mike carey

The couple of accounts above are astonishing. A caveat, I haven't applied for a passport in the age of Covid, but as mine was stolen last year, I called to cancel it [irrevocably as it turns out] and it was recovered within 24 hours, I'll have to renew it soon. When I renewed it a few years ago I filled in the renewal form on-line, took the form and my passport to the post office where I submitted the application (the post office took the photo I used for the new passport). They cut the corners off my old passport, effectively cancelling it, but gave it back to me. I paid the new passport fee by credit card at the post office, and they sent it off. My new passport was delivered by registered mail two or three weeks later, and that was the standard processing, not the express rate. Governments can do things efficiently if they want to.

I think there are arguments on both sides of this. I don't see a problem if two people carry out their entire relationship 'in character', but I don't think it's ideal. If I were one of the participants, I would absolutely insist that dom/sub role play was just that. From my perspective it would be imperative that I have a respectful equal relationship with the other party until the role-play session starts, and after it ends. When it starts is open for discussion, say from when the door opens when we meet, or from when we've had a discussion in the same room, even perhaps a drink before flicking the switch to role play. I had an on-line discussion with a master who seemed to want me to be completely submissive in my interactions with him. I accept that may be a thing, but it's not a thing I was prepared to consider.

+ 1

@Cure69'Late bloomer' here, but I didn't go down the 'path expected' I just didn't go anywhere. Busy professional life enabled me to ignore that part of my make-up. It wasn't that I denied it, I just didn't see what is now obvious. I brushed it off when others asked me when I would marry and didn't ask myself that question, at least not seriously. I eventually did, and answered it to myself quickly, but kept it to myself without acting on it for a while longer. I'm now in my 60s. Did I miss out on things, as you feel you did? Hell yes, but I take the view that it is what it is and I'm not trying to catch up with what I may have missed. I have missed those things, now it's a matter of making the best of the rest of my life. Regretting the past is for me a waste of energy. I realise it's far more complex for you, you have 20 or so years of an adult life that is at odds with how you see yourself now, and have to work out how, or even if to disentangle the two. For me, my earlier life is not at odds with the current version, I've just added a new strand to my identity. I didn't put an ad in the paper, but I was quickly found by a couple of [then] current and past work colleagues when I joined an online forum. I'm still in the mode of not advertising my sexuality, but not trying to hide it. My sister is gay, so that was one conversation I eventually had that wasn't too difficult. I haven't been very good at finding social or romantic contacts (if I'd been good at that I may have found an opposite sex one because 'straight' is the default and assumed identity in this society even when you don't consciously adopt it). I did join a gay camping group and had good interactions with others there, but nothing beyond its outings. I came to this community because I had hired once or twice and saw hiring companions as being a great way to overcome my nervousness and inexperience in sexual matters, and the forum has helped me overcome my nervousness with the hiring process. I have also found it to be a great place for all sorts of discussions on those and other issues. I hope that others will contribute to the discussion.

Translation of @azdr0710's post above: This thread was created in 2003. It is theoretically possible that the gentleman in question is DQ (who is a member of the forum, btw). There is also an off-chance that the original poster will see your question and answer it, but it if I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting. He hasn't visited the forum for six years.

I saw that, PK and had a brief chat with him on Twitter. I hope it works. (I retweeted it for what that's worth, I probably don't have enough followers in LA to form a basketball team, but it will at least add to the RT numbers.)

A bit of levity in a time of covid. This morning when he was announcing exposure sites in Melbourne, the Victorian chief health officer noted that a pub that had held a EURO 2020 final event was one of them. He said that since there would have been a lot of people eating and drinking they wouldn't always have been wearing masks. He also noted that there would have been a lot of shouting 'and among the England fans, crying'. He had prefaced his remarks by saying that what he was about to say was relevant to soccer fans, particularly to soccer fans who consider themselves to be football fans. I understand that is a distinction that would resonate in the US as well. (In Melbourne, if you say 'football' it is universally taken to mean AFL football.)

