Oh, yes. For some reason I was assuming he had that. If he doesn't, or the guy can't give it to him, take the gun to the police and explain the situation, and damn quickly. He may lose the gun, but it's much better than having it around illegally.

eta: and I guess I don't really mean take the gun to the police, so much as call the nearest police station and ask them what to do with it. Please don't have your friend take a gun into a police station without advance notice.

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Hey Lee, a friend of mine had a roommate for a while. When the guy moved out he left a gun and told my friend to hold on to it. Later my friend asked him to take it and the ex-roomie declined saying to keep it. So several months later, no longer being friends with this guy, my friend wants to sell it. Can he do that legally?

blinks

Wow. Sometimes I forget how very much the USA isn't the UK.

I just watched the "Captain Jack Harness"episode of Torchwood.

Damn.

OMG, so much pretty. And the eyelashes, and the big puppy eyes, and the hopeless yearning, and the gah! It's still an episode made of handwavium, as they so often are, but, but, OMG, the big doomed pretty. Ngah. It sort of epitomises why I have such a love-on for Torchwood: because IT IS crackfic. It is Big Gay canonical Doctor Who crackfic, made by the BBC. It starts off in the first few minutes of the very first episode by making MPreg canon for the main character, and from that point on it's just one whacky fanfiction.net cracktastic tale after another, with wobbly characterization, dodgy plot devices, sex, violence and bowmchikabowmbown right, left and centre.

And it's set in Wales.

I love living in a world that has Torchwood in it.

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Does it seem like the most sensible way of seeing all you folks is a Rock Band party? I don't know where in L.A. ND and Kristin live. I'm still working out where I'll be on which days.

Ooo rock band could be fun! ;) As Laga mentioned, we are all over the LA area. But close enough by car.

Big D, it really depends on what state you are in. Gun laws are hugely different from local to local. It's kinda strange the way you describe him wanting to "hold on to it". I recommend calling the cops, and asking advice on it. If it was used in an illegal stint, and you try to sell it, it could be traced back to you. That would be bad. Ya, also, walking it into the cops unannounced, bad idea. If/when you do take it to the police station, make sure to leave it's action open (if it's a 6-shooter, leave the cylinder open, if it's a semi-auto, clip out with slide open) and no ammo in site.

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Please don't have your friend take a gun into a police station without advance notice.

Yeah they tend to frown on stuff like that even in states like VA, where gun shows can be important social events.

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serial

...but that wasn't what I came here to post.

So, over on OKCupid (which I'm really rather enjoying, in a Oh-people,-bless-your-cotton-socks sort of way, with occasional moments of 'Hey, you seem really cool and fanciable! Damn, I must lose several stone quickly, so as to be remotely in your league' and of 'Hey, you seem really cool and I think I'll just email you anyway, because a person can always have more geeky penpals, yes indeed, let us ignore that whole dating business because otherwise it would be far too intimidating to email you' kind of way) I have had a message from a Middle Eastern gentleman living in Bangkok. He seems like a nice enough bloke, and I do wish him well, but I am not even a little bit tempted to meet him.

This is our conversation thus far:

• ********************

Him: i enjoy reading your profile and looking at your angel face i wish if we can become any thing you like

wait to hear from you

I wince slightly about the lack of capital letters or punctuation and the nonsense about my angel face, because I am a pedantic cow. I click over to his profile. I read it. I gather that OKCupid considers us to be a 38% match, 55% friend and 51% enemy. I think OKCupid is probably about right there. I procrastinate about the replying thing, because I am rubbish like that.

The following morning he messages me again:

Him: am sorry if i bothering you i just need to ask

if i like you what i can do?

I suck it up and brace myself for the 'thanks but no thanks' conversation, even though it makes me cringe.

Me: Hi there! You seem like a really nice guy and I'm very flattered by your interest, but I don't think that we're very well suited. I'm really *not* looking for someone to call me an angel woman, although it's very sweet - I'm more interested in finding fellow geeks who want to discuss 'Firefly' or 'Stargate Atlantis' or 'The Sandman' or TS Eliot.

I really hope that you find someone who's looking for the same things as you - sincerely, I think you sound like a very nice bloke and I do wish you well, but it doesn't look to me like we have the same priorities or areas of interest.

Sorry - I do feel rotten about this, because you seem like a good guy, but I really don't want to lead you on. I do wish you all the best!

Fay

Him: if u dont mind i need to talk with you face to face for 20 min and you can see if it is ok so we can complete if it is not ok you will not lose any thing just try why not

• *******************

I don't like being rude to people, especially when they have been so kind as to express the idea that I am fanciable. I have, on occasion, been sufficiently reluctant to give offence that I have come close to giving a sympathy blowjob out of pure politeness, before the certain knowledge that Miss Manners would never advocate such behaviour came crashing over me and I fled into the night, leaving my friend to carry on getting groinal with his friend.

However, I am not even a little bit tempted to meet up with this guy. There is nothing about his profile or his correspondence that leads me to suppose that I would fancy him, or want to hang out with him as a friend. It is a great big No Thankyou from the House of Fay.

Any suggestions on how I can make this plainer without straying into active rudeness? For the incurable optimism of the penis/our lack of a common first language is apparently leading to a misunderstanding here. No definitely means no. Indeed, it means 'Hell no'.

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Can you block him, Fay?

I signed up for OKCupid in a fit of being up too late (much like this one, except I'm scanning provocateuse pictures in lieu of fixing my RSS generator) and got into one IM chat with a guy who seemed to think I had room to flirt inside a discussion on the best ways of teaching unaggressive women to fight. So I'm not going back for a while.

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Fay I don't think you're required to be more plain. When this happens to me I do not reply again.

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Polite brevity?

No thanks. Sorry.

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I'm going with this:

Oh dear. I think I haven't been clear enough.

I don't want to meet you. I don't think we have anything in common. I don't think that we have the same interests or values. I am really not tempted to go on a date with you.

This does not mean that I think you are a bad person - I'm sure you're a nice person and I do sincerely wish you all the best. But I do not think we are well suited, and so you are wasting your time.

Please do not contact me again.

Good luck in the future.

Fay

eta

Ooh - Aurelia, you're probably right. Brevity is SO not my default setting, but I think you're right. I'll chop it down to the bare bones.

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that's great Fay. I don't think the third part is needed but it is very kind.

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