Smokey

I took a flight from Anaheim to Vegas once in my late 20’s to see a concert. It was a southwest flight with no assigned seats. I was early to board and chose a window seat. As the plane filled up a gorgeous blonde haired, blue eyed, twunk in his early 20’s sat next to me. He was stunning. He struck up a conversation with me and our lives together flashed before my eyes.  It’s like the world moved in slow motion. He had perfect skin, teeth and hair and was so interested in me. The conversation was flowing and I was getting more and more into him as the flight went on. Before I knew it, they were announcing that our 45 minute flight was preparing to land. As I was praising the conversation and saying that we should keep in touch, he reached into his bag, presumably to get something to write his number on, and said he felt the same way.

Then he handed me a magazine about John Smith and the Mormon Church and told me how much better Vegas would be with God. I thought i met the man of my dreams and he was just recruiting heathens to his religion. I remember letting a quick cackle slip as a sense of embarrassing foolishness pulsed through me. 
To date, whenever I see a beautiful blonde, or a Mormon, I smile thinking about our wonderful 45 minutes together and how ridiculous I felt when I realized I wasn’t getting married, I was getting saved.

A joint shower or bath with mutual rubbing and tugging is my ideal foreplay. 

He's cute and very earnest but his videos are often disappointingly superficial. In this case, the phrase only became widespread in the decades after the 1939 release of the Wizard of Oz when Judy Garland became enormously popular among gay men. But the phrase had been used before 1939 by gay men referring to humorist Dorothy Parker, who had a large number of gay male friends and habitually invited them to meet her at soirees and cocktail parties to which they hadn't been invited. The phrase derived from the fact that so many would show up and tell the host or hostess "I'm a friend of Dorothy's." It became a punchline for any newby in a gay social situation, as in: "Who let HER in?" "Oh, she must be a friend of Dorothy's."
After WW2, when the returning servicemen flooded big cities like NY, LA, SF, and Chicago--and Garland's emotional roller-coaster became something that cautiously-out or still-closeted gays identified with--the phrase lost its party-crashing meaning and took on the larger meaning encompassing all gays. 

Hello. Truthfully, I think you’re trying to solve a problem that does not yet exist. Whilst babies make noise I have to agree with others that dogs can be worse. Fans and white noise machines (even inexpensive ones) can help a lot to mask the noise. Further, as another mentioned, I would be more worried once that baby discovers mobility in the form of one of those wretched wheeled contraptions moving back and forth across the floor.
Having said that, I can say with a great deal of confidence (and experience) that 90% of what we worry about doesn’t happen.
I would also like to mention this. If I read your post correctly you are on the 2nd floor and the impending mother is on the 3rd. You do not mention an elevator. I feel like any problem will mitigate itself once the new mommy and daddy have to start schlepping 1) a baby; 2) a car seat; 3) a stroller; 4) a diaper bag; 5) mommy’s newly expanded purse; and 6) whatever else daddy is forced to carry up and down three flights of stairs. Trust me when I tell you that it will not take long for the new parents to start seeking accommodations on the ground floor after about 90 days of this up-and-down BS. The manager is also going to be on the warpath once she or he sees how said car seat, stroller, and other baby paraphernalia are scuffing, scratching and damaging the walls and doors of the apartment building.
You might also consider sending a small gift to expectant mom (a $25 Target gift card goes a long way with new mommies). This will do wonders for your karma plus you’d be surprised how much they might try to keep the noise down knowing you were so gracious and generous.
If all else fails, and I don’t mean to be a smartass here, but remember the Serenity Prayer and accept the things you cannot change.
I wish you the best.

If you didn't know Cilla Black, then
I'd say
...
What's it all about....
 
Burt Bacharach signed my copy of his memoir Anyone Who Had a Heart.  Cilla Black is mentioned several times.

only ever heard of this British singer a few weeks ago after youtube algorithm started offering to me......extremely popular in the UK, I don't think many US residents know of her, unfortunately......just another example of the way songwriting/melody/talent has "evolved" (?) into today's silly little-talent, electronically-enhanced junk......for fun, watch the woman in the back light up at 3:02 just before a fantastic orchestra finale........ 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilla_Black
 
 

I know, it's outrageous. Kids all over New York City will be grumpy at school and their parents' quiet evenings will be upturned. Or perhaps it's someone who knows what they are doing is a charade, knowing full well that it was not serious, and that almost no one would think it was meant to be. Seriousness has its place, but levity makes life better.

