PrivateTim

He is doing the right thing in school. He has been less than successful in just about every other decision and has popped off in such a disrespectful manner time and again that I would have grounded him and pulled privileges. Being right doesn't matter a whit. I make a crappy call in a water polo game and the coach curses at me, he is still getting a red card because he knows better. H-W weights for all honors classes, not just AP as do most schools I know of in CA.

And were you remembering that Will was a 13 year old 8th grader? How many parents negotiate with an 8th grader? Are you forgetting all the things that Will did AFTER this conversation? The pole dance in a gay club, dating a 16 year old (how many 13 year olds get to date, let alone a 16 year old), the college party, taking the rap for Ryan AND the fact that he was participating, forget whose flask it was, and more? Here is the gist of that conversation: “It is,” he said. “But my job is to make sure that you have the freedom to make mistakes, but that those mistakes won’t be too costly. See, that’s what I worry about. I worry that you’re trying so hard to be an adult, that you’ll make an adult mistake, and that I’ll lose you.” “You won’t lose me,” I told him. “I feel like I am,” he said, and I was horrified to note how choked up he was when he said that. How has Will done in showing his father that he is capable adult decisions? Again, the only decision that Will seems to have been left out on was the decision to sideline Pat and we still have no insight from Mark (hint, hint) as to how and why Brad and Robbie reacted as they did in that situation. The part of the story that I have had a hard time swallowing is that Will, who three weeks ago CAP time, said his room was a constant reminder of how much Brad and Robbie loved him and this passage from three months ago CAP time where Will gets insight into how deep and strong Brad's love was suddenly turns into crazy boy because they didn't tell him Pat was suspended, or however you choose to phrase it. As I said earlier, the "woe is me, they don't love, they hate me" scenario is more likely to lead to an internalized implosion like a suicide attempt, cutting or destroying his own room than an externalized, "I'm going to ruin their car and shoes" reaction. But I do make allowances for Mark's choice of implosions because he sees the continuity of where the story is heading and has his reasons that I trust for the devices he uses to get there.

No, the years blend on stuff like that. If it doesn't come from a movie or a celeb like Paris Hilton's, "that's hot," it is hard to place them. Uggs have been big for at least 30 years here I'd guess. I remember my grandfather's and father's from way back.

I don't ever remember moccasins being popular for walking around. I have a pair just like that, but they are just slippers for around the house. Sperry Top Siders were hot, Uggs were the things for surfers and snowboarders and Vans were still cool for the skate crowd along with several other brands.

Trust is a two way street. Will has been given every advantage life can offer. His parents have lavished him with gifts, trips and privileges most kids never see. They let him smoke pot, date guys who are way older and generally have let him run his own life, including choosing his own high school. When your parents have indulged you so you have to have some trust in them and figure they love you. Just three weeks ago, Sept 22, 2000 Will thought to himself, in reference to his room, "It was actually a cooler gift than he (Ryan) knew, since it was a constant reminder of how much they both loved me." So what awful thing have Brad and Robbie done in the last three weeks that has his teen angst running amok? That makes him think they don't love him, they hate him? Nothing really, just Pat being removed and it was only 11 days ago that Will took the cab home rather than ride with Michael. But is that really the problem? Pat is gone and that triggered all this? Pat worked for Brad, not Will. Would it have been nice to have sat Will down and talked to him about Pat, sure, do parents have to or even owe an explanation to a 14 year old? No, not really. We still don't know what police or sheriffs investigators might have said to Brad and Robbie about NOT telling Will so they could interview him untainted. What is driving Will's psyche right is remnants from Paris, the kidnapping and attempted rape, the torrid affair with Berto that didn't end well (July/August?), the Tony affair, Pat's problems and finally the Ryan affair, all pushing him over the edge. Will was a train wreck before Martin. Martin was a literary device to bring the emotions to a head. If it hadn't been Martin, it might have been the return of his mother that was the trigger event. I have never been a big Brad fan, I always thought he was kind of self indulged (like someone else), but his role in where Will is right now is more enabler than instigator so climb off his ass.

I love Tonto, as most people do, but remember neither was Tonto perfect. Don't forget how she first reacted to J.P. and don't forget what a manipulative little brat Stef was. The biggest blame I ascribe to Brad was his permissiveness with Will. He created the monster. Had be been more of a father, less of a surfing buddy we might have avoided getting to where we did. Evidence of his parents love is all around Will, he simply chose not to view it as such. In the reunion chapter I hope Brad paddles out into the line up at Haleiwa for his reunion with Will. I also hope we get at least one trip to Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.

