Scandalous and a New Leather Jacket

/ September 13, 2015

We’re fortunate enough again this Sunday to host the weekly Cuppa column from my Canadian friend Paul Curran while usual host Willow takes a bit of a break at her place across the pond at willowdot21. As usual, Paul entertains and educates with his words and ways. Take it away, Paul.

If We Were Having Coffee

Painting by Jeanne Witkam titled: Afternoon Tea, created in 2007

Paul Curran

Your Barista — Paul

Welcome to Willow’s weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul, I’ll be your barista today, and I’m happy to be here once again. For the next few weeks Willow will not be able to access her internet dependably so we’ll be meeting here at Mark Bialczak’s Little Bitty in Syracuse, New York. Please come in and go through to the backyard. Mark, his wife Karen and their pooch Ellie B have prepared a nice, comfy place for us outside on the newly mown lawn of the Little Bitty, so I can tend to your needs for a cuppa, and sweets. The weather this morning is cool at about 63 degrees Fahrenheit with overcast skies. As usual, I’d be pleased to bring a pot of whatever beverage you prefer – we have a wide range of teas and coffees to satisfy our worldwide readership and adult beverages for those who wish something stronger. We can relax with a cuppa and calorie-free electronic sweets while we discuss the affairs of the week both personal and/or worldwide. Ellie likes to be patted, so please indulge her when she greets you. How has your week been?

Well now, my week was good, thank you. I have to tell you this -– I discovered something this week that apparently everyone else in the world already knew and I somehow didn’t get the memo. And I was quite amazed. Before I tell you, let me say that I do not intend to discuss this at length –- a paragraph will do. I read a casual conversation the other day that indicated that YouTube has a dark brother – SexTube – of which I was not aware.

Porn has historically been a product that generated revenue in North America, never free in the public domain. So, I looked it up on Wiki first -– not wanting to expose my computer to something shady. I’m sensitive about that, OK? Sure enough it has been an above-board free service offered since 2008 – seven years now –- all the free heterosexual porn you can consume (apparently gay porn has its own site). So, I bit the bullet and signed on to satisfy my curiosity. I’m still trying to get my eyeballs back in their sockets. Yikes! You can search the site for your choice, as you can most sites, and they have their offerings broken down by category (they even have a “Romantic” category for the ladies — although for the life of me I can’t help but think that romantic porn is an oxymoron — I didn’t look). I had never thought of sex in terms of categories, but they did. So I figured I’d scan the categories, being a curious soul. It starts off pretty tame with the typical sex terms, like missionary and such. No big surprise there. Then it starts to get into words I may have heard but didn’t understand –- and now I do, much to my dismay. I was pretty agog after a few minutes and figured this must almost be the end of the categories, so I looked over at the sliding side bar (the “menu” was all on one page and then went from there to whatever choice you made) and the bar was tiny and less than one-quarter its way down the page. I grabbed it and went to the bottom just to see if it was all menu — and it was and there were things at the end that I certainly didn’t know existed and never wanted to know existed — and now it is too late. Holy Smokes! I got out of there fast, let me tell you. I had to buy some bleach for my eyeballs — the good thing being that they are still not back in their sockets, so they are easy to clean. Ha!

Would you like another cuppa? Perhaps a sweet? The sweets are all calorie-free, you know. Now that we’ve had our weekly dose of the scandalous, back to regular programming. Ha! So, I had a chit for the Salvation Army Store, and I decided to go with a friend to visit Saturday. We made an afternoon out of it and took the bus (an hour) to the store and handicap transport back. I was impressed by some of the offerings. I got a big quilt for $12. And even more impressive, I found an almost new black leather bomber jacket my size for only $6.99. I wear at least an XXL, so it is hard to find clothes that fit. This one is lined and has an attached hood. My friend found a similar one in his size and when he got to the cash, they changed the price to $20. But they let my purchase go through at $6.99. Impressive. I haven’t had a leather jacket since university days — brings back memories, and I stand a bit straighter when I wear it. I picked up some golf shirts and some kitchen utensils. I looked for pants but I couldn’t find anything to fit my long legs. My chit was good for $70 and I spent all of that — it had to be spent all at once with no change. We arrived home with our treasures around 4:30, and I made a pot of coffee and sat down to finish this post. Slowly but surely I’m getting my place to feel like home.

