Charlie

I normally drink filtered water from my refrigerator. However, when traveling I usually buy bottled water.

There is an interesting subconcious definition that runs through most of the comments in this thread (including my own): "American" means white and native born. On the street in Paris, could you tell the difference between a Somali-American from Minneapolis and a Senegalese-Frenchman from Marseilles?

When I lived in PA, liquor stores were always referred to as "state stores," since they were run by the state. ("I'm going to the state store. We're out of scotch.")

If human beings have a "purpose" in the universe, it is unlikely that we are capable of figuring it out, since we don't even know if the universe has any purpose. It has taken millions of years for the process of evolution to create a human mind capable of understanding very much about itself, much less about its place in any larger scheme. In fact, the very concepts of abstractions like purpose and meaning have been generated by human minds, and may be irrelevant to the reality of what exists. We can't even get our minds around meaning without the use of that slippery thing called language, which doesn't exist separate from the electrical connections in our brains. Do other forms of life wonder about their purpose in the universe? I can tell you something about the purpose of bacteria in my existence, but I doubt that a bacterium could tell you much about me. much less about our relationship. If I have a purpose in some larger being (call it the Universe, if you like), I can't tell you what it might be. So, like other human beings throughout history, I assign a meaning to my existence, even though it is based, consciously or unconsciously, on meanings that I have been introduced to by my subjective experience, which is necessarily different from every other person's experiences. And I am happy enough to live with that subjective belief about my purpose or meaning, even if I suspect that I probably have no ultimate meaning or purpose.

Hoagie (in Philly) or sub (anywhere else), frankfurter (for the meat alone) or hot dog (when it's in a roll), soft drink (soda belongs in gin), tennis shoes if I play tennis in them, but sneakers if they are just for walking.

Fifty years ago I could almost always tell a European from an American because of a number of differences in style, but now I can't see any noticeable differences in clothing or grooming.

Given your lack of experience, I would bypass the commercial sites like "rentmen" as starters, and go to "daddysreviews" site, look for the city you expect to be in, and read reviews of the escorts that clients have actually experienced. Many reviewers also are members of this site, and you can ask about specific escorts/masseurs in the Deli forum, or start private conversations with members here who know about the specific escorts and the best way to approach them.

I only respond to organizations that I have given to regularly over the years, but I always tell them to send me something in the mail. I never give to anyone who makes a cold call solicitation, and I tell them that. My phone does ring constantly with requests for contributions, and most of the time I look at the caller ID but don't answer. I am more likely to give to organizations that never use phone solicitations.

When I am out shopping, I always pay with a credit card, but any bill I pay from home I always pay with a check. If I am paying for something that is tax deductible, like a medical bill or a contribution to an organization, I always write a check, because I find it easier to keep track of them that way. Telephone solicitors often say they would prefer that I use a card, but I tell them that if they want a donation, they will have to send me a letter and I will send them a check. I usually ask a service provider (housecleaner, gardener, barber, etc.) whether they would prefer cash or a check, because I know that sometimes cash is easier for them. I send Daddy a check made out to WinkWinkNodNod LLC. Try it.

I lost my "virginity" in every way--oral (active/passive) and anal (active/passive)--on the same day. O, what a day it was!

I lost mine at 17 years and three months.

Don't forget about auto-correct, which is probably responsible for many errors, including those in these posts.

Bingo! That was actually the source of his name, bestowed on his father by his Latin-history-loving grandfather.

Pokorny based the statue on a photo taken of a Czech worker (not a soldier) embracing a Russian soldier during the liberation of Prague from the Germans in 1945. The statue is more dramatic than the photo, in which the men are not actually kissing, nor as physically attractive. It is intended to be propaganda about the "brotherhood" between Russians and Czechs, in which the Russians are clearly the big brother saving the grateful younger brother. Few Europeans of that time would have interpreted the embrace, or even the kiss, as homoerotic, the way we modern sex-minded Americans do.

My first partner's first name was Geta, which people who only saw it or heard it usually assumed was a female's name. This was sometimes convenient for me, back in the Dark Ages pre-Stonewall, when I casually discussed my domestic situation with strangers. The name could have been awkward for him, but he was a Southern WASP (bless their little quirks!), and it was also his father's name, so he usually added "Jr." to make his gender clear. Serena Williams' new baby girl, however, is legally named Alexis Ohanion, Jr., after her father, which seems really perverse to me, although her parents at least seem to refer to her as "Olympia," which is her middle name. I agree with Quora that it is not fair to a child to give it a name which inevitably causes confusion and mistakes when the child is growing up and claiming his or her identity among peers. Let the child choose its own odd name or spelling for itself when it is an adult.

Or was---that photo is very old, because I remember it from a magazine back before I ever saw the Internet.

Many years ago, when I was still a twink, an attractive man told me that he wanted to keep me in a cage at the foot of his bed for the night. Needless to say, I declined the invitation to his slumber party.

I once had a student whose name was Toya Lett. A colleague suggested that her mother should have been prosecuted for child abuse.

Lately I get a lot of calls from IDs like "unknown name" or "invalid number" (whatever that means). Sometimes it just says "wireless caller" or "toll free number." I also get a lot of calls that give the supposed location rather than the identity of the caller, and I don't answer if I don't know anyone in that place. My area code covers a very large geographical area, and apparently a lot of scammers get numbers in small towns within it. I have my voicemail set to start after six rings, because most professional callers for organizations or robocallers hang up if I don't answer after four rings. Legitimate callers will normally stay for the full six rings and then leave a message. The one thing I don't do is answer and engage the undesirable caller in any way, because it just lets them know that mine is an active number.

I find that I fart more often when playing tennis than I used to (mostly when I hit a forehand, but sometimes on my slice backhand drop shot).

No way.

As I enter my twilight years, I find that I feel sleepy after lunch, and sometimes I drift off if I close my eyes, something that never used to happen to me--when I was younger, I couldn't take an afternoon nap even if I tried.

Where else would one expect to find kosher meat but in the Deli?

I am still using furniture I bought at an IKEA in Penna. a quarter century ago, and it is as good as it was then.

Didn't you realize you had answered your own question? You could have brought an apple pie!