PrivateTim

Okay wait...... I've gone with a lot of really unbelievable things in this story..... street urchins who turn into billionaires, people having sex who never lock their doors, Stanfurd as an acceptable place for a four year degree...... but now Arbour you've lost me..... no credibility.... a teen who who is pissed that his parents never pried enough into his sex life! Seriously??

I do believe that Elizabeth loved Jeff, that doesn't mean she isn't evil. Anyway, a good chapter to start healing and I hope people take all this stuff to heart and that it lasts longer than the post 9-11 bubble of good feelings, which I would say started to fade in early 2002 as people moved on from the collective grief. Interesting that this was a solo narrator chapter.

Because if someone on a Christian forum suggested taking a baseball bat to a gay's head The Gays would go nuts, it would make national news and Anderson Cooper would have Sanjay Gupta does a segment on why Christians want to be violent on gays.... goose, gander, sauce.

Hmmm. so the appropriate response to hate is more hate? And not just hate, but violence too?

Think of how empty the Malibu houses are going to be. A few stories ago it was Greg, Stef, Brad, Robbie, Jeanine, Tiffany, Darius, Will and JJ. Now the two houses are just Brad and JJ. Might this be a catalyst to move Will back to Malibu? Or Cody & Maddie? Jeff? 9-11 can change where everyone was going to go to school. Wade may feel an obligation to step in as Beau's surrogate father and move to VA to go to the University of Virginia Law School or Georgetown, or Yale or Harvard if that is where Beau is going to go to college, or maybe Beau will come west because Wade is at Stanford. Or maybe where Matt goes for graduate school, USC or UCLA for his MBA will effect Wade decision more, he winds up one of the So Cal law schools and that house in Malibu starts to fill again. In any case, I am not sure I see the two of them in Chicago. Matt might be comfortable back in the Midwest, but I think it would be awfully tough to move back to the Midwest once you've escaped. Wade is more a coastal guy so I see him left coast or right coast, but not in the middle. As to Obama the law lecturer, friends and colleagues who had him for a teacher called him pretty cold and distant. He wasn't Bill Clinton who made everyone his best friend in five minutes and didn't build a network like Clinton did, he had a small tight circle in Chicago.

OMG, I cried in that chapter more than all the others combined..... The aftermath was much harder to deal with than the initial shock. I think normally the service would have notified Wade personally, but there were just too many that day and it was still an ongoing attack as far as anyone knew at that time.

Remembering the way people felt after 9-11, how they treated each other a little nicer, drove a little bit less aggressive, were polite...... there may be an opportunity to figure out what is in Maddy's best interest amicably. The trouble with the sale of Goodwell not being final is that Beau, the sister and Wade are probably the main beneficiaries of the Senators estate so they share the property equally. Elizabeth will use her daughter to keep Goodwell out of Wade's possession. As to Beau, he must be 16 by now? Elizabeth can only mess with him for so long and if she pushes too hard, Wade has the lawyers to mess with her and tie her up until Beau hits his majority. And remember that the day of 9-11-01 was just the first of many shocks that reverberated for a while. The stock market went into free fall when it first opened after 9-11, there were companies that went bankrupt when liquidity dried up and many industries (insurance, banking, airlines, cruise lines and hospitality) that took big hits. Some companies (high tech & defense) went through the roof. Like I said..... I hope this book goes on for a bit, at least through Christmas... or that the next book doesn't skip too far ahead. There are too many characters from the last three books that I am emotionally invested in and want to see where their lives go and intersect.

True, but then he has never had to be responsible. Some people when they have responsibility thrust on them step up to the plate. Whether or not Cody chooses to raise Maddy, I don't see him abandoning her or forgetting about her.

Continuing the roiling of feelings. We are barely into the day and it grew stranger and stranger all day. Great chapter, nice to see Wade back. I do look forward to October and November, etc. I hope the story 9-11 takes us through Thanksgiving and Christmas and Will gets to keep his time with Cam, that Marie comes back to reality (has anyone called Claire by the way? She must be frantic) and that we get to see some of the storylines from the last book developed. The happy days of Maui were just a couple of weeks ago, but it feels like a lifetime.

