Phil_musc

Yes, he does have amazing control, but I found that the masseur watching TV at the same time to be distracting.
 
And in the first posting - what the heck kind of massage place is that where they're all lined up like a hospital ward.

After watching the performance, I can only wonder how she might sing one of the sublime arias from the Bach St. John. Can't you just hear "Zerfliesse main Herze?"

That performance deserved a few of those players taking a knee

It's a wonderful idea but the airlines would classify it as a weapon. Maybe put it in a carrying case and place it under the seat in front of you. But then that defeats the purpose: that is, you need to stroke it during take-off and landing. OOPs - you already have something to stroke.

I think this is maybe an opportunity to begin marketing pet rocks again. I'm sure some of you dear readers must remember them.They were all the rage one Christmas. If some nut case had to bring on a pet rock as their emotional support, no one would complain (well, there's always bound to be one. . . ). I love animals but the need to bring one on an airplane seems self indulgent and cruel to the animal as well as the fellow passengers. If someone really needs an emotional support animal have them get in touch with their parent(s) and bring them along but leave Fido or Fiffy at home where they'll be happier. Of course true service animals are different.

FrankR, you need to fly south to escape our dismal winters here. Maybe P-Phil could fly with you as your emotional support animal?

I realize we are all different. I’m having trouble with a therapy peacock. I guess I’m not empathetic enough.
 
Gman

"Whoso" and "hym" are the same person (it is a reflexive statement: "whoever finds himself" would be the modern English wording), so the "whoso" is singular. "Whoso [whoever]" is not gendered, and the "himself" is masculine only because the fallback pronoun in English is masculine when the person's gender is unknown. Speakers and writers in English often switch at that point to the genderless plural "they" with the proper plural verb (in this case, the future tense verb is the same for both singular and plural), because it is easier to be inclusive of both genders with a genderless plural pronoun. The Pardoner's audience is both men and women, and he does not know who among them may take up his offer (he undoubtedly hopes several of them will, not just one male).
 
Forgive me, I am a pedant.

Maybe I should just let this thread die a natural death, but I've just re-read it (silly me). At least 2 posts mention the usage of they as a singular third person going back to Chaucer. Two points: 1) Chaucer is actually considered Middle English (I think, not sure) and as such is not really on point. 2) Could we have a specific quote from Chaucer that demonstrates the third person singular? It's been generally referenced twice now but the actual quote might give us a better context for claiming it is an old historic usage.

I had that experience at the old Continental. I wasn't wearing my glasses and as I approached this young guy, I thought, hey man, looking pretty good there, As nearsighted as I was, I was only about 10 feet away when I realized it was a mirror. Then I felt ridiculous and broke up laughing at the absurdity of it.

I started reading this thread with some trepidation, since I figured there would be a lot of negative comments about unattractive clientele, old trolls, rampant unsafe sex, etc. Thank you, fellow posters, for your positive spin on this possibly controversial topic.
 
I used to go to these places a lot in my younger years and I had many great times. Now it's been about a year since I've been to one of the spots in Philly. My experience is that things have definitely changed and it isn't like it used to be. For that I had to discover for myself Chicago's Steamworks. Wow and then some! It was like a time warp - seemed like the old days at the Everard in NYC or the Club when it was still open there. Now I think things are pretty hit-or-miss here in Philly, but it's better to be optimistic about these things. Perhaps it's time to dust off my old shower sandals and take the plunge. . . I do wish they would install elevators though - my knees are getting tired of going up and down those steps.

Costumes is a nice choice of word because what most of those guys are wearing isn't fashionable.
 
It looks like they all shopped at the clearance rack of an International Male

I felt nauseous just watching the video. Not for me.

With all the film award shows that get posted on the aol news feed, I just don't understand how they could have missed this. Thank you, Avalon, for posting it here.

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b6/44/d8/b644d82b685983ac0f2647714d0bf03b.jpg
 
http://78.media.tumblr.com/92959bb9c0ba74630aea5c79402d91eb/tumblr_opfjb9VMXo1vzn74io1_400.gif
 
http://78.media.tumblr.com/7260e3c7b7950ac545001569ec9beeee/tumblr_onpqckbv731u01a2co1_400.gif
 
http://78.media.tumblr.com/98f6b929c2c85c5b5bca660a8c638b6a/tumblr_nojeupColZ1sj0vgfo1_400.gif

Oh HELL no!
 
