Rudynate

Here in the US, at least they get Valentines Day out of the way before you start seeing Easter merchandise.

Sultanas are called dried currants in the US.

We were lethargic protestants. We didn't worry about most of that stuff.

This is reaching back a lot of years, but I seem to remember we had them on Saturday, before Easter.

They probably don't compare with donuts - but, as I remember, they were sort of a glazed sweet roll with raisins and a cross on top made from white icing. What's not to like?

One of my nicest memories of Chistmas morning is walking along del Rio beach in Aptos on a warm sunny Christmas morning. I said to my husband, "White Christmases are really overrated."

And Ricky Martin became a taste maker when?

They seem to have disappeared in the US. I remember having hot cross buns at Easter as young child.

I would agree with that. A guy who advertises on RM that he is straight probably isn't straight. But they are sort of a special case. They know that you know that they're bullshitting, but it makes a nice fantasy. So nobody wants to upset the apple cart and call them on the fact that they aren't straight.

I think the article posited that the guys are not straight even though they believe themselves straight. I choose to believe that people are what they say they are, except when what they say they are is obviously discordant with that they do.

I get them all the time. Never responded to one..

My favorite soap is Aveda Refreshing Cleansing Bar. They don't sell it in their stores anymore. You can only get it as an amenity in nice hotels My second favorite soap is Yardley Oatmeal Almond Soap.

I was stationed in Germany in the army in the 70s. The parks and train stations were full of Turkish guest workers cruising for sex. These guys apparently had wives and families in Turkey and didn't see anything wrong with male-on-male sex with Americans and northern Europeans. Greeks were much the same way. Oh, those Greek men!

You're not a power bottom. Have your top ease up.

I haven't used cologne or toilet water in decades. I use unscented deodorant. I used to like 4711. I also liked Dunhill and Eau Savage.

For spine surgery, Kaiser had a bowel care protocol. I think it was senokot plus a stool softener. The bowel care script came with the script for opiates.

Doctors are different now. Maybe they teach communication skills in medical school. Or maybe healthcare institutions realized that they had to humanize doctors. By and large, doctors these days are friendly approachable people that are a pleasure to deal with. My first job after I got out of the military was as an orderly in a VA hospital. There was something extremely dehumanizing about medical education back then. The residents and attending physicians were complete bastards. They were like that to the patients, to staff, everyone. The process hadn't worked yet on the medical students and they were nice normal people. But you could witness the transformation from normal person into flaming asshole with no social skills as they proceeded through their training.

People tend not to appreciate the difference between information and knowledge. Highly-informed lay people think they "know." But they don't. They just have a lot of information floating around in their heads. Professionals, with their years of training and experience, "know."

There is an exercise that might be helpful, although I agree that spot reduction is probably impossible- dumbell pullovers. They're supposed to be good for developing the serratus muscles -those "fingers" that interlace so beautifully with the intercostal muscles.

I read once that spine surgery is almost as big an insult to the system as open heart surgery. It only stands to reason that you should prepare your system for that challenge. Besides, why not live a little before you face the challenge?

He divides his time between Switzerland and northern California. Haven't seen him advertise in awhile. He's really attractive - tall, slender handsome black guy.

I had a memorable massage from a masseur who is also into BDSM. The massage itself was very sensual in a different kind of way - it was an acupressure type of body work, working with energy flows and that sort of thing. Good practitioners in this type of work can produce startling woo - woo effects and he was very good. He had me stand in the middle of the room as he worked on me, triggering all sorts of pleasant sensations as he identified blockages and misdirected flows. At one point, I spontaneously got an enormous erection that lasted and lasted, as he was working on me. The whole session lasted 90 minutes and I felt wonderful at the end. All the gentle movements from his fingertips felt incredibly good. We finished the massage on the bed in the hotel room. He surprised me by flipping me on my stomach and holding me down and fucking me with his 9-inch dick. It was a great afternoon.

What to do with the aging population? They actually don't want much - just to be allowed to age in place. They don't wasn't assisted living facilities that resemble luxury hotels, they don't want to be on a perpetual cruise or to be spending their days playing shuffleboard. They just want to live a life as normal as possible and to stay close to family and friends. When I was in law school, I took an elective called healthcare law. There was a whole unit just on elder law. I remember reading in the text that the bias we have in the US toward delivering elder care in institutional settings is unique to the US. They said the same care can be provided in a person's home for 20% of what it costs to provide it in institutional settings like assisted living facilities. I have never tried to verify that statistic, but I have never forgotten it either.

I could imagine it, depending on the bears. Certain musclebears make me weak in the knees. And I get a boner at the mere knowledge that a guy weighs 200+.

There was a famous freeway stop around Vacaville called the "Nut Tree" that is no longer there. When you went into the restaurant there were greeters wearing uniforms that resembled nurse uniforms. They always made me think of the greeters in Soylent Green who walked people to the reception desk to sign up to be offed.