Thanks for the quick turn on the chapters! Housekeeping matters..... I DO like the dual narration, maybe because it is technique I have used myself, but when you are not writing in the third voice, it is a good tool to expose alternative viewpoints. And why do runaways run away instead of runaway? I did like the chapter a lot, far better than the last and I agree in part and dissent in part with my colleague Hermetically Sealed. I agree with the part about Brad, which was part of what I have been trying to articulate and doing successfully. I agree that Brad, because of his therapy would have been less controlling when it came to Will and might have tried some of the same questioning process on Will that his therapist used on him. Most people I know who have been/are in therapy become junior psychologists. And while Stef is right, Brad was single minded in his handing of Omega, he did it using a team and he led the team through good management techniques, not "my way or the highway". So yeah, I think Brad is a bit out of character, but I also understand the need for poetic license to move the story to the end point you have in mind. As to Will, the only part that feels forced/rushed/contrived is the conflict with Brad and the "they don't love - they hate me" attitude. It wasn't too long ago that Brad and Will had a serious conversation and seemed to have come to a good place. They had fixed up his room extra special, they took a surf trip to HI and had been pretty lenient in dealing with his college party. The only thing that changed, and it is still somewhat a mystery as to how and why it happened, was the removal of Pat and why Brad and Robbie never talk to Will about it and why the police or sheriffs never interviewed Will, which would have been pretty standard procedure. So I am still wondering how this happened so quickly and I am hoping we get some insight down the road. Overall I did like the chapter a lot. I actually feel sorry for poor Robbie. I think I'd get a Chevy Nova so people would stop fucking with my car, but I guess it shows what happens when you start to let possessions posses you.

What I mean is that Will, before he was backhanded and before he knew he would be had already decided to spike Martin's coffee and runaway. He set a course from which there was no turning back. That it served to keep him from a very unpleasant situation was a very lucky happenstance for him, but he was going anyway. The only thing that was different was his meltdown, that wasn't really Robbie and Brad's fault at all, other than they chose Martin.

Hidden GA cam of Zombie eating his morning porridge.

This one starts slow, but has some very funny, very right-on, inside Gay El Lay comments.

Denver will go further, but not far enough, they lose the AFC Championship to New England, 28-26. San Francisco will beat Atlanta in the NFC Championship 45-27.

I can appreciate that, that being said.... welll, ummmm....

George Catlin and Claude Monet.

Well the minute Will turns his cellphone on, he is traceable and I am not sure a 14 year old would know that in 2000. I am not sure most people realize it now how easy it is to find you now. If you run away and don't want to be found, leave the cellphone at home.

Except of course Will had already planted drugs in Martin's coffee. Will started the chain of events without knowing what the consequences would be. I believe Lark is on Maui.

The only thing Brad and Robbie have done so far as I can tell is be too permissive. If I had pulled a stunt when I was 13 like he did in Paris, I'd still be grounded. They might be a little clueless as to Will's lashing out is a symptom of deeper issues than ordinary teen angst, but I would never have gotten away with speaking to my parents like that in high school, or certainly not my freshman year. I would have lost privileges a lot sooner than Will did. I don't think LA family court is going to find "taking away the credit cards" as a reason for termination of parental rights. Brad and Robbie haven't done anything wrong in the eyes of a social worker. Being a distracted parent isn't what you call a major offense compared to the babies with cigarette burns, kids with strap marks and broken bones. Everyone needs to get a grip about Brad and Robbie's shortcomings in the real world. Just because Will has a mad on no court is going to take away custody. Will is supposed to be this smart, mature kid. Even at my worst, "woe is me", angsty teen moment did I ever doubt my parents loved me. I believed them misguided, ill equipped to guide the direction of my life, unreasonable and down right mean at times (why else wouldn't they let me go skiing with the seniors from the team when I was a freshman if it wasn't just to be mean), but never did I doubt their love based on everything else. It took a while, but I came to understand they had been right usually.

Armie lived Pasadena so he would have traveled in very different circles from Will and his friends. Robbie would have known Armie's father because among his business ventures was a production company. And Brad would have known Michael (Armie's father) the way that all the well off know each other, from functions and fund raisers. I think Michael sits on the board at Pepperdine, so I suppose Will and Robbie could have bumped into Michael and Armie at the Malibu Country Mart one morning or afternoon.

Tim's "Disney career" ended because Tim got the plum role of Mike Douglas on My Three Sons and his role ran for 185 episodes over 5 years, but he got too old to be in the cast as a son so he was married off. After that he did minor roles here and there, but when you've done a role like he did for 5 years it can be hard for a child actor to break that corner you put yourself in. But he didn't need the money, he was well off; he didn't need to attention, he was pretty grounded; and he had other interests. He mostly moved on.

