PrivateTim

No kid at H-W is "just a new kid". The school is very small and very personal and they understand that when parents are paying $30,000 per child that they are to deliever more than the usual. The school is very supportive of students who have other commitments too, whether they are actors, athletes or musicians.

If the competition starts on Thursday Nov, 2 2000, most likely the US team would leave Saturday Oct 28, 2000 to get some ice time. If I remember this is an ISU Junior Grand Prix event so skaters can't just show up, they have to be part of the US delegation and qualify in.

Very well done Mark. Human emotions are such a complicated area that we don't even understand our own sometimes and have so little control over our reactions even when they are illogical. You've tied up some more strings..... now the make-up sex with Ryan and we are almost there

So how did that plan work out?

Frankly I think Robbie is too much of a pussie to stand up to Will face to face. See below, Robbie = dog, Will = cat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2TvLHGa_Y

I like that the cabbie (who should have been a Sikh ) turned out to be a better lay. I also like that they got their father son surf in. Can't say I am liking Jeff right now because it seems he has designs on Wade. Even though Wade and Matt are in an open relationship, I learned the hard way there really isn't such a thing even when both partners claim there is. I avoided those after that even when my little friend encouraged me otherwise. I like Stef, but it is always easier to parent someone's else's kid.

http://vimeo.com/40273409 No seriously, how is this possible? Do you know how hard it is to stand up on a short board and maintain your balance? How do you helicopter a 5 foot wave and come back down on your feet?

Football at every level rewards and encourages hard hits or "sticks" as they are called. In Pop Warner and high school a lot of teams award decals to put on your helmet, I knew guys on the football team in high school who had a pool every week for the best hit. In college I knew Deltha O'Neal who was as hard hitting a cornerback as there was in the country that year and we were talking about this topic kind of. He had just leveled a receiver the last game and the guy was down for a good time and Deltha talked about he badly he felt. He said words to the effect of, "you always want to stick a guy and get him thinking about you the next time he goes for a pass and not the ball, but you never want to see him not get up". That is the difference between what happened in NO. They were not just rewarding good hits, they were not just encouraging good hits, they were encouraging and motivating hurting people deliberately to get them out of the game. That threatens the integrity of the entire game and makes many mothers wonder if they want to send their boys off to play that game or if many Cross Country isn't a better fall sport alternative.

From the reviews, my favorite typo of the year! I hope he isn't shellfish either..... unless he is a scallop. I love scallops!

Ah B1ue, you should have kept the rant, I agree with some parts, like the part about Will being selfish and not seeing beyond the end of his nose. I don't criticize Will for that, it merely makes him a typical teen. The problem is too many people seemed ready to declare Will this "mature, wise beyond his years" kid who is able to control his own affairs while at the same time condoning his immature, "I'm gonna wreck your things and runaway" actions that show his level of immaturity. I think people have missed the fine line Mark was walking down showing the contradictions that Will is. He has his moments of clarity, but at 14 it is hard to hold onto those moments when the hormones are doing their best to remove any clarity of thought.

What a completely unreal chapter! Who the hell has ever heard of a cabbie at SJC who wasn't Pakistani! Okay, any wayz... cute chapter and thanks again Mark how you are cranking these out. I am literally on pins and needles until this part of the narrative is settled. Not sure if the Jeff interaction was meant to come off as possessive, or wistful, hopefully the latter, not the former.

Dudes.... are you always premature? May 13 is the date

I like Athlon a lot, at least for their college football previews. Pro football bores me to tears compared to college football, but what else IS there on a Sunday? But without a bio on Rush, his opinion is no more relevant to me than anyone online at GA. If I could see where he gets his expertise from, I might give him more credibility.

So drink different flavored teas...... do you have a Ten Ren near you? I think you get too hung up on these labels sometimes like "Gen Y" or "Helicopter Parents", just because there are weird examples of what people do and someone slaps a label on it doesn't mean everyone does it. There are a lot of people who raise their kids in more traditional settings. And not every parent leaves a successful career to "hang with their kids more", that would be the exception not the norm. I have a good friend who when we were growing up we used to kid about sightings of his father. He was a top CV surgeon and he worked his tail off. Ryan seldom saw his father in normal circumstances and there was hardly a holiday where he wasn't called away. But what was the doctor supposed to do? Throw away 14 years of training? And throw away a true talent that helps people? Parents make tough decisions all the time trying to balance priorities. Did JP manage? If the product was Brad and lots of people think Brad is the worst parent ever, isn't that what he learned from JP? And Isidore managed? One of her kids died because she wasn't plugged in enough to know what was going on and what was happening between Brad and Billy. Sam...... well what can you say about Sam, he was a complete mess....

No wonder they are dang blue is St Louis...... 4-0 in the 1st, OUCH!

I wonder where we can go from here? You seem to have tied up a lot of storylines in the last couple of chapters. I can't imagine a judge in KY imposing a $1,000,000 bail on someone who only earns probably no more than $40-50k. That would be a pretty clear violation of the 8th Amendment and the ADA wouldn't have asked for $1,000,000 knowing that. The ADA would ask for remand (no bail) since the preacher is new in town and therefore a flight risk and the severity of the charges. It would be up to the defense to ask for a reasonable bail, like $100,000, or even an OR release and then it is up to the judge to either split the difference or go with remand. The remaining, but minor sub-plot might be what happens with JT? Is his experience today an epiphany or just temporary? If it is life changing then CPS has another case to deal with.

