mrrnice2

Yesterday was a great afternoon at the waterfront in Halifax and we went to see the Batman movie. Today is another beautiful and warm day ahead here in Halifax. Off in a bit for a picnic with my daughters at Point Pleasant Park and then another afternoon on the waterfront at the Buskers Festival.

Well Lee my good man, we want to hold you to that, so we do expect and hope to see you continue to pop in! We don't have anyone else here yet to give RG a run for the money for bad jokes. And don't think this means you are free and clear on buying me that beer. Or wait, maybe I owe you the beer??? You take care of yourself and best of luck in your new endeavours. MN2

If I am only 2 out of 3 does that get me in your highlight of the day thread? :)

That is very nice for you Sophia and very nice for him as well. It is rather curious as I read what you contributed and thought about it, that in fact you and I are sort of exact opposites in terms of the time line so I can see this from your Dads popint of view pretty clearly. For me I have a significant birthday looming, and when I was their age I considered my present age to be OLD! All of my children live a significant distance from me and I know that they do worry about me being alone probably as you do about your father. Your father and I are in the same situation as well I suppose that both he and I have children who are 'looking out" for us. As a father that is a really nice feeling to have. I know how fortunate I am to be in that situation so I am certain that he feels the same way about you if he has agreed to move closer to where you live. Good for both of you! PS. Not sure of his age or health, but depending, give him his space and independence and ensure that you have yours as well. :)

Sending best wishes and happy thoughts to you Nathalie for a great birthday and a full and exciting year ahead. Have a great day while you are travelling on our west coast.

Isabella is a lady that I have not had the pleasure to meet in person but she is someone that I really like here for her positivity and for her caring nature. She has sent little notes to my guest book when it seems like I could most use a little happy thought. She and I last summer traded sending the sun back and forth to each other. My own little sunshine lady. :)

I just got home from a great afternoon and evening with friends. The guitar was out, steak and lobster were on the menu, the beer was good and we went swimming at their beach. T'was the closest to skinny dipping I have done in a long time. :)

1967, The Beatles, Penny Lane. My first love. :)

I began this thread, and its origin truly was simply from having read about some of our recent departures and from my own self-questioning about continuing in the lifestyle. My self questioning has nothing to do with the way Cerb is run. I love the way that Cerb is operating and how it changes and that there are discussions with opposing points of view. Again it is the people that make up the community that do this. I well understood that the discussion might go somewhat in the direction that it has taken, and yes, I was a bit nervous that this could become a negative thread. What it became is just another example of how one topic on Cerb so easily overlaps with another and how so many of our threads are interconnected. This community is not simple and almost nothing can be looked at in isolation. It is nice to see that overall there does seem to be consensus that we should, and do, focus on positivity. When we have had issues, and we have, cool heads have prevailed. If every one of us felt exactly the same about everything, believed exactly the same things, said exactly the same things, how boring that would be and then how would we learn from and appreciate the variety of opinions that are out there? Respect is pretty key in everything and for the most part we have it here. Phaedrus perhaps expressed it best by pointing out that there are probably a multitude of reasons for people leaving and that it is for us to accept and respect their choices. And that my friends is what this thread was all about.

Alright Lee. Games! You are on to a surefire party. In honor of the Olympic spirit, I will bring the torch so we can have a relay. I will start your way with it tonight.

I would try first at http://www.ctvolympics.ca/ and an alternative might be at http://www.rwcfoxtv.com/london-olympics-2012-opening-ceremony-live-stream-online-hd-video-tv-coverage/ I believe coverage begins at 4 PM EST. Good luck.

Two of the wonderful ladies here already are I believe wonderful accessories to each other and appear to complement each other beautifully. To Nathalie and Georgiana.

Several hours from now the Olympic Games open in London. I am looking forward to them and will make an effort to keep some contact with what is happening despite it being such incredible summer weather. It almost boggles the mind to see what these men and women are able to do in the various athletic venues and to try to appreciate the levels that they perform at. For all of them it is the culmination of many years of personal sacrifice and training. Despite being a celebration of sport and athletes it cannot be ignored that there are political overtones and intrigues throughout. I realize that at times I am like the ostrich with my head inthe proverbial sand, but I truly hope that the games can proceed with the athletics being able to rise above the politics. May our Canadian athletes perform well but most of all, may the games be an entertaining and safe and successful for all. Let the games begin.

