Charlie

Thank you, Moondance. This may be my favorite thread in the Gallery.

I suspect there are still remnants of the hustler life that John Rechy knew there.

Both.

My guess is that traffic on the 5 on Tuesday afternoon will be much heavier going northbound out of LA and SFV than southbound into the valley, and vice versa on Thursday.

I have no nieces or nephews of my own, but my partner has four middle-aged nieces and a nephew, all of whom call him Uncle Joe. We have been together since before any of them were born, so they have known me all their lives. Three of the nieces still call me Charlie, but since our marriage, one niece and the nephew call me Uncle Charlie.

My first apartment in Philly was in a townhouse on a pleasant residential block a short walk from City Hall, between Rittenhouse Square and the Gayborhood; it cost $60/mo. Those days are long gone. Center City is full of expensive new hi-rises. The Gayborhood has been invaded by straight millenials who want to live close to their offices and restaurants. One used to be able to move up toward the Art Museum or across the Schuylkill to Powelton, but they have also become crowded and expensive. Spring Garden may still be a possibility. I'm told that Fishtown and even Frankford are the new "happening" neighborhoods, but I have no experience with either one. I think it is probably still possible to find affordable places in Bella Vista, Queen Village, or the area south of South St west of Broad. If convenience to City Hall is important to you, and you can't find someplace within walking distance, don't stray far from stops on the Market or Broad St subways.

Unfortunately, not everyone who advertises as an "escort" is a mentally/emotionally stable businessman. You have turned down all his offers, but he seems to hear your reasons as an invitation to bargain, not as the definite rejections that you have tried to imply. Do not continue to interact with him in any way, because it just keeps you in his thoughts. Keep a record of his attempts to contact you, however, in case legal action does eventually become necessary.

Nate was the best escort experience I ever had in LA. Period. However, I would warn that some photos in his ad are several years old. I have met Kristian several times socially, but I have seen his cock, and it is memorable. He is also very personable. Iron Maus I have met only briefly, and he seems sweet, but he appears somewhat younger than the other men you have mentioned here, and I suspect that maturity is part of what you find attractive, if you are turned on by Roman and Westcoastmike.

Although I am a very experienced traveler, all over the world, I still don't sleep well the night before a trip--especially if it involves flying--and I always have nervous bowels until we are underway. Once I am aboard the plane/ship/train/car/horse, etc., I usually relax, until I have to move on to the next phase of the journey.

If you squint, he looks like Tim Tebow.

It is interesting that most of these bald guys have a lot of body hair.

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.