EZEtoGRU

No kidding. The rest of the post has nothing to do with the SA question. He turned what should have been a two line post into War and Peace.

I just wrapped up a three-day visit to Montreal. My last visit was pre-pandemic. I only went to the stripper clubs two of the days: Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday at Stock was ladies night. It was pretty quiet with only three dancers: Ryan, Bran, and a guy I did not recognize. I had fun with Ryan and Bran plus with the sexy straight bartender Alex. We laughed about all the good times we had had prior to the pandemic. I also spent some time over at Campus on Wednesday. It was more lively than Stock with 10-12 dancers. I saw former Stock dancer Jordan (Kai at Campus) and we hung out a little bit and reminisced about the old days when he was a dancer at Stock. Another surprise at Campus on Wednesday was that former Stock dancer Thierry is the weekday manager now. I almost didn't recognize him as he wears glasses now and he is much smaller than previously. Probably off the steroids...which is a good thing. All in all a good time on Wednesday. It started snowing early Friday morning and continued all day. I went to Campus Friday afternoon around 4:30pm. There were about 5 inches of snow on the ground by that point. A few dancers started arriving around 6:00pm but most didn't start arriving till closer to 8:00/8:30pm. I again hung out with Jordan (Kai). I did see former Stock dancer Phillipe come in the bar but he went straight upstairs. I didn't make it to Stock on Friday as I wanted to get to bed at a reasonable time for an early Saturday flight. I stayed at the W Hotel in the Square Victoria area of the city. Very comfortable with a good breakfast. I was surprised cause the hotel seemed quite busy with a large business group staying there. All in all, I had a good time in Montreal. I currently have no plans to return until it gets a bit warmer...perhaps in May.

I'm not familiar with him TBH, but I noticed this story on Yahoo this morning. RIP Tyler. https://www.yahoo.com/news/gay-adult-film-star-tyler-172814015.html

Kirstie was spectacular on Cheers and I will forever be thankful for that. RIP Kirstie.

This coming from you has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a long time.

Australia and U.S. are out. Can England survive tomorrow? I am going to guess they will beat Senegal. Still very little interest generated here in the US over these games this year. It will be even less now that the US is out. I was out in a busy bar here in small-town Michigan last night and literally no-one I was near to or speaking with mentioned the World Cup even once. It's just a non-factor here. I did partake in two other sports conversations however: one about baseball and one about hockey. I wonder if interest in this year's games is as strong as ever in soccer powerhouse countries in Europe and South America?

Well I was at Johnson's this week on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Like others have said, I go during the week when it is less crowded. Tuesday was indeed quiet but there was still a decent selection of dancers. I was told that a bunch of dancers from Montreal had arrived the prior week but I didn't see any of them on Tuesday. I ended up hanging out with Eros whom I have known for years from back when he worked at Twist. A new guy from Seattle was also there...Kurt I believe. Beautiful muscled guy and only a few tattoos on his creamy white untanned skin. I didn't spend much time with him as I was with Eros. Anyway, I had a great time on Tuesday. Wednesday was also fun but much busier. It got surprisingly very crowded around 11:00pm....standing room only. The Canadians were out in force although I only recognized one (Adrian from Stock). Anyway, there were a lot more dancers and customers than on Tuesday. Great Brazilian bartender. I again hung out with Eros (Venezuelan) and Lazaro (Cuban) and we talked in Spanish all night. It was great fun. I was still in Ft. Lauderdale Thursday night but opted to have a quieter evening. I ate at the little outdoor cafe at The Boardwalk. I had a few drinks and some chicken wings. I left at about 9:30pm and only had seen two guys that look like dancers go inside. I know that Boardwalk gets going later than Johnson's but there was really nothing going on in the main bar when I left. In summary, Johnson's seems alive and well in Ft. Lauderdale!

Me too. I just returned from Ft. Lauderdale yesterday. I was masked up at both airports and on both flights. I saw only a few other people with masks...so usage is waning. Since my trip was mid-week the restaurants I visited were all pretty quiet so I did not use a mask in them.

Is it just me or is this World Cup not generating the same level of interest that it normally would? How full are the stands during the games?

SPOILER ALERT: Garrett is not a hunky/muscled sugarbaby. He is very slight and very fem so don't have expectations of Channing Tatum here. Having said that, this is a 30-minute interview with Garrett who is from Indiana but now lives in LA. An interesting insight into the lifestyle. He seems to be dong quite well for himself...if you take him at his word. According to Garrett: * He is 21 and has Barbie's body and Ken's face. * He is a millionaire. * He has several famous customers with whom he had to sign NDA's. Garrett wouldn't be my cup of tea but I found the interview interesting nonetheless. I'm inclined to believe most of what he says. Anyway, make yourself a cup of coffee or a martini and check-out the YouTube video.

