PrivateTim

Thanks Mark for all the writing. I abandoned the Granger stories just because I don't have the time to read both stories which is why I am amazed that you can write them both simultaneously. I liked Hornblower when I was a kid and then graduated to Patrick O'Bryan. When CAP ends here in the next couple of weeks with the collapse of the towers and everyone in the story's demise I'll get back to Granger

You obviously have no conception of what life is like when you are rich.

The problem I have with Brad is the Jekyll and Hyde aspect of the character. He is reasonable enough to not fight Will's emancipation, starts treating Will like an adult and talking to him differently and gets good results from it and then suddenly reverts back to crazy, controlling Brad? And because Will is drinking? Like Brad didn't drink like a fish and throw wild parties at Escorial? And now Robbie is the reasonable one? When two months ago Will was so pissed at Robbie he couldn't see straight? THC does not stay in the bloodstream very long, which is why when anti-doping agencies test they usually do urine tests. If they really want to know they do hair tests, but that is rare because hair tests are pretty expensive. The IOC just recently bumped the "positive" standard from 15 ng/ml to 150 ng/ml. Not eveN Cheech Marin would flunk that test.

The CAP series is coming to an abrupt end if Hank and Jeannie hold their ceremony at Windows on the World..... but I suspect this means that Hank will survive the day, but get called away before the ceremony takes place or maybe immediately afterwards. Thanks Mark for the amazing body of work. I have no idea how you keep up the frenetic pace of writing. The only writers in America who write with such rapidity have to be the writers for the soaps. The characters are skillfully written that many of us feel like they are friends. Wouldn't it be interesting if it were Isidore who reminded Brad what his stubbornness and attitude in high school were like, the drinking and partying he had done and some of the consequences?

Improper makes it sound like its "against the rules" just for the sake of being "against the rules" and that there are no practical or legitimate reasons as to why children shouldn't be promiscuous, No one, at least no one I know, says that getting laid when you are 14 is going to be traumatic for a guy, not even when the person is twice you age. I know it is inconsistent, but I do think it is different when a guy is 15 and the woman is 30, than a 30 year old guy and 15 year old girl. But traumatic isn't quite the right word. I don't know the right word to use, but I do think that when you've had 30 partners before you are 15, especially when you are straight, it is going to effect future relationships. I do think it is slightly different for gay males. With your friends, how many of the three have had more than one marriage? How many of the wolves stayed wolves and ruined relationships through it? Sociology and psychology are not really my things, but I did have a lot of the classes in college and it does come into play in my job in peripheral ways. I think there are any number of studies that show practical or legitimate reasons why being promiscuous (as opposed to just sexually active) is not healthy emotionally, whether or not the person realizes the consequences and anecdotal evidence aside.

Can we just go ahead and add Erik and Pedro now or do we have to wait until they actually have sex before adding them?

Great chapter. Will Will's generosity of spirit extend to his father? I am pretty sure we haven't seen the last of Kai, obviously Will owns that house now so he'll be back in Maui, but how will things change? It is never the same as it was before, but that doesn't mean that different is bad, its just different. I get that Marie is probably going to be a bitch the first couple of weeks at school, but I bet 9-11 changes her attitude. I remember how it seemed like everyone went out of their way the first few weeks after 9-11 to be extra nice to others. It was like people reordered their priorities, at least for a while, before settling back into "the new normal".

Whether or not Will is a real person and the work is fiction or non-fiction doesn't really matter. The situations and moral dilemmas are real and the discussions around them have validity. Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Jungle, and the works of Charles Dickens, all of which were fiction, served to change the societies into which they were introduced through the discussions they engendered. I'd like to think one day every Christmas we could be treated to Will Schluter instead of that simpering brat, Tiny you know who. God Bless is everyone

A nice little chapter. I hope Kai doesn't fall back in with Scott and his cousin when Will leaves and that he and Will stay in touch even if it is just an email once a week. It's funny, I am actually getting nervous as 9-11 approaches. It is something we've talked about for a couple of years now and that time is just around the corner.

Without looking at anecdotal experiences, Will is way, way ahead of other 14 year olds. There are all kinds of studies out there that talk about at what age teens have sex for the first time and all kinds that talk about the average number of lifetime partners.

