I rarely read your blog because I can't follow most of it. The computer game/ techie/ movies/ animation stuff is so far removed from my world (besides all the bad anime that my students like to draw). But this one I read. It seems to me that we grew up in such a naive time. I don't think homosexuality even crossed my mind when I was in high school. Or maybe that was just me because my parents sheltered me so much. And I guess most of us were dealing with our own stuff. I never quite felt like I fit in because I was practically the only Hispanic in the entire school. So I'm sorry that you carried that in high school and I suspect many of us, back then, may not have known how to handle it if we knew. Here are some thoughts I have had in hind sight: I think about our (not yours) class salutatorian and can't help but wonder if sexual orientation played a part in his early death. And it's sad - because he was an amazing person. I think about how long it took me to find the love of my life and how I jokingly said to you when we were in our early thirties (or late twenties), "If we don't find anyone by the time we're 35, let's just marry each other" You looked really scared. It's funny in retrospect. I think about how religiously conservative our hometown was (and still is mostly) that one of my high school friends thought I was going to hell for being Catholic. But anyhow, I wanted to say that it's nice to hear from Chuck the person and not Chuck the game designer and I am very happy for you that you are being true to yourself and finding happiness. Pilar (aka Dianita)