PrivateTim

I mean, if I was going to have to put up with their attitudes, why worry about grades? Why not roll on X with my friends? Why not drink like a fish? And yet, he gets emancipated at 14 and does roll on X with his friends and drinks like a fish anyway. “How would it be worse for me?” I asked. “You’d dictate what I did every minute of the day. I’d have no say in what I did, and I’d be treated like I was in second grade. That’s what you’re trying to do anyway. I might as well spend my afternoons doing Special K and hanging out down at the pier.” “It’s a lot easier to do what you want when you ask me instead of telling me. I know that doesn’t make much difference, since I’ll probably have to do it anyway, but I don’t like being ordered around. It bugs me.” Pretty sure this is the book and maybe the chapter where I really began disliking Will. What 8th grader dictates to his parents how life is going to be? There are some 8th grade kids who have terrible lives they'd like to (need to?) escape. That is not Will's situation. Yes at puberty things start changing and some parents try to hold on their prepubescent child who is gone and never coming back, but that gaining of independence is a gradual thing, not 'I get to decide for myself' at age 13. None of Will's parents are unreasonable, or at least not all the time. His mother was unreasonable with him not going to Palo Alto to be with John or John staying in Malibu, but that was more of a one off and had more to do with her issues in life. Other than that, Will has had remarkable autonomy, given his age.

Oh look, I did make comments in 2011. It just makes me sad that John and Will didn't work out as a couple, but at 12 and 13, love and affections are so different. A recent academic paper talked about how boys at 13 had close, affectionate friends and thought it was okay to say "I love you" to a friend, but by 17 almost none of them thought it was okay anymore. So Sad. Wow, I guess you could still say such things in 2013!

“Was Robbie the first guy you were with?” “No, it was this guy named Jake,” he said bitterly. “It started off so good, and then he turned into this total slut and it ruined everything.” Ha ha, OMG, who wrote those insightful words in April, 2011..... 😀 😀 😀 😀

So 'splain to me why Will hooks up with Zach, let alone falls for him? He saw how toxic and twisted he is. On a side note, did comments and likes go away when the old GA transitioned to this software? I can't believe I wouldn't have liked and commented back in the day.

“Especially since I’m leaving for Stanford in a couple of weeks.” I watched that burn into her psyche, the fact that this white trash boy was going to the best university in the country, while her daughter was going to Kent State. Why do people labor under this delusion that Stanfurd is the best university in the country when it isn't even the best university in California? Go Bears!

We teach science and deal with facts. The studies from sociology and psychology show the long term damage from excessive sexual activity. Au contraire mon ami, not even in marriage dissolution is money the chief cause. In relationships the leading causes are "bad behavior" and "cheating", in divorce it is marital infidelity and lack of intimacy (which is what happens when you are intimate with others). Marital infidelity gets me a new luxury automobile every two years 😀

Because with 58 sexual partners already at 17 he is way, way above the average LIFETIME total for most people, gay or straight. Sex as recreation cheapens the act and becoming unable to curb your libido costs relationships. It is the chief cause most relationships end.

You know that is nuts, right?

He could just enter the portal.... oh wait.... Can we please have a happy book? Travis doesn't die, get paralyzed or lose his trust.... Will puts aside cheap, meaningless sex for a relationship with a potential future... Mr. Buck is de-balled...

I actually prefer Wyoming to MT, but MT is where the elites started buying up with people like Ted Turner, Stan Kroenke, Bill Gates and the rest of the people in the Yellowstone Club. Larry Ellison has a lot of land in Hawaii, he basically owns the island of Lanai, which used to belong to the Dole family. But Zuckerberg's Hawaii land holding is tiny compared to Steve Case, who owns tens of thousands of acres of Kauai and just as much on Maui. Case was actually born and raised in Hawaii and went to The Punahou School, the same elite school where Obama went to school (despite being born in Kenya 😇).

Yes, but in 2020 it might have been impossible to get to because Hawaii, especially Maui, went into incredible lockdown status during Covid. Also, for a bugout compound to be effective, it needs to be a place people can access by other means rather than flying, in case the skies are closed, as they were during 9-11. Not sure the capacity of Stef's yacht, but maybe by 2020, if he is still with us, he will have joined in the Larry Ellison 'mine's bigger than yours' battle and have a 100m+ yacht.

