Tomas

Didn't even make it to the end of the video. No way could I ever do that kind of job. Nerves of steel I ain't got.

Welcome to GA. Sorry, can't help you with identifying your story. It sounds like "Prince of Persia" with some twists. Take Care Tomas

Easily!!

Some suggestions: Try to go to bed and wake up at the sames times. a regular routine is helpful for good sleep. Avoid Napping during the day. Avoid stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine or alcohol at least 2 to 3 hours before bedtime. Don't forget, chocolate has caffeine. Make sure your room is dark. A lighted room can disturb your sleep. Associate your bed with sleeping. Try not to watch TV, listen to the radio or read while in bed. Exercise is good not only for overall heath but for sleep as well. Food before bedtime can also disrupt sleep, so stay away form large meals just before bedtime. Keep your bedroom temperature comfortable.. Try to avoid upsetting conversations before bedtime. Stress can play a big role in your inability to sleep well. Try one of the non-drug sleep aids that are available. Take Care Tomas

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I'm glad to hear that you're turning over some ideas about Joey's future. Looking forward, with infinite patience, for what you come up with. I'm sure that it will be handled in your same easy flowing reading style with the same sensitivity to the subject as the first part. Take Care Tomas

Started to read Escaping the Pain and realized it sounded familiar. I guess I have read one of your stories. I remembered even leaving a comment on one of the Chapters so I checked the reviews brought over from before the "Great Change " and sure enough there it was; Chapter 11. TomasG is my 'User Name' on some other forums and the one that I used on the old eFiction when it required a separate login. Plain 'Tomas' was taken at those other sites, but being one of the original 100 members on GA, plain 'Tomas' was available here. I enjoyed reading Escaping the Pain. The theme is in a similar vein as Hiding but approaches the subject of abuse from a different angle. In Pain the abuse is not so much physical (although that is present) as in Hiding. Also the religious aspect isn't present. It is more about how greed can corrupt a father (Alan) so much that his abuse attempts are get to rid of his son (Dane) in any way that he can, so as to get his greedy hands on the money that the son inherited from his mother. Dane is surrounded by people who care and who show him that he is a good person and at the same time thwarting Alan who in the end becomes the victim of his greed. Also I think that Pain isn't really dark [there are some dark passages], but as a whole it is not so dark as it could have been and that Hiding will be, based on that story so far. Your style of writing makes for easy reading, but that doesn't mean that the horror of the abuse, the anger, hated, the emotional toll and the tearing down of the self esteem of the abused didn't come through. SORRY! I haven't a clue why I didn't associate Escaping the Pain as one of your stories. I won't promise that I'll read some of your other stories [the list/books time factor], but I do promise to keep watch for future chapters of Hiding when you decide it's time to continue. Take Care Tomas

I must be honest. This is the first piece of yours that I have read. Not that I haven't considered reading others of your works. The only reason that I haven't is a reluctance to add more to the rather long list of stories that I follow and the stack of "dead tree" books that are on the table next to my reading chair, staring at me and crying out to be read every time I enter the room. [Hmmmm... if I lock myself away and don't eat or sleep... maybe, just maybe...] LOL Your story was both easy and hard to read. Easy because of the style in which it was written. [your style does prompt me to read more of your works] Hard because of the subject matter and how close it reflects some of the abuse, of all kinds, that some really, really sick adults (and some kids) do to hapless kids who only deserved to be cared for and loved. Needless to say you handled a difficult subject quite well. Thank you. Take Care Tomas PS: I noticed that the ending left open the possibility for future expansion and chapters. Are there any plans to continue at some point in time?