Will at 14 is not mature enough to make these kinds of decisions, decisions effecting his health and psychological make-up. Don't misunderstand what emancipation means. It means he can sign contracts to rent an apartment, buy a house, get a job etc. It does not change the laws on who he can have sex with, whether or not he can drink, whether or not he can drive and the other decisions associated with the age of majority. The Supreme Court in the Roper v Simmons ruling (juvenile death penalty) noted in the decision, “[a] lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults" and "These qualities often result in impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions.” and “adolescents are overrepresented statistically in virtually every category of reckless behavior.” So if Brad were mad enough to go back to the court to try and have the emancipation revoked, he might be on solid ground if he knew about Will's 28-30 partners, their ages and all the circumstances. But it all misses the point. There is an incredible gulf between settle down in virtual marriage when you are 14 years old and fuck every guy and any guy you like without regard to the dangers and damages to yourself. Most 14 year olds are acquiring friends and family is not the same as friends, they are entirely different dynamics. Jane Mendle released an excellent study on the links between promiscuity and depression in adolescents and the link is even more pronounced for those under 15 ( Depression and adolescent sexual activity ). The idea that 14 year olds need to "experiment" in order to figure out what is good for them is patently absurd. Should they experiment with heroin to figure out if is good for them? Laurence Steinberg, PhD of Temple has been doing groundbreaking work on risky behaviors in adolescents. One of his studies shows that adolescents, while they understand the risky behavior, are actually hard wired at that age to ignore what their minds tell them on the risk. That is one of the reasons that most minors do NOT win emancipation and why it requires parental consent. It assumes that the parent is going to stay involved with the child and that the reason they are seeking emancipation is not so they can engage in high risk behavior. So no. Will is not the best judge of what is good for him. if it is not an adult in his life, it might have to be his psychologist. And apropos to nothing, I bet Will's number of partners is twice that of the supposed Lothario, Darius. In the previous section I mentioned I bet Will is well ahead of Darius in sex partners. I bet he is well ahead of Wade as well and maybe even with Matt or ahead of Matt. The point is, that since Will is really on his own, no adult really knows what he is up to or is plugged into him on the level where Will talk about what is going on in his life. I bet Wade would be appalled to find out that Will has had close to 30 partners already and two of the last three have been close to double his 14 years. I think Jeff would provide valuable insight for him on how vacuous just sex can be. I think even Stef, as promiscuous as he is, would think Will has gone too far too fast. I have no doubt that because of the connection between Jeff and Ryan, that Will will continue to have contact with Ryan, plus the bond that they have developed on their own. I also think that there is a dynamic between Alistair and Will that has a lot of upside.

Will is not yet a sophomore in high school, nor is he 15 yet and he is approaching 30 different sexual partners already. I don't know a single, mainstream psychologist or psychiatrist who would think that is normal or healthy for a 14 year old. Will needs friends he can rely on more than he needs sexual partners. I don't think most people are looking for Will to find his love now, settle down now and enter relationship bliss at 14, but there is a lot more to life than flitting from one sexual encounter to the next. Right now Wade is the only person that we can really say is a friend who is in Will's life. Ryan might be a friend still but is out of the picture because he is back in L.A. And despite Will's blowing up the family over Noah not being invited to the party, we haven't seen Will having any contact with Noah. Is that because Noah isn't a potential sexual partner? Here is a scary calculator. How many people have you slept with I think you have it wrong. You are better off being satisfied with what you have, then always looking for something better. If Tony "rocks" his world sexually, what's to say there isn't someone even better? If you don't keep trying with guy after guy after guy you will always be ignorant (have a lack of knowledge) of how good they are in bed? I would also challenge that "ignorance" as you seem to be defining it isn't always bad. For example, I am ignorant of what it is like to be the son of an alcoholic, abusive father; I am ignorant of what it is like to have a leg blown off; I am ignorant of what it is like to inject heroin into my veins. I don't feel my lack of knowledge (ignorance) of these things is bad. Acquiring direct knowledge that is potentially bad or harmful to you isn't a good thing. I didn't need to experience first hand putting my hand on the hot stove to know it was going to be bad. But back on the topic of Will specifically, should he be with a partner who can give him great sex, but nothing else? No loyalty? No trust? No commitment? What we like isn't always healthy for us.