I'm interested also. I'll be in South Florida in a few weeks.

I think Europe is well into it's recession right now. I don't feel North America is as far down that path yet even though, technically, we are probably in a recession. As I said up-thread in July, it still doesn't feel like a recession to me. Lot's of places in Michigan are still looking for workers. Inflation is ebbing by all accounts. People are still traveling a whole lot. The high-tech/social media bubble does seem to have burst with those layoffs becoming a reality now. Let's see how things look/feel after the holidays in January. Right now it still feels like business as usual...at least where I live.

Anyone know WEHT deej the former moderator?

Boa viagem!!!

You are correct...it was. FWIW, I have stopped paying any attention to medical advice that Unicorn dishes out.

What? Huh?

That would be a hell of an operating fund for Company of Men. Wowza!!!!!!

Porn Performer/Sex Worker/Stripper. It's all semantics. I still don't get the no gambling thing but paid sex play is OK? Anyway, this is The Lounge so no religion talk here. Back to Powerball!!

Let me get this straight. Your religious upbringing doesn’t allow you to gamble but does allow you to hire sex workers?

Like purplecow, I don’t usually play the lottery but I have been bitten by the bug and have played in three recent Powerball drawings. I will play again tonight as well. I agree with other’s comments that 1.9 billion is an obscene amount of money to win. I wish they would devise a game where the winnings are split between 100 different people in equal amounts. Change 100 peoples lives rather than one.

I'll also be travelling this week. Masking at airports and on flights. The rest of the time at my destination, I'll have my mask with me everywhere and wear it when I deem prudent. Prior to traveling, I'll be voting on Tuesday and will mask-up once in line in the precinct building. I guess everyone will instantly know I'm voting Democrat🤣!

Very sad. I'm assuming he OD'd but let's see what the investigation points to. RIP Aaron Carter.

I've been an AMEX platinum card member for years. I almost certainly will not renew in March 2023. I find the value I get out of the card to be decreasing whilst the yearly membership keeps increasing. Centurion lounges have turned to shit since they started reopening after pandemic closures. The food quality has gone seriously downhill. The lounges are very crowded now...to the point that there is sometimes a waiting list to get in for members. They simply aren't relaxing anymore. Several months ago, I was connecting at LAX heading to Vegas. I could have used the Admirals Club but since my flight was departing from TBIT, I opted to try the Centurion Lounge in that terminal...big mistake. It's in a basement-type area. It was hot, over-crowded, and generally a dump. I spent about 5 minutes there before getting flustered and opting to leave. I ended up waiting at the gate for 1.5 hours until boarding. The gate area was less crowded and cooler than the AMEX lounge. Beyond the lounge problems, I find many of the events that AMEX sponsors and/or invites members to are on the coasts(think NYC/BOS/DCA/MIA/LAX/SFO/SEA). If you live anywhere in fly-over territory in the US, you have much more limited options. Same with the Equinox bennies. Of no use to me where I live in Michigan. As a principle, I don't shop at Walmart so the credits to be gotten from them are of no value to me. The UBER credits each month are useful to me 4-5 months a year when I travel to Miami or Las Vegas. There is no UBER where I live in Michigan so I cannot use the credits for the months I am not traveling. Flyover territory issue again. I do use the CLEAR membership benefit but only because it was part of what the Platinum Card covers now. I'm not sure I really need it as I've been a member of Pre-Check for years and 90% of the time Pre works just fine. Since I currently have both Pre-Check and CLEAR, when I'm ready to pass through security at the airport, I just pick the shortest of the two lines. Incidentally, the line is shorter at Pre-Check about 40% of the time and shorter at CLEAR 60% of the time. Losing Clear once I give up AMEX Platinum is not a big deal to me. It's nice to have but certainly not essential if you already have Pre-Check. In conclusion, I feel that the AMEX Platinum Card has diminished in usefulness for those that don't live on the coasts or in one of the big US cities (where there is Equinox and UBER). My alternatives are Chase Sapphire Preferred as well as a newly acquired Delta Skymiles AMEX. The annual fee is lower than the AMEX Platinum card and it gives me access to Delta lounges/Centurion Lounges when flying Delta. As I am transitioning my domestic flying from American to Delta I might as well go all in with Delta😍!

My second dose got less of a reaction and faded quicker than the first. The woman who administered the second one said many people have a lesser reaction to dose #2.

So now you are attacking the intelligence of people that responded to your thread. As the OP, you knew you would get a variety of responses. As it happens, the responses indicate most folks are still masking under some circumstances. So what. What do you care? You just wanted to attack people for doing something different than you? Sad.