Recusen has once again given us some great TMI Tuesday questions. Thanks for that!

GOSSIP!

Note: Not asking you to reveal secrets. Give us the who without the what, or the what without the who, or obscure identity in some other way if you like. Would like to be titillated, though.

Jack’s Answers

1. Are you privy to a secret about a famous person? Do you read gossip about famous people in magazines or online?
Not that I’m aware of. In fact, in the late 1990s I briefly dated someone who’d worked on Bill Clinton’s 1996 presidential campaign in some capacity. I occasionally wondered if she had sex with him, but she spilled no beans about his sexual peccadilloes. Which, now that I think of it, weren’t even a secret post-1998. As for celebrity gossip, I’m not into any of it. I haven’t picked up an entertainment magazine in years, nor have I clicked a link to any manner of trashy gossip website. The fact is, I’m barely aware of the current crop of mainstream Hollywood stars; if I hear a name chances are I can’t even match it to a face. To give you a sense of how little I care about celebrities these days, I’m not even particularly excited when I hear that a well-known star is dropping trou in an upcoming film.

2. Do you know if a co-worker, friend or neighbor who is currently having an affair? Are you having an affair?
No and no. I wish I had some lurid tale to share about how our next-door neighbor hooks up with some guy every weekday morning after her husband leaves for work and has extremely loud sex that shakes the wall that separates our unit from hers, but I don’t. Actually, I’m glad I don’t have such a story. I’d hate to spend every weekday afternoon re-hanging framed pictures and sweeping up broken glass and such.

3. Have you ever had a secret that made you the subject of gossip?
I’m inclined to say probably, because I can’t imagine reaching almost forty years of life and not having people gossip about me. If I was, people were doing it pretty far behind my back, because I don’t believe I ever heard said gossip. However, if I was, it was almost certainly sex-related.

4. Do you like hearing gossip? What kind interests you most, e.g. sexual behavior, drug use, lying, betrayal, etc?
Honestly, I’m not really that into gossip. Actually, maybe on some level I am. When I hear about a distant relative of my wife’s who’s been busted selling stolen property to support his drug habit all it makes me feel is sad for him and the shaky upbringing he and his siblings had. However, I cannot say with absolute certainty that there isn’t a part of me that feels gratitude that I did better with my own life. Still, I wouldn’t say I like hearing such gossip, exactly. On the other hand, I fucking love hearing sexual gossip, just because I love sex and I like acknowledging that despite all outward appearances and societally-induced shame, people are having sex. Still, I prefer it when people tell me about their sexual habits of their own volition rather than hearing it second hand, presumably without the subject of the gossip wanting me to know.

5. Do you pass gossip on when you hear it?
It depends. Someone who’s having a rough go of it lately, either professionally or personally? Someone who’s perhaps been taken advantage of and embarrassed by someone who claimed to love him or her? Probably not. Bad things befall everyone once in awhile. Someone who’s just made their five-hundredth bad choice since high school, say gotten someone’s name tattooed on his or her arm after two dates? Lost his or her job after taking money from the safe and losing it gambling? That I might pass along. Actually I am less hesitant to pass along gossip if it can be better classified as “news”, especially if it’s potentially positive. Dating someone new? Got a new job? Bought a new car? I wouldn’t feel too bad about sharing that with a mutual friend or relative.

6. Do you consider telling your spouse or partner to be consistent with a promise not to tell? Is he or she trustworthy with secrets?
Yeah. Jill is a vault. If I tell her not to mention something, she won’t mention it. She understands the importance of discretion, knowing the consequences that could arise from someone talking about our own personal exploits with the wrong people, so I know she takes such matters seriously.

Bonus: What is one private thing that you would like to know about someone?
Which women have gotten off while fantasizing about me, and whether they used fingers or a toy.  Oh, and whether they called out my name when they came, or just moaned.

Jill’s Answers

1. Are you privy to a secret about a famous person? Do you read gossip about famous people in magazines or online?
Without getting too specific, I knew a very well known professional athlete before he was famous, though I wouldn’t say I know any secrets about him. As for celebrity gossip, I occasionally read gossip magazines in the checkout line, but only the blurbs on the front cover and only when I’m really bored while standing in line. Sometimes I’ll look through a magazine at the hairdresser, but those are usually months old. And once in a great while I might click on a news story that interests me, but the celebrities are usually the ones from my childhood. I don’t know much about most modern celebrities. I can’t even identify them. Celebrity culture is simply not my thing.

2. Do you know if a co-worker, friend or neighbor who is currently having an affair? Are you having an affair?
I don’t know anybody who I can say with certainty is having an affair. Even if I suspect, which I don’t, it is none of my business. Even if it seems that somebody is having an affair, appearances can be deceiving. The person in question may have an open relationship. And I myself am not having an affair. Sorry if that answer wasn’t sufficiently exciting.

3. Have you ever had a secret that made you the subject of gossip?
In college I was dating one of our resident advisors and he and I thought we were keeping it a well-guarded secret. But most of the people in our dorm knew, and would gossip about it behind my back. As you may have guessed, they kept their gossiping as secret as I kept my relationship with the resident advisor.

4. Do you like hearing gossip? What kind interests you most, e.g. sexual behavior, drug use, lying, betrayal, etc?
I have to admit, I do enjoy gossp. I can be pretty nosy. All kinds of gossip tends to appeal to me, because I find learning about things others might not be willing to share extremely interesting. Of course, sexual gossip is my favorite, because sex is wonderful and fun, and we all have it and presumably all enjoy it, so why are people so reluctant to talk about their own sex lives?

5. Do you pass gossip on when you hear it?
I usually don’t pass on gossip out of respect for the person to whom it relates, especially though not only when I am told to keep it a secret. I am very trustworthy. However, I will discuss the gossip at length with the person who originally told me.

6. Do you consider telling your spouse or partner to be consistent with a promise not to tell? Is he or she trustworthy with secrets?
Yes, I consider telling Jack a secret to be consistent with not telling anyone. I trust him with my life and the life of our daughter. I know that if I tell him that something must stay between us, he won’t tell.

Bonus: What is one private thing that you would like to know about someone?
I enjoy hearing about the sexual escapades of most people, especially our sexy friends. In fact, we need more sexy friends who’ll share their sexual escapades with us. Actually, we need more sexy friends who enjoy making us part of their sexual escapades!

How to play TMI Tuesday: Copy the above TMI Tuesday questions to your webspace (i.e., a blog). Answer the questions there, then leave a comment below, on this blog post, so we’ll all know where to read your responses. Please don’t forget to link to tmituesdayblog from your website!