I love water, pools, and crazy architecture ...hate heights.

http://78.media.tumblr.com/0623bb44c57e632baf562babc78de26b/tumblr_p21tcfhIXm1vurz76o1_500.jpg

My happiest moments during the boys' holiday break were every morning, waking up, and hearing the shower running. As I posted before, the quiet house in the morning is hard, but I would get up to the sound of running water and murmuring voices and know that we were together. Some snapshots--
 
Getting ready to go to my folks' for Christmas dinner, Plebe twin comes downstairs in civilian clothes. Older brother tells him to wear his uniform, everyone will really like that. PT replies, "I have to wear it at school, I don't want to war it at home!" Heated argument ensues, which I stayed out of. Finally DePaul twin, who's been playing a video game, quietly interjects, "You should wear it." At which point PT heads upstairs to change. Everyone loved seeing him in his Service Dress Blues.
 
A funny discussion about roommates one evening. DT's Irish roommate and he get along great, but the guy is apparently quite the ladies' man, and twin spends a lot of time in the dorm lounge while the room is occupied-- "sexiled," he says. PT's two roommates have never shared a room with anyone before, and are having to get used to it. One of them changes clothes in the shower (each room at the Naval Academy has a shower stall and sink), and they are amused at how comfortable twin is about dressing etc in front of them. He shared a room and a bathroom with his brothers all his life, and there were times that end of the hall was pretty uncivilized, so that's no surprise. "He's naked again" has been proposed as the room's motto. Older brother has a great roommate and they've joined others in a four-man suite, so they have their own bathroom and a little living room. I believe it's his roommate getting sexiled more often.
 
Plebe Twin is honest about how hard it is, and had the most anecdotes. Of course, I've been able to see him a good deal, but he regaled the other two with the rigors of Academy life. He got very quiet, maybe wistful even, listening to his twin talk about how unstructured and free his life is, with parties and exploring Chicago. I don't think there are second thoughts, but the depth of his decision is sinking in.
 
Each separately asked me about being alone, and I told them some of what I told you-- that it's a learning curve but I'm doing okay. That eating alone and waking up to a silent house are no fun, but there are trade-offs. No coming out talks yet, although I told them I've been playing basketball, and that I went out a couple of times to play darts or shoot pool. Just not where.
 
Both twins spent a lot of time with the girlfriends, and they all seem to be handling the long distance thing fine. Older brother missed his girlfriend a lot and there was much skyping-- I think they're really serious. He's about the age I was when we got engaged, and not much younger than I was when he was conceived. Oy.
 
Everyone's been back for a while now, and the goodbyes were not too bad. DePaul Twin was the first to leave and he and his twin had another long hug at the airport, that separation will always be hard. One day I came into the den where they were watching football on the couch with their arms around each others' shoulders. I almost envy having that kind of bond with someone.
 
I am on a trip for work right now, which is why I sadly missed the DC gathering. I'll have a quick stop in Chicago so I'll check in on DT and his roomie, take them to dnner maybe. And perhaps I'll hire while I'm there-- recommendation of Chicago tops, anyone?

http://41.media.tumblr.com/0a9fcea96ac574caf85cb99e20fc1180/tumblr_o0rxchYm8W1u49xawo1_1280.jpg

In my opinion, it was very bad form on the members part. He/She should have never brought you up with the escort.

A M4M member soon to be visiting my area privately asked me to recommend RM escorts I have hired. I gave him a few names and also added a couple I was disappointed in meeting. He asked me to elaborate on one of the disappointments and I did. Big mistake. He then contacted that disappointment and relayed to him my remarks. Now, that escort is texting me to ask why I'm negatively reviewing him. I find this more than unfair. My comments to the inquiring M4M member were meant to remain just between the two of us. I did not post a review, I only made some candid observations to another member in private. I'm new on M4M, but isn't there some sort of code between members?

I didn’t say this was okay, I said it doesn’t warrant a lawsuit or a regulatory complaint. What would the complaint say? ”The utility made an egregious error and corrected it.” And the lawsuit - what would the customer sue for? The cost of the phone call? Typically, lawsuits and regulatory complaints are filed when the company doesn’t correct the mistake.
 
I also work in the financial industry. When a situation like this occurs we create a self-identified issue, engage partners in the Risk Management, Regulatory Affairs, and Compliance departments, determine how the error occurred (what controls were bypassed, what coding errors might have led to the problem, etc) and develop an action plan to ensure it doesn’t occur again. Then someone gets fired. Something tells me there will be a similar process -and a former utility company employee looking for a job in the new year.