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Nice story. When friends or people in your community need help even small gestures yield big results. Imagine the relief of this boys family to have weeks of work reduced to 1 day when more important thing in their life needed attention. There's video in the following link: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/harvesting-hope--how-one-farm-community-came-together-to-help-one-of-their-own-172913084.html The boy would have loved it out there last Saturday. He would have been up before dawn, feeding the cattle, feeling the brisk wind as it reddened his cheeks. He would have relished walking across the soft Illinois dirt in his work boots as the sky turned yellowish pink. The other boys, his football teammates, would all be sleeping. Not Hayden Schaumburg. He didn't live for Friday nights the way he lived for Saturday mornings. But Hayden wasn't out there last Saturday. So the people came instead. ______________________________ View gallery . Hayden Schaumburg (GoFundMe) Two weeks ago, Schaumburg charged down the field to block for his Watseka High teammates on a kick return. There was a fierce collision, and the 16-year-old junior collapsed onto the field. "Went down in a heap and never moved again," says his head coach, Steve Lucas. "I've been around this game for 40 years. I knew it wasn't good." Lucas ran onto the field and looked into his player's eyes. They were searching. "Hey, Dad, are you there?" Hayden asked. Clint Schaumburg arrived and bent over his son. "I'm here," he said. "Dad," Hayden said, "I'm scared." ______________________________ Hayden Schaumburg is one of those rare kids who happens to be popular and successful and not the least bit pretentious about it. He's the "hardest working player on the team," says Lucas, and he's also on the track team, in the show choir and a member of the National Honor Society. "If I had his heart in my other players' bodies," Lucas says, "we'd never lose a game." Hayden's heart, though, is in farming. He's his school's chapter president of the Future Farmers of America, and at 16 he was already working the 2,000 acres of land owned by his dad in the county seat about 90 miles due south of Chicago. Hayden has learned to drive the combine and manage a small plot filled with sweet corn. He's shown cattle at the Iroquois County Fair. "It's been embedded into him since birth," says family friend Shawn Peters. "It's truly what he enjoys. He knew when high school football was over, he'd be done playing. He accepted that." Hayden wanted to go to agriculture school at the University of Illinois, and then come back home to help his dad. ______________________________ Hayden was laid out on the football field for 45 minutes that October night. His mom, Jolyn, stood watching with her hands covering her mouth. There was a plan to airlift him north to a Chicago-area hospital but it was too windy. So Hayden was taken by ambulance. "It's stuff you're not prepared for," Peters says. "I was a little bit in shock. This is the stuff you see on TV. And being from Podunk, sometimes TV is not enough." Hayden needed eight hours of surgery. He had broken his neck. His coach drove up to visit him, not knowing what to expect. "As a coach," he says, "you think this only happens somewhere else." Lucas walked into Hayden's hospital room and saw a player he considered as a son, lying there sedated and helpless. Hayden wanted so badly to greet his coach, to show him some emotion. He shrugged his shoulders so emphatically that the nurse had to reset all the machines. The coach began to cry. ______________________________ "Is there anything I can do?" is a question many of us ask when consoling someone who has been hit by tragedy. Most of the time, there isn't an answer to that, other than prayer. In this case, though, there was something. And it seemed so clear and obvious that nobody in town remembers who came up with the idea. "It just kinda happened," Peters says. "This is what a farming community does." ______________________________ View gallery . (Courtesy of @TheChadColby) With the Schaumburgs still by their son's side at Loyola Medical Center, their farm back home sat waiting to be harvested. And so last Saturday, before dawn on the first day of November, more than 100 people arrived at the Schaumburg farm. Some came with tractors, some with auger carts, some with semis ready to load. Some brought lunch, some brought bright yellow safety vests, and some just came with their bare hands and their time. At 6:30 am, the people of Watseka said a prayer for Hayden. Then they got to work. Eight combines moved slowly through the crops of corn, tearing it out of the ground and removing the kernels. People and machines kept coming as the temperature climbed through the 50s. By late morning, there were 16 combines and 30 trucks ready to haul the harvest to the grain elevators in town. "Very emotional," Peters says. "Very focused. The whole aura about the day was upbeat. It was positive. Everybody knew what it was about: helping your fellow man." By mid-afternoon, more than 1,000 acres had been harvested. Weeks of work was done in a matter of hours. One combine driver lifted Hayden's 10-year-old brother, Evan, into the cab so he could take a short turn at the wheel. The people of Watseka marveled how the day before was windy and the day after was bleak and that Saturday was so perfect for farming. "There was something much greater than us at work that day," Peters says. In all, more than 125,000 bushels of corn left the farm in less than 10 hours. ______________________________ Every Watseka player wore Hayden Schaumburg's number on his helmet. (Courtesy of The Daily Journal) On the night he was hurt, Hayden's football team, the Warriors, ran out the clock. The opponents pulled their starters. There was thought of forfeiting the next game, but Hayden wouldn't want that, so the Warriors played. Watseka High has University of Alabama-styled helmets, with the numbers on the right side, so the players decided to tear off their own numbers and stick on Hayden's – 66. They all played as No. 66 that night. They all played for No. 66. The season has since ended, and yet support continues to pour in from all over the state. University of Illinois head coach Tim Beckman even called. "I just got a poster and checks from Champaign," Lucas says. "They don't know us from the man on the moon. It's just amazing." It will be a while before the Schaumburgs return to town. Hayden will have months of rehab, and the family has set up a website to raise money. There is promise, though. Hayden has more sensation in his arms and he had a full meal for the first time just this week. He is off his ventilator. The family is not ready for an interview, but already one of Clint's comments has been passed throughout the community: "It's gonna be tragedy to triumph." Nobody cares how long that triumph takes, as long as it happens. Hayden is a tough kid from a tough town, and in places like Watseka they have plenty of patience and plenty of hope. "I just want to see him walk to the middle of the field with that 66 jersey on," Lucas says, "as my captain." There is a football field, and a cornfield, and an entire town of fields, waiting for a Friday night or a Saturday morning when that boy comes home.

