Charlie

My father was at that perfect game by Don Larsen in Yankee Stadium. Strangely, it was the only WS game he ever went to there. I was at home listening to it on the radio.

When I was a teenager, friends and I used to drive past Pat Boone's house at night, in the hope that the curtains on the living room window would be open and we would see him and/or one of his guests. One night we got lucky and saw him with Lesley Gore.

Dogs have more liberties in many western European countries than they do in the US. The recent appearance of "dog friendly" hotels and restaurants in this country follows in the steps of longtime customs in England, France and Germany. Unfortunately, Europeans seem much less inclined to clean up the messes their pets leave in public places than Americans do.

The times when I have been dog-less have been exciting and liberating, because I can go wherever and whenever I want, and keep whatever hours I want. But the pleasure in freedom always wears off, and then I want a canine companion, for all the affection and entertainment he provides. Right now we have a dog who hates to let us out of his sight, unless he can be with someone else he loves. I haven't been on a plane for almost two years, because it is hard to leave him behind. Our travels are planned around dog-friendly hotels/motels and restaurants. Tonight we are going out to a nice restaurant without him, because our neighbors offer to entertain him when we want to eat somewhere other than an outdoor patio, and we reciprocate with their dog.

I love these photos of Manhattan street life in the 1950s and 60s. They take me back to those exciting days of my youth, cruising the city.

I use something only I would know: the name of one of the many pets I have owned during my lifetime, plus its birthdate or the date on which I acquired it. That is info that no one else could even guess..

There is socializing among longtime forum members (especially the regulars from the Strip Club forum, who sometimes arrange to meet at the clubs), and the original Palm Springs Weekend was conceived by Lucky as simply a way for several posters from southern CA to get together to chat in person. I have never heard of non-escort posters getting together with one another for (gasp!) sexual activity. That doesn't mean the sluts haven't done so, of course.

I don't know where the term originated, but I suspect it was from the famous image of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire.

For example, the typical German greeting "Wie geht's?" translates as "How's it going?"

I still have those original Mandate photos of Franco (142)!

Fun!

There are many words in English that are imported directly from another language, but have acquired a different pronunciation here, even British English words that are pronounced differently by Americans (e.g., think "clerk" pronounced by a New Yorker and a Londoner). Proper names are another "issue" (see Mike Carey's explanation above). I watch a lot of tennis on tv, and I cringe when I hear the American and British commentators' pronunciation of the players' non-English names.

Are any of those old phone sex lines still in business?

There was an obituary in my local paper this morning in which every sentence ended with an exclamation point!

Being referred to as "@Charlie."

"...you know..." before almost every sentence. (I realize it is a place-holder to prevent the listener from interrupting before the speaker has said all he or she wants to say, but you know, I find it irritating--you do know that, don't you?)

I loved it last year when Nicki Haley used that response to Trump's criticism of her. I don't think he understood her.

That's amazing!

Wow! That photo of #25 certainly brings back memories. I had non-commercial sex with him shortly after I had seen that photo in a magazine, which had to have been about 40 years ago.

Ah, the adorable Bruno! I sat next to him once on the ferry to Cherry Grove. He never said a word to the man he was traveling with. At a later time, another escort told me Bruno never smiled because he was extremely shy and embarrassed that his English was so poor (he was Cuban), so he didn't want to invite conversation.

Since the "Czech Republic" has been around now for almost a quarter century, it's not surprising that younger Czechs use it naturally, because it's the only name they have ever known. I still slip and call it Czechoslovakia, because that's what it was when I lived there.

One of the big debates when Slovakia split from Czechoslovakia was what to call the new country. I was living there at the time, and there was lots of discussion. Some Czechs wanted to revert to the old Hapsburg designation of Bohemia, but that really ignored the Moravians. A logical change would have been to Czechomoravia, since the Moravians stayed with the Czechs when the Slovaks seceded. But the Czechs have always been the dominant group in that relationship, and they finally decided to just refer to it as "The Czech Republic," which is awkward, since that is an English designation (only the Czechs ever call it Ceska Republika). "Czechia" makes it sound more like a geographical entity, with an easy name that can stay the same in any language.

Does the Palm Springs Weekend count as "real life?"

You will notice that Rudy's form is a little more awkward than mine, but he learned quickly.

Did I ever tell you about the time I danced with Nureyev? Yeah, I probably did.