Lucky

We had a very nice, large room at the Residence Inn on Sixth Avenue about 39th st. It ran just under $400 and included a good breakfast.

@Axiom2001 I recognize that the flights may not be the most comfortable. I did read reviews of Business Class on Copa and they make it sound better than coach, so there's that. Avianca may not be fun, but if it gets me safely home I will have had a rather inexpensive trip to Brazil. Lifemiles provided no other options. I tried for United but it did not come up. I once took a 12 1/2 hour nonstop from Sao Paolo to LA sitting in the rear with hardly any space. I survived that and it was American Airlines. They don't let you do stopovers. I would like to have spent some time in Colombia, but a 3 hour layover in Bogota is all I get.

I have never read Martin Amis novels, but after his death I picked up Money and tried to read it. Pure gibberish if you ask me. A waste of paper.

I just finished Edmund White's latest novel The Humble Lover. For starters, it's about a wealthy 80-year old New Yorker who falls madly for a beautiful ballet dancer. Perhaps many of us might identify with that, but when White proceeds to discuss how disgusting this old man's body is, well, our self image might suffer. (White himself is 83) The book does not proceed as expected. The niece-in-law of the old man likes the dancer too. She is a pretty strong dominatrix and is used to having her way. The novel contains lots...I say lots!...of sex, with some rather unpleasant tastes for feces and urine. This may turn off some readers, just saying. Ultimately I did finish the relatively short novel. My reaction to the ending may not be yours, so I won't spoil it for you.

Chase says: " And with flexible scheduling and affordable rates, taking care of yourself has never been easier." His outcall is only $400!

Once we were able to use Lifemiles to fly Business Class to Bangkok so I became invested in the program, using their credit card and even buying miles.. But for some time now, over a year, I could come up with nothing worth booking. I have over 300,000 miles left and wanted Business Class to Brazil, but if it was ever available it would take some 40 hours to get there. But finally I booked Business Class going down and coach coming back. Down is on Copa Airlines, back is on Avianca. Copa stops in Panama, and Avianca stops in Bogota, which will break up the long trip. I doubt that they are spectacular airlines, but given the booking troubles I had, I guess I will take them. The required mileage was surprisingly low.

Most weekends? I don't doubt that deaths might occur, but I could not find any evidence that it was common.

Gosh, @Charlie what print paper do you fold and read? Surely not the Desert Sun as it only takes 2 minutes to peruse. 🙂

Bob Lee's assets are not yet available to family, thus the Go Fund Me plea.

He's back in Vegas.

He is now in Palm Springs. Has anyone actually hired him?

I subscribe to many online newspapers, and receive the Sunday NY Times and LA Times, along with the daily Wall Street Journal. But I was kind of put off paying $16 a month for the digital NY Daily News. So I called to cancel, and they offered me six months at 25 cents a week. So I didn't cancel!

JUTORE is currently in Palm Springs, asking $180 for an incall. Should I bite?

@Beancounter and I were typing at the same time. Perhaps the two Tina threads can be consolidated.

From wapo.com: She may have had second billing in her own group, but everyone knew who the star of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was. It was Tina Turner the world came to see, when she and her husband, Ike, toured with the Rolling Stones in the 1960s and scored a Grammy-winning winning hit with “Proud Mary” in 1971. It was Tina Turner who ignited the stage with her raw voice and her frenzied, sweat-soaked dancing, as she became one of the most dynamic and influential performers in popular music. And it was Tina Turner who, after walking away from the spotlight and her volatile, abusive husband, remade herself as a solo artist, selling more than 100 million records, winning eight Grammy Awards and becoming a brighter star in her 40s and 50s than she had been in her youth. Her overtly sexual costumes, dance moves and persona were imitated by performers across generations, from Mick Jagger to Beyoncé to Cardi B. Ms. Turner, whose saga of struggle and revival was defiantly expressed in her 1984 hit song “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and a best-selling autobiography, “I, Tina,” died May 24 at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, near Zurich. She was 83 and, in recent years, she had a stroke, kidney disease and other ailments. Bernard Doherty, her longtime publicist, confirmed the death but did not provide an immediate cause. Ms. Turner, who grew up as Anna Mae Bullock in rural Nutbush, Tenn., was living in St. Louis in the late 1950s, when her older sister arranged an introduction to Ike Turner, who was performing at a local club. *** At the very first Gay Games in San Francisco in 1982, Tina was the main performer, and I was there!

Portland didn't just legalize marijuana. Possession of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine will no longer be punishable by jail time, but instead amount to something similar to a traffic ticket.

How has the legalization of small amounts of recreational drugs affected Portland?

I can't find the article that I read yesterday, but it said that QR code menus at restaurants were pretty much dead. Paper menus are back! Oh wait, here it is: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/may/23/off-the-menu-why-restaurants-are-ditching-qr-codes

I was thinking about @bigguyinpasadenawho hasn't posted in forever. There is a poster named @Bigaguy but I don't know that it is the same person. Rumor has it that @WilliamM is fine and just taking a break...

Kudos to author Alice Winn who has written convincingly about two men who go from a posh boarding school in England to the front lines of World War One. Her novel is powerful and moving as she details life at the school and life at war. There are many interesting characters in the novel, but Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood as the leads are beautifully created characters. Those of us who like men should enjoy a novel about boys and men, even men at war. World War One is all but forgotten, but Winn brings it to life in a reverent way that acknowledges the pain and loss of the war. I give her credit for the sex scenes as she really seems to get it! Anyway, lovers of good books should enjoy this novel as much as I did. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Yesterday I binged The Diplomat on Netflix. Well cast with great acting.

Why ask? If a person thinks that you need to know his ethnicity he will tell you.

Matt Rife will perform near me on September 2d. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. So why does StubHub have so many seats for sale to this event already? A decent seat is around $400 on StubHub. That's what I would pay him for sex.

So we can discuss religion here.