Happy Birthday to My Little Red Haired Girl. Have a great day!

On a summer day such as today, you cannot beat BBQ hamburgers loaded with the fixins and tomato, onion and lettuce! That is one of my comfort foods.

Welcome to Cerb. Wishing you the best of luck and I hope that you do enjoy this community, and it IS a community, as much as most of us do.

A variety of highlights for me. The sun has come back after a couple of days of badly needed rain, so we are back to our ideal weather here. I have some brand new little baby potatoes right from the field today, and peas, beans and carrots right from my little garden, so a gourmet meal is ahead to be shared with a couple of my family members who are arriving shortly. My perennials are at their peak and generally speaking, its as good as it gets right now.

Change is inevitable. Of late there have been a number of high profile people who have made decisions to either leave Cerb or to adapt their role within the community, and it has caused me to consider again why people do quit and make the decisions that they make. Most recently is WIT, whose leaving I know has left many of us feeling a sense of loss. Less then a week prior to WIT's decision, Spud 271 left. I had met Spud at socials in Ottawa and always enjoyed his humour when we were face to face but I also enjoyed his writing and his posts. Previous to them Pistol Pete chose to limit his participation in Cerb by declining to write threads or comment on threads and restricting himself mostly to reccos. Prior to that stevecurious left and when that happened his departure was for me the first time that when a member announced his leaving that I felt a sense of loss. Steve later reconsidered and has again become a valued member of this community. I am sure there are many others who have left for a whole variety of reasons. First let me say that I am not wishing to delve into the whys and wherefores that may or may not be reasons for which some of our notables have decided of late to leave CERB. I do not want to be speculating or have this thread be used to air speculation. It is a thread that I have had in mind for quite a while but from a purely personal perspective. I know of course of women that have left the board, but will restrict myself in this post to the male side of it, because of the mixed feelings that I have myself, about myself. The rationale for joining and then for leaving is no doubt unique for everyone. I have been a member of CERB since January of 2011. In that relatively short period of time I have seen people come and people go and of course I have seen many a reference to well respected members who were well established on CERB and left before I ever even heard of this board. I have learned many things from CERB, but in reality I have learned many things from the PEOPLE of CERB, as it is the people that make this community what it is. Some will think I am sure that my thinking is ass backwards, but when I think first of what I have learned I think of life lessons, not sexual encounters. I think of stereotypes and how they have been shattered, at least for me. I think of the law and what I have learned and about aspects of the law that I had never even considered previously. I think of the semantics of the business. I think of trans gendered people. I think of respect, both given and received. That list could go on and on and on. My world has changed in the last year and a half, much more than probably most of you can appreciate, and most times I think that it has changed for the better, because of the circumstance that I found myself in. Of course I think about the sex - about the beautiful women that I have met. I think about the very special experiences that I have had, and I have had many. I think about that special `relationship` that I have developed with some of you, both men and women. I think of friends that I have made, and I do consider them friends. And I think of quitting. I did quit once, about three months after I started here. That quit lasted for all of twenty four hours. As soon as I wrote it, as soon as I stated it publicly not in a thread but in one of the social groups, as soon as I clicked on submit, I knew that I had made a mistake. The mistake was that I did not have a plan in place of what it is that I would do to replace the void that Cerb had been filling for me. So, I reversed that decision, really fast, and have been here ever since. So why then do I continue to consider quitting? Reality is a huge issue. What is real? What is fantasy? What is role playing? What is make believe and what is illusion? You know what, that can become very confusing for a client. I am real. I honestly think that I act and write and behave in the Cerb world both online and in person as I do in the rest of my world. I am not used to interacting with people for whom that is not also true, but I know that I do here, very commonly, and for me that is the Catch 22, because that is probably a fundamental truth/requirement of the business, and oh yes indeed, I do know that this is a business. There are many threads on this aspect of Cerb already. I said above that I have broken out of my stereotypes, and that is largely true, however the one big one that I have NOT broken is the feeling that I must have something "wrong" with me for paying such large sums of money for social companionship, and for me it is the social companionship that I have cherished the most. What is most curious is that I don't feel that way at all about any other male member of CERB, only towards myself. It causes me to question myself, which I suppose is a good thing ultimately. I am old fashioned, and yup, probably old too. I am not going to take up the bar scene and be picking up women in that way. Reality check. It just isn't going to happen. I am not asking women out on 'dates' in the non-Cerb world for fear that that would be construed as a desire for or have the potential for a long term relationship. That's the old fashioned part of me. So I might leave CERB in a heartbeat if I had a solution to my dilemma but I do not have a solution, I don't see a solution and until I do then here I shall remain, as it has been an awesome experience and an awesome community for me to be a part of. Another fundamental reality is that for each of us there will be a time to leave that is the right time for us. Our reasons to be here are unique to each of us and when we decide to leave those reasons will also be our own. WIT and Spud and so many before them have their reasons and whatever the reasons are they are valid for them. I am just throwing this post out there in large part for myself as writing often helps me to clarify thoughts in my head. Perhaps some of it resonates with others and perhaps most of it is unique to me. It is just that at the moment as I see people choosing to leave Cerb it causes me to wonder about whether their thinking is in some ways in line with my own or rather whether it truly is a unique individual decision that each of us makes for our own unique and individual reasons. I am not quitting Cerb. At least not today.