That’s about all we have room for this week, so it’s time to settle in with another cuppa and pat Ellie B. Sweets anyone? Please join me in thanking Mark, Karen and Ellie B for their invitation to tea. We are all honored that you dropped by today to visit. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and the conversation and please look around at Mark’s other posts while you’re here. Have a great week. We look forward to seeing you for tea and drinks here for the rest of the month of September.

Is It Oktoberfest Time Yet?

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39 thoughts on “Scandalous and a New Leather Jacket”

  1. Hey Sadie! Welcome. Thanks so much for dropping by and commenting. The SA can give up some good finds. I was there the other day and found a whole slew of expensive golf shirts that were 3X to 5X that were brand new and must have been contributed when they didn’t sell. They fit me perfect (I’m about 6’3″ and 250 pounds) – and I got these $75 shirts for $6.99 each. Amazing – good colors for me too – black and grey and turquoise. Thanks for the visit Sadie!

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  2. Just finding this one, Paul . . .
    Laughing at the eye bleaching 😉 Porn, in this country anyway, is a fascinating topic – one volumes could be written about after an infinity of extensive studies. I had no idea there was a sexTube either . . . SMH not surprised. Great find at the S.A. – I have donated items for their stores, and I have shopped there as well – never know what kind of cool bargains you may find!

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  3. Some fifteen years ago I was doing research for my wife who was organising a school trip to Japan at that time. One of the search terms I used was “Japanese school girls”. Boy, was I in for a rude (literally) shock! These days I use OpenDNS instead of the DNS services of my ISP to filter out unwanted stuff. I find bleach and eyeballs don’t go well together, and prefer to keep bleach well away from my eyes 🙂

    I’ve stopped supporting the Salvation Army and won’t change my stance until they change theirs regarding homosexuality and same sex marriage. There are plenty of other churches and charities that don’t equate homosexuality with sin, and I prefer to support those.

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    • Hey Barry ! Sorry it took so long to reply. Thanks very much fro dropping by and commenting. i wasn’t aware that the Sally Anne had a negative policy on Gays – I’ll have to look into that. Thanks very much. Talk about bas searches – I know what you mean. When my daughter was about 13 she was allowed onto the internet with supervision and one day she came to me and asked how she had arrived at a particular site. She was a fan of the Spice Girls at the time and had entered that into the search engine – and it had returned “spicy girls” Whew. Thanks so much for the visit Barry. take care.

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  4. Pingback: Hot Browsing | Cordelia's Mom, Still

  5. I won’t comment on Sextube, having never been there myself – although I suspect hubby might have been at some point (that’s a story for another day).

    But I will comment on how nice it is when you begin getting your new home set up just the way you like it. It’s amazing how one small knickknack or a special picture can brighten up a place and make it your own. I’m glad you’re enjoying your new apartment.

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    • Thanks so much for the visit CM. It really does make quite a difference when you make a place your own, doesn’t it? Much more comfortable and I even sleep better. Thanks again for the comment CM – much appreciated.

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  6. I am tailing behind in checking out posts. Paul, you look great and I bet the black leather jacket looks good on you, too. My parents liked to take us to stores and always headed to clearance racks. Once they retired and found out thrift stores had Seniors days, they found lovely items for small prices. This encouraged me to share the wealth with them, by introducing Garage Sales to them! A quarter for clothing and a dollar for special memorabilia. They enjoyed their little “transvan” and traveling to campgrounds. There were plenty of flea markets along their “happy retirement trails.” 🙂
    If I could choose a treat and coffee, then we could change to another topic, Paul. I ran on a little. . . my turn to listen.