Based on the latest chapter of 9-11, I am so glad Tony has to be in NY next month to meet with his financial advisors at Cantor Fitz. Here is an interesting point to ponder...... does Will's satisfaction with Tony as a sex partner get in the way of a potential relationship with not just Kai, but anyone else as a future partner/spouse and at the next level of pondering, does it then give credence to the notion that promiscuity and sex before marriage are bad? Not bad on a moral level, which would be "it is bad just because we say it is bad", but on a practical level? It is slightly encouraging that Claire is worried about Marie, but surely if Claire is who we all thought she was, why hasn't she called Will to apologize about excluding Noah? If she is who we thought she was, while being disappointed in how Will chose to approach the exclusion of Noah, she would surely have seen by now that her own actions were wrong (back to that pesky Golden Rule) and taken the first step to restore her and Will's relationship and then worry about how the rift between Will and Marie is going to effect the family. So it is one thing for Claire in conversations with Isidore to feel badly about what has happened with Will and to be worried about Marie, but it is another to acknowledge that publicly or even to acknowledge it to JP, who is still smarting over the fact that Claire and Marie didn't go to Claremont for the dedication. It will be interesting to see if the Claire we'd grown used to and thoughts was the heir apparent to JP will reemerge.

I am so glad Tony has to be in NY next month to meet with his financial advisors at Cantor Fitz. Here is an interesting point to ponder...... does Will's satisfaction with Tony as a sex partner get in the way of a potential relationship with not just Kai, but anyone else as a future partner/spouse and at the next level of pondering, does it then give credence to the notion that promiscuity and sex before marriage are bad? Not bad on a moral level, which would be "it is bad just because we say it is bad", but on a practical level? It is slightly encouraging that Claire is worried about Marie, but surely if Claire is who we all thought she was, why hasn't she called Will to apologize about excluding Noah? I'll finish my thoughts in the forums. Anyway, lovely chapter, arranging the deck chairs just before we hit the ice berg

Is it a sport if no one's keeping score or timing you? Isn't it just an activity then? I mean yes swimming is a sport, its in the Olympics, but when I swim in the mornings it is just an activity. Sports I love are water polo, college football, wrestling, beach volleyball and indoor volleyball. I still play tennis and golf on occasions, which are sports because we are keeping score and then I surf and snowboard, which are activities. I'll watch soccer, pro football and college football on TV, but baseball and basketball bore me to tears. I think if basketball banned timeouts I'd actually enjoy it. The first 19 minutes of a 20 minute half take about 30 minutes and that last minute takes another 30. It kills the mood.

Dude, Will is such a slut.... I'm sure he's done guys even you don't know about All those hot, horny surfer dudes in Malibu out front of his house! Here is what I have so far off the top of my head: Will’s “loves”; Drew, John, Gathan, Ryan, Alistair, Tony, the taxi driver to Santa Cruz, Berto, Jeff, David (ice dancer), Shane, tech guy, Kristoffer, Kyle, guy at Paly party, weight room guy, Vic the masseuse, Trevor & Hayden, Jake, night club in Chicago, Carmine, Mason, Steve (Maui), Kai, Malcolm...... That is like 28-30 so far depending on how many guys in Norway he actually hooked up with. I'll need to find that chapter(s).

