Charlie

Because I was quite young--17--when I came out, it was natural that most of my gay friends and sexual partners were older than I was. The 42 year difference I referenced in my opening post was a result of being ready to sleep with almost anyone who was willing, and one of my first gay friends was a man who was 59. I was the one who initiated the relationship, and he was somewhat hesitant. I really had no idea how old he was, until another acquaintance invited me to a 60th birthday party for him. Many of the men I had sex with when I was a teenager were in their 30s and 40s, because they were the only ones who had a place where we could do it; I didn't have a place of my own until I was 21, by which time I had already had a lot of sex. As I aged, I still preferred men who were at least my own age and usually older; I only had one serious affair with someone younger (4 years younger). Even when I started hiring escorts, they were rarely more than a few years younger than I was, until I approached retirement, when the mature escort demographic thinned out.

It was because of my love of Indian food that I was interested in visiting India. I first discovered Indian restaurants in NYC in the 1960s, and became a regular at them when I lived in London in the 70s. When I visited India in the 80s and 90s, the best Indian food was usually found in big hotels, although I did eat in a couple of good independent restaurants in Mumbai. Even street food never made me sick, but the water was something else. In the countryside, the safest thing to drink was coconut water from a coconut slashed open right in front of you.

This sounds like one of my trips to India and Indonesia. We even stayed in the Shiv Niwas in Udaipur.

42 years. (I was the younger one)

The SCOTUS decision legalizing marriage at the federal level came in 2013.

My partner and I recently celebrated our 50th anniversary living together. After the first three honeymoon weeks together, we both admitted that we were attracted to other men as well, and the only way our relationship was likely to survive was if we were honest about it. Therefore, we accepted the fact that sex with others was going to happen, maybe even affairs--they did--and we shared the necessary information about who we were sleeping with. We also had an understanding that, because we loved each other, we would let one another go if one of those other relationships reached that level of importance that one of us wanted to leave. It got close a couple of times, but we always decided that our relationship was too important to us, and we split with the potential new partner. I started hiring escorts partly because it eliminated the potential for emotional involvement. In 2013, we got married, and we have been monogamous ever since. (OK, OK! I'll admit it has been easy, since we don't get any other offers nowadays.)

I have discovered that the microwave is a great way to cook fish. I buy a 1lb slab of salmon at Trader Joe's; I cook it for one minute on each side in a frying pan, then transfer it to a microwaveable plate and cook it again for one minute on each side. It comes out cooked just right, still moist and tender.

That takes serious organization. You're a stronger man than I am.

I am amazed that someone as active here as you are was unaware of the "New Posts" option. That is what I click on as soon as I have checked my "alerts." I find it simplifies the whole process as I drop in and out of the site.

Those turkey sausages do have potato starch, salt, dextrose, sugar and spices (unspecified) added to them. The list of ingredients added to most baked products, including bread and muffins, is a lot longer than that. Nevertheless, I am not about to make my own sausage (believe it or not, I have done it once, from a freshly slaughtered pig) or bake my own bread any more, so I pop my store-bought sausage in the microwave and muffin in the toaster, and try to forget about the extra ingredients.

Then you should probably avoid most processed foods, since these are fairly common ingredients in them.

I find the breakfast bowls have too much potato as filler.

They are my guilty pleasure. I just bought a new kind an hour ago: The Egg'wich, a breadless sandwich. My favorite until now has been the croissant filled with egg, cheese and sausage. I doubt that most doctors would recommend them--400 calories, 230 of them from fat, and 5 grams of sugar--but I find them very satisfying. The Egg'wich is only 240 calories, 160 of them from fat, and 3 grams of sugar.

No photo of the iconic "boy in the sand," Casey Donovan/Calvin Culver?

That is a misleading description, since he started at the Realschule in Linz the same year that Hitler dropped out, and both were 16 years old at the time. Also, they were from very different social classes; Wittgenstein was a boarding student (his wealthy family lived in Vienna) while Hitler was a day student. Wittgenstein needed a lot of private tutoring, because he arrived unprepared for the standard courses, so he probably didn't even have the same classes as Hitler, who had been a student for a few years. It's unlikely that they had any kind of personal relationship. Nevertheless, once Wittgenstein became a kind of cult figure in intellectual circles, his opponents were always looking for some Hitlerian connection.

The Amish used to use "gay" to refer to anyone who was not Amish. I don't know if they still do.

Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca

Yesterday for breakfast I had o.j., a banana, a bowl of rice chex cereal, and a cup of coffee. Lunch was a slice of Sbarro pizza. Afternoon snack was a little tuna salad. Dinner was a large Cobb salad with a glass of chardonnay, and a chocolate covered vanilla ice cream pop. Lots of water and Gatorade during the day. This morning's breakfast was o.j., several strawberries, a cheese omelette with a side of pork sausage, and a cup of coffee.

:cool:Happy Birthday to a cool guy!

It would depend on the dog. My current dog is priceless, but I have given other dogs away.

What do you do if your phone is lost or stolen, or not working?

I carry two wallets, one with ID cards (driver's license, AAA, health insurance, library card, etc., the other with cash and credit cards. Both are in my front pockets. I usually wear cargo pants/shorts (one of the perks of being retired and living in a resort town).

Apartments burglarized twice; two bikes stolen, one of them left for only a moment in front of house, the other stolen from garage while door was open (he jumped on the bike and rode away as I chased him on foot); car window smashed by vandal; contractor took money for job, then disappeared without doing the work.

Happy Birthday! (hehe--I know how old you are)

Sorry, I have to save some private information from identity thieves.