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    • One coffee and a plate of treats coming up Robin! We are so often busy consuming that we don’t look around at what is available. There is a whole secondary market that runs the gamut from discounters to garage sales – and everything in between. They seldom advertise and often rely on word of mouth to get customers. I actually worked for a discount chain for many years – they were amazing and a very good employer. Because I was responsible for the transportation (my boss did contracts and fleet and such while I did all the day to day operations) I saw some of the great ways that new value products could be purchased. It is really quite amazing. I got a call one Sunday afternoon from the food buyer and he had ten trailer loads of tinned tomato juice that had to be loaded within 24 hours. I made the arrangements and saw the buyer for the story on Monday morning. Apparently one of our suppliers was going out of business and knew their inventory was going to be seized on Tuesday. So, they sold it to our company at pennies on the dollar in exchange for cash at a later date in order to carry the cash around the bankruptcy. Tricky buggers. Anyway we got all the perfectly fine product for about 10% of its value because we had the cash and could move it all in 24 hours. We sold it at our stores for 50% off and still made a fortune.

      Anyway, I ramble. Great to see you visiting Robin. Thank you so much. Please come by again.

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    • I used to be 6′ 3 1/2 ” Kerbey but I’m down to about 6′ 2″ now. Thanks so much for dropping a note. I think the jacket was mispriced and was supposed to be $20, as you say. My friend who went with me found a similar one and they charged him$20. The cashier changed between us and I got a new cashier – she was disorganized and I think this worked in my favor. Thanks so much for the visit, please drop by again.

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  8. I found the part about the xxx site funny. I am over 50 so I’ve pretty much seen everything at least once. I said this kind of flippantly to someone on the internet and he sent me a video (yes, I opened it, are you crazy?!) saying bet you never saw this. The truth is, there are some things you cannot un-see!

    My son found a leather jacket at Salvation Army last year for 12 bucks. Great find! I need to go thrift shopping again soon.

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    • Ah Rose! A lady after my own mind – I have to at least look to see what is out there. 🙂 You think the tape was eye-opening – you should scroll to the bottom of Sextube’s menu (which seems to be organized from most common to least common), Yikes! I didn’t even now that was possible. Whew! I’m with you – there are things you can’t unsee. Ha!

      For the patient there are some awesome deals to be found in thrift shops. My ex wife was a professional who had excellent taste in clothes and yet she wouldn’t pay full price for fashions. She used to shop the consignment stores here and come up with expensive brand items for a pittance. I used to shop with her and she had an amazing eye. It was fun.

      Thanks again for the visit Rose and thanks for the compliment.Please drop by again.

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  9. Tea with two sugars and cream please!!! What an interesting and diverse time you have had with your purchases and your discoveries. From leather sites to leather jackets, whew!!!!!! We used to have the bookcase filled with encyclopedias and now we have Google. Life is much easier but more difficult because you have to filter out all the junk information and weird sites. Sometimes it is scary to see what is out there on the Internet as evidenced by your bleached eyeballs.
    Great post!!!!!! and thanks for the tea!!!

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    • Tea with two sugars and cream coming up! Thanks so much SD! I really appreciate you dropping by for a read and a comment. You know, I went to wash the golf shirts I bought and I realized that the original manufacturers labels were still on them They were brand new and must have been donated because the large size made them hard to sell. So even bigger bonus . I wore the jacket yesterday (it was cool) and it was perfect. Great finds. Thanks again for the visit and please drop by again. 😀

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  10. I have never heard of sextube. Think I’ll just take your word on the eye popping because I don’t think I could get them back in my head before work tomorrow. Some things I can go without seeing. I have a healthy curiosity mind you, but some things…. I can forgo. 😉 Oh, can I have an iced coffee by the way?

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    • One iced coffee coming up! Hey CM! Would you like a sweet too? They are calorie free. Thanks so much for dropping by for a read. Much obliged. Yep, I was surprised at the Sextube site – no intentions of ever going back. Thanks again for the visit CM. I am honored.