It's also one of the options under the 'Discover' tab on the forum pages.

I'm sure I sat across the table from him at the dinner of my first Palm Springs weekend, Nice guy.

Interesting thread. Coffee is a matter of science and art, or arts. Source, growing, roasting, blending, brewing, and the skill of the barista if it's espresso. My coffee at home is either filter or plunger (translation, French press), and out, a flat white, always full cream milk. I think I've commented on coffee threads here before so pardon me if I repeat myself, I'm not going to search for any previous comments. Local cafes are the usual thing here, not chain stores, although there are some of those, McDonalds being the most common (yes, McCafe started here). The vibe of a coffee shop does nothing for me, but some aspects of what might be called 'ambience' can be a factor. I remember a story in the Economist on the virtual demise of Starbucks here where the author said every corner store has an espresso machine and knows how to use it, and that's pretty accurate. The quality is not uniform, but it's generally good. Even Maccas. They have recently been running ads on TV about their new blend, and they have proper barista-operated machines not automatic ones. (Not that automatic machines are bad, the self-service machines in one petrol station chain here make quite passable coffee, and the expensive Italian one my sister has is very good.) My favourite? The one I have in my hand at the time. Biggest turn-off is where they have heated the milk so much that it is scalded, although I can count the number of times that's happened on the fingers of one hand, but still a non-zero number.

'God' has nothing to do with it.

These are local distilleries and they are very much an Australian thing, I'm sure there are similar things in the US. Don't buy spirits from big companies, find local distilleries and buy their products. I know I'll find such things to take to my friends in the US. [I know, the borders aren't open now!]

I'd have to think about that suggestion.

'Well kept' being the determinant I suspect!

I wasn't paying attention, but if so your prediction was prescient given tonight's play. The Canadian is doing well, even if two sets down right now.

No probs, I only looked for it because it rang a bell.

Oh dear, I'm a little bit too short and probably not lithe enough. No doubt my silver tongue will prevail. /s/

It did come up earlier.

On a tangent, on a lifestyle program tonight that features people moving to rural areas, they had one farm that raised sheep and made artisan cheeses. At first they had fed the whey from the process to their sheep but they now much of it to make vodka. Who knew that whey vodka was a thing? And they had won a world vodka competition.

Were you referring to anyone in particular in that comment?

I had copied the first item to comment before seeing the second. The Scotch and Irish versions do indeed use the opposite spellings, Scotch Whisky and Irish Whiskey, and as you noted, Lov2play, matched by a parallel distinction between the Canadian and American versions. (The recent rush of Australian distilleries produce whisky [and a lot of gins using indigenous aromatics, but that's a separate issue].)

I was unimpressed by his couple of sets against Kyrgios, but he stepped up tonight, Félix Auger-Aliassime beating Zverev. The Togolese-Canadian from Montréal. Les deux jeunes Canadiens ont bien fait aujourd'hui.

Kyrgios started out well, having missed so much tennis over the pandemic. He was always a love-him-or-hate-him guy in this country and he's moving very much in a positive direction. He is clearly enjoying himself, and was having a lot of fun in the mixed doubles with Venus Williams. My favourite moment of the Championship so far was not tennis related, but was on the first day when they announced the lead of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine development effort and her team were in the Royal Box and they received a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd. She looked decidedly non-plussed. But the thought I have tonight is whether to dare to hope that it could be the Barty Party on Saturday. She seems to be growing as the Championship progresses and tonight's performance against the French Open champion, Barbora Krajcikova, was determined, despite being broken in the third game.

There is one, Knight Call, in Sydney's Kings Cross, and from its web page appears to be operating. I haven't used it. http://www.knightcall.com.au/location.htm Oops, I didn't click far enough into the site. It lists its prices and escorts with direct contact details for them but notes it is not operating from the address on the opening page, but will return at new premises when things return to normal.