Oh no! This topic again. He can charge whatever he thinks he’s worth. It’s entirely up to him and his definition of his value. You don’t have to pay it. You might want to hire him but if you don’t want to pay his rate too bad! You can’t afford him. Buy a cheaper guy and see how good he is. 
If you think it’s an easy overpaid job why not set up yourself? See how easy it is. What price would you put on yourself for an hour of doing escort work (don’t forget to add in all the hidden costs - time spent trying to look good, being available 24/7, handling time wasters, advertising, paying for the benefits that employees get as part of their job, taking risks with your sexual health….). Now his rate doesn’t seem so unreasonable does it…

@Km411 When I saw your 1st post, saying that you would never be able to write about it (coming out), I felt so sad. Then I kept reading postings and scrolling through and there was @Km411 sharing his story! That made me so happy! Like the sun shining from behind a cloud. 
I’m grateful to EVERYONE who has added to this conversation. 
At 29 years of age (I am 61 now) I decided “F**k it!” and made the decision to stop changing my pronouns. I didn’t feel it necessary to make an announcement, I simply started using “he” and “him” and saying “my boyfriend”. And no one batted an eye. Probably because, behind my back, everyone was saying, “For God’s sake! Doesn’t Mike know he’s GAY?” 🤣  My parents dealt with - and accepted -  “the issue” long before I did. To this day I have never said “I’m gay” to my parents. Why overstate the obvious? 🤣 Everyone’s path is different and although I was tortured and tormented in junior high and high school (and in Church youth groups no less) I really didn’t have it so bad. Of course, the alcohol helped but THAT is a subject for another thread. 
As an aside, a moment of revelation occurred when, at 50, I took my 23 year-old boyfriend to Palm Springs for the 1st time. We went to VillageFest where it was over-populated by same-sex couples holding hands. The BF grabbed my hand and, due to my age and experience, I reflexively pulled my hand away. He got very upset. “You CAN’T refuse to hold my hand. We’re safe here.” Amazing how times change. At 50 I still felt the need to be discreet and careful, but a 23 year-old had no such compunction. He wanted to hold hands with his boyfriend. (We are no longer together but I will ALWAYS remember that moment.) He had his own issues being gay in a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but it’s not my place to tell his story. 

Outside of this community here, just a couple know for sure that I escort. My husband knows (he once escorted himself) and I share everything with him. Then there is a bodyworker I see every couple of weeks, and we talk shop. I've mentioned it to my doc and he was unfazed, but after all he's a gay MD in San Francisco. 
I do wonder if others know, and just haven't said anything. That's always in the back of my mind. 
Quite some time ago I wrote an essay about it here. Have a look if you have nothing better to do! 😛

Renowned American conductor and composer Michael Tilson Thomas has died at 81. His spokesperson Connie Shuman says Tilson Thomas died Wednesday night. He led orchestras in Buffalo, Miami, London and San Francisco. Tilson Thomas had surgery for a brain tumor in 2021 and in February 2025 announced the tumor had returned. He conducted his final concert with the San Francisco Symphony in April 2025. Tilson Thomas received 39 Grammy nominations, winning 12, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2019. His husband, Joshua Robison, died in February.