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    • Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving a comment Beth. I’m pleased you found the mix “interesting”. I doubt I’ll engage again in any X-rated discussion – wrong audience. Ha! You never know until you try. Thanks again for the visit. Please come by again.

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      • I must say, Paul, when I edited your piece and placed it on my blog and scheduled it Saturday night, I thought that you did your job of keeping your descriptions appropriate for my usual crowd! We’re all adults here. 🙂

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      • Thanks so much Mark! I appreciate the compliment It actually turned out not bad as far as comments are concerned – the visitors dropped by later. From a social point of view, the topic fascinated me. Remember when we were young , porn was kept separate and always for sale? Now anyone with a computer has access to huge volumes free that weren’t even for sale then. There is a social statement in there somewhere. I appreciate you allowing the discussion here. Thank you so much sir!

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  12. Paul I have never heard of the other youtube, and like you I am not interested in it at all! I love the jacket and the Quilt sounds brilliant too . I have a lot of time for the Salvation Army they do a great deal of good work! I am delighted to hear that you have nearly got the newish place just like home!! Have a great week Paul and be well and happy and wear you jacket with pride! xxxxx

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    • Hi Willow! Thanks so much for dropping by. My choice of topics isn’t generating a lot of visitors this morning. Ha! I probably should have considered that but I wrote what had amused me this week, Ha! I was astounded – all the way around. Anyway, live and learn. The coat feels great and I must say the quilt is quite amazing too. The quilt is big a fluffy one- no wear at all,. It has a nice fall multi-colored brown pattern. I have to wash it (it is clean – even smells clean – but I never trust any bedding until it is washed) before I use it. Yep, the place is slowly coming together.I got a couple of garbage cans too (I was just hanging the bags from hooks) and some storage containers that can slide under the bed. We took the handi-cap transport back home (I can pay to have an accompanying person) and we had quite a load for the van. Thankfully he didn’t have any other pickups- just us. Anyway, it is much cooler here this weekend – feeling fall finally. I trust all is well on far side of the Atlantic. Have a great and prosperous week Willow. Thanks again for the visit.

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    • Thanks Van for dropping by for a read. It is amazing what is available free now that used to cost money – for instance reference material. My folks bought the Encyclopedia Britannica for a lot of money when I was young. Now all that info and then some is available free on the internet. I suppose it is only natural that the dark side benefit from the same opening of information. Still it never fails to surprise me. I appreciate the visit and the comment – please drop by again. 😀

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  14. “I had to buy some bleach for my eyeballs — the good thing being that they are still not back in their sockets, so they are easy to clean. Ha!” Ha indeed! I found out about SexTube when I was trying to figure out why so many people ended up at my blog after searching for “sex Taub” –and figuring out they were just porn-seekers with spelling/typing/inebriation issues. Never had the nerve to actually investigate though…

    Great post! Congrats on the new jacket. What a find!

    Could you make mine a skinny latte? I will be over there feeding these haggis-flavored biscuits to EllieB.

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    • One skinny latte coming up! Would you like some biscuits with that ? Or perhaps a piece of lemon cake? Great to see you here for a visit Barb. Thank you so much. Yeah, I couldn’t believe that this whole universe has been out there since 2008 and I didn’t have a clue. Wow. Are you sure you’re not up for a little “romantic porn” Bwahaha! I can imagine and don’t intend to find out. Well, at least people’s poor spelling is driving traffic to your site – I wonder how many stay? Ha! Thanks so much for dropping by – it is always such a pleasure to see you. Have a wonderful weekend. 😀

      Oh, and I love my new jacket – whew. 😀

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  15. Thank you so much for the opportunity to guest post Mark. It is an honor to be able to write here. I hope the week brings health and prosperity to you, your family and readers.

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    • May your eyes recover from that new site you discovered, Paul, and the ladies of your city’s eyes never recover from seeing you in your new leather bomber jacket. Have a great week as well, my friend. 🙂 i like the second discovery of yours. Wow. For $6.99. You have wonderful luck at that joint.

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