There has been discussion on the awarding of rep points, and both WIT and Phaedrus made some really valid points in a recent thread on the topic. It does appear that there has been some tweaking already about how they are awarded as Phaedrus said here , and that is a good thing. Many people do not pay much attention to them but I think they are a kind of fun thing to look at once in a while. As BRM pointed out, the list of the top ten clearly shows that the points are awarded properly and as they say, "The cream always rises to the top." :) BRM also said nice things about the Members Choice awards. I am with him on that point, but after last years fiasco, and that's what it was, I cannot see that it will come back. The Mod was put in a very bad position last year over that, so unfortunately, that is probably old and ancient history now. After the discussion on the other thread I have been a bit more careful about giving rep points. More often now I will add on to the thread rather than just put a little comment, even though a little positive comment was all I really wanted to make. The site continues to evolve and it is nice to see it do so on a day by day basis as it responds to the needs and foibles of its members.

Congratulations Nicki. Well done and keep it up.

Geeze RG. That's kind of drastic isn't it. Just because Angela got shut out doesn't mean you had to get rid of the boat. :) We have great faith in your fishing ability!

Yay. 40 %. Go Natalie!

Congratulations Carrie! That is exciting news. Well done.

Congratulations Cat. Your posts are always ones that I read, have learned from, have laughed about, have forced me to reconsider an opinion, or have done any of another multitude of things for me. So a thank you to you and please keep contributing. I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet you, and perhaps that shall happen in the fall if all of the stars align themselves just right.

WIT. I read your announcement first with a sense of shock and then with a sense of personal sadness, and how selfish of me that those two emotions were about me thinking of myself before you and your rationale. However, they are there and real. Your participation on this board since I arrived almost a year and a half ago has been a grounding force for me and I am certain for many others. To have people who are that grounding force and who are the voices of reason is very important to me and to many of us. Your contributions in so very many areas have been significant. It is people such as you who have helped me educate myself on many of the issues that are both prominent and also those that are under the surface and never even considered previously. I have also been a reader of many of your recommendations and it is clear to me that your involvement with CERB has helped you to expand your horizons and gain experiences that otherwise may not have happened, and certainly might not have happened in the way that they did- with intelligent, respectful, open and classy women. Each and every person has their reasons for participating in CERB and ultimately their reasons for deciding to depart. I have learned to respect the various reasons that people have for becoming involved and I shall equally respect those who choose to leave this community, whatever their reasons may be. You have made many things clear for us, and one thing that has been obviously apparent with virtually everything that you have written is your wisdom and your thoughtfulness. I am sure that you have considered this decision prior to starting this thread and I shall not attempt to convince you of an alternate course. As with all things pertaining to WIT, you are the sole decision maker. That being said, this rather insignificant voice of experience knows that the ability to reconsider is not a fault but is rather a positive and should you decide to rejoin this community tomorrow, next week, next month or next year in any capacity, then many many many of us would welcome you with open arms. I am even more personally pleased that I was able to meet you at the social in Halifax recently, and if and when there is another then I know that regardless of anything else that you would be heartily welcomed. It is my personal pleasure to have been able to learn from you and to have had the privilege of shaking your hand in a face to face meeting. Take Care my friend, and should you wish to maintain contact outside of CERB, then you and I do have a number of mutual friends who can send you my personal email address.