I have a collection of quotes I carry in my head, one for every occasion it sometimes seems. The one for now is from English philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead, who once observed: The major advances in civilizations are processes that all but wreck the societies in which they occur.
Automobiles replacing the horse and carriage era, as well as almost all of the buggy whip industry. Television, described as a vast wasteland by those who preferred radios and reading. The internet which gives us fingertip access to the accumulated knowledge of humankind, even if you have to sift through mountains of falsehoods and nonsense to find it, and which also allows bullies in chat rooms to hide behind a wall of anonymity, spreading ill will as if it were the flu. Perhaps one of the greatest and earliest was Guttenberg and his printing press, making ideas in print much more easily accessible even to the common man - GASP! 
Each of these technological wonders were marvels to humanity in their times, and each presented challenges that had to be met and dealt with.
AI will be the same. It's already producing valuable results in streamlining design and manufacturing processes, but it also gives life to lies and deceptions by unscrupulous predators of other peoples' truths or fortunes.
But the fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves, as Shakespear might remind. Not in the technology but in our reasoned adoption of it and in fitting it with appropriate and effective safeguards and restraints, which can only be developed in a wait-and-see and trial-and-error process of observation, feedback, and adjustment.
There will be bumps in the road that AI will take us down, but it will, I think, lead to a good place in the end as we assimilate the technology into our day-to-day lives.
Now, if only someone in a genome project could find a way to make better humans. Or will we have to that for ourselves. Damn! This could be harder than I thought.

Move over, baby name books — this kindergarten class just rewrote the rules of identity, one “Hello My Name Is” sticker at a time.
Jordan Lake, a fifth-year kindergarten teacher, is going viral on Instagram after filming himself letting his pint-sized pupils temporarily ditch their given names in favor of something a little more … imaginative.
“Letting students change their name for the day because they’re only young once,” he titled the Reel — and buckle up, because the results are exactly as delightfully unhinged as you’d hope.
In the clip topping 7.5 million views, a jovial Lake sits at his desk, armed with a stack of name tags and a Sharpie, calmly preparing for chaos.
Spoiler alert: chaos delivered.
“What do you want your name to be for the rest of the day?” Lake asks one student off-camera.
“Marshmallow,” the child answers without a single beat of hesitation.
No notes. Next up? A budding branding genius.
“Uh, Ochy,” another student says, barely holding in a giggle after an apparent reference to the AI running app. “I was thinking in my head, I think Ochy is the perfect name.”
Frankly, who are we to argue with that kind of conviction?
As seen in the viral clip, the pint-sized rebrand wasn’t just cute — it doubled as a surprisingly sharp lesson in imagination, focus, and a lot less toy-induced chaos.
“I love that,” Lake replies. “Do you know what it means, or it just sounds cute?”
“Mmm, I don’t know,” the student admits — proving once and for all that vibes are sometimes all you need.
“Nice to meet you, Ochy,” Lake says, handing over the freshly minted identity like it’s no big deal.
The names unfolded in a range from silly to sugary sweet to totally made-up, with requests for Kipper and Morty — seeming nods to the animated TV characters — as well as Shady, Foggy, Hello, Wiggly, and Bhum Bhum Kachoom, and even a retro-bland Cindy.
And in a particularly cheeky turn, Mr. Lake’s students used the “classroom rebrand” to change his name … wait for it … Mr. River.
But viewers were quick to point out there’s something deeper going on beneath the giggles.
The exercise, parents and fellow teachers noted in the comments, doubles as a playful lesson in autonomy, imagination — and, yes, basic respect.
“This is such an awesome idea. Also, it illustrates the idea so clearly that it’s just not hard to call people by their preferred names,” one wrote.
Another added, “Teachers be earning gold stars every damn day!! Love this!”
Others were simply charmed by the tiny trendsetters themselves.
“So cute!!! I love their little voices,” someone else weighed in.
“This is so fun! They will remember this forever!” one other noted.
Another commented, “I absolutely love everything. Name choices, your reactions, the joy.”
Viewers are calling the name-changing experiment a masterclass in make-believe — no batteries (or baby name books) required.
And if there were any doubts about Lake’s classroom cred, the comments section shut that down fast.
“Love it !!! Your kiddos are lucky to have you,” one person wrote.
Between Marshmallow, Ochy and whatever comes next, one thing’s clear: in this classroom, creativity is king — and for one glorious day, you can be whoever (or whatever) you want.
As The Post previously reported, experts say a little imagination goes a long way — and that kids don’t need a mountain of toys to have fun.
In fact, too many playthings can send their tiny brains into overload.
“We keep bringing home more and more toys, thinking this is the toy that will get my kid into Harvard,”  Dr. Alexia Metz, an occupational therapist and mom of twins, recently told TODAY.com.
“But then we don’t see the value in their playing because they can’t organize themselves enough to play.”
In a widely cited 2017 study out of the University of Toledo, Metz put toddlers to the test — observing 18- to 30-month-olds in playrooms packed with varying amounts of toys.
Give them 16 options, and it was total toy mayhem — kids ping-ponging from one shiny distraction to the next like tiny, overstimulated social butterflies.
But slash the stash to just four toys, and suddenly, calm prevailed.
The tots slowed down, focused up and actually played — stacking blocks, pressing buttons and diving headfirst into pretend scenarios — the kind of deep, imaginative play child development experts can’t get enough of.

