PrivateTim

Meh, I just don't find Kristin and Gathan as interesting as other characters. It also kind of ticks me off that Gathan couldn't have been more mature with Kristin's father. He thinks he mature and ready for a serious relationship, but he isn't smooth enough to handle the dad? I also wonder if either really does know what love is at 17 & 18. If Gathan is going away to college, he ought to be able to enjoy himself and Kristin needs to be able to enjoy her senior year, go to Homecoming, Senior Prom and all the other senior activities you can't do with a boyfriend who is 2,000 miles away. I mean even Andy and Angie were split up during college. This cross country trip is going to be interesting. I have to go to the history books and figure out what happened along I-80 or I-70 in August 2000 that the four stumble into or how the Kursk tragedy can be worked in

I guess not having a desert or maybe being exposed to the desert, you don't get it. Yes, there are retired people, yes there are golf courses, but it is mostly about warm and dry. Besides old people and golfers you also have the tennis set, resorts, spas and casinos and of course, the clothing optional resorts. Of course they would have their ski homes too. The first one would have been at Lake Tahoe and while they would have kept that one, they would have gotten an Aspen place in the late 70's, sold that one and upgraded to to Vail in the 80's, Bachelor Gulch by the 90's and eventually wind up in the Yellowstone Club, but Stef would probably hang onto the Bachelor Gulch pad and buy a large place in Deer Valley so they'll have some place to stay in 2002 for the SLC games.

Hmmm, Google "thongs", especially "thongs for men".

Cool chapter, but I admit I don't get it. They drove two hours to look at the guy and turn around and go home?

Cell phones with pics hit the US in 2002, by 2002 in Japan they had almost 50% of the market. Was Everwood that show with the hot, shy boy who played the piano or something like that? A mountain town in CO? Loved that show, wanted to just hug the cute boy

Your friend at Apple is partly wrong, partly right. There were no phones in Italy capable of pictures or video in 2000. Japan did have a phone from Kyocera that debuted in May 1999 and Sharp followed a few months later and they could take pics, but no vid. But the Japanese phones were CDMA and Europe operates on the GSM standard and there were no dual mode phones in 2000. So in theory, a Japanese visitor with a non-working cell phone could have snapped pics of the hot gaijin dancing, but no video.

Cool new chapter of PMS. This is Shark Week (thanks Discovery Channel for reminding me, I almost had it put out of my mind from last year). Brad surfing clicked this for me. Just 500 feet offshore is a favorite feeding ground for juvenile great whites (that means only 7-9 feet or so). They only eat fish at this age, but the fact that they are there still freaks me the hell out.

Wow some people are tough critics, only three stars? I gave five because I am pretty much a push over. I am glad to know that the trip to Bakersfield is something mysterious because I thought I missed something. Hopefully is is Darius doing his enrollment at Cal State Bakersfield. It would be justice for his having too much fun in high school, honestly there are a lot of Cal State schools he could get into like Chico, L.A., San Marcos, the Beach and Northridge, the Harvard of the San Fernando Valley. Brad took the news pretty well, maybe he is growing up too or maybe in the scheme of things with how close he and Will came to bad things, it doesn't seem that bad in the rearview mirror. As to will we see a video some day, cell phones in 2000 were not capable of video. The first cell phones that had cameras didn't appear until 2002 and I am not sure someone would be allowed into a gay club carrying a video camera, which were still pretty bulky in 2000.

I am with Blue, creepy as hell and they wouldn't fit Will's surf crowd and family.

Silver Lake is a hill neighborhood north of the 101, south of the 5 around a reservoir (as in Reservoir Dogs). It has had ups and downs, is on the way up again and Sunset Blvd runs through the middle of it. A lot of the older LA gay crowd hangs in Silver Lake not West Hollywood. Because it abuts Little Armenia there is a fair amount of "Russian mafia" around. Mark would like Silver Lake I think. Gay Clubs Silver Lake

Pretty funny video on Oak Land, as they call it. And 3rd Street is one of the places Malibu kids would hang since it the nearest place to hang besides the Malibu Country Mart. Hipsters are just a variation of goth, emo, grunge and similar groups. They are people who show their independent thinking and ways by dressing exactly like everyone else in their group and liking and disdaining the same things as them.

To revise and extend my remarks from my review of the last chapter. I don't think it was necessary for JP to reveal the Hendrickson relationship in order to help Kristin, but as a story goes, it was probably as good as any. I am looking for Mrs. Hendrickson to see which way the wind is blowing and step in and take control and bring every one back to reality. She certainly must see that she risks losing contact with her daughter for a very long time. We know Kristin loves her family and they love her. We know she has had a very good life with them, there has been no abuse or mistreatment and she has had a lot of freedom. I think the mother is bright enough to realize that at 17, Kristen may change her mind many more times on love before she settles down and that forcing the issue now might push Kristen more to Gathan rather than let nature take its course. Teen who graduate high school and go get jobs might get married at 18, high school grads who go on to college, do not. They get married much later. In defense of the parents a little, they know Kristen is too young to be serious and that most 17 year olds are not mature enough to make life changing decisions at that age. That doesn't excuse an over-reaction of trying to break up Gathan and Kristin, but their concern is understandable. I suspect Kristin is here to stay in these stories because Mark has spent so much time on the character so she and Gathan might remain together despite that it would be against the norm for high school students who head to college.

