alkan

I don't understand this. You don't want to name and shame the person who actually committed the crime but you are prepared to blame everybody, adult or child, guilty or innocent, on the grounds that they share what you believe to be a name of similar origin. Nor do I understand @Guy Fawkes, surely @big dale was simply looking at a vaguely possible explanation. How can that be trolling?

I don't understand this. You don't want to name and shame the person who actually committed the crime but you are prepared to blame everybody, adult or child, guilty or innocent, on the grounds that they share what you believe to be a name of similar origin. Nor do I understand @Guy Fawkes, surely @big dale was simply looking at a vaguely possible explanation. How can that be trolling?

Don't get too ambitious but if you go to Hiroshima and have the time take the ferry to Miyajima for the day. Beautiful temples and good hiking.
 
The shinkasen from Osaka to Hiroshima includes a stop in Himeji. Well worth it to get off the train, ditch your luggage in a locker at the station, and walk up to the castle for a visit.
 
You might also consider spending a few nights in Koyosan up in the mountains east of Osaka. Very easy to get to by train. It's the center of Japanese Buddhism. Very scenic and again, filled with beautiful temples. Most visitors stay at temples staffed by Buddhist monks and students. You will have your own room but typically shared baths. Similar to a riyokan, you'll be served a multicourse dinner in your room and sleep on tatami mats. Most also have small onsens for bathing. One of my favorite spots in Japan.
 
Be sure to try the okonomiyaki in Osaka and in Hiroshima. Different styles but both delicious

With the thread title I assumed someone was going to be
complaining about how the world has gone to hell and life isn’t as good as it used to be. Happy that it was full of practical information that has caused me to consider what I would do in a similar circumstance. Many thanks!

I think you'll find that there is so much human variety that you will find people who don't like, hate, don't enjoy or don't get anything out of a sex act that others love. After all, there are people who don't enjoy sex or aren't sexually attracted to others. It's just as possible not to enjoy a particular sex act that most other people do enjoy. Don't let those other people and the cultural messaging supporting them bother you or make you feel like you're weird or wrong.

After I told my parents I was gay, the relationship became very "cold". But things warmed up and stayed that way for the rest of their lives. Never had a problem with aunts, uncles or cousins.
 
Had a wonderful experience this June at Utah Pride. It happened I was in Utah that week and mentioned to my straight niece I was going. (She and her 2 boys share my Utah house with me.) Her immediate response was to ask if her family could go with me. So, we loaded up the car and headed down to Salt Lake City for the parade and festivities.
 
I was so excited to go to Pride with 3 generations of my family. FYI, my niece's oldest son (15 this month) told us in August he is bisexual. Not sure if Pride gave him the courage to come out to us. But I think that could have been a factor. He also told us he had his first boyfriend last school year and school staff / classmates knew. No one in the family blinked and for us, it's no big dealing. That's also the attitude / way it's handled in the school.

Wot, no savoury pies at all? Steak and Kiddley, Pork, Stargazy? Chinese pie? The Greeks have a rather tasty vegetable one. Perhaps opentops don't count though, you might have to include things like pizza and quiche as well.

I'm spending Thanksgiving alone (well, the two cats are here) and will be making a turkey breast, dressing that closely approximates my mom's recipe, and corn on the cob for dinner. I had an invitation to see friends in California (with whom I've spent Thanksgiving for years) but I just could not bring myself to drive 375 miles each way. Last year I did and I was exhausted the entire weekend. Plus, i will be traveling to Florida for Christmas.
 
Honestly, I am glad to have some "alone" time. Work tends to be a non-stop exercise in overstimulation and I need time off. Today I walked 5.5 miles and tomorrow I will do the same and take a bike ride, assuming we don't get rain.
 

 
This reply should be pinned to the top of the Forum at every holiday.

Lipstick on this pig is just that. I’m a non medicating diabetic so diet and exercise are standard daily events - nothing special. As for “grooming” it’s a daily 5/7 minutes in the shower where I also shampoo and shave. For me there’s no worthwhile return on spending any more time or effort on grooming. What I DO have is great inherited genes. People I first meet seldom believe I’m in my 70’s. Thanks Mom!

No sash, but I do have a cloak. The J. Peterman catalog offered it in the late 80's, talking about how FDR had worn it to the Yalta conference. It was part of Navy attire back then. I finally had one made earlier this year.

However you want to spin it, the person you hire someone to be and the person they are outside the confines of your arrangement do not correlate. It may seem "silly," but it really is necessary for some escorts to mentally check in and out by using something as simple as a fake name. Blurring the lines of professional and personal in this industry isn't healthy for everyone.

Did you mean a sash in the sense of cummerbund? Or as a Miss America contestant?

Although I haven't totally lost interest in hiring, I have scaled down from when I used to hire a lot more. I'm in my early fifties now, and my testosterone hovers in the low-200 range, when my urologist says it should be in the 600-800 range. I remember one of my Fire Captain opposites was getting testosterone pellet therapy that our work insurance covered, so I eventually got approved for that as well. My libido has picked up a little from that, but it hasn't been what it was. One of my best friends got his T-level checked, and he was naturally around 1,100! Also, his libido is through the roof, and still is in great shape at close to 40 years old.
 
Another thing is that I am still attracted to guys in their 20s and early 30s that are naturally smooth, no facial hair (is there a pattern here with the other posters?), and muscular. It still seems the latest trend is lots of facial hair, which turns me off right away.
 