I saw that one of the authors has posted a poll about his stories in order to find out if he is just wasting his time and maybe he should just stop adding anymore to the stories because no one has given him any feedback or reviews. One of the authors over on another site has remarked that the person that responded to one of his stories was the only one reading his story. In the first instance, the author may be a relatively new author, I really don't know. He does have two stories with multiple chapters each, but to be honest I haven't read or checked out either of them simply because I didn't know that they existed. But I have put one of his stories on my list to at least check out. Who knows... might be missing out on a good read. In the second instance, the author is an established (for want of a better word) author with a following. I'm sure that others do what I do when I log on to any of the story sites that I frequent and that is to check and see of there are any new chapters to stories that I'm following or to see if there is perhaps a new story by that author. It has been said, and often repeated, that unlike authors that publish and sell in the 'dead tree world' or now in the 'e-book world', the only compensation that most, if not all, online authors receive for their time and effort are the reviews or other feedback in the forums that are there for that purpose or in an e-mail. I'm sure that there is a bit of an ego boost involved for the author to know that someone or ones have taken the time to read something that they wrote. Some kind of response whether good, bad or indifferent is not an unreasonable expectation on the part of the author and I'm just as guilty of not always fulfilling that expectation as the next person. No excuses... sometimes just sheer lazyness, procastination...'I'll do it later after (insert event)', but the event comes and goes and like tomorrow, later never makes an appearance. OK, having said all of the above I have some thoughts, none of which is an attempt on my part to justify not letting an author know that I have read what he has written. I make no excuses for my failures. The enormous volume of stories that are available to be read can be overwhelming and sometimes outright intimidating and 'separating the wheat from the chaff' can be a daunting task. But there are any number of sites to help with that task. As with anything, some sites are excellent, some are very good and of course... not naming a particular site, but trying to find quality there is like wading through a swamp full of alligators looking for that one hidden gem that makes the effort worthwhile, but that sites' one saving grace is that it does serve a useful purpose. At times, even on the most excellent and very good story sites, a story by an author that is well known at that site can get, shall we say inadvertently misplaced and maybe never gets or is hardly read. Imagine the plight of and how discouraging it must be for a relatively new author trying to get some small recognition for his or her story only to find that it may never have been read because no one knew that it existed. The author might well be a regular fixture on the site, but no one may know that he/she has posted a story let alone one with multiple chapters. Kind of makes an augument for frequent 'shameless self promotion'. Besides the sheer volume, time is another major factor why some stories and new chapters don't get read or read as rapidly as the author may wish. As much as one may wish it, with taking care of the necessities of life out in the world, whether it be work or school preparing for some kind of future, or taking care of family, try as one might, there just isn't always enough time to keep up with new stories or even updates to ones favorite stories. That is especially true of those authors who have the ability to turn out new chapters to multiple stories in, what seems to be, a blink of an eye. I have read comments and remarks by some authors that they write because 'they enjoy writing and write for their own pleasure', and they only publish their writings on the web so that maybe, just maybe, someone, somewhere might read something they've written and enjoy it. It seems that when ever the subject of reading, feedback and reviews come up it is many of these self same authors that are moaning and bitching, whining and crying, about no readers or no feedback or no reviews and are threatening to not continue with the story. Then I wonder... why, if that authors motivation for writing is because they derive enjoyment from the writing and they do it for their own pleasure, does it make make any different if it gets read or there is feedback or reviews and why the threats to not continue. Oh, by the way! Those are rhetorical thoughts and are not looking for, nor do they require response, but if you must, you must. It'll not make a lot of difference in the greater scheme of things one way or the other. That last paragraph is not about the 'reasonable expectations' of any and all of the authors, which all the authors do deserve, talked about above, but about the apparent dishonesty in declaring that they write for themselves and their own enjoyment and pleasure and, maybe not explicitly stated but certainly implied, that no response is necessary, then making an issue about not receiving any. Anyway, I'm sure that I could ramble on and on about any number of things, but it's getting late and it has been a rather long day and there is no need for this to get any longer than it already is. If any here feels offended by what I've said, I apologize it was not my intention to offend anyone. What I said was only my thoughts and my opinions and as such are only important to myself. Take Care Tomas

'Don't touch my hair!' Justin Bieber turns into Justin Diva as he screams at TV presenter who dared to go near his head. Read more:

