "What did you think of the Emmy's this year? Not Ellen's best effort, eh?" Or, "Isn't Karen a hoot? Gonna miss her and Jack when Will & Grace go off the air." Naturally, I am a complete social bozo in these situations. Much better telling you what to do than going thru w/it myself. Keep us posted.

Sean Cassidy....I think I got my first woody (what in the world is that?) listening to him sing The Do Ron Ron, Tom Cruise in Risky Business, Keanu, Kirk Cameron (before he got all preachy), Donnie Osmond (but only for a very brief moment) Is there a pattern here?

Meet the Deedles? What in the world is that? (of course, I'd watch Paul Walker read the Yellow Pages.....what a cutie!)

BSG is the Bomb! (Not to mention Jamie Bamber (Apollo)...did you know he was Archie in the A&E Hornblower series? He can fly my Viper anytime he wants!)

To play: Sailing (one-design racing), tennis, golf (actually, I play golf about 2xs a year, just to remind me why I don't play more often). I run & swim, but just to counteract the french fries. As a kid, I used to love to play hockey, but then we moved to the South. Snow skiing is also a blast, but, from here, it's a long drive. To watch on TV: Tennis & golf. I am not very good at either, but I know what it's supposed to look like and really enjoy the big tournaments. Likewise with baseball. I am a Mets fan (yeah, I know....) but they have been so abysmal lately (like, since '86!) that it has been hard to watch. Question, now that Piazza has retired, think he will come out? To watch live: Went to the Atlanta Olympics in '96. What a thrill. Everyone should go to an Olympics. You owe it to yourself. (To clarify, I went as a spectator, not a competitor...) Among the obscure sports we watched was Team Handball. Basically water polo w/o the water. For some reason, this is a sport. (Sort of like soccer, it is unfathomably popular in other countries...) We saw Croatia (ferchrissakes!) demolish the US something like 32 to 4. It was humiliating. Later that week, the DreamTeam beat Croatia by a similarly lopsided margin, which I tend to think is bad form but not in that instance. (OK, I am not a gracious loser...)

I agree w/GoBears, there are multiple 'favorite songs' depending on the circumstances. "Under the Boardwalk" is a favorite 'feeling good' song. I like it because I like the beach, the song reminds me of home, and of trips to the beach when I was a kid. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", which may seem like a cliche, but, for me is not. My mom was my best friend (which may seem like a cliche, but, for me, is not....) and she passed away when I was 16. I miss her every day. This song makes me think of her. I don't remember which of us started it, but one day one of us, not knowing the other was around, started singing that song just sort of absent-mindedly, stopping after the first line. W/o saying anything, the other picked up w/the next line and we continued back and forth until neither of us could remember any more. It was just a silly little moment, but very spontaneous and special for some reason. I think it was one of the first times she and I were 'buddies' rather than 'parent-child'...or maybe one of the last times. Whew!....Deep breath. Party songs? Whatever is hot at the moment. Classic party/college concert/band party song? "American Pie" In grad school, our favorite band used to do this one near the end of their sets. It was sort of their signature. My roommate and I, fairly wasted by this point, would stand on our chairs singing along with them (and certain they were grateful for the assist...). When done, roomies' girlfriend (a woman of singular patience) would drive us back to the apartment, generally stopping at Hardee's on the way for a grease bomb to soak up the alcohol. Very fun times. (Ask me sometime and I will tell you about the the Cinnamon & Raisin biscuit 'incident'....) Hmm. All these seem kinda old, don't they? (Definition of old songs: They were likely to have been played on a 45 RPM record. Definition of old: Knowing what a 45 RPM record is....) In my defense, when you ask for "favorite" you should expect something that has proven it can stand the test of time. Eminem ain't there yet, bubba.

Snakes are not pets.

Thanks a ton, guys. It is 1:40 in the AM, I've read 4 chapters and I have to get up for work in like, 5 hours. I think I hate all y'all! (Just kidding about that part.....) Pax, notTed

Did I mention that several of its stars are really cute? Personally, I am justing waiting for the technology to be perfected so I can carry Nathan Fillion's baby.....

I saw the movie last Spring in a sneak preview. Several co-workers are obssessed with the show (they have pressed the DVDs on me to watch....it was actually a very good series). I believe the movie is going to be a BIG DEAL. The number of folks who make a mediocre TV audience constitute a large movie fan base. In the case of Firefly, the fans are just that...fanatics. The previews (of an unfinished cut of the movie) were shown around the country and sold out in minutes of going on sale over the internet. The movie, Serenity, did a very nice job of explicating the story line so that one did not have to be familiar with the series to enjoy it. (BTW, the SciFi channel is re-running the series...I am not sure on which night). That said, one of the joys of the series is the character development over the course of several episodes. Several relationships are fairly multi-layered and I will be very interested in whether those not familiar with the series fully understand some of the subtle interplay between them in the movie. And, yes, the same actress plays Kayley in the movie. She is prettier in the movie...apparently, for the series, she was asked to gain weight to appear somewhat frumpy. By the time the movie was filmed, she was back to her 'fighting weight' and they just went w/it. I recommend the movie. Like all truly good sci-fi, it's more about the people and the story than the technology.

Why is notTed sleeping on the couch tonight? Well, it went like this this morning: Coming out of the shower notTed notices S/O w/electric razor trimming chest/stomach hair, notTed says, "Baby, whatcha doing?" Replies Baby w/o looking up from his task, "Saw this on a Secrets of the Stars show last night. Pierce Brosnan does it. You can make yourself look thinner by trimming your chest hairs and 'treasure trail' into a Vee shape....looks like you have a 6-pack." "Oh," says notTed, "Are you going to shave your a** next?" Somehow, Baby took that wrong. Who knew?

The poll should be modified to show ranges. I 'voted' 5 because S/O and I have been together more than 5 but less than 10 (8+ years...since 7/3/97; Commitment ceremony on 6/13/99, but, who's counting?). Do we fight/argue? Certainly. Never physical, though we both have tempers. (Lucky for me that we don't, he is a former state karate champ!) What is very healthy, I believe, is that we don't hold back when something is bothering one of us. I credit him w/that, as I am prone to keeping things bottled up. (He has degrees in Psychology & Social Work, so that Express Yourself concept is deeply ingrained...) In the first few years, I dreaded the phrase, "Baby, we have to talk..." "Eeek! I don't wanna talk! Can't we just have make up 'boom-boom' instead?" "No, we have to talk." Sigh, "OK. What did I do now?" I cannot tell you how much fun it was the first time I went to him with the "Baby, we need to talk" speech. The other healthy thing we do is give each other individual time. While we enjoy each other's company enormously, we also pursue individual interests. Today (Saturday) we spent together. Tomorrow, I will go race sailboats (my primary avocation) and he will go shopping (his primary avocation.... ). Anyway, I seem to be rambling on a bit, so I will bring this to a close and go throw more clothes in the washing machine. Pax, notTed