No one dislikes Isidore because she is female, but because she is French.... no one like the French.... not even the French! Freaking A...... we have ZERO idea of what Isidore was like as a parent because of the few snippets we've seen of her. This story so far covers 40 years or so and we've only seen very small scenes with Isidore in the last 17 years. We know that she has been a gracious host welcoming all kinds of people, rich and not rich into the house over those years. In order to plot a trajectory you'd have to have a lot, and I mean a lot, more data points. Norway was an assault only by a technical definition, show me the prosecutor who is going to file because Will had "marks" on his arm where his mother gripped his wrists. Jeanine has never been described as an especially large woman, but Will has been described as a big guy for his age (13 in Norway) so he is certainly larger and stronger than Jeanine. Will played that "oh she assaulted me" drama for all it was worth, but it only made him a whiny little bitch who was playing passive aggressive games. Even a drunk/stoned lawyer would have had no problem getting rid of that issue given the physical differences between the two. As to Michael and the pictures, the lawyer wouldn't have to sober up for that one either. Jeanine, the concerned parent, had heard awful stories about her 13 year old son having sex with multiple partners and she just couldn't believe it! She needed proof to confront him and his father who was turning a blind eye to his son's behavior. And I am not talking about Jeanine's legal right to know what Will is up to, but the moral one. She is still his mother and always will be. It would be interesting to research the legality of Will's emancipation while she was incapacitated. I don't remember if she and Brad were married, but there was no one there to represent her legal rights as a parent. And we are really rehashing old ground, but a huge part of the problems between Will and his mother were caused by Brad and him allowing Will to treat his mother like hired help and like her opinion didn't matter. A real court battle amongst these people would have made a lot of lawyers rich.

If you go back and read what I said about emancipation when it was being contemplated I said that emancipation is a very long road and the last resort of the court if the parents oppose it. First the court tries counseling and reconciliation, then the court might appoint a guardian and temporarily sever parental rights, emancipation would be the last remedy. Financially Will was a better candidate than most, but had Brad brought up all that Will had done in his running away the court would have thrown the brakes on the whole proceeding and ordered all kinds of tests and evaluations. Will could have gotten the emancipation in the end, but it would have been a long, ugly process. That is why Brad made the right decision then because the long ugly process wasn't going to help his relationship with Will which is partly why his behavior this last chapter was puzzling. Brad the smart business guy figured out how to start repairing his relationship with Will and then blows up all the progress over trite things like alcohol when he knows Will drinks and smokes pot? I get that there needs to be a vehicle to drive drama, but Brad and Robbie as foils have maybe run their logical course. As to "Norway", Norway was nothing. It would seriously drive you completely nuts if you saw the households that courts let children remain in every day in family court. It is partly the court is loathe to remove children from a parent and partly the system is just not big enough to place every child that should be removed. There would have to have been a half dozen "Norways" before any court would even raise an eyebrow. And the crux of my problem with so many people with Will is that they alternatively promote him as "wise beyond his years, smarter than the adults around him" and then immediately fall back on "he's just a kid" when he messes up. A lot of teens show flashes of maturity followed by incredible moments of immaturity, but most 14 year olds have parents to encourage one and discourage the other. Where is Will getting that moral input from on a daily basis?

The Golden Rule is "Do unto others as you would have them do to you". So simply, treat people as you want them to treat you. He didn't do that with Kyle & Eric, he only worried about his own pleasure; he didn't do that with Tony, he fooled around with Mason as retaliation; he didn't behave that way at the dinner table at Escorial and now maybe there are other consequence and reverberations from that behavior. I know some people will say, 'oh but they disrespected him first'; that isn't the Golden Rule, "Get even", it is the idea of being better than that and modeling the behavior you want from others. Will wants others to give him respect, but that is a two way street. Treating Malcolm the way he did, especially as an adult working for him, wasn't respectful. It isn't really difficult to get emancipated, it is quite easy because about the only way you can do it is with parental consent. If Brad had chosen to fight Will's emancipation, he would never have gotten it. At best he'd have had his guardianship changed to JP, but even that was a long shot. The first go round a judge would assign a social worker and they'd work for family reconciliation. Since Will was in no physical danger in the house, his being removed would have been highly unlikely. Why shouldn't Jeanine know what her 14 year old son is doing?

