JamesSavik

Well, I don't know Conner well enough to comment. quite The belief in a "higher power" has been placating idiots for eons. Their position is quite popular in some circles.

As I was at my regular Tuesday night meeting of the Anonymous 12 step group of my choice, it occured to me that there needs to be a new one. Idiots Anonymous Who is an Idiot? Most of us do not have to think twice about this question. We know! Our whole life and thinking was centered in Idiocy in one for or another- complete idiocy, displaying the ability to say and do the wrong thing at the worst possible moment. Very simply, an Idiot is a man or woman whose life is controlled by their idiocy. What is the Idiots Anonymous Program? IA is a nonprofit fellowship of men and women for whom their Idiocy has become a major problem. We are recovering Idiots that meet regulary to help each other think through their hair-brained ideas before we making flaming fools out of ourselves. This is a program of [near]complete abstenance from all idiocy. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop being a flaming idiot. Why are We Here? Before coming to the fellowship of IA we could not manage our own lives. We could not live and enjoy life without making complete wankers out of ourselves. We had to be different and we thought that we had found the way in our idiocy. How it Works If you are tired of being a flaming idiot, and are willing to make the effort to improve, then you are ready to take certain steps. These are the principles that make recovery from idiocy possible. 1. We admitted that we were poweless over our idiocy, that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to our higher power as we understand him. 4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourseelves. 5. We admitted to our higher power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. We were entirely ready to have our higher power remove those defects of character. 7. We humbly as him to remove those defects of character. 8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and made amends to them all. 9. We made direct amends to such persons except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. We continued to take a searching and fearless moral inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. We sought though prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our higher power as we understood him. 12. Having had an awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to idiots, and practice these principals in all our affairs. This sounds like a big order, and we can't do it all in one day so remember- easy does it. We feel that our approach to the disease of idiocy is completely realistic, for the thereputic value of one idiot helping another is without parallel. We feel that our way is pratical for one idiot can best understand and help another idiot. The only way to keep from returning to active idiocy is to avoid making idiotic choices. If you are like us, you know that one is too many and a thousand never enough. We put great emphasis on this because when we engauge in idiocy or substitute one form for another- pratical jokes, slapstick, vaudville, then we release our idiocy all over again. This is not to say that a recovering idiot can't make a wanker out of himself. It is simply much harder to do when you follow the steps. The Disease Theory of Idiocy Most people are not born idiots. There are such unfortunates but most idiots learn idiocy from our idiotic society. Our society promotes and encourages idiocy by promoting and encouraging counter-productive and unnatural values and mores like sexual neurosis, gender idenity problems, religion over spiritualty, lying as courtesy, and many, many other examples. Who would not be confused by all of this bullshit you ask? The answer is no one. Everyone is a recovering idiot to one degree or another- the trick is to recognize this fact and act accordingly. There is no shame in being an idiot- if you are human then you are probably one of us. It happens to the best of people. Who can claim that they have NOT been an idiot at one time or another? The only shame is to know that you are an idiot and refuse to do anything about it. Release yourself from society's idiocy, work on the idiocy within and maybe, just maybe, someday you'll be a happy idiot. I'm James and I'm a recovering IDIOT. Now what's your excuse?

If you live in a "red state", the answer is "no" <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Not so fast amigo.... Its channel 263 on DirectTV

Damn Patrick, that absolutely sucks. Nothing that I could write here would ease the pain that you and your family are experiencing at this moment. It hurts me just to think about it and my thoughts will be with you. I hope that justice is served and Mr. Rosenbaum gets what is coming to him. If the cops and the DA screw the pooch in the process of putting this mutt away, just send me his address and I'll make sure he gets neutered.

Com- I'm so glad that you are having fun, the pressure is off and that things are going well for you. This little piece of news made my whole month! I miss you all, and I'll definitely post more stories soon. I'm SO glad that you aren't going into complete exile. My cat thinks that I've lost it, with me typing and dancing a jig at the same time. Well, he's probably right. I hope that life continues to treat you well. If it doesn't, just send me the address and I'll kneecap the bum. Fuggetaboutit.

