BSR

Hmm, interesting that he lists English as one of his spoken languages yet writes his ad only in Spanish. You would think that even if his written English weren't great, he could ask a friend to help out with the translation. That said, he's spectacular & the vast majority of Miamians speak Spanish, at least a little. I doubt his Spanish only ad copy is hurting business.

Or perhaps after a price hike, the escort suffers a net loss of clients yet makes the same amount or even more thanks to the higher rates. Maybe the escort loses clients and his overall income decreases but he's happy to take the "pay cut" in exchange for more free time. Hey, whatever works for him. Not in this thread but in others, I've read some clients expect to be grandfathered in at the old rate. Like @MikeBiDude says, I can't think of a single case where I am grandfathered in at the old rate. I don't understand anyone would expect escorts to be an exception. To me, that expectation would be a telling indicator of an unprofessional client. So if he leaves in a huff, all for the best.

Wow, while that didn't exactly fill me with Christmas cheer, thanks for posting the video. So sad ... at least I got an answer to so many cases of "whatever happened to ________?"

In class in Salamanca (Spain, not Mexico) just to kill time while waiting for the teacher one day, I asked a German classmate how to say "I don't speak German" in German. He said it a few times, and I tried to repeat what I heard, but I must have been way off because he just held up his hand and sternly told me, "Just say it in English; they'll understand you." The beginning and the end of my German education. Back on topic, another option is to not even bother mentioning your preference to speak Spanish, just respond or start talking in Spanish. I dealt with the situation a fair amount in Spain. Perhaps because of my appearance (I'm Filipino), occasionally Spaniards would initially speak to me in English. Forget asking or stating my preference to speak Spanish, I just responded in Spanish. Everyone caught on without missing a beat.

Uh ... he listed his age as 24??

When I read the first article, I had to laugh. Come on, "pigloo" is pretty damn funny. But after reading the second article, you stop laughing. There has to be a way to change the economics of the issue. The sums cited for hunting feral pigs sound awfully high. $150-200?? Why not drastically lower the license fees to encourage more hunters and thereby minimize the feral pig population? By the way, I had wild boar once at an italian restaurant (authentic Italian, not Italian-American). It was absolutely amazing, like pork except more gamey & much richer. It sounds like my "wild boar" could easily have been feral pigs trapped in the US (as opposed to true wild boar hunted in Europe). You almost never see wild boar on menus in the US, yet feral pig populations run amok causing great environmental and economic damage. It sounds like feral pig trapping just isn't lucrative enough. Normally I oppose government subsidies, but in this particular case, it might be a good idea.

The first video I posted was more of a modern-day queer tango number. Here is a more old-school routine, closer to the dance's origins that @Tangogent mentions, a couple of tough guys duking it out on the dance floor. By the way, one of the dancers Fernando Gracia (the slightly shorter of the two) is a former world tango champion. When you see the ease with which he executes the complicated footwork and tricky lifts, you can totally see how this guy is a world champion.

Thanks for the tip on how to get access to his reviews. Wow, I can't stop laughing! Even funnier is that he says in his ad copy to read his reviews *snort*

The English half of his ad is a word-for-word translation of the Spanish ad copy, with two exceptions. The "up to 50 years old" line appears nowhere in the Spanish write-up. He also omits the paragraph about "write when you are sure ... " I guess you could always ask about the age limit, although I myself would hesitate to because he seems awfully touchy about asking questions ("do not write to ask what is already said here!").

I'm a huge fan of queer tango, have been for years. If you type "queer tango" into a YouTube search, tons of great routines pop up. This is one of my favorites:

One of my favorite songs of all time, the beautiful poetry of José Martí set to great music. Here is the best version I found on YouTube, sung by Cubans from all over the world. My favorite singer is Equis Alfonso (1:52). Wow, the man's voice is like silk.

This is brilliant. I used to be a die-hard country fan until the genre changed into something I don't even recognize any more. How I miss the old days of Brooks & Dunn and Willie Nelson. Country music nowadays is just garbage. Florida Georgia Line? Kacey Musgrave? You couldn't pay me enough to attend one of their concerts. Country music had three primary themes: a corny sense of humor, traditional bedrock values, and the white man's blues. This rather unconventional, 21st century country song is actually a throwback to the old school, that corny sense of humor - like "She Got The Gold Mine, I Got The Shaft," "Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble (When You're Perfect In Every Which Way)," and "I Got Friends In Low Places." I love it! On a related yet completely unrelated note, here is a guy from Mongolia who doesn't speak English yet somehow learned to sing the George Strait classic "Amarillo By Morning" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXkoY4-HmZs

Although I've never ordered cheese in lieu of dessert (too much of a sweet tooth), I've been to a few restaurants that offer a cheese course at the end of a meal. All of them were posh spots on the Las Vegas Strip. While I've heard of the tradition at private affairs, I've never attended a dinner party with a cheese course. @mike carey must have fancier friends than I do I think the custom stems from cheese's affect on blood sugar. A diabetic friend (type 1) says cheese helps keep his blood glucose in check. It has to be a high-fat cheese, and he doesn't need much. So it makes sense to nibble on some cheese after a rich meal, whether at a posh restaurant or a fancy dinner party.

After living in Spain, I got in the habit of eating salad or vegetables after the main course. I disagree that it's an affectation. Consuming fiber at the end of the meal (well, except dessert) just makes sense, because it aids digestion. Even at some fancy restaurants, when I ask that the salad be brought out after the meal, they will mistakenly bring it out before the main course, presumably because habits are tough to break. I don't really care if the server might think I'm weird or pretentious. I'm the one paying, and salad at the end of the meal is a reasonable request.

