SonoLuminus

Happy Birthday, Robert!

The painting you modeled that on is one of my favorites. I have a small copy on my bedroom wall. I like your interpretation of it. Not that I have some kind of weird wing fetish, or anything. There's surprisingly little info out there about the artist (Flandrin). I've always wondered if the model was his lover.

65% General American English 20% Yankee 5% Dixie 0% Midwestern 0% Upper Midwestern I wasn't familiar with any of the terms for 'an easy course', though, so I just had to pick one.

Thanks for all the good wishes. I had a great day. My parents came to visit from out of state, and I got to show them the house we'll be moving into in Oct. (Closing is this Thurs.) We got to do a lot of shopping, went out to dinner, and I even managed to drag my mom to her first yoga class.

I was thinking of starting a topic about this myself, when I saw someone already had. I've long been interested, but only just recently was motivated enough to buy something. I was browsing at the bookstore, and Love Mode caught my eye. I ended up not buying that, but Gorgeous Carat instead, because I liked the artwork and the setting better. I'm enjoying it a lot so far, although I'm a little disappointed it isn't more explicit. I'm looking for something with a good balance of plot and, er, 'action'. I don't think yaoi is meant to be realistic, so I don't expect it. I like it for what it is, and when I want realism, I'll read something like Holleran's The Beauty of Men or watch Brokeback Mountain. To me, yaoi is escapism/fantasy, and relaxing 'mind candy' to read at the end of a stressful day. I'm glad that yaoi is getting popular in the west, because it's making people realize that it's not uncommon for women to enjoy reading or writing about m/m relationships, and that makes me feel like less of a freak.

Personally, I'm more interested in reading about adults, too, and would love to see more of that. I've noticed the same thing, and had the same reaction. I can't say that's the only thing holding me back from sharing anything I've written, but it's definitely a factor. I always thought part of it was because so many of the authors here are young themselves, and part of it was just the 'hotness' factor. A lot of people are going to want to read about 18 year old studs, but would anyone really want to read about my 50 year old retired figure skater, and do I even want to risk finding out? (Of course, I could always go back in time and write about him as an 18 year old, too, but generally I'm more interested in characters in the 30-50 range.) Anyway, I hope you'll decide to post something.

I don't know...I think the metaphor is pretty obvious. X-2 even had a 'coming out' scene with Iceman telling his parents he was a mutant ("Have you tried not being a mutant?") Even my husband noticed the parallels and mentioned it before I had a chance to bring it up. Maybe I'm giving people too much credit, but even if they don't notice it consciously, maybe the message of tolerance will seep through.

If you couldn't guess from my avatar, my favorite band is Erasure, and I also love Andy Bell's solo album. It's hard to pick a favorite song, but maybe Fingers & Thumbs, or Piano Song. Videos are not Erasure's strong suit, but Fingers & Thumbs is one of the better ones, and can be seen here: http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/erasure/videos.jhtml Also, Andy's "Crazy" video: http://www.andybell.com

I got exactly 50%.

And very grateful for it!

22. You're good pals with women other people can't stand. A lot of us are probably wondering now if people secretly can't stand us.

Happy Birthday, Dan! I hope you and Robert enjoy your weekend.

I love Sims 2! I particularly like this shot because the one guy is thinking about the other one while they're showering. (Sorry, don't have the nude patch, though, so it's blurred.)

Actualized type: INFJ (who you are) Introverted (I) 87.1% Extroverted (E) 12.9% Intuitive (N) 62.16% Sensing (S) 37.84% Feeling (F) 53.33% Thinking (T) 46.67% Judging (J) 64.52% Perceiving (P) 35.48% INFJ - "Author". Strong drive and enjoyment to help others. Complex personality. 1.5% of total population. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preferred type: INTJ (who you prefer to be) Introverted (I) 86.21% Extroverted (E) 13.79% Intuitive (N) 62.16% Sensing (S) 37.84% Thinking (T) 53.33% Feeling (F) 46.67% Judging (J) 59.38% Perceiving (P) 40.63% INTJ - "Mastermind". Introverted intellectual with a preference for finding certainty. A builder of systems and the applier of theoretical models. 2.1% of total population. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attraction type: INFP (who you are attracted to) Introverted (I) 67.74% Extroverted (E) 32.26% Intuitive (N) 72.97% Sensing (S) 27.03% Feeling (F) 58.14% Thinking (T) 41.86% Perceiving (P) 59.26% Judging (J) 40.74% INFP - "Questor". High capacity for caring. Emotional face to the world. High sense of honor derived from internal values. 4.4% of total population.

It helps people who are paralyzed by the thought of writing anything less than perfect. Really, the 'crap' you write in NaNo often isn't any worse than any first draft. That's what the editing is for. I remember a quote from one of last year's participants: "It's easier to edit crap than air." I guess if you're already very disciplined and/or motivated and writing prolifically, then you don't need it, though. And yes, 50k words is probably more accurately described as a novella, if you want to get picky.

Is anyone else participating in NaNoWriMo this year? For those who aren't familiar with it, it's a writing challenge in which participants pen a 50,000 word novel in 30 days during the month of November. The idea is to get yourself to be productive and put the editing aside until later. No one reads the script (unless you post it somewhere else, on your own) and the word count is verified by computer. Sign-ups, details, and a very helpful forum can be found here: http://www.nanowrimo.org Anyone who is participating, feel free to post your profile link/name so we can share our progress and excerpts, when the time comes. (I'm SonoLuminus over there as well.)

Nah, she hooked up with Blaine after Ken ran off with G.I. Joe.

Happy 40th, Robert! You'll always be an eternally youthful, purple-haired Sim, to me.

Oops...I answered the poll before I read this part. I've been with my husband for 17 years, though, married for 16. I do know of two gay couples who have been together 25+ years, and two for about 20 years (one of those couples is no longer together, though.) But maybe that will give you hope, anyway.

My avatar- Andy Bell of Erasure. (Btw, Kel, have you heard their version of Solsbury Hill?)

Thanks for all the good wishes!

Your best matches Julian Cheung 99% Simon Baker 98% Todd Eldredge 97% Daniel Goddard 97% Victor Webster 97% (Sadly, the only name on that list that I recognize is Todd Eldredge, and he's one of my least favorite figure skaters. I like the first guy's name, though.) Your best matches Thalia 100% Niki Taylor 99% Jolene Blalock 99% Jules Asner 99% Trijntje Oosterhuis 98% (I don't know who these people are, either, except Niki Taylor. I think Thalia is a singer, but I have no idea what she sings.)

Yeah, I just noticed that, too! Congratulations!