I'm into digital photography. Here's some of my stuff: James Picture Blog. My stories and poetry are at Awesomedude Eeek! I'm not spamming am I? :mortified:

I miss Com already. Guess I'll just have to start reading his stuff again from the beginning.

Thanks for the memories Comicality-- and the stories that I have yet to read. All my best wishes, JS

I have already posted my going away tribute to Com. He really is one of the top net authors and has set the bar high for the rest of us. We'll certianly miss him. this is posted in Comicality's forum under a Tribute to One of the Masters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comicality- I'm new to your work, having only discovered your site recently. However, I can tell that your reputation as one of the masters of the genre is well deserved. As the clock is ticking on your departure, I wanted to take the oppertunity to express my appreciation and respect for your work. As a writer myself, I know that it doesn't just spring effortlessly from the wordprocessor. It is a lot of hard work. Your body of work is very impressive. You've written in several genres, short and long stories and in various formats. You do light-hearted and dark subjects with equal grace and ease and can make the reader laugh out loud or move them to tears. It takes another writer to understand how difficult that is to do. It is the mark of a very versatile and accomplished writer. You have set the bar high for the rest of us. I let Grasshopper get away before I could say goodbye. I didn't want to make the same mistake here. I wish you all the best in whatever lies ahead for you. May life give you as much happyness, hope and delight as you have given to others. With respect, admiration and appreciation, James Savik

Given his ambush style of interview and his "cut-them-off-at-the-point" tactics, I wonder why anyone consents to be on his show. Is there an emoticon for :butthead: ?

OK- well every board is a little different and up until the server change over -thanks Myr, I wasn't sure if my posts would stick. Hi folks. I'm a writer based at Deweywriter and Awesomedude's boards. I'm also the project coordinator for the Collision round robin running at various other sites. I grew up gay in the South, Mississippi, during the seventies. I've been through the mud and the blood of being gay where peop,e don't care for it and I've got the scars to prove it. A lot of people are a bit taken aback by the blatent drug use in my work. So sorry. Er ummm, I'm a recovering addict so I write about what I know. My writing doesn't glorify or justify drug use. It merely illustrates how easy it is for gay youth that are having problems to fall into chemical dependencies (alcohol, drugs) and what a mess it can make. If anything I hope people will see that adding another problem(chemical dependency) to the difficulties many people encounter being gay doesn't help at all. Granted- I'm not an old lady about stuff. Have a beer, smoke a joint. However if you wake up one morning and discover that you've been stoned for a decade, maybe you had better talk to someone. My stories aren't all about sex- it's there and tastefully done but don't expect raunch. I love this site and am really coming to respect the great writers that reside here. Comicality, Dom, Myr, Ghostrider, and others- my hat is off to you guys. Thanks to the authors! I know how hard the work is and am getting an idea how talented this group is. Thanks to the editors! I know how important their work is and I wouldn't trade mine for love or money. Thanks to the admins! Sites don't run themselves and this one is running 100% better. This is a great board and I expect to haunt it for some time. BTW- I take pride in being one of the most polite posters on the net. I never try to be rude or flame anybody. Hell, I'm a good ole boy from Mississippi. I'm niether too smart or too fancy to talk to anyone. I might learn something. I'm big on respecting other people. If I ever hurt your feelings, it's accidental. Let me know, I'll be properly mortified as a southern gentleman should be and promptly appologize. With Respect, James Savik

