keroscenefire

A lot of the "characters" in Nomadland are actually real-life, full-time nomads including Bob Wells and Charlene Swankie. Bob Wells is actually a nomad "influencer" and has YouTube videos promoting and giving tips about the nomad life. That "Rubber Camp Rendezvous" event seen in the movie is a real event and they actually filmed that event in 2019. It's not the life I'd choose, but I think the people in that movie really did choose that lifestyle and I think even in a certain amount of homeless population in any city, it's a choice they are making not simply that they ran out of options or whatever.

He contacted me on Thursday evening saying he was going to be around for the weekend and I didn't see it until Sunday. Part of it was it was my friend's birthday weekend and we ended up going up the mountains for a couple days to do some late-season skiing. So I was genuinely not checking my secondary phone number. But then I did on Sunday and was like, "Oh man sorry, I didn't see this, but might be down tomorrow (Monday) evening if you're still around." I was just too tired on Sunday to make it happen and he was going to leave Monday morning. Sometimes it just doesn't work out but he was a bit dismissive and short with me, saying like, "Well you told me to contact you if I ever made it back to Denver and I did." Sure enough he did. Felt bad, but again it just doesn't work out. In another circumstance, I would've gladly met up with him. Hope he tries to contact me again, but if he thinks I'm a flake, I guess there's not much I can do about it.

The problem I've come into recently was guys that I have previously hired reaching out to me when they are back in town. I truly appreciate that they do this and it has often worked out into a nice repeat meeting. But I actually use a Google Voice number for this hobby and don't regularly check my texts on there as I do my regular number. So unfortunately one guy reached out to me and then kinda got a little peeved that I didn't respond right away. By the time I did, he was only in town one more day and I couldn't meet on that day. I do understand from his perspective and tried to explain that I'm not checking that number as regularly. But him getting upset with me kinda turned me off hiring in the future. Sometimes it really is a miscommunication.

I liked Nomadland quite a bit and only think it's ending is depressing if you consider the nomad lifestyle to be the lesser of those choices. To Fern, being a nomad is the choice of freedom and autonomy...her way of burying the past grief over her husband and truly becoming her own person. The ending to me is powerful because it questions the conventional ways we think of "happiness" in favor of a different path. I doubt I would choose the same, but thought it was the best way for that movie to end and was in many ways a "happy" ending. I do really want to see Minari. It looks really good. I think maybe I will rent it on Amazon this weekend.

Thanks for all that you do! Happy to contribute in the future to some kind of ongoing fund.

I haven't seen the Father, so it's hard for me to judge if Anthony Hopkins' performance was better than Chadwick Boseman's. I really did like his role and performance. His tortured trumpeter was at turns charismatic, sinister, and sympathetic. The fact that he performed it while in immense pain from his cancer treatments is an incredible feat. The only other performance I saw was Riz Ahmed's in Sound of Metal. The fact that he learned sign language and was so believable as someone who undergoes hearing loss was also an amazing acting challenge and I would've been happy had Riz won as well (plus I find him incredibly good looking). I agree with you about Frances McDormand. I liked Nomadland but her performance wasn't as strong as some of her fellow nominees in my opinion. Let Frances have the Oscar for producing the film but let Carey Mulligan or Viola Davis have the statue for what I though were incredible, dynamic, complex performances (Never saw Vanessa Kirby or Andra Day's performances so cannot judge them).

It's helpful to kind of look at this from an anatomical perspective I think. A lot of what a bottom find pleasurable is not just in the feeling of something up the bum but in the pressure penetration provides to the prostate and seminal vesicles, the actual organs in the male reproductive system that produce and secrete semen. These organs are located right next to the rectum but really only a couple inches inside the anus. For a lot of men, the prostate being massaged by a penis or toy up the anus is very pleasurable because these organs are (along with some other muscles) responsible for male orgasm. Some men can even cum just from stimulation of the prostate without any penile stimulation at all. For me, I have a much more intense orgasm when I am having both my prostate and penis stimulated.

I think a lot of the crater this year could be because most of us spent the last year not watching movies in person. I actually liked the Oscars this year, though sad Chadwick Boseman didn't win as well.

I fully admit that I am overgeneralizing, though PERA actually is not just a teacher pension in Colorado but applies to many state and local government employees as well. Both my mom and sister work for local/state governments and also get PERA. So apologies if this does not apply to your pension. The rules I am speaking about are federal rules. But it sounds like maybe certain states/pensions have different set-ups to avoid those federal provisions. In general my main point was that many (though clearly not all) people who get a pension are paying into that pension at a higher rate than people without pensions pay into social security. In Colorado we pay 8.75% of our paychecks into PERA, whereas a Coloradan without PERA would only pay 6.2% into Social Security. So overall, those of us with jobs contributing to this pension are taking home less per paycheck in exchange for likely having more robust pension payments in retirement. Again this is just my experience with my job/pension. Just making the point with people saying, "Oh you're so lucky to have a pension," that part of having that pension (for me at least) is taking home less pay every single paycheck than I would if I had an identical paying job that only contributed to Social Security. Don't get me wrong, I am glad I have that pension, but in my case there is some lost income now for more money in retirement later.

I believe something similar happens in Colorado as well. Thanks for the information.

