Eric Hassan

you are definitely not alone, and you are more than enough all by yourself. i find when i am dealing with some depression that it helps to check off the basics - are you getting enough sleep? are your food and water intake adequate and nutritious? are you getting some exercise - walking, biking, lifting weights, playing a sport? are you balancing work and non-work time? sometimes, we can manage a lot of our mental health by checking these foundations and making sure we've got them in order. that makes it easier to sort out our true feelings without the background of being hungry or overtired. also, i caution against the thinking that you need a partner or relationship to feel happy or fulfilled. relationships are wonderful but if you focus on something outside yourself, you never give yourself a chance to make yourself ok, and you can easily fall into the trap of tying your emotions and experience to your relationship and not your life.

how close to nyc? clothing optional can be hard to find in the northeast - it gets cold here

you've definitely got a strong opinion of something you've never spent time using! your response does point to the possibility that instagram, like all social media, could be a time suck. i think that's more about how you use it, as i've experienced both the timesuck aspect (usually when *i'm* looking for a distraction) as well as enjoying content that enlightens, entertains, and educates me.

other than seeing folks looking at it, what's your issue with instagram specifically?

glad you mentioned this. i'm curious about how to handle various markets. i live in nyc, and i'm well-reviewed with a good reputation, etc, so i feel i can charge what i charge, but i know other markets won't tolerate my rates, even if i were the second coming. my question is - how would an escort manage changing his rates to suit the market without pissing off people in other markets? and without inciting confusion? my ultimate goal is to work and make money, but if i'm pricing myself out of certain markets and i could do something fairly about it, i would.

i don't have an upper age limits that i'll see. i'm working. you want to hire me? sure. i don't care what your age is. i care who you are. i care about your experience with me. that leaves me no room to worry myself about your age. i do find that i develop feeligs for clients. i try to find something to love about everyone that hires me, and i haven't failed at that yet. i feel like there's a lot of "rules" about who you can love, and "how much," and all of that, and i just don't buy it. i belive we are all fundamentally of one consciousness, and that consciousness is love. i believe we are deluded by our other feelings, which are not the real us, and i believe actively seeking out love is one way we can return ourselves to sanity.

YES! and honestly, this whole thing about good looking, etc is such fucking bullshit. "good looking" is insanely subective, and beauty standards are just contemporaneous agreement, not immutable fact - take "good looking" today, and put him in another society at a different time, and he'd be ugly.

just a perspective from a working guy - when a client tells me over and over how good looking he is (the ‘over and over’ part here is the point; telling me once that you’re a good looking guy or that folks find you attractive, as part of a basic intro, makes sense and doesn’t occur to me as it does when repeatedly emphasized), and whatever else he adds to it, all i hear is desperation and shame, and all i've experienced is wasted time. people have eyes and can judge your looks for yourself.

i really like what @hypothetically had to say. i would add that you might want to let your guy know that it's ok if this part of the session takes a fair amount (or most or all) of the time. i don't know for sure, but i wonder if some of the guys don't go full throttle with it because they think it's just one thing you want for a minute, then move on to the other things. it's also ok to say things like "i don't need to be kissed much" or "we don't need to do anyting sexual like such-and-such" if that helps you communicate your preferences.

i agree with @Cali_Otter

there's no hard and fast rule, but why not be prepared? i got a little kit at the container store and i've got lube, cockrings, condoms, poppers, and a few other little things in there. it goes with me nearly everywhere, and that way i always have supplies. pro-tip - get a small container of lube, then buy a big contaner (yes, amazon sells it) - then you can refill the little bottle from the big bottle, so you reduce cost, reduce waste, and if you misplace the little bottle, it's not a big deal.

have you looked on ebay? at one time, i had nearly every copy of honcho ever published, and i got 90% of them from ebay.

i got you, mikey!

i stopped going to whole foods because the one near me became overrun with pet dogs. i have seen dogs in arms, dogs in baby carriages, and dogs on leashes. i've asked the employees in the store to address the issue and they refuse, and i have complained to both the city (who did an inspection and sent them a citation and told them to fix their problem of pets in a grocery store) and to whole foods corporate (who acknowledge the problem, identify the solution, then - in not as many words - tell me they aren't going to do anything about it). the last time i went to whole foods, there were 3 dogs that i saw - 2 of which were being carried by their handlers. i love dogs, but i don't love dog hair in my food, nor do i love the idea of dog shit in the aisles (yes, i have seeen a dog shit in a grocery store, though it wasn't a whole foods)

the gristedes in chelsea (the one at 9/24)) is very friendly about this - they offer a retail price of about 65 for 90 20mg tablets - that's a good price imo but seeing some of the other prices people have seen, there might be even better options, but i know that one for sure

