lookin

You make it sound so cheap!

Stopped by the local Apple Store on Friday for my first good look at the iPhone. They must have plenty available, since there were eight on the counter for people to play with. I picked one up, hit a button at random, and saw a very cute twink’s face smiling back at me. I guess some kids had been taking pictures of themselves while they were in the store earlier, and I’d stumbled onto the photo button. Like other Apple products, the iPhone is very intuitive. I slid my finger across the screen, and the next picture popped up. Same kid, but this time his lips were all pouty, and he was looking seductively into the camera. Hoping for another picture like that, I slid my finger across the screen again, and up popped a blurry picture of a belly button. The kid must have been into it, and maybe the store wasn’t crowded when he was there, because in the next picture he had pulled up his shirt to show his lower abs. And in the final picture of this very enjoyable series, he had pulled his shirt all the way up and was showing off the hottest little six-pack I have seen in quite some time. Thanking my lucky stars for sending me to this particular iPhone on this particular day, I snagged the software I’d come in for and wandered out, very impressed by the technical savvy of the younger generation, and their willingness to share their discoveries with others!

Me too, AdamSmith. I've also been wondering about your position on nuns. His Holy Urbanity was said to have picked up some shady habits along the way.

I never go ANYWHERE without one. I just feel naked without an escort! Wait a minute. I feel naked WITH an escort! There's a lesson in here somewhere . . .

Thanks, AdamSmith. Your thread is one that makes us think, and still is fun. So quickly autumn’s in the air. So slowly do we stop to care. The Wallace Stevens that you chose was thoughtful, moving, on the nose. Your kindness, I’m ashamed to say, stayed undefiled for just a day. And then the thread began to drift. From lofty heights, its fall was swift. What started as a post with love went straight downhill with just a shove. I worried that you’d be distressed, but your response left me impressed. Not only did you share our smiles, you shared the bishop and his piles. I doubt that you will ever see a quatrain from the likes of me. But if a limerick gets it done, I’ve got a gem about a nun.

I think you may have responded to my post by mistake. Age is doing its level best to wither me, and my infinite variety peters out after Dorothy Parker, Joyce Kilmer, and a fairly prolific unknown whose primary outlet was just above the urinals at the Reading Terminal in the early sixties. But I’d like to latch on anyway, since AdamSmith was kind enough to refer to a niche in the Church of St. Giles, and that reminded me of one more Dorothy Parker. Well, actually, she said she didn’t do it since she would never rhyme honor with Madonna. But see if you don’t think that it could have been just a case of plausible denial. She had spent the weekend, so the story goes, at San Simeon, as the guest of publisher William Randolph Hearst and his not-so-secret mistress, Marion Davies. She was amused to see that, over the door of Davies’ bungalow, there was an alcove in which stood a statue of the Virgin Mary. Parker is alleged to have written: Upon my honor I saw a Madonna Standing in a niche, Above the door of a prominent whore Of a prominent son of a bitch. She was working in Hollywood at the time, and Hearst could have buried her, so I can see why she might not have wanted to step forward and take credit. Plus she knew there was more where that came from. Many thanks for the indulgence!

Sorry, but it seems this morning that all roads lead to Dorothy Parker. At a party where she was seated with Somerset Maugham, the author asked if she would write a poem for him. "I will if you like," Miss Parker said, and scribbled out: Higgledy Piggledy, my white hen; She lays eggs for gentlemen. "Yes, I've always liked those lines," Mr. Maugham commented. Miss Parker bestowed a cool smile and without an instant's hesitation added: You cannot persuade her with gun or lariat; To come across for the proletariat. http://www.dorothyparker.com/nytobit.html

And Dorothy Parker's alleged turn: I like to have a Martini, Two at the very most; Three, I'm under the table, Four, I'm under my host!

My friends and I often discuss this over a doobie and a large pepperoni pizza.

"Hello, yes, I need to order six large anchovy pizzas and a Super Spicy Calzone. Just lay them right next to the air vent behind the pool house. Also, stop by the Smoke Shop, get me a giant bong, and put it on my account. And douse the headlights - my wife's a light sleeper."

I bet if you named the forum "Strange Bedfellows", it would be a big hit!

I think you're referring to Tim Gill. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=11433268

Yes it is. And if anyone ever asks him if he's a good son, or if he's a kind person, he won't have to hesitate a minute before saying "Why yes, I guess I am." It will be nice for him to have that positive knowledge of who he is. It seems that so many gifts can flow from acts of compassion and forgiveness.

No apologies necessary here! What you've done is create a place where minor snags are an opportunity for some creative workarounds, and for having a little fun. Not a bad place to be. Thanks for all your help!

