Charlie

This thread title caught my eye because I knew a guy named Frank Moretti, but this doesn't look anything like him. Oh, and he is also about 40 years too young. I hope he hasn't stolen Frank's identity.

Love it! It would also be perfect for the wedding reception, except that parking in that area would be a problem for the guests.

This is your audition proposal for an episode of "House Hunters," right? I'll bet the producer will be ringing your doorbell at any moment. Let us know when it will be broadcast, because I am dying to see which one you pick. I'm voting for House #1.

Wonderful thread, but do you have too much time on your hands waiting for your betrothed to return?

90% of the calls I get on my home phone are scams or solicitations, so I glance at the ID, and unless it is a person or a number that I recognize, I don't answer. If it is important, the caller can leave a message. My voicemail is set to pick up after six rings, because robocallers almost always hang up after 4 or 5 rings. Some unwanted callers call almost every day; apparently they never scrub their lists despite the lack of response. Only a few people know my iPhone number, and they hardly ever use it; I never seem to get robocalls on it. There are a couple of people with whom I only exchange texts, which is one of the reasons I got the iPhone. I do have an old flip phone as well, with an AT&T account I hardly ever use. When I tried to get an error on the bill corrected, I couldn't find a service rep who knew how to do it, so I finally had to write a letter to customer care in Indiana; they have never responded. Last week I was trying to get the bill paid through their customer service (it was due in two days), but they said they could only help me if I gave them my special ID number, which I didn't know, so they said they would send it to me, but they texted it to the flip phone, which doesn't receive texts! I had to deal with four customer service reps before I found one who could figure out how to take a payment over the phone without the special ID number. I'm ready to cancel the account--if I can figure out how to do it.

One always wonders how a loving family could turn on a child and reject him completely solely for being honest about his feelings and needs, rather than dutifully meeting all their expectations. As time passes, they may re-evaluate their response, not to take advantage of you, but because they realize their mistake. Meanwhile, it is great that you are there for him. And now you won't have to manage a big family wedding, just something more intimate. BTW, I know a happy couple who have been together for decades, who started in a very similar fashion to the two of you. The younger man's very traditional family in a conservative country eventually did accept the situation, if not always graciously, and the siblings have become reconciled.

I don't use bleach on my undies. And I don't believe in spending money to replace anything that doesn't need to be replaced. Now, if I wore them on the outside of my clothes, I might invest in new ones more often.

I change them whenever it becomes necessary for sanitary reasons. E.g., after I play tennis on days like this, when the temperature is 116, they are soaked with sweat, so I change them immediately as soon as I get home. OTOH, sometimes I will wear the same pair for three or four days if they are dry, clean and don't smell. I can't imagine buying new underwear every year, like Hoover42. I still wear a few pairs of underpants that I bought at Bloomingdale's in the mid-1980s, and they are still in good condition, though newer ones often do wear out more quickly. I rarely need to wear undershirts, so they last a long time. I rarely get rid of any clothing I like if it is still wearable, so I still wear some of the things that I bought when I was a college student.

When I was 12, it was Elvis who gave me a woody. By the time I was 16, it was Brando.

A good friend of mine was a singer. One evening during a concert, he happened to mention that his brother was in the audience. I was sitting in the audience with his brother. During the intermission, several people came up to us and began to talk...to ME, about how much I looked like my brother, the performer.

These are masturbation fantasies, not serious proposals by a responsible adult. He doesn't need clients; he needs intervention by a good counselor.

The Don Juan stereotype for opera superstars has been around for a couple of centuries; men whose careers depend on convincing a live audience that they are consumed with passion for women they are making love to on stage may find it easy to identify with the Don Juan role. What makes this less acceptable is the claims that Domingo retaliated by damaging the careers of those who resisted. It also makes things very awkward for those whom he obviously favored, like Ana Maria Martinez, whose relationships with him will be questioned. Opera companies and orchestras have always felt it was good business to protect their great artists from public exposure whenever they got in trouble, as the Met did with James Levine. The whole business model is now under review.

You won't be asked any questions about how you met when you are applying for a marriage license. I assume that after you are married, there will be questions from USCIS (successor to the INS) regarding your new spouse's status.

I dunno, it doesn't look much like New Jersey to me.

No, one can get the license only at the county office.

One can make arrangements in advance to be married at the city hall in Palm Springs by the mayor. We were married at the old county office in Indio, which has since been torn down (alas! so much gay history destroyed!), and has been relocated to Palm Desert.

We got married right after licenses began to be issued in California in 2013, so there were lines of applicants at the local county Recorder's office in Indio when we showed up on Tuesday, but the commissioner had set up special arrangements to handle them all. We both had to appear in person, with an acceptable witness (in our case, a friend who was a retired lawyer), fill out the forms, pay for the license, and we had it certified right there. We three needed to show ID (you also need to provide divorce papers from a previous marriage if necessary). Because we wanted a civil marriage, we could have been married right there and then by a Deputy Commissioner for Civil Marriages, but we would have had a long wait that day, and I had neglected to wear white . So we made an appt to be married the following Monday, when we returned with two friends as witnesses (only one is legally required). There was a short standard ceremony, which we had been given a copy of when we made the appt; the officiant was a Deputy Commissioner, in a robe, and took about ten minutes; it took place in a room set up like a small non-denominational chapel, with seating for a number of people if you had invited others to attend. And then it was over, and we were legally married, with an official printed certificate--after 45 years of living together in sin.

Napoleon's was there thirty years before then. I remember being taken there when I was in my 20s, and it was just as you describe it.

Everyone in Philly knows where you are going when you're "heading down the shore."

I never imagined in the 1960s that the day would come when I would completely lose interest in going to gay bars, but it finally did about ten years ago.

But I have heard Domingo fairly recently, and he can still sing the right roles (and I don't mean the Emperor Altoum).

Well, I still haven't responded to Joe Namath's enthusiastic encouragement to call the "Medicare Hotline" to "get all the benefits you deserve! Call now! It's FREE!" (the 800 number call, not the extra benefits)

Each relationship started with a strong physical attraction, but could only be maintained with an even stronger intellectual and emotional compatibility.

Anyone who listens to SoCal traffic reports knows the terms "lookie-loo" and "Sig alert."

In its early days, it used to be referred to as "the Surekill Expressway."