Rudynate

exactly

That sounds like a LOT of fun. Those bridesmaids' dresses are simply the worst. I worked with a young woman who said he closet was packed with bridesmaid's dresses that she couldn't wear because they were so obviously bridesmaids' dresses. I can't believe the bride expects her attendants to pay for those things. It would be more so much more genuine if the attendants just showed up in something nice that they had chosen.

This was a few years ago. I'm sure it's very easy to spend 50k$ now. I don't really follow the wedding world so I'm not knowledgeable.

A few years ago, I read an article about a couple who wanted to get married in Grace Cathedral. They considered one of the side chapels, but decided that it was the Nave or nothing, and they kept saying "yes" to the wedding planner and ended up spending nearly $50000. Apparently, they had the resources to go , "oh well, whatever."

True enough. I am a big believer in cards and thank-you notes.

I never go to weddings because they are so nauseating. I know a young woman who complained because her parents "only" budgeted 10K$ for her wedding, so they had to dispense with excesses like renting a yacht for the proposal and doing a video of it. Im not such a curmedgeon that I don't send gifts, but registries and websites and "destination" weddings make me ill. My nephew and his wife had a website - my husband and I always refer to them by their domain name.

When I turned 70, it didn't seem like a milestone to me, but I was inundated with happy birthday wishes. My husband thinks reaching 70 for a gay man is a milestone because we had to survive two pandemics to get there.

I think Lori is a troublemaker. She should have realized that it was none of her business whether Trish brought a present or not and said nothing. I'm curious - why isn't it sufficient that your friends show up to share your birthday with you? Why do they need to bring presents?

When I graduated from law school- I threw myself a big graduation party. I invited about 40 people, had it catered in a nice restaurant in the financial district, open bar, passed hors de'oeuvres. full-course dinner. I hired a friend who had really nice-handwriting to do hand-written invitations. In the invitation, I specified that there were to be no gifts. It was really a blast - one of the best times I have ever had.

I don't expect birthday gifts from anyone - not even from my husband. I enjoy being taken out to dinner. I think a lot of people assume that, by age 60, you have outgrown needing birthday gifts.

I haven't been to San Diego in a long time, but I remember that Hillcrest was a nice little Gayborhood.

I should have recognized Javier Ray - he was Mateo in Velvet - a very lovable, very complicated character.

I liked the history lesson - I have never known much about the Spanish Civil War.

FUNNY YOU SHOULD MENTION THIS, BECAUSE... My parents didn't shop at the A&P much, but I do remember the Jane Parker brand. In our town, the A&P was a big, dingy old store right on Main Street. Sometime, early in the 60s they relocated to a new building on East Main Streer. The new store was one of those silly faux-colonial buildings so popular then - red brick, white trim, "early American" theme, American eagles over the doors.

I'm having a serious problem getting the fruit for the fruitcake - supply chain problems? In years past, Safeway always had a big display of glaceed fruit - hardly any this year. The employees at Whole Foods had never heard of it, even though their website says they have it. I got some from Amazon, but they aren't delivering as promised. Oh well - life in post-pandemic America I guess.

If you saw him you would.

Yep- completely agree. Because I was exposed to a differnt social stratum from the one I grew up in, I saw possibilities that most of my siblings didn't.

We just started watching this on Neflix. It's very good - definitely worth watching. I have a real thing for steamy Spanish leading men and this show doesn't disappoint - Javier Ray and Tamar Novas are both stunning and great actors.

Yes, I have achieved it. I grew up in a lower middle-/working class home and I had 8 siblings. I was very precocious and did well enough in school without much effort and started college on a Regents College Scholarship from the State of New York, even though I loathed school from the first day of kindergarten until the day I graduated from high school. I dropped out of college after a semester and joined the Army. After the Army, I settled in Colorado and attended the University of Colorado on my GI educational benefits, while working during the day. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do and I was pretty aimless for a decade after college. I moved to San Francisco and everything changed - things just took off. I went to graduate school and became a research librarian in the biotech industry. I studied to take the Registration exam in the Patent Office and became a Registered Patent Agent. The patent attorneys I worked with kept telling me, "You really ought to go to law school," so I did and ended up a Silicon Valley patent attorney. I'm 71 - past retirement age, but I don't want to stop, it's too much fun. My sister is the same way. She is a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist) and doesn't want to stop. She retired a couple years ago, and only lasted a few months before she started to miss the intellectual stimulation from her work and came out of retirement.

Doubtful that she paid that much for it - they may even have given it to her for the publicity.

Right - I think of those "older men" as boys.

LMFAO!!! Right - an internet group has a "resident doctor." He is a retired doctor who can't think of anything to fill his time with except giving unsolicited medical advice.

I had a spine surgery in June - and they did something novel - they did the check-in with me sitting on the edge of the operating table and the surgeon standing next to me, introducing the members of the surgical team. After that I sat chatting with the anesthesiologist for a few minutes, and she slipped into the converstation that she had just given me a sedative, and then I woke up in the recovery room. It felt as though I had just gone to coffee with them.

That doesn't mean they were hanging out feeling sorry for themselves- I have been to more than one holiday celebration in a gay bar and they were always a blast - you'd better have cleared your calendar for the day after.

I don't think so. What I was trying to find out was what I was like, not what the market is like. If you're not up for it, it doesn't matter what the market is like.