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I'm in complete agreement with the no ice/no mixer enjoyment of Scotch. It should be at room temperature (or warmed with your hand) to bring out the flavors and to not dilute the essence. The Speyside Scotches can vary a great deal for my palate, but the Glenlivet is uniformly reliable. The 12-year is fine, but the 18 is regal - golden and smooth! But my heart belongs to Islay. The Lagavulin and Ardbeg are enchanting, and the Laphroaig is more familiar than mother's milk, assuming her milk is at a high proof and bears a resemblance to gasoline. Bourbons are generally too sweet for me, and for some reason make me drunker faster (not what I'm looking for!) A cordial such as Frangelico or B&B are lovely endings, unless I'm in the mood for danger, then maybe a Black Sambuca. Champagne is also always welcome, but not to excess. Too many bubbles will put me on my butt.

Well, after all, men can better appreciate the value of a big tip. Especially when it goes in.

After enlisting in the Navy, I had to take a number of aptitude tests to help determine the programs I should be placed in. I'm pretty sure I failed the mechanical aptitude test since I couldn't tell the difference between a monkey wrench and an actual monkey. It should, then, come as no surprise that I initially thought the car's oil light came on when it was time to change the oil. And, in a way, I was right.

A urinary what?

It's the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the country. I know that's of little comfort if you're about to have it for the first time, but there's really very little to worry about. I've had it done on both eyes -about two years apart- and the only issue I had was a little scratchiness from the second surgery which went away when I saw the surgeon the next morning for a 24-hour follow-up. After that, no issues at all. Except for ... the eye drops! I hate doing eye drops. Before the procedure, they put about seven to ten sets of three to five drops of various things in the eye to be worked on - thought they'd never stop! After the surgery, you have to use drops in the affected eye for an extended time (maybe 30 days? - don't really remember.) But the doses are tapered during the treatment period so you use fewer and fewer drops as the course goes on. A minor inconvenience. Oh, you might experience "specks" floating in the eye's aqueous fluid; looks like gnats zipping around you. I went to lunch at a white tablecloth place a few days after one of my surgeries and kept trying to swat things away from my food. Went away after a week or so. Best of luck to you. I'm sure you'll be fine.

The skin tone and complexion are amazing!

Well, it seems safe to say you didn't use this list when you first picked New Jersey. I think the place you're looking for was described in a book by Thomas More, called Utopia. I'm not trying to be snarky, but only to point that the things on your list are things everybody might want in a locale, making the demand high, and driving the prices up. If your RN work is in a hospital environment, you might consider cities smaller than Metro NY. Baltimore with Johns Hopkins might work, although a number of your listed items would be hard to find there. Heading farther down the coast, Charleston, South Carolina or Savannah, Georgia are great options to get you closer to your goal, as would any number of locations in Florida. Norfolk and Charlottesville, Virginia might also be considered. Also, don't just focus on living in or near city centers, but expand out to close-in suburbs with good public transit, or good highways with good traffic management and/or affordable ride services to and from the fun gay places usually found in the downtowns. Good look in your quest and keep us advised of your progress.

The first time I drove to DC I stayed at the Sheraton Carlton (now the St. Regis) at 16th and K streets. When I checked out and was waiting for my car to be brought from the garage, I asked the doorman for directions to get to I-95 South and back to Virginia. I didn't understand his directions very well as he was making reference to street names and places I wasn't then familiar with. Too embarrassed, perhaps, I didn't ask for clarification. The result was: I circled the White House three times, each time from a different direction. I went the wrong way for block on a street I couldn't find again with a compass and a boy scout. I managed to cross the Anacostia river into SE DC and received very odd looks from the native inhabitants ("What does that Cracker think he's doing?"). While there, I passed a police station with a parking lot holding at least 30 marked police cars and surrounded by a 10-foot chain link fence topped with barbed wire. I thought that either this was only half of their allotment and the rest were out patrolling, or this was their complete allotment and they didn't bother to patrol because it was too dangerous. Either way, I took no comfort from what I'd seen. And I was at 1/8 of a tank of gas. I retain only dim and indecipherable impressions of how I got home but still remember the feeling of trauma I experienced.

My avatar is said to have said, "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." I, too, have been on the short end of the stick in some transactional relations with younger men. They're sometimes just irresistible, almost like puppies. And though I was out some sums of money, it was never more than I could afford, but apparently enough to make a positive difference in the younger man's circumstances for a time. And I have never regretted it. When they became scarce or even vanished completely, I missed their company more than I missed the cash, and I always wished them well. And now, as an older and more mature dog myself, I have less energy for the frisky puppies I occasional meet and am more cautious and circumspect in the complications I allow to enter my life. I applaud you for your charitable impulse in helping the young man when he needed help and hope the warm feeling you get by helping overcomes the chill of feeling used. You are a good man. (And now, maybe a little wiser?) Be happy.

Images vs action. Interesting combination. Somewhat cute yet largely repulsive. And generally self-destructive unless he seeks jobs in porn or low-class comic tragedy.

YES! And it's awful! I hate licking dirty feet. Unless I'm cuffed and wearing a leash, of course.

I'm curious about him blaming you for his situation. Did you do or say anything that might have made him think you were going to be a couple, or you his providential sugar daddy? How old is? Does he have an education? A trade? Skills (other than those obvious to the circumstance)? If you feed a stray cat, you'll see it every day. Are you ready for "Here kitty, kitty, kitty?

You are correct in the ranking of causes of death for children. I was relying on memory of an article I'd read some time ago, and my memory was inaccurate in several ways. My apologies for the sloppiness and my thanks for your corrections. I hope, however, that the greater philosophical point will not be obscured by my inaccurate data. I was not attempting to argue for firmer gun control but was only trying to highlight the disparity and disproportionality of responses regarding access to guns versus access to pornography. Whatever ill effects might afflict a child exposed to sexual images, such effects cannot be on the same level as losing the child's life in a violent attack by someone who has lost the balance of his mind as well as his morality. Emotional scars can be addressed and treated; lethal wounds cannot. We should put our best efforts where they will do the most good to stop the greater wrong. The age restrictions you would argue for are already in place nationwide; the point at issue is their enforcement. Access to foreign-based sites may be problematic and will likely always be. But I think even they observe the US required warnings of Adults Only and 18+. If a child ignores those warnings - which he must in order to see the contents - that child - and the parents - must assume some and considerable responsibility for their actions and consequences. And further, as I see it and always have and will, the rights of adults cannot be made contingent on the sensibilities of children. The response of numerous porn providers to simply end access for jurisdictions that have enacted mandated restrictions has now actually affected the rights of grown adults in order to protect exposure to potential and unsuitable misbehaving minors. And for those minors determined to satisfy their curiosity, VPNs will be their key to access what's available. If I can use a VPN, I'm sure a child can. So, the mandated restrictions are now not only an inconvenient encumbrance, they're also laughably ineffective. I don't imagine it's easy to raise a child and I've never had to. And I accept that all of us have a societal obligation to future generations. But none of that will take the place of watchful and responsible parenting.

The greatest threat to and the leading cause of death for children under 12 is gun violence, about which the powers that be have done between very little to nothing at all, since in their world you cannot restrict a citizen's right to keep and bear arms, even in a post-Sandy Hook world. But we simply can't allow children who (a) know better anyway, and (b) ignore warnings (usually in red and ALL CAPS) stating ADULTS ONLY! and MUST BE 18+ to be exposed to peckers and pussies because that might harm them.

... and better than a group of small friends!