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I started this thread because of a reply I made on another thread that got me thinking about how my life as an SP has changed the way I socialize. For me in a small city, I find that I have to be very careful of who I let in on my secret. As an example: If I meet you, and you become an acquaintance frequenting the same neighborhood pub. As time goes on, we would get to know each other a bit more. Eventually the question is asked"what do you do?" Well, I will use my cover story. Not that I am ashamed but, I feel if they knew, then my personal safety my be at jeopardy, reputation can be damaged, and God forbid if I offend anyone! They will use that info for extortion. It has happened once before. Someone found out what I did, they had a "hate on" for me. They had the same landlord, and managed to get me kicked out of my apartment! But there does come a point, that I do have to be honest about my work. Say I get to know these people at my local pub. And now, they want to hang out with me. Say either come to my place for eats and drinks. The phone starts to ring, so I try to make excuses of why I run out of the room every time. Or, why I have to ask them all to leave suddenly. Eventually I will run out of excuses. I will have to risk it and tell them. Then the ball is their court to decide to continue the acquaintance/ friendship. But now they know, those who do not approve go back to my pub and spills the beans! OH OH, now all eyes are on me as I enter! So now those people know what I do and where I live!! So now, If you are a mere acquaintance. And you know what I do....I will not let you know where I live! Or if you know where I live....you will not know what I do! Dating......well don't need to. But there is always someone in the background asking me out. "would you like to go dancing Friday night? or Want to hangout? I want to say sure, but that means I need them to know that if I am hanging out with you, and my phone rings, you may have to leave. This can get very messy! Then there are the girlfriends of my male friends who think I am going to put the moves on there man cause I am a w***e! For me I would never never never do that! Business is business, I don't bring it to the bar! So then I am in mess of...The girls want to kill me, the guy's want to f*** me! So for these reasons, I need to protect myself. I tend to only have 1 GF who knows, and a guy friend( usually someone who is hoping to land me as GF) and that is it! It can get lonely and difficult to maintain meaningful friendships. I am so thankful that here on CERB I do not have to worry about all of that. I have made meaningful friendships without risking it all! It is also hard on those that travel a lot. Being on the road must be difficult! If there any SP's that come here to my town, and feel bored or lonely. Don't hesitate to PM me. We can have supper, have a drink and gossip! I would like to hear how our profession has changed your social life? If at all? How do you handle awkward moments when with your friends?

As my mom used to say kids are innocent. Lets just hope the adults keep their heads about them and an open mind, and all should go well. As someone who was basically raised by a step parent, they can be the best thing to happen to a kid! My step-grandpa was the best! He used to make me all kinds of things as a kid! Some of my best memories as a child came from step parents/ grandparents! I say give it a shot, who knows you could be his best memories in life!

I feel for your situation. My family years ago ` adopted ` my good friends co-worker & her son. She was an 18 yr old single mom & with an 18 month old child. She really had no-one else & it started out as a safe babysitting deal so she could dance at night without worries ( making great money to support him ) Within six months this gorgeous little man ran my parents house, bossed around our 2 dogs ( one a 135 lb Doberman ) & we just fell head over heels in love with him. Daycare, camping trips, sleep overs, Christmas morning...the whole thing. We were on the list to get him from school. He was family! Fast forward 3 + yrs... The mom got involved with drugs, bad boyfriend & legal problems. And couldn`t deal. She ran away to Chicago with him & we never saw either of them again. It still breaks my heart. It took us the better part of a year before we 4 adults could talk about him without crying. And you know what else? I WOULD DO IT AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT. Because loving a child can never be wrong. There is a reason why this boy has come in to your life. Your daughter is an adult she can take care of herself. But be there for the kid & no matter what happens you will always be happy you did!!! I have regrets in my life but that experience is not one of them. Best of luck. Sandi xo