Actually, developing into a Turgid Member would cover most of the bases for me. tur·gid (tûr'jĭd) adj. 1 Excessively ornate or complex in style or language; grandiloquent 2 Swollen or distended, as from a fluid; bloated I’d think of it as my life-work here. Of course, as you suggest, being sparklingly turgid would open up yet another dimension: Thanks for the advice everyone! It seems the best course of action will be to hew closely to the wisdom of OneFinger, one tentative post at a time, sparkling when I’m able, florid when I’m not, and tumescent as the opportunity arises. One down . . .

Thanks, AdamSmith! Not only did I get my Avatar back, but the process brought back fond memories of Rube Goldberg: http://autorepair.about.com/cs/funstuff/l/bl_honda.htm

Just bumping around learning the new Forum software, and discovered that I am a mere “member†and not an “advanced memberâ€, like many of my heroes on this Board. With my sixty-fourth birthday just a few months away, my member is feeling more advanced than ever before, so it seems an odd turn of events. So does anyone know what kinds of members we have here, and how high one can aspire? I would love one day to rise to the level of “esteemed member†or, dare I hope, “turgid memberâ€. Can anyone toss me a bone?

Not sure if this is any easier than the solution you found, but here’s one that worked for me: 1. Just after the main sign-in screen, I get the “Welcome to Male Escort Review.com†page. Just under the banner is a menu item called “My Membershipâ€. I click it, and go to the “My Membership†page. 2. On the “My Membership†page are icons for “View New Messages†and “View Saved Messagesâ€. Clicking one of those should do the trick. There are probably simpler ways, but they have eluded me so far. Now if I can only figure out what happened to my avatar . . .

Sound like excellent ideas!

> I do believe that good sex or perhaps a good good bong would take care of much of the world's problems. Sort of a Happy Hookah? http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alicepi...terpillar-3.jpg

> Thanks for the explanation.... though I have tried all of those things except throwing away all my cookies (which I will have to think about if i want to do that and have to re-enter all my usernames, passwords, etc that I have saved on my computer). I was reluctant to throw away all my cookies too but, thanks to a comment made by PWIT on another thread, I remembered that I can throw away individual cookies rather than all of them. I found four cookies for the MER site, threw them away, and here I am posting again, good as new. For those using the Mac Safari browser, you can click Safari/Preferences/Security and then "Show Cookies". All your cookies will be listed by website (in alphabetical order). Delete the ones for the maleescortreview.com website, and you should be back in business. (Other browsers may store cookies elsewhere; your Help Menu should tell you where.) I did have to log into the MER site again, but I didn't have to restart the browser or do anything else. Pretty simple.

Here’s some info from a Firefox Bookmarks Tutorial (link below). I haven’t actually tried this, mind you, but it seems like what you’re looking for. And, if none of this works, it looks like Firefox will let you export your bookmarks to a file; that way you can call the file whatever you want, and place it on the desktop where you can easily find it. From there, IE should be able to import it. Good luck! "Did you know ? You can view your Firefox bookmark file in any browser. Simply open or drag & drop the bookmark file (bookmarks.htm) to the browser window. If you e.g. save the bookmarks file to a memory stick, you always have your favorite bookmarks with you, regardless which browser or PC you use. The bookmarks are saved in a file called bookmarks.html. You can find the bookmark file in your Firefox profile directory." "How do I find my Mozilla / Firefox / Thunderbird / Netscape 7 profile? You can find the profile locations (all operating systems and Mozilla products here: Mozillazine Knowledge Base: Profile folder location. If you cannot find your profile folder, you will need to enable Show hidden/system files under Windows." http://mozilla.gunnars.net/firefox_bookmar...rting_bookmarks

> Whenever I try to post, it leaves the "Name" line blank. If I leave it blank, it refuses to allow the post. If I type my screen name, it says there is already a usere with that name. So I typed a variation of my name. Exactly the same thing happened to me. I wasn't clever enough to try a different name as you did. Are you by any chance using a Mac with the Safari browser? My workaround was to use my Internet Explorer browser to post, or to send a PM. For some reason, IE works fine. Safari started misbehaving just after the server upgrade.

> Glad the site is faster for you now. Yeah! It's smokin'! Thanks!

Congratulations on your new boyfriend! Without knowing you, or your family and friends, it’s hard to know what they mean by “age appropriate”; but it does sound a little like a code phrase for something else. You may be on to something when you speculate that it means someone who makes more money than you. Often, the older partner in a relationship is presumed to be contributing to the financial support of the younger partner, especially if the age difference is more than a few years. And your family and friends may feel you’ll be better off when you’re somebody’s boy toy, rather than somebody’s sugar daddy. So they encourage you in what they feel is an “age appropriate” relationship. (They also may not be fully aware that they’re thinking this way; I think it’s kind of an age-old bias.) Of course, this is all just wild-ass speculation on my part. You might test out the hypothesis by dating a younger guy with lots of money, Ryan Phillipe for example, and see what your family and friends have to say about that. Just don’t lose hold of your main squeeze!