-- Modified on 2/23/2006 12:17:45 AM

From the restaurant? After you pay your bill.

From the beach? When the tsunami warning goes off.

From the marriage? When the paternity test says it's not yours.

But remember, the nice thing to do would be to at least leave a tip. After all, you did book the time and she did free up her time for you. It would not be nice to just walk out with some compensation.

I have hobbied off and on for over 2 decades... with no ill effects - there was a hiatus - for about 10 years - (marriage causes hiatuses..)  Others have shared on this board that they too have hobbied over decades... some men do it for a short while, and others it is a life style choice.... your pick - there is no rule -

If you mean from TER - about 18 months or so ago - I noticed something strange - a fellow hobbiest that I had shared information and a "rescue" of an escort (she was treated unfairly by a third hobbiest) "disappeared from the boards, reviews, everything.  As he and I shared similar preferences in ladies - I often would look to see who he was seeing - and pass to him my "discoveries."  His disappearance from all, made me do a bit of research, and I found that - at least in the Philly market, the half life of hobbiests is about 2-2 1/2 years.  Some stay longer - some shorter.  I am not sure what that is a measure of.... I also noticed that some providers - disappear - well before their prime is over....  there were three in Philly that just fell off the face of the earth - actually two totally retired - as one has a legit profession and it was getting to be too risky to her profession - and the other, who I fell madly in love with, also went to a profession - with a very high profile - and vanished without a trace... sometime later - I saw her- and knew that she was doing what she wanted and was following her dream (really great person, extreemly intelligent  with looks that are just out of this world.)

I have a student friend (she is a stripper) who is working on her degree in psychology.  I have suggested to her - that TER is a source of data for analysis.... There are many ways to look at this hobby... and if one reads Freakonomics one cannot help but wonder what this board tells us about the hobby, the men and women who populate it and where this is all going....

Sorry to rant but your question, and an e-mail I received this AM got me to thinking about how we perceive each other on this board, and what drives our persistance on it!  Great question - and I for one, would love to hear from the ladies.

Like Lex said, Depends. . .

When you start wearing them, you gotta rethink. . .

Personally, every few years or so, I wind up in a hobbying situation that "burns me out", and so I take a break. But I always seem to come back to it.
I no longer have any family per se, and I honestly and truly don't give a flying fuck about my "relatives" knowing what I do. They don't give a shit about anything but social status and their 90210 addresses anyway, so who cares. In this light, perhaps my status as a free spirit with no ties puts me in a different arena, one where the worries of "being caught", (a major contributing factor in hobby cessation) are not a factor.
But from where I stand, if you are THINKING about it, then you've already gone past the point where you need to take a break.
Don't think of it as STOPPING. Think of it as a vacation to pusue other interests. You'll be back when its exciting again.

When you start getting too attached to one or some of the ladies. This is fantasy land and it need's to stay that way but sometime's feeling's definitely get in the way.

-- Modified on 2/23/2006 1:04:00 PM

When the amount of money going into your bank account is less than the amount going out to provider's, LOL. Luckily I never reached that point but I could sure see it happening.

When your kid's need brace's and it's a big decision whether to get them or do an overnighter with your ATF.

-- Modified on 2/23/2006 1:21:07 PM

When you get tired to the ATM multiple times for a multiple hour appointment. Many times I have gone to the ATM 3 times to get the cash for a multiple hour appointment. Gets old after a while especially when the providers are always late and they are drama queens.

Re:When is it time to walk away?

When any controllable lifestyte becomes destructive its time cut back or leave it all together. Sex, gambling, booze, drugs, food, theft are but a few activities that can become so pervasive in a persons life that family, work, health all are being sacrificed to supoort the ADDICTION. When you are compromising your basic responsibilities and duties to support your habit, its time to alter the supporting behaviours.

In other words, if it hurts stop it! If its cool rock on.

Just my view of the world.

Muff

as I feel the chemistry between my ATF and me is fading. Not on my side but rather on her side. Late reply for appointments, followed by last minute cancellations, etc.

Should I move on and find someone else? Nuh, I dont feel that way and I think that is a sing of "walk away and find something else".

Just about everyone gets bored by doing same things over and over again. After all, sex is sex. If there is no other factors involved, I am done. I would go through this cycle again with anyone else.

Maybe it is time to walk away...

Or, when you really cannot afford it anymore.  Or perhaps if you're wife has or is about to find out.

Thanks to all of you who gave reflective opinions. It's easy to take shots at something when you don't put your own position on the line. Good luck to you all.