But thanks ekimout. I thought I would post it and see after a couple of days if there was views and takes on it. This Vote Compass is raising a lot of eye brows, in the sense it is coming from the CBC who of course are staunch Liberal supporters,I mean who else bailed them out year after year. Of course we as tax payers are paying for the CBC to be ran. Apparently, this Vote Compass is getting a lot of heat where Conservative supporters are being lead to vote Liberal,regardless of the different way they answer the questionaire. Some senior's that are Conservative back bone supporters might seek Elections Canada to get involved in this Vote Compass, that could possibly be rigged. Just goes to show you when it comes time to elections any tactic would be used by any party. Last detail, I for one am a huge supporter of our military, always have been and always will, I have an uncle buried overseas from WW2 and had other family members that fought in the wars. How can we ever defend our country if our military does not have the right and proper equipment. Years ago our military were borrowing equipment from other countries, thanks to the Liberal cut backs in military spending years back. Our aircraft could not even communicate with others because of poor equipment. Our military is years behind some of the other countries, so I'm all for spending money on improved equipment, may it be fighter jets,ships or what have you. Look around what is happening in the middle east. How are we going defend our own country with out dated equipment? I take the Liberal position of the new fighter jets as a slap in the face to our troops that defend our country, and support other countries in need.

Being an SP has effected my personal relationships to a certain extent. When I meet someone I'm interested in romantically, I need to 'out' myself as an SP and hope for the best. I've had years to deconstruct exactly what it means to be an SP and demystify what it is we do, who our clients are, etc. A lot of the people I meet haven't had ANY interaction with SPs at all, which is why it's really important we get information out there (it seems like the solution is always 'educational campaigns - kind of annoying). I took a break a while back from being an SP and when I told my partner at the time that I wanted to start again, they broke up with me! There's this idea that SPs are somehow vectors of disease, people society can blame for the spread of STIs...(she was extremely afraid I would 'pick something up' from someone, which is interesting, because we were in an open relationship!). If you ever talk to me about safer sex practices I really (REALLY) know my shit. We (SPs) have honed our practice incredibly and out partners need to understand and trust that. Check out this video, it's really cool!

I personally think the country was running good and then it was trowen for a loop thanks to the small minded people who want a better place at the table... I think Mr. Harper was on track for canada the others on track for themselfs.

Well when it comes to notice, couple examples from my experience. BTW these ladies I won't name, but they are, to use the term, All Time Favorites. One I booked my encounter with her in July 2010 for an October 2010 date. I just recently booked again with her for a July 2011 repeat. Second lady I booked in July 2010 for a September 2010 encounter. A week after the date, I booked again for a November 2010 encounter, and in January 2011 booked a May 2011 threepeat A third lady I booked an encounter with in September 2010 for December 2010...life happened, had to be rescheduled to March 2011. And I'm looking forward to her travel schedule coming out for the fall, she's a great lady Point I'm making, these ladies are not out of the ordinary, explain to them your circumstances, long term planning does take place, and you will be rewarded by meeting great ladies RG

Aww man, I want a hot woman to pick me up in a bar. *hinthint*

I don't doubt that it is growing and becoming more popular, but it is difficult to gauge by how much. Part of the perceived growth/popularity is the visibility and information afforded by the internet. Much of the business was underground before, but today we talk about it more openly on boards like this... and with providers actively participating... which helps. Also, attitudes are changing, particularly among the law enforcement community; so we're not so afraid of getting "caught" (in many cases doing something legal). Gone are the days that I feel compelled to park my car blocks away and take a circuitous route to an MP. It would be interesting to know what the true growth of the massage industry is in Ottawa and in general?