Interestingly, I've understood it to be the opposite, that SS benefits could be lowered because of participation in a pension instead of a pension being lowered because of participation in SS. From the PERA web site: "Two separate federal provisions are in place today that may reduce a public employee’s or retiree’s Social Security benefit: the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. As a result, an anticipated Social Security benefit may be reduced due to participation in PERA. A PERA benefit, however, will not be reduced by any Social Security benefit received."

It's quite possible that I am over-generalizing from my experiences with my pension. Quite possibly other pension programs look pretty different. But the one we have in Colorado, PERA, is fairly accurate to the way it was explained to me by literally someone from PERA. And I definitely do not contribute to Social Security in my current job but do contribute to PERA instead. That is definitely accurate. But like I said, I am not pension expert. Here is a website explaining these SS vs PERA (public workers pension in Colorado). I think it's pretty close to what I said.

It actually depends on the circumstances of the individual. Actually I may end up getting both SS and my pension because I started working at age 15 as a lifeguard and had regular social security jobs for basically the next 15 years. But ever since I started working in education, I have only been paying into the pension and not into social security. I am already vested in my pension so I am guaranteed some benefits. There are some rules with taking social security benefits if you have a pension that may reduce or even eliminate social security benefits upon retirement. I am not super familiar with the exact rules. But I have gathered that like someone who started teaching right out of college at age say 22 and spent 40 years teaching and contributing to the pension would receive the pension benefits but not much or any social security even if they say worked through college at like McDonalds and contributed to social security for five years. But someone in my situation who worked regular jobs for 15 years, spent 15 years teaching and then 15 years working a regular job again (assuming this is what I do) would receive both the pension and social security upon retirement. Regardless, for the time one works in a pension-earning job, they are not paying into social security and instead are paying more per paycheck into a pension. So their take-home pay would be less during that time than someone working a more typical job that pays into social security. I believe this is how it generally works with employees with pensions, although I am not necessarily an expert on this. Certainly that is how it works with my job. There literally is no social security line on my paystub, just the money for my pension.

Thanks for your post. You have a lot of wisdom and actually I think I am probably in a similar position that you were in during your working years. So it helps to kinda see what my future holds. I am definitely lucky and grateful to have a pension as well. Though one thing people often don't realize with jobs with a pension is that we are not paying social security but instead are paying into a pension at a significantly higher rate than one pays into social security. So we actually have lower take-home pay than someone making the same amount of money in a non-pension job. The benefit is that we make more money in retirement than we would get from social security, but we make less per paycheck for the entire time we have that job with a pension.

We're actually not supposed to cite specifics in the forum. I haven't met with him. However, in communications I have found him to be a bit aggressive and abrasive. I think that is the same story you see in the threads.

Travel restrictions are a little rough right now, but I'd go to Spain, Greece, Italy. I guess it's starting to get hot there now maybe but I really enjoyed my time in Valencia years ago. Definitely would love to return as soon as I can.

I'm liking Anderson Cooper so far. I think Robin Roberts will do fantastic. I miss Alex tremendously but really hope the show can go on with a new guest host.

I have a gay friend who lived in Dubai for 1 1/2 years for work. He wasn't an escort, but I'd be very careful. They have very strict laws against homosexual relations there and they do go after foreigners. In 2017, a gay British man was arrested and jailed for "touching another man on the hip." My friend says they also monitor and censor the internet and mobile phones there and use your data for arrests. He basically was celibate while he lived there but fortunately his job had decent vacation time, so he'd travel to Israel or Greece to hook up with guys. My friend said he was especially cautious after an Emirati he knew found an inactive dating profile and tried to extort money from him. That ended up causing him to leave Dubai altogether. Here is another NYTimes story about the very strict rules they have with Shariah Law and incidents when they went after foreigners. In short, Dubai, the UAE in general and much of the Middle East is not for amateurs. I'd be very careful not only as an escort but as a gay man in general (or a single woman. I have another friend who lived there briefly with her now husband and they had to pretend they were already married for her to literally just go to the grocery store).

I guess there is a fetish for everyone, but yeah I'm definitely not interested in that at all. Dress up and meth up I guess?

Interesting..I saw his ad recently as well. I don't think he's been in Denver for too long. He's definitely handsome but some of these younger, newer guys are a bit picky/odd. I had another, similar experience with a newer guy in Denver as well. Truly it's their loss.

Sometimes the guests do even more than talk to each other. But yes another reason why no phones/cameras. ?

Back when I was living with my parents when I first started this hobby, I'd host at a bathhhouse. But with COVID I don't think that's as much of an option anymore. Depending on where you live there can be some pretty cheap hotels. If you look at some of these apps like Hotels Tonight or Hotels.Com you can find many sub $100 a night options. I just did a long road trip and while most of the hotels were in more rural areas, I found a nice place in Oakland for only $90 a night. When I visited NYC last Labor Day weekend, I found a hotel in Queens for $75. With not much business travel happening, and even tourist business somewhat limited, you might be surprised by the rates you'll find now in even typically "expensive" cities.

Hi Nate..I'd be interested in getting on this contact list and being updated for the event. It's quite likely that I won't be able to attend Palm Springs next year but might be able to go to the DC forum meetup instead. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Those pics look interesting. I'll have to check it out next time.

Thanks gentlemen for a fabulous weekend! Had so much fun getting to know everyone and putting faces to names. Hope to connect again sometime soon!