I would say for a certain segment of the young rich in LA, that rings very true. The only thing missing was a $500 sushi lunch. Did you ever see the TV show Princes of Malibu? See if you can find the episodes online someplace. They would have been contemporaries of Will and JJ. But it is only a certain segment. There are also the young rich in LA that are highly motivated and successful in their own right. They work hard in high school, go to top notch universities, top notch grad schools and become doctors, lawyers and start their own businesses.

If that is the toned down version I'd hate to see the non-toned version. I think I'd have just burned the houses down with Martin strapped in the sex room. The police and arson investigators would have led us to the trial of the century and the tabloids would have gone ape-doo doo.

Hmmmm a very hard review to write because I realize that Mark puts his heart, soul and precious time into writing. I appreciate what it takes to write a story of this magnitude and to have been doing it for years. But. I just didn't get this chapter at all. It seems out of character for everyone, for Brad, for Robbie, for a former Marine Corps officer who is now a licensed child psychologist and especially for Will. Brad just does not seem like the Brad from Paris from a few months back. When that kind of a major trauma happens with your kids you just don't do what has been done in the past few chapters, you walk around on egg shells, wake up in a cold sweat and go check to see if your kid is in his bed at 3AM because you can't sleep. They might have hired a child psychologist to work with Will, but it wouldn't be someone who has a past that would probably have been well documented. It might have even been a woman. Marine Corps officer don't go around slapping people into compliance, they brow beat and out think, but they don't use violence, they have other forms of punishment. Brad is supposed to be a highly intelligent man and he hasn't been doing very smart things. He is also someone who has been through a lot of counseling himself and knows well enough how to manipulate people to control them, not using force or the standard tools that some people might use. Robbie too who has been through even more counseling would have recognized the signs in Will that said a different approach was needed. These are not your average high school grad fathers who now work in a trade, they are two highly intelligent guys, graduated from the finest schools in the country and each highly successful where you have to deal with people all the time, lead them and you don't lead through intimidation you lead by building partnerships and that is exactly how we have seen Brad lead his co-workers when they were getting ready to take over Triton. He didn't bark orders at people, he leaned on people's strengths. I can't believe he'd approach Will's upbringing in a different manner. As to Will's implosion, that seems out of character too. Will, the Will you've created, while he might be an angsty teen just isn't the kind of kid that would do that destruction. Kids don't usually externalize their pain, they internalize it by doing damage to themselves. Will is supposed to be a smart, mature kid. He didn't think or act as a smart mature teen. Once Martin hit him and did what he did, Will should have adjusted his plan and gone to Paly directly. Once Stef and JP saw the photos of what Martin did, Brad would have had hell to pay getting Will back from Stef and JP. If there was anything of Brad left after Claire had ripped through him Stef and JP would have picked over the carcass. I can't express enough Mark my deep appreciation of you and the work you do. Also the deep respect I have for you as a person. You are one of the few people in The Soapbox that can actually influence me, such is my respect for you. I just think this chapter is a miss for me. I do trust you enough that there is a bigger picture I am not seeing because you know where you are going with all this and I don't. PS. A fake ID in the area where The Mission is would run about $50 and ten roofies another $50

Hmmm, I've always used "that being said" as a way to qualify what I am about to say. For example, someone asks, "I am coming to L.A. for a week, I won't have a car, I want someplace very safe and my budget is $150. Should I stay in Hollywood or Santa Monica?" I would answer, "Hollywood isn't the safest place in LA to stay, it is gritty in places. That being said, it IS the best place to stay in LA without a car and there are lots of hotels in your price range."

1. Comoros 2. Nauru 3. Burkina Faso 4. Mauritius 5. Tuvalu

You have the story completely wrong. Tim Considine is completely straight, has been married twice, his second and current marriage started in 1979. Tommy Kirk IS gay and everyone at Disney knew, including Walt himself and no one cared until in 1963 when the 23 year old Kirk was having an affair with a 15 year old boy and the mother complained to the studio. Even at that the studio brought him back in 1965 for The Monkey's Uncle. In 2006 Tommy Kirk, Tim Considine and Kevin Corcoran were all inducted in the Disney Legends hall of fame.

As to JJ, I think peers have as much influence on you as anyone. Being around people who are serious about school, who think school is cool, have motivation, goals etc, you mimic that behavior as much as emo's mimic the behavior of their group. With friends like Alistair who are very goal oriented you tend to be too.