My concerns about a Conservative majority are: 1) It would allow Harper to continue and intensify his neo-liberal policies of shifting taxes off corporations and onto the backs of working people. These corporations enjoy the profits of selling their goods and services in this market -- they should pay their fair share. (see http://www.canadauncut.net ) 2) Harper (and Ignatieff) seem to view Canada as a territory of the US. The US greatly pressures us to mirror their laws and policies (IP law, drug laws, immigration laws) and we need a strong leader who sees the mess the US is in, and can work with our biggest trading partner without genuflecting to it. We need a leader who reflects Canadian values (as opposed to multinational corporate values) to maintain and protect our sovereignty. 3) I find Harper's use of confidence votes and prorogations disturbing. (Although, perhaps with a majority, he wouldn't need them. Even scarier thought, when you look at how quick he is in a minority government to use every trick at his disposal to get his way, whilst knowing it does not reflect the will of the majority of Canadians. When he has a majority, then I think he'll use it to further a hidden agenda he'd never dare campaign on.) 4) Even if Harper gets a minority again, I think we will continue our march toward a privatized, for-profit prison system, such as the US has. And he will need Parliament to tighten laws and sentencing to fill these prisons. These prisons are modern slave labour camps, except that back in the day, those who profited from slaves carried the burden of sheltering and feeding them. With a private prison model, that burden will be on the tax payers. Private prisons are also useful for hiding true unemployment statistics and warehousing the mentally ill. Technically, I don't get to vote in federal elections since on paper I'm not a citizen (unlike in my heart). But I sort of do because my husband has a vote, and he never voted before we were married -- he carries my vote. I doubt that the candidate I will choose will win in our riding, but that's who I'm going to suggest he vote for anyway. And as for the dreaded "c" word -- imagine how quickly there'd be a coalition if the NDP ever got a minority government.

I don't drink pop at all.... Can't remember the last time I actually drank a soda as I avoid the food coloring, high fructose corn syrup, aspertame and acesulfame potassium in sodas. I think it's unfortunate that people discount the ill effects of both HFCS and artificial sweeteners. And yes I'm going to put a downer on it. It kills.. I know you may think because you don't drop dead after drinking soda that you are fine.. but in North America where we have the highest incidence of cancer in the world, as well as diabetes, strokes and the like..this is one major contributor to our ill-health. What makes it so insidious is that we make jokes about it.. I have an addiction to something that everyone else does as well.. so who cares? What is they say? Ignorance is bliss. No.. I have to disagree. People openly admonish friends for smoking nowadays but it used to be a no-no to comment on it.. I predict it will be a few years before we are admonishing openly our friends for drinking sodas when more of the truth comes out. I have a ton of videos documenting what I have to say to back it up that you will rarely see in the theatres.. why? because companies that make this shit.. make so much money off of our backs. Anyone interested? pm me for a list. Here's one on sugar etc. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8282844637747895106&hl=en# and one on aspertame http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6551291488524526735#

I think pricing has more to do with wherever you start in the business. When I started 20 plus years ago I got paid 240/hr from the agency I was working with..then of course had to give a cut to the agent and the driver. When I became an independent I charged the same rates as they had.. BUT there were also girls in the paper charging 70 bucks for shorter sessions even back then. I finally met a couple of girls at an incall who charged those rates.. and you know what? they were totally capable of charging more but didn't. And here's the rub.. they weren't any busier than myself. That blew my mind. I fully expected them to have way more responses to their ad at that price but they didn't. I'm betting they had no idea they could charge more. It's what they ''knew''. This was in Toronto btw.. not a small town and as far as I know they weren't major drug users. They smoked pot but that's all I saw. In my experience charging a more moderate rate will get me more business for sure.. but a rock bottom rate will not. There is something to the ''undervalue'' of a rock bottom price that screams desperate even though it may not be.. that's just the business model I see.. if it's too cheap.. it must not be worth it. As a consumer I love to get a bargain but am always suspicious if a price is too low. This is not to say that lower rate = drug user. I have met plenty of escorts who charged high rates that were severe drug users.. and girls who charged low rates who weren't. There are no hard and fast rules here.

IMHO, it is not the price the SP is requesting that would be considered degrading, but rather how they are treated by others. An earlier comment regarding sticking together and supporting each other commands far more merit than any price point. The price doesn't necessarily mean you get what you pay for, it just means you get who you pay for. Personally, I first look over the ads, then the reviews. If the SP appeals to me, I will check the amt of required donation. Most SP's are within a range so it is not an issue. For those who are higher, I may have to pass for economical reasons (or I may try to save more for the special treat) I don't think many of the hobbyist would shop by price first and then choose the SP. If an SP is really undercutting to get a 'fix', I think this would either be detected and avoided, or at least would be suspicious since it is not normal. If the SP is price reducing because they are desperate for the next 'fix', they are not degrading themselves by reducing their rate, just means that they are in need of help and assistance as their lives are at stake! It is not my intent to offend anyone, and if I have, I apologize in advance.