Gar1eth

What's KenKen? Gman

I always avoided the NYT Crossword Puzzles. But I bought a year's subscription for my iPhone. I've only done the Monday puzzles as I'm told they are the easiest. And I'll admit I don't always get the entire thing. But I'm doing much better than I expected. I just solved the Monday 11/05/2018 New York Times Daily Crossword in 19:09 without using any hints. Gman

As it turns out, the decision is partially taken out of my hands. I've been brewing a cold since Tuesday. I've got a mild scratchy throat, mild cough, and runny nose. I don't have a fever. Among the 30 to 40 people present are going to be two pregnant women. I could still go and avoid breathing on people-especially my niece and my 1st cousin-once removed-in-law who are the two pregnant ones. But it's a ready made excuse, and I'll take it. The hosting cousin could even tell I was congested over the phone. If I'm not worse, I'm going to try to make the second Seder at my Mom's retirement community on Saturday. Gman

I'd say you were being perfectly reasonable. Gman

I barely have enough money to buy gas in Dallas. A trip to Israel might as well be a space flight to the moon. To bad they didn't have Birthright Tours when I was young. Gman

I may have given a wrong impression. I don't anticipate any change in the way my family views me. This not wanting to go is ALL ME!! I used to love family get togethers when I was younger. But now, seeing everyone being married, knowing I'm never going to be married, never be a father (although I would have been a lousy one), never be a grandfather... And with all those in my generation involved with their spouses, their children, or grandchildren, and the generation after me concerned with their spouses and children, and the children either being concerned with each other, their parents, or grandparents-I'm alone-albeit alone while still being in the bosom of my family. And then there's my downward mobility to consider. The situation causes me to be sick at my stomach. The only saving grace is that it doesn't happen as much as it used to. Because of the aloneness I feel- the feeling of not fitting in- in the middle of my family plus my feelings of failure (but to be honest my feelings of aloneness 1st occurred even before my loss of career), these days I find family gatherings for the most part depressing. I'm glad everyone there has their special someones. But not having one of my own/or my own family unit kills me. And the feelings have intensified over time as the likelihood of me ever having those things grows less and less. Gman

I don't really hire anymore. But several months ago I came into a one time windfall and thought of hiring Chad. We had a very nice discussion. I asked him if anyone had ever told him he looked like Ben Affleck. He LOL'ed and said people told him that all the time. We seemed to be having a nice exchange. I then asked if he was ok with overweight clients, and he blocked me without any reply. I was pretty surprised as the conversation had been going quite well up to that point. But as @azdr0710 always says, "Your mileage may vary." Gman

You know Rodrigo, or you know @jazboy ? Gman

It's not them. It's me. It's depressing to be there alone among the many. When I had a career and had money, I almost never (until I started hiring escorts) traveled to 'destinations' for vacation because it was depressing being somewhere alone when everyone else (or most people) were there with someone else. And having failed in my career makes things even worse. I don't have a lot to look forward to in life. On a personal level I've failed. And on a societal level I'm a Darwinian dead end who, if I went, would be surrounded by those with a stake in the future. Maybe being alone among the many doesn't bother some of you out there. But it bothers the heck out of me. And it's not like this is the one chance for me to see my mother. I see her quite frequently. I spent the night at her apartment last Saturday. And I'll be spending (unless something unexpected intervenes) the second Seder with her. Gman

I've pretty much always loved the family get together (The Seder) at Passover except possibly as a child when I thought we'd never get to the point in the Maxwell House Haggadah where the "Festive Meal" takes place. (Note: There are many Passover Haggadahs. The one my family always used was one compiled by Maxwell House Coffee-originally put out in 1932 as a marketing promotion). This year the Seder is going to be-as it usually has been for over the last 20 years- at my oldest cousin's house. She's a bit of an overachiever. While our seders have been large in the past, my mother has said this one may have somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 people attending. Probably 3/4 of the people present will be family. The others attending will be friends. Of those attending the Seder-my immediate family consists of my Mom, my brother and his wife, and my sister. Each of my siblings has two children. All 4 of them are married. And my mother has 4 great-grandchildren ranging in age from 3 to 8. There is also a great-granddaughter yet in the womb who is set to join the family next month. And then there is me -ok for the grammar purists -there is I. And I, while feeling somewhat guilty about it, am seriously considering calling in sick and not going. On one hand it's an odd choice for me to make because as I stated at the beginning, I like Passover. And I don't mind crowds. The fact that there may be 40 something people present doesn't really bother me. And for the most part, I love -or at the very least am fond of -my family. But, and it's really not just Passover, it's any large family gathering-I feel I don't fit in. I'm the only one of my generation or the the generation above me to never be married. And now even the majority of the generation after me are married-many with children of their own-when I've never even really dated or been in a relationship. I'm the only one whose gay-and I'm not sure how many of the family know for sure. Most probably suspect. But the only ones I've come out to are my sibs and my Mom. It was different when I was younger. Not everyone in my generation was married. And then even when they were, well I didn't mind too much. But I guess it started bothering me more when the next generation after mine started getting married and having children. On top of that is the loss of my career. I'm almost surely never going to recover from that or find anything even comparable. It's been 8-1/2 years now. I've been able to find some odd jobs. But even with those I've required assistance to survive. All the next generation are doing really well with their careers. And I guess I'm envious. They have so much to look forward to in their lives. I don't really have anything to look forward to. I have a dead end job. The hours pretty much preclude me from meeting anyone. I don't have a lot of interest in meeting anyone. Even if I met someone I have no real money to do anything.And this isn't just depression. Or say it is- if it were and were treated-the only thing it might change is me wanting to meet people. It wouldn't change the fact that I really don't have time, don't have any real interests that would prove interesting to anyone, and have no money to do anything even if I met someone. But back to the family Seder-I go-and I'm alone in the middle of family. It's not that it's suddenly this way. It's been this way for years. I could even tolerate. I'm just less willing to do so. To keep family harmony, I won't be able to tell the truth. Luckily, I say luckily, my Myasthenia Gravis has been acting up for the last 3 months. One of the symptoms is I'm chronically short of breath. The severity comes and goes. But I've already missed one family party because of it. And I won't miss Passover completely. My Mom will not like that I won't be there. But she'll have my siblings there. And on the second night, the retirement community where my Mom lives is having a second night Seder. My Mom, my 92 year old uncle, his girlfriend, my brother, his wife, my sister, one niece, and her husband will be there. I'll plan to go to that one. Gman