Freakin' A Arbour, don't throw your arm out of socket pattin' yourself on the back I actually thought the Ryan interaction was cute and fun, but not unexpected, at least not from me. The kind of person you've painted Ryan to be is someone, while he might have that tough exterior (a defense mechanism) he is really a sweet kid and someone you'd always be able to rely on to have your back. On a side note..... Will should reflect on Ryan's situation with his father and then ponder whether or not his (Will's) father loves him.....

I would have to know who Nathan Rush is to make a judgment and know how is grading from years past is before commenting too much, but I didn't like some of his smarmy comments.

From the review section by Hermetically Sealed: "Meh. Once more Will is the Golden Child. "Oh Will you're so perfect! Oh Will, how mature you are, so wise beyond your years, you did everything right! Oh Will, we're so proud of you. Don't you worry about your evil nasty dads! They'll get everything they deserve!" Maybe a little over the top, but I'm on percocet and it brings out my snark. Sorry." Oh hell don't be sorry at all, I so agree with you! People who think po' widdle Willie is so abused have yet to show me where. What? Brad has been busy with work for the last two months? (maybe less) What about the surf trip to Maui? He didn't consult Will on his sidelining of Pat? That was 11 days ago and Will was being a bee-atch well before that. He hired Martin? Well yeah, but Martin was checked out and Will had a plan in place to boogie before Martin abused him. What was Will's reaction to this? "October 15: Will, dude, oh my God! Dad and Pop didn’t spend more than ten minutes on the ground in St. Bart’s before they had to turn back. Pop drank the coffee you put the roofies in and he was so fucking sick, Dad couldn’t get him off the plane and through customs." "I was laughing my ass off at that one." Really? You make your father so sick he has to cancel a vacation and even worse, no one knew what was wrong? What if he had been admitted to a hospital where he was administered a drug reactive with Rohypnol? Yeah, that is a knee slapper dude. And this. "but I’m even more pissed off about what you did to Robbie. I was scared shitless when he was on those damned roofies, and I can’t help but think that there could have been some nasty side effects" and "But all of those emotions and feelings dissolve when I think about the most important one. I love you Will. I have since the day you were born, and I always will. It’s agonizing to me that you’re out there, alone, and I worry about you almost every minute of the day." So what is "No One Loves Me" Will's reaction? "I’d been reading these e-mails and thinking that maybe I’d been hasty about leaving, but after reading his, I was even more convinced that I’d done the right thing……. In a moment of clarity, I realized that I was too angry at him to deal with it too" Clarity? That is clarity? How about pigheadedness? Let me replace Martin....

No one has been harder than me on Brad since Be Rad, so it is weird being in the position of defending him, but I still don't think he has been some kind of monster where Will is concerned. So the past couple of months Will doesn't think he's gotten the attention he deserves? WTF ya little prima dona, what do you think it is like for kids whose father is on a nine month deployment? Or worse BOTH parents on deployment as can actually happen these days. Brad treated Will like an adult in his email and gave him the honesty Will says he wants and then he uses the honesty to continue his teen "woe is me" act? Make up your mind Will, do you want to be treated like an adult or boy smothered by his parents affections and attentions. You seem confused to which one you want. I really liked the epiphany with the ground crew at HNL. I hope people don't underestimate the importance of that. Thanks again for the fast pace of the chapter postings. It is weird that I care so much about a fictional character who is pissing me off and I want to sit down and recount for him how effen charmed his life is. It would not be my first time telling a Colony kid what a little shit he can be

Thank you F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nice chapter, thanks Mark. It was nice Will overhead the conversation in the bathroom, it helped give him a good dose of reality on his situation. No one has been harder than me on Brad since Be Rad, so it is weird being in the position of defending him, but I still don't think he has been some kind of monster where will is concerned. So the past couple of months Will doesn't think he's gotten the attention he deserves? WTF ya little prima dona, what do you think it is like for kids whose father is on a nine month deployment? Brad treated Will like an adult in his email and gave him the honesty Will says he wants and then he uses the honesty to continue his "woe is me"? I really liked the epiphany with the ground crew at HNL. I hope people don't underestimate the importance of that. Thanks again for the fast pace of the chapter postings. It is weird that I care so much about a fictional character who is pissing me off and I want to sit down and recount for him how effen charmed his life is. It would not be my first time telling a Colony kid what a little shit he can be

Oh please, just because Mark didn't write about the moans and groans coming from JJ and Alistair's tent, you know you'd have heard, "yes, yes, oh my yes Jeremy, you are quite the Lothario and I your Calista!"

Of course the flip side of the chapter at a time, provide feedback thing is that you have to wait and wait to get to the next chapter. Paternity is a story that if I had bought it as a complete book I'd have stayed up all night reading it, blown off work and life until I finished it. I would have read Chapter 1 at 6PM last night, not five months ago so the continuity of the story would be easier to follow then trying to remember when certain events happened and even remembering if it was this book or the last. All things being equal though, I still enjoy the ability to communicate with the author as the story is in progress.

Thanks again Mark for the quick turn. I hope Brad takes his board and Will's board with him to Oahu. Really a great chapter.