Charlie

Talk about the power of suggestion: all I did was read the title of this topic, and I immediately had to race to the bathroom so fast that I tripped on the cord to my computer.

In my family, it is not unusual for a woman to live past 100, but I know of only one male who ever made it to 90. I am not eager to break that record.

OMG! That means my mother was an old lady when I was born! (she was 39, and I was her first child). I, on the other hand, believed in starting everything young: I came out as gay at 17, had settled down with my partner at 25, and retired at 60.

I wonder how many people with 50 year mortgages actually pay them off?

Quintuplets?

I can relate to him. My late partner and I have never been able to get rid of a book, even after we have read it and probably never will open it again. I have 98 shelves of books in 21 bookcases in my house (some of them floor-to-ceiling bookcases). My house-cleaner keeps urging me to sell some of them somehow, but I just can't face the task--I become sentimental whenever I pick up a book written by or about someone I knew, or that I used to use in classes that I taught. I live in a gated retirement community that has a lending library for residents, so I asked the librarian and his partner to go through my collection and take whatever thy thought they could use. They came with a pick-up truck and left with five large boxes of books, and it hardly made a dent in the collection. I know my heirs will be cursing me when they have to figure out what to do with all of it.

"Lucky" has been a regular poster here since the days of Hooboy and Daddy, both of whom he knew personally. When he moved to Palm Springs 22 years ago, he created the "Palm Springs Weekend," an opportunity for members of this website to get together and socialize. The first weekend consisted of a dinner at a local restaurant, followed by a party the next day; he organized and hosted both days. It became an annual event, as more and more site members who became residents or visitors in Palm Springs got involved in the activities. Now it is a regular part of this website's calendar, and site members come from all over the country and world every year to participate in the activities organized by many members. Unfortunately, in recent years "Lucky" has suffered an onslaught of medical problems. I am sorry to have to report that I was called to the hospital yesterday, where he died in the late afternoon in the arms of his loving partner and his always supportive family members. Farewell, my longtime dear friend--my life here in Palm Springs will be emptier without you.

Hey, I said I wore a toupee, not a wig!

Like my father, I started balding when I was still in my 30s; I opted at one point for a toupee, but found it a nuisance, especially when someone tried to run his fingers through it. However, as I aged, I found that keeping my whole head shaved fairly close actually made me look younger and improved my sex life.

My first job interview after college back in the 1960s was for a job as "electronic data processing co-ordinator" for a large hospital. At that point in my life, I had never even seen a computer. When I confessed that to the interviewer, his response was, "Don't worry: you graduated from a good school with high honors, so you are obviously smart enough to learn all about them quickly." My best friend had a similar experiences--although he majored in Russian literature, he was hired right out of college by the New York Stock Exchange as a computer programmer. I don't think any new college graduate today would have that particular experience; however, I suspect that new college graduates looking for a job in A.I. today might hear the same kind of response from a job interviewer. So my advice to a student today would be to major in something you love and get high grades, because the interviewers for jobs in A.I. will probably have the same mindset.

A boy's face on a man's body.

After my spouse and I stopped getting the COVID shots regularly, we both caught it. Luckily, we had mild cases, but after that, I went back to getting the vaccine every year.

I have never had any reaction to the booster, including the most recent one.

I don't know.

"The best laid schemes o' mice and men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy." Robert Burns (I often thought of that Scottish proverb when setting up something with a provider)

I was less nervous about coming out to my father than to my mother, because my father had a favorite cousin who was homosexual long before most Americans knew what "gay" meant. His cousin also had a partner, which the whole family seemed to accept. Both men were fairly "masculine" in the usual sense of the term, so my father didn't seem particularly surprised when I explained that I was "gay," too. He asked if my best friend at that time was "gay", also, and I said that he was, but we were not partners, which I think relieved him, because my friend was a bit flamboyant. He seemed even more relieved when I settled down with my partner, who was not obviously "gay", and he accepted our relationship as normal. My mother was more disappointed by the news, because it meant that she would have no grandchildren, as her younger sisters did. My parents did not live long enough to see my partner and I get legally married, but I am sure they would have been comfortable with that.

Yes.

If you don't mind heat, you might like to come here this week: the high is supposed to be 113.

When my doctor asked me how often I jerked off, I told him I hardly ever do any longer. He thought I ought to do it more, and he prescribed a medication that he said would make me want to do it more often, called Sildenafil. I didn't find it to be very effective, but I didn't tell him that.

My plans for the hereafter have usually been in response to the death of someone close to me. I made my first will when I was in my 40s, as a result of dealing with my father's death. When friends my own age started dying during the AIDS epidemic, I started thinking about what would happen if I were to go relatively unexpectedly, and began to revise the will to deal with things like the distribution of personal papers. I was happily married for many years, but the death of my partner a couple of years ago made me realize the necessity of major changes to the existing will, of which he was to be the executor and primary beneficiary. With no children or close family members, and with most close friends as likely to die before as after me, I had to find someone I could trust to understand and carry out my wishes. I settled on my partner's youngest brother, with whom I have been friendly for many years, and his brother's daughter--a very responsible lawyer--as co-executors, because they would understand the situation and would be willing and capable of carrying out my wishes. Their family members will also be beneficiaries, so it is in their own interest to take care of things. But I am also thinking now about getting rid of lots of things before I die, so no one else will have to deal with them when my time comes.

A few days ago, a neighbor who is twenty years younger than I am said to me, " Well, at our age..." and I interrupted, "What age is that?" When he told me his age, I said, "When you were in kindergarten, I was in working on a Ph.D.." He gave me a surprised look, and said, "But you don't look any older than I am!" He made my day 😊

How I wish!!!

OK, that's step one. Now.....

When I lived in Manhattan, I worked in the suburbs, and driving was the only reasonable way for me to get to work. The worst thing about living in NYC with a car wasn't gas prices, but parking.

Tom Sellek