RolePlayGateway?

Water splashed out of the sink and onto the green formica countertops, forming a small puddle that oozed at the edge of the basin. Sol watched the streaming water from the faucet fill the cereal bowl he?d just put in the sink, turning the milk from white to a thin, translucent color. A few flakes of puffed rice bobbed on the surface, then spilled over into the drain.

?There?s my handsome son.? Sol turned and looked over his shoulder at his mother. She stood there beaming at him as if he?d hung the moon, her frame shriveled with age and her grey hair dyed pale apricot in the fashion so many of the ladies in her Bingo league sported. ?Where you off to today, huh??

Sol looked down at the white undershirt he was wearing, the worn-in jeans, and the socks on his feet. ?I?m not going anywhere,? he said, but his confusion made the statement sound more like a question than a statement of fact. ?Where are you going??

His mother was in her ?good? pearls, which were really just her best looking fake ones. Though he was sure she had real jewelry stashed away somewhere, it seemed only to come out at weddings, funerals, and Bar Mitzvahs. A brocade pair of Moroccan slippers were on her little feet and a small handbag was clutched under her arm.

?Off to see the girls!? She winked, teeth flashing in a smile. ?And Doris is bringing her granddaughter. Maybe you want to go??

There was a suggestive tone to her voice, and it didn?t take a genius to figure out what she was implying. At least once a month since he?d moved back in with her, his mother had been trying to set him up with all her friend?s daughters and granddaughters. She was forgetting though; he?d already met Doris?s granddaughter, and the girl- while charming- was a charming nineteen year old. At thirty-two, he?d felt like a pervert all through a long, awkward dinner in which his mother and Doris tried to set him up with the teenager. He?d smiled politely, nodded at all the right times, and made sure not to make contact with her when passing the peas.

Sol felt his neck go slightly warm, but said nothing for a moment. He carefully deposited his cereal bowl into the dishwasher, then turned and gave his mother a quick kiss on her brow. ?Thanks, ma,? he told her. ?But no.?

He hurried out of the kitchen before the inevitable interrogation began, passing through the formal living room his mother kept spotless and down the stairs to the basement. The air became slightly cooler as he descended. Two doors led off to separate rooms, the left leading to his temporary bedroom, the right leading to a storage space his father had once used as a workshop. It still held all of his tools, perfectly in place on his peg board as if he was going to come back for them. Sol shook his head to himself and went into his room.

The cellphone on his side table was glowing. He?d missed a call and had a voice message. He flopped onto his bed and reached blindly for the phone, then dialed his own number. The message began to play.

?Hey, Sol. It?s me, Juanita. Hey, I was wondering if... Actually, I think we better talk about this in person. Will you call me back??

Sol looked down at the phone that was cradled in his hand and sighed. Call her, one part of him was saying. Return her call. The other part of him was screaming at him to delete Juanita?s number from his phone book and write her off altogether. It was time to get over it, the voice in his head said. He scrolled through his phone book and pondered her name, face contorted into a deep frown. His hand hovered over the button to delete her- if not from his life and memory, at least from his phone.

?Argh,? he sighed, and closed his eyes. His finger descended onto the button and the phone beeped. He opened his eyes and saw that she?d been deleted. Sol felt stunned, and he swallowed hard against the knot in his throat. It refused to go down, sticking to the inside of his throat like one of those bitter horse-pills. His fingers clenched the material of the blanket he was sitting on.

That was when the panic set in. What had he done? He didn?t know Juanita?s number by heart! How was he going to get it back if he needed to call her? He didn?t know any of her friend?s numbers. He didn?t even know where she lived anymore.

?Shit,? he hissed, putting his head in his hands.

?Sweetheart!? His mother?s voice rang down from upstairs. ?I?m going out! Dinner?s in the fridge!?

He heard the door open, then close; heard her key in the lock. Minutes passed, then Sol crossed the room to his computer. He pulled up the search engine, hands poised over the keys.

How do I retrieve a deleted number on my phone?

Up came a link to a small electronics shop.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway

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Shakira: Losing Baby Weight for The Voice Was ?Stressful?

"I knew I had to come back here to do The Voice two months after I had delivered a baby. I didn't have my four months of maternity like every woman on earth has. I'm not trying to complain, but it's been a process full of challenges."