I also have set reserves in my mind that anything above $300 per hour, $1,000-1,200 for an overnight, or $2,000-$2,500 for a weekend is ridiculous. It's not that I can't afford more than that. It just goes back to what I was first used to paying for these services, and that there are still guys out there that perform a phenomenal job at those rates. Very often I'll go through ads and see someone that looks appealing to me, and then when I get a rate beyond what I stated above, "Hey little head! Big head here! Move on! You could go have fun in a tropical place on vacation for that price, Dork!"
 
I've even started to trend back to hourlies again from my usual overnights and weekenders. It seems that once I cum now in the hour, I feel that I don't need to cum for awhile again, so they may as well just leave at the end of the hour. Maybe if I felt a connection, I'd want them to stay, but if there is no connection..."BUH BYE"
 
The last two hires of mine were naturally smooth and muscular guys from Colombia from the Midwest and the East Coast. They had nice muscular smooth bodies, easy on the eyes, and were ok in bed. There wasn't much connection, as they both seemed more concerned with themselves, or what they were going to eat than they did with me. One seemed more gay-for-pay, while the other was gay. They both got married to guys here in the U.S. so they could stay here, but both told me it was just for citizenship purposes. We had "okay" times, but neither hire resonated with me like when first started hiring nearly 15 years ago. When our weekend sessions were over, I felt a little on the depressed side, and thought to myself, "I just spent HOW much for that??" "What were you thinking?" "You could have had a nice vacation for THAT price!" It seems that those thoughts I mentioned now surface a lot more than I used to.

Anyone remember the old Philmore Beach Hotel back when Earl’s Court was a bit of a gay area & home to Hurricane Louie’s gay disco? Hot place in the beginning, but ended as a dump.

In the areas around the east of London, it was, and still may be, the custom between friends and workmates to shorten names as much as possible. As my full first name has only three letters, the version they came up with for me was "E". At that time, this was the name of a well-known brand of beer. Nowadays of course, it would have different associations.

Just change your terminology - it's not a loan, it's a gift. If later on you get a gift in return, all the better, but never go into the equation expecting repayment and you'll have no regrets.

My father used to tell me to only lend the amount that I was willing to lose.

In the areas around the east of London, it was, and still may be, the custom between friends and workmates to shorten names as much as possible. As my full first name has only three letters, the version they came up with for me was "E". At that time, this was the name of a well-known brand of beer. Nowadays of course, it would have different associations.

Not quite what was being asked, but on the same lines. I had a regular, years ago, who used to cook for me when I visited him in his flat. I am a vegetarian but I didn't like to say no to the offered meat. (My original typing of this post had the word "kick" instead of "cook". What Freudian nightmare was that signalling?)

What @nycman says.
 
But also, you can't control what happens after you are gone with 100% certainty anyway and, at that point, you won't be worrying about anything. All your concern happens while you are still alive and can take proportionate steps towards the desired outcome. A reasonable precaution to take in your case might be to attach a note to your home copy of the will, saying that UCLA holds another copy. That in itself might make anyone intent on destroying the will pause before taking action.

Who is the executor of your will?
 
He/she should have a copy of your will and presumably
it’s someone close to you who would be aware you were
dead.
 
Your relatives will have a long uphill battle if they don’t have
a copy of a will naming them as beneficiaries.
 
If UCLA had any brains, they’d be calling you and “inviting“ you
to lunch twice a year to update you on “whats going on at your
beloved alma mater these days“. AKA checking to see if you’re
dead yet so they don’t miss out on staking their claim to your
estate.
 
At the very least they should already have an intern scanning
your local obits and filed death certificates on a monthly basis.
Trust me. I know this business. I’ve dealt with a few “pissed off“
relatives as well. Usually the charity will be forced to cut them a deal.
Good luck if you’re trying to write your legal heirs out completely.
It’s virtually impossible to do if they fight it (and they all fight it)
 
I’m not an attorney but you may want to explore a revocable living
trust with your attorney and accountant. It will be much harder for
your heirs to get their hands on monies that are never part of your
probated estate in the first place.
 
Just my 2 cents. Get professional help.

Unicorn has had a much younger boyfriend from Latin America that he was going to marry.

 
 
1. Unicorn's Latin American boyfriend, whom he has been supporting and was planning to marry, had another lover that he was stringing along.
 
2. When the boyfriend was away with either Unicorn or his other lover, he would tell each he was seeing Paraguayan friends that he would not introduce the other to.
 
3. The other lover broke up with the boyfriend after finding some pictures of, I'm assuming, Unicorn (or something else salacious) on the boyfriend's phone by using the boyfriend's finger to unlock the phone when he was drunk.
 
4. The other lover sent mail to Unicorn's work address with pictures of the boyfriend's unfaithfulness along with supporting evidence of knowing Unicorn and the boyfriend's previous travel plans.
 
5. Unicorn's home was being used as a bordello when Unicorn was away at conferences.
 
6. Unicorn is about to go to a conference but will kick out the (now former) boyfriend when he returns home.
 
Gman

My obsession about sailing was much stronger than the flying thing. My brother and I made rafts and boats (sort of) from a very early age and were duly shipwrecked in all of them, as we deserved. We did manage to own a seaworthy boat or two as we grew up.
I have to say that the happiest time of my life was (I suppose aged 16 or 17), exploring some of Scotland's sea lochs, sailing and camping in a 12ft dinghy. You are right in that the sail and the wing operate on some of the same principles and perhaps that was part of the reason I had comparatively little trouble with the theory of flying.
 
We, my brother and I, both managed at some points in our lives to earn our livings afloat though in very different ways. As I say, I managed to get over the disappointment about flying while retaining the feelings as mentioned above. I would have been crushed if I hadn't been able to fulfil at least some of my watery desires.