Last month I decided to take a break from Brazil and visit London. While in London, I had a great time. In addition to visiting the typical landmarks and touristy things, I went to a long-term London male brother called, Villa Gianni. Villa Gianni is located at #32 Nevern Place, four short blocks from the Earl's Court underground station. It is so easy to find the place. Simply walk out of the underground station, make a left turn, then walk two blocks then turn left on Nevern place, then walk to # 32. After arriving at the facility, you ring a bell at the red painted door that has a 32 on it. The place is in the lower basement of the building. I was greeted by a very friendly fairly young good-looking manager on duty. The manager explained how the system works, i.e., what is involved in contracting with a rent boy at that facility. The manager guided me down a hall way to a room that has a one way glass that allows a viewer to see the rent boys but the rent boys cannot see the viewer. Each guy stands in front of the glass window and demonstrates and shows off what he has to offer to entice you to choose him. The manager told me what each guy likes to do. If you like what you see, you advise the manager and make a choice. The price for one hour is 90 pounds, Sterling, payable after the event concludes. That price is incredibly cheap especially for London, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Considering the low, to nearly non existent, risk to clients (not being scammed by fakes and bogus ads), this facility is awesome. If the escort is more than satisfying, a handsome tip to the escort is definitely in order after the session, even though the escort does not ask for a tip. I returned the next day but the mix of available escorts was not to my liking (nothing but twinks) and I did not stay long. As a general rule, the mix of escorts is predominantly Brazilian. Considering that I like Brazil so much, I was quite pleased. Of course, there are rent guys from many other countries at the facility. It all depends on when you go there. The only thing I do not like about the operation is the fact the rent boys must go through suggestive actions and sort of put on a show to entice clients to choose them. I think it is a little degrading to the rent boy to have to go to a one-way window and show off his wares while not communicating directly with a client. Another good thing about an operation like this is we do not have to contend with fake ads and bogus/stolen photos or escorts demanding money upfront then not performing. In all fairness, I went back the next day and the place was filled with lots of twinks. Although twinks can be nice, they are not interesting for me as romantic partners. I suspect that some members of this forum would have been thrilled on the day that I left because there were not "butch" Brazilians available at the time I was at the brothel. The manager stated that a second shift comes on at six in the evening. This means that there are two crews of working guys each day. What a splendid operation this is. I heartily recommend the place even though there is a risk of not always finding the specific type of guy you like. -

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful story...

Great review of Villa Gianni, mvan. And very much appreciated. I've known about it for some time but never went there so it is great to get some info from someone who actually visited the place. My next visit to London I'll be sure to check it out. As you say, the price seems very good. Thanks much!

Great to hear about place..

Exactly - However, with the two shifts of escorts (plus the quantity of rent boys available in the facility), the probability of finding someone to ones' liking goes up fairly high, even though the risk still remains. -

Exceptionally good post. That's a risk that's hard to avoid in any venue.

RA1, I just voted and, just for you, I voted for the libertarian candidate for congress. For the life of me though I can't see why a libertarian would want to be a congress-critter. Maybe it's the case that he wouldn't have run if he thought he had a chance in hell to be elected. (Which he doesn't.) For the record I voted Democrat, Libertarian, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, non-partisan and No.