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/QhNauRaZxRc/

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Estonia's capital gives residents a free ride

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) ? Looking for a free ride? Go live in Tallinn.

Estonia's capital became the world's first to introduce free public transport for all of its residents. All that's required is a transit pass showing you're a registered Tallinner ? and the city's buses, streetcars and trams are yours for free.

"I live on a tight budget since I don't have too much work right now," said Mare Tulp, who recently registered as a Tallinn resident. "I need to save money wherever I can, so I'm very happy with the free public transit scheme. This is a good thing for the common person."

Three months after launching the initiative, city officials are hailing the experiment as a success, though skeptics call it an expensive, populist trick ahead of local elections.

The free-ride scheme is the brainchild of Mayor Edgar Savisaar, who wants to reduce congestion and pollution while alleviating expenses for the city's poor.

Savisaar has even dubbed the program the "13th monthly salary" since, he claims, families will be able to save a month's salary now that they can get around Tallinn for free.

Deputy Mayor Taavi Aas says the experiment, which will cost the city some 12 million euros ($16 million) annually in lost ticket sales, has surpassed expectations. Passenger numbers are up 10 percent, while the number of cars on city streets has fallen by as much as 15 percent, according to Tallinn's transport authority.

A recent opinion poll commissioned by the city showed that nine out of 10 Tallinn residents are satisfied with the project.

"People now move around the city more frequently during weekends," Aas said. "This means they also spend more money, which boosts the economy."

City officials say it's too early to tell how much the city's economy has been stimulated in this way.

But the program is expected to boost the city's tax revenue because the registration requirement is essentially winning the city more taxable residents.

According to city calculations, some 40,000 people living and working in Tallinn are registered in other cities and towns. But more than 5,000 new Tallinn residents have been registered since Jan. 1, compared with 3,600 residency registrations during all of last year.

With 1,000 new residents equaling an estimated 1 million euros in city tax revenue, the current registration rate would offset the program's costs this year, Aas said.

The initiative covers buses, streetcars and trolleybuses in Tallinn ? a city of 425,000. The only catch is that one must be registered as a city resident and get a transit pass for 2 euros.

Once on board, you must place the pass on an electronic reader. If you don't, expect a fine of up to 40 euros ($52) should a ticket controller emerge.

Installing the system was a breeze in tech-savvy Estonia, birthplace of Skype and pioneer of online voting.

Many European capitals, including London, have similar electronic fare systems, but the difference is Tallinners never have to top up the card with money (out-of-towners do).

The fact that the Tallinn card is personal, essentially allowing the transit authority to monitor every resident's travel pattern, has raised some "big-brother-is-watching-you" concerns. City officials have responded that tracking travel patterns will help them improve transit service.

To be sure, Tallinn is not a trailblazer with free transportation. Many small European towns, such as Hasselt in Belgium and Colomiers in France have tried it, as well as some Chinese cities. In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has mulled over the idea.

But Tallinn is the first capital and the largest city after Changning City in central China to introduce free public transport, Aas said.

He said the project's two risks ? insufficient capacity and the risk of derelicts spending entire days in buses ? have not materialized so far.

Critics contend the experiment is doomed and will bankrupt Tallinn. Lawmaker Valdo Randpere from the conservative Reform Party, the ruling party in Estonia's center-right government, said the center-left Savisaar is wasting taxpayer money for his "own purposes and propaganda."

"There are lots of other areas where the city should invest but doesn't have the money," said Randpere, a former member of the Tallinn City Council. "It all sounds nice, but it's a lot of populism."

Some Tallinn residents groused about the affect the scheme is having on their business.

Andrea Green, manager of a Tallinn-based taxi company Saksa Takso, said Tallinn's free transportation is undermining entrepreneurship and risks taking jobs from cab drivers. He said orders declined 25 percent in the first two months of the year compared with the same period in 2012.

"The city should invest in improving the condition of Tallinn's streets instead," he said.

But for Tallinners on a moderate income, the free rides are a gift.

"It gives you freedom," said Tulp, as she boarded a bus on her way home to a suburb of Tallinn. "It's not just money."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-04-Estonia-Free%20Ride/id-57a09481cd0949e0b2151590e014ef1d

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