zornwil

Re: Musings on Random Musings That was pretty clever, did you do that or where did you find it if not?

Re: Musings on Random Musings I just got up, I don't have a good comeback for this!

Re: Musings on Random Musings Yeah, you've been doing pretty well! I'm always hesitant to say much because sometimes I've said that and people will stare blankly and be surprised they were overweight or they'll say they were sick or whatever, so I tend to be careful, but anyway, you're definitely losing that excess part of weight. Congratulations! I should say that, just as you pointed out in your office, a number of people in our office were losing weight through various means at about the same time as I was. It was coincidental and I didn't even realize it (consciously) until someone pointed that out to me. It probably helped as well, even if I didn't realize it at first. Similarly, my wife couldn't quit smoking (which she did over 10 years ago) until some of her smoking buddy friends quit, and then it was easier for her.

Re: Musings on Random Musings When I posted that, I had heard it just a bit before at the convention, they played music during breaks.

Re: The Last Word Game day!

Re: Musings on Random Musings Hope to see you, too, and thanks for your kind words as well! I heard that news report, too, in the cab on the way to the airport, about the bottles of water and such. I didn't hear the Gov. intends to veto, that's good. I can definitely imagine under-the-table deals, with all the money and all the convolutions around "morality issues" in general (not even speaking in terms of the controversy societally as to whether to encourage such activities but rather the whole pragmatic issue of "how far is too far" when it comes to showgirl behaviors with customers and what club practices are really legal versus skirting the law and all that, along with the political pressures regarding the club situation) I would think there'd be tremendous pressures. It's such an interesting comparison between Portland and Las Vegas in terms of this stuff. Because Portland makes no great income on the sex industry and there's no real focus on the sex community (though there has been some real nasty politics going on there between the commercial swing establishment which is just one company against the personal "amateur" swing community) from a gov't or societal level but there's this very laissez-faire attitude about these things, it's just as pervasive on one level as in Vegas with the strongest per capita presence of strip clubs and adult bookstores in the nation (btw, JG and I did already discuss much of this, I'm sort of fleshing out for others but also adding some thoughts to our conversation the other night for James) but it's radically different in the orientation and visibility/focus because of that lack of serious money and the lack of a "sex tourist" industry. Of course Oregon doesn't have legalized prostitution like Nevada does, so that makes a huge difference. But I still can't figure out how the adult entertainment industry took such a strong hold in Portland in terms of having a real following yet lacking the big money (though I shouldn't sell the money thing short - there's definitely money in it, it's just that the dollars aren't remotely as much volume as Vegas). I know there's a strongly libertarian attitude on a social (not economic) level here and that has had a lot to do with it, and that dates back to pioneer days in the NW (Seattle had a thriving semi-legalized prostitution industry for quite some time in the past), but it's intrigueing to see how it took such a different direction than in Nevada, and how even though you'd think there'd be either more money in it or fewer businesses, that just doesn't happen. As bookstores close, new ones just keep popping up, and the same with strip clubs. BTW, in Portland, the strip club girls have to pay just for the "opportunity" to make tip money, it's a very tough competition here on that level. I just can't figure out how the model has been sustainable, here just has to be a strong ongoing audience, and, as far as I can guess, it must be a combo of a very enthusiastic core coupled with the open-minded attitude which encourages an ongoing occasional traffic by "regular" people that I bet doesn't happen in other cities (like Boston, where you wouldn't have "regular" people as readily admit to going to the local adult bookstore - heck, there's no such thing as a "local" adult bookstore since they are shuttled away from population centers and generally few in number, comparatively - in Portland, even though of course neighborhoods do sometimes object, they are pretty much all over the place, though of course there are concentrations in some undesirable areas).

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Somehow, it looks cooler to me than Star Wars.

Re: The Last Word Ebanaba. Est u. U!

Re: The Last Word Your anger is a sign of weakness! Like the great martial artists of boards past, my fu is all over you! What?

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: The Last Word Make that mighty and awesome power!

Re: The Last Word : It doesn't work that way. I won, and you will all now vacate this thread, leaving it to me as a testament to my mighty power!

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Very nice, have fun, good doctor!

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER What's going on, Dr. A, if it's appropriate/acceptable to you to share?

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I really, really love the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' song "Impression That I Get" (the "Never had to knock on wood" song)

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Bob's delivery really gets people thinking and talking, and even creates lots more for us all to do!"

Re: Musings on Random Musings That sounds good, I think the only thing I found, when starting out, was that it was hard to make the changes too small/incremental. But I'm not quibbling or saying that there's any one approach for all - not at all!

Re: Musings on Random Musings My personal advice/opinion is that a big part of succesfully dieting and all that (whatever you add to make yourself look as you desire) is simply to suck up some level of "simple" but painful self-deprivation. If you don't learn to deprive, the diets that promise progress by "eating what you like" or "eating as much as you like within (x) set of parameters" don't address behaviors that resume as soon as the weight level is achieved or close to achieved. And, to me, the reality of losing weight has been simply living with less food-based satisfaction, although I do feel better. You have to accept a level of unhappiness in one regard for a level of happiness in another, in summary, and, just to be clear, IMHO. That was just my experience. Maybe it doesn't apply to others, I don't know.

Re: The Last Word PS - called it, stamped it, no erasees, to the power of infinity, and you can't get any higher than that! I WIN, IN YOUR FACE YOU NGD LOSERS!

Re: The Last Word Ha, I had THE LAST WORD!

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "For a late night snack, honey, I might be in the mood for some kind of sushi pie tonight. How I love fresh raw fish!" "Okay, I could go for pulling taffy, myself." NT: Job review "touchy-feely" euphemisms for bad performance.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Understandable. I hope the knowledge helps to fight that future.

Re: Musings on Random Musings An update - I ended up staying up and going back out to get something to eat away from the hotel later in the evening/AM (Vegas' 24 hour atttude is very corrupting for someone like me who is a night owl by nature, I'm so tired right now...), and talked to another cabbie who said that he felt the strike thing was bunk and it's mostly a lot of loose talk by people, that the consequences to the drivers of a real walk-out (which is illegal he claimed, btw, there are contractual and legal obligations to provide service and drivers can be summarily dismissed for not picking up at hotels as well as for refusing city service); however, "loose talk" has a way of becoming powerful, and while it might be "illegal", just imagine if the idea does catch on, if all the drivers were to get fired it would cripple the industry for weeks if not months, so while I respect this driver's opinion, it is one of several and I could imagine this scenario going any which way - as James relayed, the demonstration yesterday was quite impressive. Also, interestingly, I learned as this cab driver has been doing it for 30 years, that the strip club kickback was only around the last 5 or so years. It started, logically enough, when certain clubs would give drivers the kickback to steer customers to their instead of others' clubs. Then the practice spread and then the gov't got involved and it became standardized to be fair, although of course in so doing it eliminated any competitive advantage and "simply" moved revenue from the clubs to the taxi and limo drivers. And now we're where the driver described as James mentioned. Quite an interesting story, a very Vegas one! Also, JG is indeed very real and as interesting and nice a guy as he appears on the boards.

Re: Musings on Random Musings People of size are too self-desparaging. I think you often don't realize how little that matters to most people and that to a minority it's actually sexy. I say that because my wife is also appearance-sensitive and overweight. PS - which isn't to say that I wasn't and to a degree still am not victim to the same thing, to be honest, having been overweight and now whether technically overweight still flabby.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Yeah, just create heavily-abstracted caricatures based on how we present ourselves online (if we're not caricatures already!) Though I would sign a release if my persona were represented, no matter if it were negative.