Even at Cracker Barrel, such service merits a complaint to the manager. At a posh spot at the Bellagio, it's downright unforgivable. Server positions at fancy Strip restaurants are impossible to get unless you have the right connection because those servers make some serious bank. Friends who have worked at a number of different Strip restaurants tell me that they averaged ~$500/night in tips. On top of that, they are making far more than the typical server wage. Instead of the $5/hour national average, servers at Las Vegas Strip restaurants make $12-13/hour, plus get excellent health insurance. In other words, your lousy server was making ~$150K/year. Restaurants that offer top-notch wages should be hiring top-notch servers. Unfortunately, in the "it's all about who you know" culture of Las Vegas, far too often the manager hires his girlfriend's cousin with no experience over a qualified applicant. So two takeaways about dining at posh Strip restaurants: 1) I never ever tip more than 20% because the steep menu prices are paying the server's pre-tip $13/hr wage, and 2) absolutely say something to the manager if you have a problem with the service. In light of what you're paying, and how much those servers are making, anything less than impeccable service is unacceptable.

R.I.P. Shelley Morrison. I still crack up when I think of her bitchy banter with Karen Walker. I didn't know that her character was supposed to appear in just one episode. Obviously many many fans loved her character as much as I did.

Is in-store traffic down? Or overall sales? I know that brick & mortar sales are down significantly but assumed that online sales more than made up for that drop.

I wonder if Carroll's reaction had something to do with race. I've heard from a number of older blacks that it was quite common back in the day (during segregation, pre-civil rights) that blacks were addressed by their first names whereas whites in similar circumstances were addressed as Mr./Mrs/Miss (this was before the advent of Ms.) + surname. I get that young'uns don't abide by the same norms as the older generation, especially with social media putting everyone on a first-name basis. I'll give the benefit of a doubt to any young person who addresses someone by their first name, presumptuous as it may be. But I also understand why Ms. Carroll felt the need to correct the young fan.

Yeah, a couple of times. Las Vegas is more of a "cash is king" city than most because so many people make their income in cash, whether on the up & up (waiters, bartenders, strippers, poker players, etc.) and the not so much (use your imagination). With so much cash in circulation, there's also a lot of counterfeit bills in circulation. I've been passed a counterfeit $20 and $100. The fake $20 was annoying, but the fake hundy hurt. I scrutinize bills I take a lot more carefully now. An expensive lesson, but that's life.

My response to this relative would be "Starve, Bitch!", but maybe that's just me. Back to Palm Springs ...

Two aunts live in an active adult community in FL. You have to be 55+ to buy or rent a home there, but don't ever call it a retirement community because the residents (almost all of whom are indeed retired) get all upset. It's way far away from what I would call "civilization," an hour south of Orlando, with not much in the area outside the gates except a good hospital. Otherwise it's all big box stores & fast food restaurants. But within the community, they have every activity imaginable. The health club is enormous & state of the art. They have multiple lap pools, jogging paths, tennis courts, and 36 holes of golf. At the community center, you'll find a club for everything under the sun: ballroom dancing, photography, pottery, bridge, mahjong, travel, sea kayaking, spelunking, you name it. Both aunts have picked up terrific new hobbies (salsa dancing for one, Texas hold 'em for the other) and made so many close friends. They both say that the community is paradise for them. For me? I'd rather live under a bridge. You have to drive at least an hour into Orlando to get to a gourmet restaurant. French pastry shops or Italian gelato? Maybe Orlando, but Ft. Lauderdale would be a better bet. Culture, like the ballet? Drive to Miami. Strippers, sugar babies & escorts? Make sure to fill up before heading out. The worst of it is that I would feel like the Only Gay Man On Earth, at least within the gates of the community. I asked if any gays live there (out of ~12,000 residents), and the gossipy one said she didn't know a single one. Not that they discriminate, of course, it's just not the kind of place a gay person or couple would choose to retire in. I'm glad my aunts are so happy, but I'd rather shoot my toe off than live there.

Nowadays I can't imagine a senior would need to move into assisted living just because they could no longer cook for themselves. With so many meal delivery options (services that deliver frozen meals to your door or UberEats, etc.), a senior doesn't have to cook as long as they can afford those services (and manage a microwave). Yes, they can get expensive, but so is assisted living.

No strippers? No sugar babies? No escorts? Sorry, that's just not a life worth living.

If that's the rate he's advertising, then one of two possibilities: 1) He's not getting much response. If escorting is his primary source of income, then he'll have to lower his rate. If escorting is a side gig, then he might be OK with just a few appointments a week. Or 2) He gets plenty of business, and he's making a great living. Either way, the market decides. Even though I (and plenty of other board members) can't afford his rate, my guess is that plenty of New Yorkers can. If his steep rate is working out for him, good for him!

Hmm, you have to wonder about the guys writing those reviews. A $15 cover charge is a pittance compared to what you'll spend on drinks, tips, and lap dances. Anyone grousing about a $15 cover is probably not the kind of customer either dancers or management want in the first place. I don't know what drinks cost, but if the reviewers are complaining about a $15 cover, then I'm guessing drink prices aren't that outrageous. So I have to fill out a form before I can see hot guys shoving their goody package in my face? Uh ... where do I sign?!