A lock of Canadian pop star Justin Bieber's hair has so far drawn more than 60 bids on eBay worth US$7,000. CTV News - Southwestern Ontario, Canada

Max Bruch Violin Concerto #1 in G minor, Op 26, 2nd movement - Itzhak Perlman, violin Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducting the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra Beautiful Take Care Tomas

Sounds like the typical government bureaucratic snafu. I firmly believe that all DMV clerks no matter the state or city or town are all trained in the same "How to be A**H**s" training class. Take Care Tomas

Besides the ones that old bob mentioned, I would add Oklahoma Anne Get your Gun Candide Westside Story The Fantastiks Take Care Tomas

CPE and Johann Cristian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn (Papa Haydn), Mozart, Boccherini, von Gluck were in the Classical Period which is generally accepted to have run from 1750 to 1820. Franz Schubert and Beethoven were at the very end of the period and are considered transitional and were instrumental in bringing about the Romantic Period which is usually dated from 1820 to 1910. Besides Schubert and Beethoven other composers of the Romantic period include Chopin, Mendelsshon, Berlioz, Brahms, Greig, Dvorak, Schumann, Bizet, Verdi, Wagner, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler. That is a short list there are other well know composer that were part of the Romantic Period. Take care Tomas

For Nephylim. "Goin' Home,"based on the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's famous "Largo" theme from his Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), Op. 95. as sung by Libera. "Goin' Home"was actually written by one of Dvorak's pupils, William Arms Fisher (1861-1948), who adapted and arranged the Largo theme and added his own words. Tomas

There are so many that I like. I really can't honestly name any one of them as an absolute favorite. Shostakovitch Rachmaninoff Khachaturian Prokofiev Tchaikovsky Mussorgsky Bach Beethoven Mahler Strauss (Richard) Wagner Vivaldi Verdi Puccini Britten Purcell Grieg Haydn Schumann Chopin Handel Mozart Schubert Mendelssohn Berlioz Brahms Dvorak Vaughan Williams Ravel Stravinsky Duruflé Respighi and any number of others. There are pieces by each of the above and others that I enjoy listening to, but IF I were forced to name one composer, it would be Beethoven. Even so, it would difficult to name any one of his works as a favorite. Take Care Tomas

I remember that day and all the days that came after, as I'm sure many others do. The speech... "The day that will live in infamy". The big bold headline between the banner and fold of the local newspaper one word: WAR Yeah, I remember!

Fraternal side: Irish. Maternal side: Dutch and North German.

An extremely well written story. In my book a Masterpiece. It is, as Benji said, a story that every parent that has or might have a gay child should be required to read. Aw hell, every parent regardless of the sexuality of their children should be required to read it. Every child needs and should have the love and support of their parents, unconditionally, but as we all know, it is a sad truth that that is not the reality. Fantastic bit of writing. Thank you. Take Care Tomas

Yes to all of the above. Well, there are some that I haven't seen, but most of them. Just finished watching "Charlie St. Cloud" I'd add it to the growing list. Take Care Tomas

I may be wrong, but I think it would be highly unlikely that you would be getting ready for a night out on the town in a gym. We're not talking about a commercial establishment here, but in your own home.

That would have been the yes option.

ABSOLUTELY! If the only time that you're held close or you hold the person that you love close is during sex, then I'd say you don't have much of a relationship. You might as well live doing a series of one night stands. There is something very satisfying about being able to hold the one you love close. That is also true of being held close by the one you love. I haven't the words to describe the feeling that closeness that snuggling or cuddling brings. Take Care Tomas

The rest of the question since the poll question only allows so many characters. ... After the cleansing, you make sure that you rinse completely. Stepping out of the tub or shower, you grab the clean towel that is hanging there and proceed to dry off. Is the towel that you dried off with and you are now holding in your hand clean or dirty? For those of you who choose Dirty an additional question. Take Care Tomas