TonyDown

Douglas Stuart was interviewed on PBS Newshour about his life and new novel, John of John. There are a number of interviews and reviews found on the Internet. I skimmed a few, without suffering too many spoilers. I enjoyed his first two novels, Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo. John of John sounds very appealing to me.

His Rentmasseur profile currently shows San Francisco.

Even with our group health insurance plan at a leading research, design and manufacturing company, my coworker had to cash in a 401k as health care costs for her husbands debilitating illness ballooned. It shocked me how quickly medical expenses can paint us into a corner, even with employer coverage. A colleague from another company, ironically a medical device company, had to file for bankruptcy due to medical expenses wiping them out. I recently needed a bone marrow biopsy. That cost a crap load of money. The bills were huge. Without coverage, that would have wiped out a lot of reserves. I count on never having to drop coverage but realize that is becoming a reality. Such is life in the States.

Family Stone might be a cult favorite. It continues to play on various cable channels, often around Thanksgiving. I have watched it several times. Diane Keaton is awesome of course. There is a dramatic family dinner scene that centers around the gay son. It's not a gay movie but the gay story arc is pretty cool.

Any experience with Luckyyou? Name change? Younger Asian dude. https://rentmasseur.com/Luckyyou

Funny, perfect skit. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXErla4jWpu/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== (Sound is way better on Insta)

Twinless Blu-Ray will be released May 12th. I saw it way back during Sundance and would like to own the disc. If you still plan to see it, you might want to continue avoiding spoilers.

Might drive some nutz, but this guy makes me smile.

The above comment about "the last straw" is the same reason I moved on from a close friend. Your friend cut you out so easily, no discussion? Why would a friend do that? Was he wounded that much? Was it the last straw? Years later, my friend emailed me, asking if I would attend a reunion. I resisted returning to that kind of sophomoric behavior. That your friend's family members were in touch with you is interesting. They may have been your best chance to reconnect with him. Were you clear with them that's what you wanted? That you were able to cry about your childhood friend is encouraging. Your therapist may have touched on un-grieved loss. Continuely crying for months sounds like more work is needed. Kudos for writing about this. Perhaps writing a letter to your friend would help, the kind of letter one would never send, rather a way to express sorrow for things and exercise the boyhood heartache. A letter one might read to a therapist or other trusted sounding wall.

I was going to boast how many Wordle puzzles in a row I have solved, but I checked and found Wordle is mentioned in several other threads. So, discussing Wordle here seems incongruent with the thread title. Instead, I'll mention learning usage of the word incongruent during professional writing extension courses at University of California Irvine. As they say, never stop learning. Incongruent describes things that are out of place, incompatible, or lack harmony.

I haven't read reviews, to avoid spoilers. I thought his Baby Reindeer was great, the kind of series I was drawn to see the next episode. Epi 1 of Half Man was a bit of a chore. Maybe it's me, in the wrong frame of mind. I will tune into Epi 2. We have to, right? I like Jamie Bell, I must say.

Circling back, the city itself Des Moines was incorporated in 1851, named for the Des Moines river. The Des moines river was discovered in 1673 by French explorer, Jolliet and French Jesuit priest Marquette. This piece below suggests if Marquette had not died before returning to his home base, the origin of the name "Des Moines" would have been better chronicled, and so we would not be left with theories. The piece explains why the name is likely a French euphonized version of a native American compound word, as @mike carey touches on, a derivation. https://iagenweb.org/polk/bios-fam-stories/POPCI_Vol_1/DM_What_it_Means/DM_What_it_Means.html Wikipedia still claims Des Moines refers to The Monks. 😆 Tying this back to the OP, the remaining structure from the original Des Moines settlement is very near downtown, so that one might be able to walk or Uber to this historical building after visiting with the bartender at Blazing Saddles about potential massage providers. Yeah, that's a stretch. Or, we can wish for @BigDMike, as he explores, just as Jolliet did, that he hooks up with a rewarding and willing mate, such as Marquette.

My number is not a surprise. I still don't get it, though, why those Catholic boys back in my house in college pined for me. I wonder about their K. numbers, why they peeked into my shower stall, why one boy chased me into the utility closet, others complemented my body, touched my butt and so on. One friend would tell me how horny he was. I wish I would have asked him why he was telling me this. Ultimately he asked me to fuck him, in our hotel room during an away football trip. I was so naive then. We were in love, sort of, I think. I stopped hanging around with him. He had a difficult time with it. I was a prick about it, yeah, but I had no time for homophobic confusion, his and mine. I wonder about him, and the rest. By now they're all married. In my head, they were a bunch of loud, scary homophobes. I was a closeted virgin. So I avoided most of their overtures. My theory is there is some sort of inner dial in all guys that determines a level of same sex attraction. In that house I lived in, most of the time that attraction was covered up by laughs, by denial and f@g jokes. Like Mr. Perlman explained in Call Me By Your Name "We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty....". I could only take two years of it before moving off campus, away from the BS of my house brothers. Some have been in touch for reunions, but flying half way across the country to spend 3 days with those same guys is easily avoided.

I bet he is a good kisser.

Can you stream YouTube where you're at? I watched it on YouTube.

A relatively new selection streaming on Kanopy, Baby, a gritty coming of age film that takes place in Sao Paolo. The lead is cute. In Portuguese with subtitles. If you plan to watch, then this link might be worth reading after streaming the film. https://veja.abril.com.br/coluna/em-cartaz/filme-nacional-baby-celebra-as-familias-nao-tradicionais-da-comunidade-gay/

...good as it ever was

I streamed Something for Everyone on YouTube, filmed in Germany and Austria, 1969, released 1970. A black comedy, the plot is similar to a recent wide release film. I liked Something for Everyone much better. IMO, Angela Lansbury and Michael York made this one a worthy watch.

Sabrina Carpenter put on a great show. Madonna was a surprise guest, for 3 songs. Loved it. Watched on the stream on YouTube. I enjoyed David Byrne's show. I knew he'd be good. I've seen better performances by Justin Bieber. For what he earned, I'm surprised how minimal it was. Hope this link works for Madonna. Or you can do a search, for last night's show. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXRfUlGkYid/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Sabrina Carpenter's show was huge, including some gender bending dancers. These links probably won't last. At 73, David Byrne pumped way more energy into his show than Bieber.

HBO is streaming all of Somebody Somewhere, today. I'm rewatching. Love this show. IMO the top dude at HBO, Casey Bloys, is a treasure, approving a show about these Kansas misfits. ❤️ (yeah, there is an entire thread on this show)

I agree. Very sad and also poignant. Made me think about the other thread about the sexuality podcast and my experience with straight friends. Such food for thought! A couple of the story arcs ultimately did not make much sense to me. But instead of being one of "those people" that nit-pick, I'll just say I'm glad I watched. Quite a unique series I like Jason Bateman. Ironically, Pedro Pascal was initially going to play Clark.

Some tell me the reception is the same for all mobile service. My experience with TMobile was not good. Perhaps they have leveled up their coverage by now. No matter. I doubt I would return to them.

Different plays for different reasons. Romeo and Juliet at The Globe in San Diego Deaf West Theatre's Spring Awakening at The Wallis Girlfriend at The Kirk Douglas Theater Switzerland at The Geffen The Revisionist at The Wallis

Some super poignant pieces. Interesting sexuality topics. Great cast. Spoiler --------------------------- Without Floyd, is there anything left to make another season? https://www.comingsoon.net/guides/news/2119171-dtf-st-louis-season-2-renewed-canceled