This might be a long post. There is a LOT of good stuff out there and I present the authors in no particular order. IMHO the very best author, envelope please, is Driver. His stories The Quarry, Plans A, B, C, and D, Falling off a Log, Sudden Storm and others are classics. Unfortunately Driver has left the net but his stories remain and are loved by thousands. Driver's Page This list would be a joke if I left out the beloved Comicality. He is one of the most complete authors on the net. He does lighthearted and dark with equal ease and can, and has, written very good material in several very different genras. My Only Escape, New Kid In School, Magic Man, and Savage Moon are all winners. This guy is one of the real treasures of the net but sadly, he will be moving on soon. If you haven't read any of his stuff, do it soon so you'll get a chance to tell him you love it. Comicality's Shack Another author high on my list is the Eggman. He was one of the pioneers of the genre and his long running stories the New Life and Life Goes On were widely followed until he left the net and took his stories with him back in April. Fortunately, theGlassOnion still lives on on the internet archive! Internet Archive: the Glass Onion Dewey is another one of the top internet authors and nobody does angst like Dewey. Brian & Pete, For the Love of Pete and Brian's Destruction WILL make you laugh, cry, mumble to yourself and occassionally even bark. Dewey has a keen insight into emotions and psycology that makes his writing cut clean to the bone. Dewey's Home Drake is a very professional author. His work is clean, smooth and challenging. Don't expect to take on one of his stories on a lark! They are all novel length and very publishable. His most well known works are Finding His Own, the Last Word, and A Royal Theif. Drake's Place Grasshopper is another author who knows how to get to your heart. His serial Jest Hit Send is a classic that no serious student of the genre would miss on purpose. Grasshopper's Page Josh Ardveche is an author that far too many people overlook. His works Educating Alex and New to this State are top ten material. Josh's Page Graeme is relatively new but he is one of the most promising new authors. His stories Falls Creek Lessons and New Brother are finding their way to bookmarks all over. His short stories like the Gift, Ambush, Dear God, and Bad news are powerful. His writing only gets better with every new installment. Graeme's work can be found at Deweywriter or Awesomedude. Ryan Keith is the up and coming author of the Kayden series. His work can be found at Awesomedude, Deweywriter and the Mail Crew. the Mail Crew Other authors of note: Brew Maxwell, C.P. Lyton, KIT of CRVboy. I know that I haven't listed some REALLY OBVIOUS choices with great reputations BUT I have not read their material yet. That's half the fun of it-- there is always much more to explore. To all net authors, thanks for writing! I can't wait to read your stuff! If I could stay on the net 24/7, it would never get old. However with dial up and life, my pace is somewhat hindered.

:king:

Birthday wedgies for Kel! :wacko: Just kidding. Happy Birthday!

An example of an excellent story that uses changes in POV is Angel by Gabe Duncan. Link to Angel What makes this such a powerful and well executed story is that Gabe structures it in such a way that the changes in POV compliment and support each other like the threads of a rope. There are clean and clear breaks between Points of View so there is no confusion or disconitunity.

No- I backed you cause I knew that you would be an enlightened dictator.

If I join your legions, can I have Australia?

= Do different points of view and perspectives between characters help or hurt a story? = It all depends on how well it is executed. Sometimes it works out beautifully. Where it doesn't work is when the change in point of view (POV) is gimmicky, cutesy, confusing, or does not yield unique information or advance the plot.

At 38, you're still a pup!

There are some people that argue that homosexuality and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Thankfully, that is changing. Many Christian denominations that are more tolerant and/or accepting of gay people than they used to be. There is a large presence of gay Christians on the web. Here's a few sites that are particulary good. http://www.whosoever.org/ http://www.truthsetsfree.net/ http://www.gaychristian.net/ I come from a time and a place where churchs made it clear that they didn't want gay people around. It's a good sign to see this changing.

Comsie- I'm new to your work, having only discovered your site recently. However, I can tell that your reputation as one of the masters of the genre is well deserved. As the clock is ticking on your departure, I wanted to take the oppertunity to express my appreciation and respect for your work. As a writer myself, I know that it doesn't just spring effortlessly from the wordprocessor. It is a lot of hard work. Your body of work is very impressive. You've written in several genres, short and long stories and in various formats. You do light-hearted and dark subjects with equal grace and ease and can make the reader laugh out loud or move them to tears. It takes another writer to understand how difficult that is to do. It is the mark of a very versatile and accomplished writer. You have set the bar high for the rest of us. I let Grasshopper get away before I could say goodbye. I didn't want to make the same mistake here. I wish you all the best in whatever lies ahead for you. May life give you as much happyness, hope and delight as you have given to others. With respect, admiration and appreciation, James Savik

Thanks Aleric- I think I'll start with New Kid since I always seem to end up being the "new kid".

Hey guy- as this is a delicate matter, I responded via PM. I hope things work out for you.