sniper

I've been surprised just how rare hot male dealers are. There are a couple, but for the most part they are not distracting.

Eh, I think since it's impossible to read minds it's impossible to really know what's going on. There is so much internalized/societal shame about sexuality/gender that I think some people are so fucked up they don't know themselves. I mean, lots of 40something married men come out and say they used to be attracted to women but now are gay and had no idea. I strongly suspect many of those guys are lying through their teeth and trying to save face because of guilt over misleading their wives. And then the guys for whom bi is a stepping stone on the road to gay. Some of them, yeah. All of them? no. (Please note I do believe bisexuals exist, and in fact that there are more of them than of homosexuals, just that a lot of guys inching out of the closet abuse the label.)

I go to Vegas several times a year. Don't pick the table to play at based on how hot the guys sitting there are. That's always an expensive proposition.

The above said, the fact something is one of several contributing factors doesn't mean it's inappropriate to ever criticize it. I see more people bitching about stigma at the slightest suggestion there is anything we could be doing differently than I see doing actual stigmatizing.

I think they'd been increasing in general as the treatability of HIV itself in fact reduced people's fear of that. The surge in 15-24 year-olds getting stuff is just as much due to the social acceptability of men having sex with men. I agree that PreP is a contributor, but there are several confounding variables. 1)HIV itself, the fear of which drove people to use condoms who otherwise would not have, is not longer a death sentence. One can make a case that is portrayed as easier to deal with than it actually is, further contributing to this effect. 2)Homosexuality itself and even "dabbling" when not gay is MUCH more socially acceptable, leading to many more men starting gay sex in "the stupid years" when people are on average much less likely to be prudent. 3)Hookup culture in general - many more people have multiple partners. This is a mean versus median thing. Previously of people who had multiple partners serial monogamy was the most common way in which that happened. But now lots of people have multiple "friends with benefits" they go back and forth with which is, from a population standpoint, FAR riskier. You have a group of ten people who all hook up only with each other, that's a closed circle and if nobody has anything at the start, nobody is going to get anything. You have five people who hook up with only each other, but each also hooks up with five people outside that circle behaving similarly, that's a lot more likely to result in an outbreak of STIs.

I would guess he found that while he finds it not difficult to do those things with attractive guys, he discovered he has a harder time with guys he's less attracted to.

I exercise every single day and spend an hour on stretching/mobility alone. I was still awakened by my lower legs and feet painfully spasming nightly until I started the magnesium and they stopped.

I would guess his travel distance issues have something to do with his size. He's too big for coach to be anything other than an ordeal.

Why don't you go? There are many weeks the rooms are dirt cheap and flights often are too. Hell, I live near NYC and it's often cheaper to fly to Vegas for a 3 day weekend than to drive to Atlantic City and stay there!

I can't seem to walk in them. I like them on an attractive guy with well-groomed feet though. But lots of guys' feet are kind of busted up and unattractive. People, if your big toe joint sticks out to the point your big toe and the metatarsal form a right angle get that bunion fixed before you're crippled!

Avalon, your income may be too high but you may be able to "spend down" to qualify. You really need to speak to an elder care attorney who can advise you of possibilities. Usually the first consultation is free and they're often pretty helpful even if you don't wind up using their services.

Speaking as a data professional, you'd have to add And like escorting, that is not work that just anyone can do. You need a particular skillset.

Physical therapy has improved by leaps and bounds fairly recently. I would highly recommend going to one who got their training in the last few years versus an older one. And Physical therapy really needs to be one-on-one, not at one of those places where they are seeing four other patients in the same hour slot as you and just sort of "overseeing" as opposed to treating you.

Avalon, do you really truly need medical transport, or just someone who can help you in and out of the car and ride with you? There are people who do such things.

Back in my late 20s I was hit up on gay.com by a couple of doctors in Manhattan looking for a long-term 3rd/houseboy. At the time I fancied myself above such things, but I now wonder how differently my life might have gone...