You are god the creator of CAP who are we to judge or understand whom you smiteth? I liked Robbie, but like all your creations he serves at your pleasure and if his service will be better with him gone then so let it be done.

Shoulda been Tony........... I actually find JJ interesting especially from the complexity of his character.

Ooooo, Mark, did he get a lightening blot scar on his forehead???

I am going to wait until the next chapter to say my goodbyes to Robbie and the Senator since both could still be pulled from the rubble.....

Wow is all I can say. A twin spin of emotion today.

Hmmm, well I guess that is that then.......

I would really encourage people to click on the links I posted in response #642 and then read all the stories in USA Today that are linked. Not everyone who tried to help people and died doing so that day were professionals, quite a few were ordinary people. Many of the "civilian" heroes that day lived, which is how we know their stories and many people survived but their civilian hero did not, that is how we know that part of the story as well. Centex, the "Inches decide life, death on the 78th floor" is one you might find especially interesting. The 78th Floor was the transfer lobby of the South Tower where people used express elevators to get the ground and it is where the tilted plane partially hit the South Tower. The lobby was packed from people trying to evacuate when the plane hit. I think only 7 people got out of the lobby alive using Stairway A. I too hope Robbie doesn't get through, but we will have to wait.

Another gripping chapter. I won't assume anything because authors get to bend reality a little, but one of the links I posted in the forums from USA Today, "Delay meant Death" or words to that effect, Hank & Jeanine's fate would have been sealed by not leaving when Will, Robbie & Darius did. The only hope for Robbie is that he wasn't able to get back up through the increasing heat and smoke. I have mixed feelings on Senator Danfield. He was not one of the more lovable characters early on, but he has largely redeemed himself (as much as that is possible for his horrible actions). It is sad to think Wade may not get the chance to continue the healing process. I am hopeful he can still find his way out. Overall though, a tremendous chapter...... I do wonder what is rolling through JJ's mind now as things unfold further.

I had just started three weeks off from my firm. My bar exam results were not in yet so my work at the firm was busy work so they not going miss me and I was taking the three weeks off because I was flying to Barcelona from JFK on Sept 15 with my family to celebrate my grandparents 50th anniversary. We had flights from LAX to JFK at 6AM on Sept.14. I was up getting ready to head to the pool to work out when I saw on the news that a "small plane" had hit the WTT. I sat down to watch the news because the footage was pretty dramatic. My memory is, and it could be faulty, but it is how I remember it, that the news commentator was talking with the video screen of the burning tower as the second plane struck behind him, he paused, very confused and after a few seconds of silence said, "I don't think this is an accident" (or words to that effect) and I thought 'well no shit Sherlock'. Thankfully later in the day I had to officiate a high school water polo game, one of the few that was not cancelled that day, otherwise I would have been home, glued to the TV being maudlin. The high school kids didn't quite get the import of the day at that time. I've never really asked them now what they thought back then, but I still see a couple of the guys who played that day and they are now coaching themselves so maybe I'll corner them and ask in reflection what they thought. The reactions we got in Europe were interesting and the activity in our hotel at JFK was interesting, but those are stories for another day.

I can't imagine any court awarding Will custody regardless of circumstances. Cody might be a party guy, but I don't think he is an ass. Unless Mark decides differently for poetic license Cody will get custody. What he decides to do with that custody is another matter. If the family could get their act together as a group, I'd think they'd propose to Cody that Jack & Claire raise Maddy while Cody retains his legal rights. If Cody wanted nothing to do with Maddy, which again, I don't see, I think he'd have a had time walking away from his parental responsibilities. Bottom line is it would be a legal morass since no one really has a solid legal claim. Brad would be Jeanine's common law husband since all Brad and Robbie could be at that point is RDP and I don't think they are; Will is a half brother, not full and wasn't living with Maddy at the time of her mother's (presumed at this point) death and the fact that he was emancipated from his mother and father could work against him. Here's to hoping the zeitgeist of 9-11 pulls the family together to help Cody with one mind. ****************************************** In refreshing my memory on the events of 9-11 I ran across some interesting articles in USA Today (who knew USA Today could have interesting articles). Delay Meant Death on 9/11 Inches Decide Life & Death on the 78th Floor Desperation Forced a Horrific Decision I won't post all the links, but the USA Today stories have links to the about 10 articles on that day. They are gripping, heart wrenching tales. ******************************* For the CAP story, I thought the chapter was masterful and I really liked the various viewpoints, especially JJ's as he gets to view the insanity of his family from a slightly detached POV. I don't see JJ as the prig or vacuous youth that some do, nor do I see future JJ as a brand conscious Millennial. In some ways he may turn out to be the most normal. ******************************** As the story moves forward from 9-11, the CAP story not the day, I hope we get to see Jeff and his brother Ryan, Cody & Maddy, Kai, Cam, Alistair or whatever other good guy comes into Will's life and Brad as a more mature, focused person as his defense company ramps up.

