PrivateTim

Dude, why the frick would Will leave California with the two finest schools of marine science in the country in CA (Scripps at UCSD and Wrigley at USC) not to mention the UCSB's and Cal State Monterey Bay programs. The surfing in FL sucks, a CA surfer would never go to school there. Once Gathan hits CA he ain't ever going back to OH. That is how it works. Midwesterner visits CA, never leaves. Damn Rose Bowl. The best medical school in the country is Stanfurd, why would John go to Baltimore other than for crab cakes? Darius isn't a beach person, he and Ella are going to live in the Hollywood Hills or Bel Air when Darius goes into the movie business. Brad is too driven to retire at that young of an age and as JP gets older, Brad will assume more leadership in the family.

The age of consent in most states is 16, 34 states have 16 as the AOC in part or entirely, only 11 have 18 in part or entirely. There are 6 with 17, 3 with 15 and 3 with 14 as the AOC. Many of these laws on the books are old and reflect a different time when marriage wasn't uncommon at 18 or younger. As a side note, OH is 16, CT is 15 and NY is 17, so Mann Act considerations aside, there was nothing illegal in the acts. You can argue morality, but you'd be hard pressed on the legal side.

If I missed the point entirely, it is because you failed to articulate it. There is no correlation between the SM room Brad and Robbie's house and what has happened with any of the kids. It was the "stop the pedo stuff" comment that really irked me given that there was nothing "pedo" at all since that would involve pre-pubescent children and none of the children are pre-pubescent. And I would change that too. Either move the voting age back to 21 or move the drinking age back to 18.

Dark Road? I had my first sexual encounters at 13 and thought I had made the greatest discovery ever. Dark road? I don't get that. If we've all had experience with all ages, then what is the point? In case you don't get it, teens are very active sexually these days and are much more sexually aware than ever. I am not saying it is good or bad, but I don't get this artificial attitude built around the age of 18. I had an umteenth grandfather serving in the Connecticut Regiment at age 13 in the Revolution and his grandson (or great grandson) served in the Pennsylvania Regiment at 16 in the Civil War. Somehow we have this attitude where at under 17 we have to shield them from everything and then bang, the next day they turn 18 and now they can vote, make all their own life decisions and live in a world we don't want to prepare them for.

I remember when every freaking gay boy had a crush on JTT and the rumors about him flew hot and heavy around L.A.

Yeah, but clubs and raves are totally different. Stef & Greg would have done the club scene, at least a little and so would Robbie and Brad. The clubs were the one place you could really let your hair down. For all of the hype about San Francisco being this gay Mecca, there weren't any 18+ gay clubs in the 90's. There was one in Concord, whose name escapes me, but you could see just about every gay boy from as far south as Palo Alto & San Jose there on a Friday night. My friend Dave from Stanfurd would swing by and pick me up and we'd dance and flirt and mack the night away. I know we are well past the 1970's and 80's, but the clubs were even more important in the gay community in those days. There are some amazing stories online about Studio One (now the Factory) and its place in the community.

I think a lot of club music is missing and maybe stuff that Jeremy isn't even aware of because if you weren't in the club scene, you'd never know it existed. No Black Box, Ultra Nate, Labouche, Nikki French, Real McCoy, Los del Rio, Gillette, TLC, N Trance and more. It is funny how Total Eclipse of the Heart can take me back to Axis in West Hollywood in 1995. I'll never forget the first time I walked in there with the music rattling the old tin walls, hundreds of half dressed, happy, hot young men. It was the happy that struck me more than the hot or half dressed. It was the first time I ever thought I was going to be okay. I think club and rave need more attention.

So can I neg the chapter for its outrageous and false claim that Stanfurd is the best school in the country? It isn't even the best school in the Bay Area. Other than that, a cool story and nice beginning.

AbsolutelyBrill Mark (as I might say if I were Harry Potter). Loved the story and I am amazed at how prodigious a writer you are. Thank you for all the time and effort that it takes to write like you do. I know how time consuming it can be. Can't wait for what comes next in the CAP Saga. One final, parting thought. Had I been the assassin I wouldn't have let Carson finish his business.

Yeah, I was off by a year, but that's okay, I hated, hated, hated American Beauty as a story while loving the acting done by Annette and Kevin Spacey.

To be honest I skipped through most of the sex scenes, that isn't what made the story great, they would be called 'gratuitous' in Hollywood. I know Mark doesn't use them that way, he really enjoys writing them and sees them as integral to the story.