It's not like anyone is asking a specific individual here; I don't think the topic in general is rude, it's just that it's not terribly meaningful to talk about an "average" in a business with such an enormous variance. It's not like Joe blow can read, "The average escort makes $125k so I'm going to just quit my job and do that for a living" because he may very well not be able to do the job or be able to attract clients. Whereas most able-bodied people of moderate intelligence and a decent work ethic can read about a "traditional" occupation and then if it interests them, seek training in it and pursue it.

How close are the family relatives? like do you have siblings who are still working? Sometimes large companies have employee assistance plans in their benefits that will do things like provide a consultation with someone who can help formulate a care plan. Like my sister's employer sent a retired nurse caseworker out to interview my other sister and work up a report outlining the options. At that point what we needed to do didn't require further assistance, but they would have also helped with coordination and getting through the red tape. So few people use these benefits that often they are pretty fast and loose with what they consider a close enough relative to provide the benefits. My brother got assistance for his former mother-in-law(his wife passed away a few years ago). If you have a relative with such a benefit, they might only need to make a phone call and the rest is the agency working with you. If you have an option other than the county person, I would suggest you consider it, especially if you have assets they might have their eye on. You might be surprised at how long you can put off going to an institution if you make full use of what is available. If that's what you want. I'm only pushing back on you here because it seems from your tone you may be simply resigning yourself to things while not necessarily aware of all the options( which is by no means your fault, MOST people know very little about this).

I found magnesium helpful. Magnesium supplements are quite cheap too.

Siblings only share on average 50% of genetic material. That leaves a lot of room for different genes to have been inherited by each. Your DNA makeup is NOT the percent of ancestry you have, it's which chromosomes won the coin tosses that led to you. You could have 50% Italian ancestry but come up 75% on these tests, while a sibling only comes up 30%.

Is this conservator someone you picked or someone who was assigned to you? Do you have any family at all to help make the decisions? I've seen a couple of family members go through this sort of thing in a, well, sub-optimal fashion because they just reacted after the fact. Do try to make sure that whoever is assisting you is experienced at working the system. And push for physical therapy. You may not regain the ability to drive but you do want to maximize what mobility you can maintain. Even if you still need help, your quality of life will be much better.

I'm not sure it was around long enough to tell before that. The owners also had some Fire Island businesses that got boycotted IIRC.

There was quite a bit of intermarriage between whites and tribes back in the day. I have some rather Anglo-looking friends who actually grew up on reservations and were leaders in their tribe.

Yeah many towns have that, but there may be something more accessible at the state level. My sister is in a wheelchair and the NJ paratransit system operates buses with wheelchair lifts. There's a town bus that she can't use because it's not accessible. And there's a county one that she can but is only for medical appointments and has somewhat more restricted hours. Also, with the NJ system, a companion/personal aide can ride with her for free.

In general, I agree that you should usually attempt to delay moving to one as long as possible. But if you know it's in the cards, there can be something to be said for making the decision while it is still your decision and you can pick where you go rather than have it decided for you. There's also the socialization issue. My sister's 100-year-old roommate has this to say about the nursing home: "Well it's not fancy, but I tell you what, it beats sitting alone in an empty house all day." If the facility has a large enough population, there is usually a critical mass of relatively "with-it" residents and one might be able to have a bit more of a social life than one would if they were essentially a shut=in.

Again, I don't know what state you are in, but a number of states have publicly funded paratransit systems for the disabled, where if you are within a certain distance of a mass transit stop, and your destination is as well, they will take you door to door for basically whatever the fare would be on the bus or train(and I suspect less sometimes). It's not always convenient if you are in a suburb where the buses all stop at 6 or 7 pm, but it's a lot better than $40 a pop. Look on your local bus or train line's website and see if they have a link on handicapped options. The private services can be a good option for special events at off-schedule times, but do look and make sure you are checking out the lower cost options as well.