Malcolm was taken advantage merely by the fact that he does work for Will. He doesn't have to say "no, stop" and Will doesn't have to say "sleep with me or else" for this to meet the legal definition of either rape or sexual harassment. Whether or not Will would have fired Malcolm if he had said no isn't the issue, the mere fact of Will putting Malcolm in that position is the wrong. Even if Malcolm had flopped on his back and said "do me, do me, please do me" Will would still have been vulnerable to sexual harassment claims. Yes, some people do get off on rough sex and being told what to do, but you don't usually do that in the first 20 seconds of an encounter. I'd love to be Malcolm's lawyer looking at that Schluter bank account As to the new chapter, Brad had every right to be concerned about his 14 year old son putting in a sex/kink room, but he obviously approached it the wrong way. Like I said in my review I think Brad would have figured out by now how to deal with Will, but the character Brad has to do the things he does to keep drama in the story and set up the next situation. Someone has to tell Will no. Someone has to tell will he is fucking up. This notion that Will is going to mature and become wiser getting whatever he wants isn't realistic. In my anecdotal experience teens who don't get told no, who don't have limits set on them, who don't have guidance from adults (usually their parents) don't turn out well. Look at what a hot mess Justin Bieber has turned into because the adults around him have indulged him and not told him no. Look at all the child actors who become hot messes and the children of privilege too. The most indulged do not turn out well. I don't know if it is going to be Wade or JP or who, but someone needs to give Will some direction on right and wrong and respect and maybe a quick revisit to the Golden Rule, the REAL one, not the one that little rich kids think exists.

Fire all your editors! "Coke" should be capitalized unless Will was going to get a line to snort I guess I have a different take on Isidore. I don't see her wanting a divorce because of the drama with Will, but because of wanting to marry Frank. Maybe the fight with Will precipitated some conversations, but I found it strange that she and JP stayed married long after it was necessary. And I am not sure what JP has done for her "over the years", she is a wealthy and successful woman in her own right with her construction company. I was going to say I'm a little surprised at Brad's behavior, but no, he is just doing what the author needs him to do to move the story to the next level/scene. Brad is a very successful businessman and I think he'd have figured out how to manage Will by now, but if he did, we wouldn't be able to have a continuing level of drama in the story or we'd have to have new protagonists to bring the drama. So for now Brad has to dance to the tune his creator plays. As for Stef, he needs to reexamine his actions. He is someone you'd never want to tell anything in confidence because he can't keep a secret. It is a maliciousness on his part, there are just some people you can't trust to keep things secret. They might be able to keep the really big things secret, but they can't help talking about things that seem minor to them, but are a big deal to the other person to whom they are a big deal.

This may not be 2000 or 2001, but it isn't far off. 15 Ways You Know You Go To Private School In LA

Well maybe at this point on August 1, 2001, but was six weeks ago (?) he was in St Louis and he was full ready to be Tony's boyfriend and just a year ago he was deeply in love with John and wounded when John hooked up with Zack. Will's "new" attitude really is new after a year of heartache with trying to find Mr. Right vs Mr. Right Now. The question wasn't, who should Will settle down with right now at 14 (since he isn't 15 yet), but who would we like to see him wind up with. Stef and JP were an item when Stef was 16 or so when he first moved to Claremont, but it took another 30 years or so before they became a couple again. On the Mark remains my favorite Mark Arbour story and is the one that lead me to this site. I still hold out hope that Mark will finish it one day out of pure selfishness (my selfishness) because I'd love to know how young Mark got to where "old" Mark is. I don't think think Will is unlinked to real life though, I think Will is directly linked to Teen Son Arbour and that pieces of TS Arbour are in many of the teen characters that we see, but especially in Will. As to the question of who would I like to see Will wind up with, if I had to choose one person at this point it would be Alistair since I see a lot of JP in Alistair and I think he would be a good balance to Will's Brad tendencies and Alistair is someone that I could see being completely loyal and faithful. That might make for some boring stories in 2020, but I would be okay to trade off drama for happiness.

Make up your mind Jeremy..... you are one of the ones who keeps pushing Will the Man Child, wise beyond years and mature and responsible enough to run his own affairs.

Okay..... so my thoughts are that Will needs to be with someone who compliments (supplements?) him; meaning Kai is compatible because of the surfing and a love of the ocean, Alistair is going to be a successful something because despite his diminutive stature I get an impression of toughness and determination. Being Ryan's brother-in-law (Jeff) could be interesting and keep Ryan in the story. Tony doesn't really matter since we all know he DIES in 41 days (right Mr. Arbour??) I think Kai would be a good partner only if he goes on to get his college degree or becomes accomplished at something, ditto for Jeff. I can't see Will really being happy with someone who is not accomplished and just going to be a kept man.