He had become less muscular for a while. Going by that Instagram picture, it looks like he's working out like a fiend these days. I wonder what his ex Tyler is up to these days. Gman

I'm going to disagree. But it may not actually be a disagreement as I don't usually go for the young hipsters. Usually when I was hiring 25 would have been a minimum age for me, and I preferred guys in their 30's. That doesn't mean I think the older guys would be into me either. But hopefully there's a maturity that the younger guys might not have. As for the the straight guys-I can't get over how horrible it would be for me to have to service a female-any female whether hot or not. If I can't stand that, how can I in good conscience really want to hire a straight guy. One example I can think of-but I probably have more-a Dallas escort I think named Dean-it was 8 years ago. A young guy in his mid to late 20's I'm presuming. He advertised as gay. We were in bed together. And while I'm loath to reveal all my the tricks in my repertoire ?, I was nuzzling/kissing his neck and ears. He was showing some strong physical reactions. But I asked anyway-it's always nice to confirm these things verbally. I asked him whether he liked that. He said, "Yes, can't you tell?" Now he might have been faking. But my recollection is that if he were faking, he was certainly a great actor. I'm not sure a straight guy would have really been that enthused about a gay man nuzzling his neck. Gman

I'm going to disagree. But it may not actually be a disagreement as I don't usually go for the young hipsters. Usually when I was hiring 25 would have been a minimum age for me, and I preferred guys in their 30's. That doesn't mean I think the older guys would be into me either. But hopefully there's a maturity that the younger guys might not have. As for the the straight guys-I can't get over how horrible it would be for me to have to service a female-any female whether hot or not. If I can't stand that, how can I in good conscience really want to hire a straight guy. One example I can think of-but I probably have more-a Dallas escort I think named Dean-it was 8 years ago. A young guy in his mid to late 20's I'm presuming. He advertised as gay. We were in bed together. And while I'm loath to reveal all my the tricks in my repertoire ?, I was nuzzling/kissing his neck and ears. He was showing some strong physical reactions. But I asked anyway-it's always nice to confirm these things verbally. I asked him whether he liked that. He said, "Yes, can't you tell?" Now he might have been faking. But my recollection is that if he were faking, he was certainly a great actor. I'm not sure a straight guy would have really been that enthused about a gay man nuzzling his neck. Gman

I'm going to disagree. But it may not actually be a disagreement as I don't usually go for the young hipsters. Usually when I was hiring 25 would have been a minimum age for me, and I preferred guys in their 30's. That doesn't mean I think the older guys would be into me either. But hopefully there's a maturity that the younger guys might not have. As for the the straight guys-I can't get over how horrible it would be for me to have to service a female-any female whether hot or not. If I can't stand that, how can I in good conscience really want to hire a straight guy. One example I can think of-but I probably have more-a Dallas escort I think named Dean-it was 8 years ago. A young guy in his mid to late 20's I'm presuming. He advertised as gay. We were in bed together. And while I'm loath to reveal all my the tricks in my repertoire ?, I was nuzzling/kissing his neck and ears. He was showing some strong physical reactions. But I asked anyway-it's always nice to confirm these things verbally. I asked him whether he liked that. He said, "Yes, can't you tell?" Now he might have been faking. But my recollection is that if he were faking, he was certainly a great actor. I'm not sure a straight guy would have really been that enthused about a gay man nuzzling his neck. Gman

Who knew I'd have something in common with a cute escort? Gman

Maybe it's because he's straight? Gman

Who is his old partner? Gman

Blech!! Gman

Back in the day I tried to only use SW Airlines because the tickets were transferable either to another person or you could get your money back. Nowadays that's all in the past. The TSA stopped SW from letting you transfer tickets to another person. And SW also started saying the tickets aren't refundable if you don't cancel before the flight takes off. I think however that you can still cancel and get a refund on SW if it occurs before the flight takes off. If this is true, and the guy goes silent on you, it provides some level of protection. Gman

@Monpix -I don't know if you noticed. But this thread originated 19 years ago. Those were real websites at the time. But not anymore. Gman

In Plano (a northern suburb of Dallas) the lowest I see is 2.339. But if you buy a Walmart gift card, it drops the price 3 cents. Gman

I was thinking $1600 was the mid to upper end of normal and wondering what the OP was complaining about. Then I read @Beancounter 's post and saw the original was from those halcyon days of lower fees. Gman

He doesn't deep kiss-well let me be more specific- he wouldn't deep kiss with me. But unless it was to spare my feelings, he said he didn't deep kiss clients. Now this was probably 7 years ago. So things might have changed. And most of, if not all, the pictures on his ad are very old. Gman

I don't have a password. I'm a member. Gman

I have to say I pity him. I mean it must get so boring knowing you can have sex just about anytime you want it. I'll bet he doesn't appreciate getting to have sex 1/2 as much I appreciate my experiences. Let's see my last real foray was in December. I can't even tell you how appreciative I'd be if something happened soon. Gman