For me it would have been that moment when JP conked the security guard at Princeton. That pebble in the pond set this whole story.

If this were a 1940's radio drama you'd hear the dramatic organ hits when JP drops the bombshell. It was cool and dramatic, but I don't think he really needed to do it. A guardianship isn't about the nearness of the relationship, but ability to take care of the persons need. Not as dramatic, I know.... Emancipation is also about being able to take care of yourself, so if Kristin had a trust fund, at 17+ it might be a non-issue. I hope they don't go either direction. I hope Mrs. Hendrickson steps in and lays it on the line.

That is your personal opinion. There was actually a gay club in Los Angeles that was an all ages club and 13 and 14 year olds were in there. I also believe as pointed out, the age of consent in Italy is 14 so they obviously have a different take on what is too young and what isn't. I also believe underage wasn't the word you used.

You started the post by saying, "Oh come on. Being 14 is all about finding limits to what you can and can't get away with." That is a comment that wasn't qualified by "most 14 year old I knew tested limits" you said that was what 14 year olds were like. Sorry you think it is pedantic to ask people to say what they mean with some precision, but the only way we can communicate on GA is through pretty precise language. You did say most 14 year old you knew were "complete tools" and "definitely pushing boundaries with the authority figures" but what does that mean, 'most you knew'? Do you only mean your friends or or do you include everyone who was in the 8th grade with you? I should have been more precise when I said peers, I meant by peers, my friends. I knew 8th graders who drank, did drugs and were having sex, but they were not the majority of the 8th grade. I know quite a few young teens, some I have asked if they are doing certain activities and I've gotten back what I think are pretty honest answers because when I ask the question it isn't a random, out of the blue question, it is usually out of a deeper conversation I am having with someone and it might only be after they asked me about my experience because when people know you went to Berkeley they think you know everything in the world about illicit drugs. The organizations that do surveying on teens in America do so anonymously and since various different surveys get numbers that are pretty close when it comes to drug and alcohol use and sexual activity, I am pretty confident that the numbers are close to being accurate. I wouldn't say I am applying my moral standards to Mark's story, the only comment I made about Will's conduct was in my review, "I am not sure how I feel about the chapter.... I'll have to ponder it. I know as a parent I would not be happy with my 14 year old in a gay club, let alone in a strip contest and certainly dancing to a happy ending." That doesn't sound like "applying my moral standards to Mark's story". The sense I was getting from Mari and you was "oh 14 year olds do this kind of stuff all the time". I disputed the notion that most or even many 14 year olds were in gay clubs, dancing naked, erect and climaxing. Mark likes feedback from readers and he takes the comments to heart and I am sure he carefully considers the feedback because that is the kind of guy he is. It is fiction, but Mark takes pride in creating realistic situations and mixing in realism.

Happy Birthday old timer

You make the same mistake that Mari does is you generalize your experience to all 14 year olds. I dare say the vast majority of 14 year olds, people who have not yet started high school have not been drunk or used illicit drugs. In fact the numbers are pretty low. I never cheated in school, never skipped school, never smoked anything did go to church camp, ice cream socials, beach barbeques, broom hockey and miniature golf to name a few activities and so did most of my peers. We had pool parties, did ding dong ditch and all the normal things that pre-high schoolers did. I didn't go to a gay club until I was 18 and at 34 have yet to do a poll dance, get erect while naked in public and shoot jizz over the first row of an audience. I have been to gay clubs where 13 year olds were allowed to be and they didn't get naked, do poll dances or jizz on anyone either. There is a level of rebellion that every teen has, but my parents managed to convey enough of a sense of right and wrong that I made my own decisions on what to do based on what I thought was best for me. I didn't do them just because they said I couldn't.

No you shouldn't have posted it.

I am not sure how I feel about the chapter.... I'll have to ponder it. I know as a parent I would not be happy with my 14 year old in a gay club, let alone in a strip contest and certainly dancing to a happy ending.

Well do you mean track or cross country? My high school had a pretty elite cross country program so non serious runners, i.e. wrestlers, basketball players, etc. didn't go out for cross country, but track was different because you had football players as sprinters and shot putters, basketball players as high jumpers and hurdlers, and the like.

I think you knew the wrong athletes then in high school. Maybe some football players where channeling aggression, but is there any one more laid back than a long distance runner? The cross country guys were so mellow you had to check for a pulse twice a day. Swimming was a lot of guys who were pretty laid back too as were the golf, sailing, tennis and surf teams. Water polo and volleyball were a bit more intense, but they were sports guys did because they loved them and a lot of boys tend to be competitive, but not necessarily aggressive. Maybe east coast sports like lacrosse and hockey attract a certain personality type, but I can't see any parallel sports in the west, even though lacrosse is becoming more common. As to Will, I think you are underestimating the lure of the water to a water rat like Will.

So I am a little disappointed in the turn that the Gathan story took, I would have rather seen it move forward in a happier way, but I get that there has to drama. I guess I just like happy stories. It hasn't been mentioned, but I can't believe JP would let Will go to a gay club in Rome at age without a real bodyguard.

I haven't worked that much with USFSA directly, but I am involved with two other Group A USOC organizations and have been in meetings in Colorado Springs where the USFSA reps were there. I have a good idea of the challenges of each organzation of minor sports.