sure, it's ok to ask! you might even want to frame it something like this - "i had a great time, and i think you're really hot. i would love to follow you on social media and show you some support. would you be willing to give me that info?" some folks may not want to share because of the personal nature of their social media. most will at least have a twitter or instagram or something that is for their "sex persona"

i believe that government health agencies are helping folks get PrEP as a way to stop the spread of HIV, particularly in vulnerable populations where there may be poverty and folks might be under- or un-insured. these are not experiments on the populace. rather, it is part of a multi-pronged approach to public health, with specific regard to HIV/AIDS. an example of this sort of planning and execution can be seen in new york state, where the governor has pledged to help decrease new infections, which will lead to a decreased prevalance of HIV and, eventually, to a cessation of new infections. it's a lofty goal, and might take longer than we will be alive, but it's not a willy-nilly experiment. you can read more about this here: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/aids/ending_the_epidemic/

my pleasure, dude - thank you for reading it and responding. i'm grateful that you brought up your points, because i think those are things that folks worry about, and that would understandably lead to some concern about PrEP and barebacking, etc. ultimately, the point i always hope is a take away for everyone is that we are each responsible for our own safer sex practices, whatever they may be, and we all deserve respect for our choices.

1 - my experience has been that folks who use PrEP are more knowledgeable about other STIs and completely aware that PrEP does not protect against them - it's not that we are not thinking about it, it's that we accept a certain amount of risk, and we are connected with healthcare professionals with whom we can be open, and we follow the guidelines of seeing your doctor for follow up visits every 3 months 2 - when you are starting PrEP, your doctor asks you what other medications you take - in fact, being asked by your doctor what medications you take, to allow the doctor to prescribe responsibly and educate you on the medications you are taking, is standard practice and is no different when the conversation is about PrEP 3 - the medication that is PrEP has been around for well over a decade and has been well-studied - we know what the risks are, and people who use PrEP are, in my experience, well-versed in what side effects and long-term effects might be and part of the quarterly doctor's visits are to determine if there have been any adverse effects - like all medications, we could find out decades from now something that we don't yet know, but my experience is that most folks who take PrEP are willing to accept that risk 4 - there is no indication that another STI would diminish the body's ability to absorb PrEP, nor is there any reason to believe that PrEP would not work well because of another infection - the uptake of medication is not the same as your body's immune system taking on a bacterial infection - also, the medications in PrEP work on a cellular level preventing the VIRUS from replicating itself i understand how it can seem careless and reckless for folks to take PrEP and bareback and you correctly state that the guidance on the use of PrEP includes other techniques for maintaining safety, but your other assertions are not based on reality - they are logical leaps that challenge the science and the lived experiences of those of us who choose to take PrEP - i implore you to educate yourself on how PrEP works in the body - there's a vast body of research out there, and the facts are easily google-able

i've made a slight change to my plans. instead of staying until the 21st, i'll be heading home on the 16th - there's a concert in nyc on the 17th that i definitely don't want to miss (it's yeasayer, and i missed them twice recently) and i've got a good friend who will be in town, so i'll get to see him if i'm back. i'll be sad to miss a few extra days in the sun but this change means i get to have it all

i'm sorry you feel that way.

something that might help to know is that RM does allow you to enter some text with your review. this is not viewable to folks in the US, but if you're somewhere else, you can see the text along with the stars, and it can be helpful in figuring out how much you want to believe the reviews. one way to see these comments is to use a VPN which will make it look like you're coming from outside of the US and will allow you to see the associated text. when i look at my reviews, for example, about half of them have comments that help explain why each person chose to rate me as they did.

oh, PK! i *know* i can handle everyone, if it were to come to that. the question is - can everyone handle me? the answer, by the way, is that i can hardly handle myself.

my rule of thumb about disclosure is that you disclose if you feel like that will help you have a more enjoyable time. if there's something on your mind that will be in the back of your head, taking you away (even a little) from enjoying the moment, disclosure is a great way to squash that. also, if you're hiring guys who don't try as hard because you probably won't cum, you're hiring the wrong guys

sex is more than a hard cock and a cumshot, but sometimes you want a hard-on. i ask - gently, of course - what do you like? anything i can do? if they tell me something i do it. if they're nervous and say so, i just give space and it comes along. sometimes they tell me they might not get hard and i just ask them to tell me if anything comes to mind, then carry on. it's not a big deal to me, and i don't want to introduce thoughts of it being a big deal for my partner, so i bring it up, take them at their word, and then do what i'm there to do.