Charlie

I talk to myself in my head all the time. Yeah, I'm old.

When I was much younger, my partner and I lived and worked in Philadelphia, where we owned a house, but I also owned a co-op apartment in Manhattan, where we had lived previously, because we went there so regularly that it was cheaper and more convenient to have our own place there whenever we wanted to go for a weekend or longer. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, however, we stopped going to NYC so frequently, so I decided to sell the apartment and use the money to upgrade our full-time home in Philadelphia. The main problem with having two homes was that we had to have two of everything, and if we had only one, I often accidentally left it in the wrong residence.

When I came out at 17, the only guys that were easily available to me were older men, so the desired partner was usually in the 25-45 age range, which was desirable because they were experienced and I wasn't. (They also had private places to do things, and I didn't). As I aged, I was more likely to prefer men my own age--I was never attracted to twinks anyway, even when they started to be interested in me. When I settled down with a partner at 25, he was 33. Ours was not an exclusive relationship--we both had sex with other men, from time to time, and they were usually in our own age range. Neither of us had a specific physical type--we were more interested in personalities. (That doesn't mean we didn't care what the guy looked like, only that he didn't have to exhibit specific physical attributes like a certain height, hair pattern or cock size, etc.) Once I reached middle age and started hiring, I was likely to hire certain physical types more regularly than others, and over the years the age spread between the provider and myself steadily increased--after all, there aren't a lot of over-60 providers (or they don't admit it). What I felt like doing sexually and how much I wanted to spend became the deciding factors in my selectivity. After 70, I pretty much lost interest in sex, except as a spectator sport.

At least one third of the mail in my spam folder every day lately is ads offering some sort of "debt relief." But except for my mortgage, I won't buy anything that I can't pay off in full within a month (probably a psychological legacy from my penny-pinching parents).

Somewhere, under the rainbow....

I live alone (with my dog), but my only serious medical problem is my age. The other night I was lying in bed in a strange state between being awake and asleep, and wondered if I were dying. My main concern was how long it might take for someone to notice that I was missing. Then I remembered that my house cleaner was coming that afternoon, so he would find my body before it started to rot and my dog started to eat it, so I relaxed and fell asleep. But my concerns about living alone are not normally so morbid. I live in an age-restricted retirement community and have neighbors who also live alone, so we tend to be alert to one another's situations. I think it is always good to have friendly neighbors whom you know well enough to entrust with your keys. The other day I had an earthquake alert on my phone, and I felt the ground rumbling under my floor. As soon as it stopped, I went nextdoor to check on my neighbor, who was widowed in December and now lives alone; to my surprise, she hadn't felt the quake at all, although she also got an alert on her phone. Soon my phone was buzzing with calls and texts from neighbors checking in, as well as friends from outside the community. I have neighbors whom I socialize with every day as I walk my dog, and I belong to a group of card players who meet regularly in our Lodge. I also belong to a tennis club and usually play tennis a couple of days a week. The important thing to remember if you live alone--regardless of your medical condition--is to maintain regular social contacts, and do the same things for them that you hope they would do for you.

I brew a pot of coffee (usually Starbucks brand) and drink one (occasionally two) cups per day until it's gone. I use one teaspoon of sugar in a cup. A pot usually lasts me several days--I re-heat the cups of cold coffee in the microwave.

I'd like to see the rest of that interesting tattoo.

If you are hiring from an ad, pay attention to what he says HE likes to do or will do. If there is something in his list that you do not want to experience, be sure to mention that before you start ("Your ad says you are into WS, but if you piss in my mouth I will probably have to throw up on you."). I would also be careful about agreeing to serious bondage in a first meeting. After all, you are the one who is paying, so you have a right to set the parameters.

The title of this thread unnerved me, because for many years I had a close gay friend named Robert Lawson (now long deceased).

My dog normally sleeps on my bed with me, but he also has a bed of his own on the floor. If an escort were going to spend the night, I would just explain the situation to my dog, and I'm sure he would understand and discreetly spend the night in his own bed.

You didn't list my mother's birthday (122 years ago.)

Before he bleached his hair.

Vintage.

Those haircuts made me wonder if they actually were role-playing.

Why would I pay to sleep with someone?

Well, maybe one of them at least thought so for a little while.

Let's face it: unless we are good friends with Geffen, we don't really know why he married the young guy instead of just paying his fee, or why the guy married him, even though we know some hot young guys who have sex with older men purely for the money.. Most of us are reacting based on the stereotypes we are familiar with. If Geffen doesn't care what it is costing him, and the young man doesn't care that he is perceived by most on-lookers as a gold-digger (and I can't believe he doesn't realize that), then we are just watching a story unfold and commenting on what the plot means to us. It is not a story that has anything to teach me, since I will never be in either character's position.

Lucky you!

Oh, dear! So many holes, so little time.

His name would create psychological problems for me, since my father's first name was King.

Interesting that in the stats he lists 6'5" but in the text he describes himself as 6'4". Most adults are not unsure of their own height.

Looks more like Granddaddy issue.

Yes, we did. (Check my PM to you.)

That photo must be ancient--I think he was using the same one 20 years ago (I can't forget that tattoo), so he has to be older than 45 now.