Ha ha, I should have guessed you'd never be able to wait until 9-11-13 to actually open the dram I bet you were one of those kids who opened at least one Christmas present on Christmas Eve! It is hard to believe this is one of the longest chapters (#2) in the story because it flew by. The POV I enjoyed the most was JJ's actually. I'd love to see read JJ read Will the riot act because Will is reaping the downside of being the favorite now, but JJ feels like the complete non-entity. I think it is worse to be invisible than to be hated or loved. JJ could give Brad a piece of his mind as well. I would mind A Summer of JJ (Love) POV for 10 chapters or so. Lovely beginning. I think it is pretty obvious where things are going to fall and it brings up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

The nouveau riche are every place in So Cal, I don't know that they are concentrated in anyone place. Maybe a place like Manhattan Beach that was always solidly middle class, but because of property values found itself becoming upper class. That didn't start in 2000 though, it probably started in the 1980's. The places that had the high foreclosure rates were the lower middle class areas like the Inland Empire where people who were making $50k were buying $400,000 homes thinking the value was going to go up the way it always had. There is no "small lot" movement in "LA". The City of Los Angeles is one, small geographic part of Greater Los Angeles. The expansion and building in COLA with the lawns and pools that happened post WWII was in the San Fernando Valley largely and suburban areas and cities.

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The DOD does not track reasons for enlistment, but there was an uptick in enlistments immediately post 9-11 (more quotas and goals were met than in previous periods) and the biggest difference was the quality of the enlistee as outlined in a GAO report. The Demographics of Military Enlistment after 9/11

Most UC schools are quarter, except Cal, all the State Universities are semester schools and the Cal Poly schools are quarter and all the JCs are semester schools, so it just depends. As to the OC stuff, no one in my family (parts of which have been in Orange County since the 1920's) had ever heard Orange County called "the OC", ever. Someone might have said, "I live in OC" or "next time you are in OC", but never ever with "the" in front of it. As to the interview where Schwarz said of USC, "It was more a reflection of this idea of going to USC and being surrounded by all these kids from Newport Beach who were water-polo players", it is a completely absurd statement. Newport Beach only has two high schools, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar and while both are huge powers in water polo, they still are only going to have 5 or 6 seniors every year and not every one goes to USC, maybe one or two. The rest will be at Stanfurd, Cal, UCI, UCSB, Navy, and other schools so at most at any given time there might be 8-10 guys from Newport Beach at USC who played water polo and USC is a school with 17,000 undergrads. That is hardly "surrounded". Newport Beach has always been a playground for the rich and famous, it was never a middle class town. It didn't suddenly prosper in 2000. What changed was the culture, not of Newport Beach, but of the entire society of the U.S. where ostentatiousness became the norm and it didn't start in 2000, it started well before that when people started wearing labels (polo ponies, alligators, golden rams, etc) on the outside of their clothing, not the inside. The Official Preppy Handbook was published in 1980 and it was gently mocking the trends already and at the same time you had the Sloane Rangers in the UK so it was not just a U.S. trend, it was a general shift in culture. It is also very, very hard to discuss trends in CA, even OC, because it is not DL where when someone sneezes in one part of the state someone else in another says, 'Gesundheit'. CA is so big and multicultural that areas 10 miles apart (downtown Santa Ana & Newport Beach) can be vastly different. The average Newport Beach kid has more in common with a La Jolla kid (70 miles), Santa Barbara kid (140 miles) and Santa Cruz kid (400 miles) than they do with Santa Ana kids.