I usually start cooking the item which will take the longest in the oven and then add other dishes as appropriate based on cooking time.  If the temperature for cooking is significantly different. I start with the one which needs the highest temperature and once that one is cooking I add the items which need a lower temperature short of the time needed to completely cook it and adjust the cooking time to allow that first dish to be brought to the proper temperature and put out to rest or to be kept warm.  I then lower the temperature of the oven, sometimes by keeping the door ajar, and bring the lower temp dish to finish closer to the desired temperature.   Timing is key, but once you have figured it out for your favorite combinations, it is really not very difficult.  

The Dark Ages were followed by the Renaissance. Another dark period was followed by the Glorious Revolution.

Great, so I won’t even rest in peace, I’ll rest in plaque.

I’ve given up on most American television programming. I’m a Britbox fan and I read a lot. 

When I get a massage I tip the same whether it's a spa or the guy's own place. Somewhere around 20%. The spa I go to provides an envelope with the masseur's name on it, and you drop it into a box on the way out, so hopefully that means they're not skimming off the tips. But I can't really control what happens to the tips in a spa, so just hope the masseur gets compensated fairly.
To @jeezifonly's points, the spa covers the overhead, but the pay tends to be way less than what the spa charges. This is true of trainers at gyms too... my trainer at Equinox let me know what their compensation structure was, and it was surprising how small a percentage they get from what the gym charges, unless they have lots of clients. But having overhead covered and a good place to conduct business is significant too.
So if you think about it, the masseur in the spa has his overhead covered, but is being paid less. The guy with his own place is keeping his entire fee, but needs to cover his overhead including providing a decent place for business. Maybe that's a spare bedroom, and that has a cost associated with it. So I'd say the same amount for tips regardless.

Here in Texas, you see a lot of lifted four wheel drive pickup trucks with tons of other macho looking accessories and extra loud exhaust systems.  Many easily represent $100k and often bought on credit. I call those: gender-affirming care vehicles.

It is true that before AIDS, there were all sorts of other "gay diseases" that were discussed regularly in the gay community. In fact, I served on the board of a gay organization called Philadelphia Community Health Alternatives in the 1980s, that was founded before AIDS was recognized, because so many gay men developed health problems that their primary care doctors were unaccustomed to deal with, or that the men were uncomfortable revealing to their regular medical providers. We actually started the AIDS Information Hotline that the city government eventually took over.

I never understood asking others to pay for a wedding or vacation, regardless of wealth or celebrity status.  But, not everyone subscribes to a newspaper with the Miss Manners column.

I am curious if those who have posted here saying they have difficulty asking the escort for what they find enjoyable, find it difficult in general to ask for what they want or need.  If the answer to that is yes, a good starting point to getting over this is with an escort.  You are paying him for his "time" and for his expertise.  Utilize both to get what you want and to assist you in being more forthcoming in your not escort hiring life.  I have had times in my life when I was shy about asking for I wanted and guess what? I did not get it.  Escorts and friends and family and clerks at the shoe store are not mind readers.  Ask and ye shall receive or at least, you can move on to someone who may give be better at giving it to you.  

I love your use of correct plural possessive punctuation.  That makes this comment alone worth at least a nickel, not just 2 cents.

Yeah I remember when it was just the "Ambulance Chasers" that spammed their cheap-looking commercials on network TV at 3am because the air time was cheap, but beyond that it was word of mouth and reputation that "reputable" firms had client referrals. What a different world we live in. 

I am leaving Facebook because it keeps showing me videos of former vice presidents dancing.
That's right, I'm being forced out by the Al Gore rhythms.