I guess I am confused on several levels. Certainly Triton's executives would have signed a non-compete agreement, so Elliott wouldn't be able to work with them and any work he did do with them before this or any collusion would certainly have been illegal. Even in cases where companies work together on some projects and compete on others they construct 'Chinese walls' to prevent flows of information between the groups. It is also a shareholder lawsuit waiting to happen if Elliott did anything that harmed shareholder value. The other thing I am confused on is Robbie and the Academy Awards night. He should have been ecstatic. His production company had a great award season. They had five Academy nominations and a major win and Soderbergh did win for Director, albeit for Traffic, it would still reflect well on Robbie's company. Besides the Academy they had wins and nominations from SAG, DGA, PGA, BAFTA and Golden Globes. Most production companies would kill for a year like that and a $250m+ movie, they only do three, maybe four tops and they are happy if they don't lose money, but good production companies seldom do because they wisely use Other People's Money to finance projects. The only danger in flops is that too many and projects dry up, but when you have a Julia Roberts and Steven Soderbergh the projects and money find you.

Can't you just see him in a quidditch uniform??

I am right there with centexhairysub on Brad. He has the maturity of a 15 year old. Claire is more qualified to be the head of the family when JP passes. And I see Will at UCSD or USC in Marine Biology, two of the finest schools. And you can't make any conclusions about Will at this point given that he is 13. I think he has been a sweet kid so far and I don't see the bad attributes of Brad in him at all. And finally, I love that I got negged for pointing out that the Bush Administration happily employed openly gay people.

But of course you have to look at the years the Cramptons and the Schluters of JP's childhood were born and what the life expectancy was of people of that era vs baby boomers and the conditions under which they lived, the harsh winters of Ohio compared to the mildness of CA.

Catholic school for Darius, and Jesuit no less??

You say age 80 as if it were old. 80 is elderly, but not old these days. When I visit my grandparents in the senior community they live in (15,000 of the geezers, with a median age of 81) I meet people in the gym in their late 80's to mid 90's. They play volleyball, swim, golf, ride horse back and my 81 year old grandfather surfs with his other octogenarian friends a couple of whom he has been surfing with since 1945. As a man of means there is no reason JP shouldn't be active well into his 90's or beyond.

I really liked Chapter 66 and I really liked the twist that Darius was looking to get an appointment to Annapolis. I think that would be great for him. And I think Chico is bad fall back school, San Diego State, sure, Long Beach State, maybe and even San Jose State given its proximity to Escorial..... but Chico?? Or go the route of going to Santa Barbara City College to transfer into UCSB since SBCC students got to use UCSB dorms, it was a lot like being at UCSB.

Yes, he could go to work with my friend Mark who was a lawyer in the Bush Administration. Mark threw the best gay parties in DC, usually Naked Martini Parties, bow tie optional.

I feel exactly the same way. I voted for no one to die, I'm not that vindictive. Just crushing them would be enough for me.

I am very grateful that the story has gotten back to the drama of the Omega - Triton battle and the attempts to drive Omega under, but I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on Congressional aides. Do remember that Pete Williams started his career with Dick Cheney when he was a WY Congressman and he was working for the first George Bush as the Assistant Secretary of Defense when he was publically outed as being gay by a liberal gay activist trying to embarass the Bush Administration. Everyone in WDC knew Pete was gay and no one in Republicans circles cared. He did a good job, he was judged by his work. Michaelangelo Signorile didn't care about the personal damage he was doing to Mr. Williams, he only cared about his agenda. I find such actions despicable.

I think it was quite clever that you are heisted Mr. Arbour on his on petard when it comes to the death penalty.

I like the story obviously, but I really hate this notion that a major defense contractor on the level of a Northrup Grumman or Lockheed has the inclination to kill someone. Lie, cheat, steal and bribe to win a contract, sure it is a rough world out there, but corporate hit men is only a reality in the minds of Hollywood script writers.

Okay, don't think me a curmudgeon, but I could give a rip about the wedding and the love play room. This story was heading such a great direction when they were on the road to crushing Omega. If the story were an opera, I'd be in the bar right now on my third Scotch. Cut the mushy crap I want drama!

Seth from Desert Dropping, maybe Milo from With Trust, Riley or Taylor, I dunno..... Dom creates very appealing characters.