It actually does when you live with billionaires or have billionaires covering your expenses. And as long as we are speculating 16 years into the future... Will will be a billionaire many times over by 2020. JJ, if he has not founded his own fashion house or home décor firm or is a host for a Bravo TV show will still be an elite and still be supported by billionaires, and if JP and/or Stef are gone by 2020, JJ will have a shit ton of money. Darius, who knows what he'll be doing 16 years in the future because we never really see his character in depth, but he will still be rich and not eating stale food or using Egyptian cotton bedsheets as TP. Hell by 2020 all the Schluter-Crampton clan may have Japanese washlets that clean and blow dry the bum so the elite don't need to actually touch their own nasty doo doo. As to Cody, he doesn't have stale pretzels because he can't afford fresh ones. The Malibu house is a classic 'dudes living together' bachelor house. He has already moved to improve things by hiring a cook. In the Colony there are few households without professional help for cleaning, cooking, laundry, security and more. And for Mr. Arbour... this topic triggers in me the need for the Schluter-Crampton clan to have a bugout compound in Montana. By 2004 a lot of elites were already buying huge ranches in MT as retreats. A Schluter-Crampton compound could have a sizeable landing strip, multiple homes, solar and wind back ups all kinds of fun toys.

OMG, I was just starting to that same exact phrase ha ha 😲

Mary Jane isn't a drug in CA it is a commodity.

I did, but I never did drugs in high school (which Will still is theoretically) and I got drunk in high school twice, maybe three times (one of the three times being an ΣΑΕ party at USC). When I got into college, where I was an ΣΑΕ at Berkeley, I partied more than when I was in high school..... for awhile. I remember as a freshman and sophomore not getting why the seniors would get a beer or two at our weekend rager then leave. By the time I was a senior I was so bored by partying and hanging around little kids (freshmen and sophomores) that I couldn't wait to graduate and move on. 20 years ago I had fun in West Hollywood, Hollywood parties and studio events. Now going to Hollywood parties and studio events is an effort and I go because of obligation and West Hollywood is so unattractive. Much like my fraternity days, I could not understand those who abandoned WeHo for Silverlake and Los Feliz.... now I get it.

Will, JJ and Darius are billionaires by proxy in 2004, and by 2020 Will will be a billionaire many times over. Who knows about the others, but if they are still in good graces, they can retreat to Palo Alto.

Okay, all caught up. Now I get to agonize for weeks waiting for a new chapter..... sigh. I hate to inject realism into a fiction story, but the first thing his lawyer would do is take the physical ticket away from him for the very reason of what happened. We will see if Will can be astute enough to neutralize Zach, put off Zach, without Zach getting mad and plotting some kind of shallow revenge. Will needs to remind him of the carrot and the stick. What do you want from the Schluter clan, their support or their enmity? Can Will, in the immaturity that he has, stay cool and focused and let Zach know he will be there to support him when he needs help, but the physical intimacy is over. It is not like there has been a lot since Zach moved to LA. And Will being a douche when he doesn't get his way is okay? Travis has 41 days to survive until he gets the first chunk of his trust. Do I trust that Mr. Arbor will let that happen easily? Not for a Missouri Minute (which is much shorter than a New York Minute). So you like Zach-hole, but not Travis?

Way too important to him. Everything in his life is hedonism. He thinks he loves people, including his family, Travis and others, but in fact Will only loves Will and does what gives pleasure to Will and never considers that maybe restraint would have benefits. Seriously? Do you think any billionaires in Silicon Valley starved to death during the pandemic? Do you think they had a hard time getting supplies they needed? I suspect the airplane fire will be solved when we know the terms of Travis's trust. It is 41 days to Travis's birthday. I hope people are on their toes.

“This is a quick hook up,” I said, as I moved in and nuzzled his neck. Yeah, sorry.... back to slow, painful death for douche bag Will. He has the sweetest guy he's ever dated and he hooks up with an ass like Cam Squires. Squires was only contrite AFTER he found out Will/Will's family could damage him. So yeah, after the tiger shark takes off Will's leg, a swordfish spears him and a Moray eel clamps onto his pretty face.

If I recall that French king had a meeting with a guillotine that did not go well for him.

Marvelous. I think Marie has her monthly visitor (ducking...). If all of Will's friends waited until he got his temper under control to be his friend, he'd have no friends.

PS Dear Mark, I am very close to being caught up. If it is not too much trouble, have some chapters ready 😲🤣😁😇🏄‍♂️

Not sure what you mean by "corporate board type", but there are way too many Fireside on corporate boards and that is what is wrong (among many other things) with corporate boards. Your logic is completely 180°. That isn't a board, it is a bunch of sycophant yes men. The smartest people in the world surround themselves with smarter people and then listen to them. If you want to hire your own thoughts echoed, buy a Myna Bird. Funny, I sat next to Alex yesterday at the KC III coronation. He looked terrible.

Great writing Mark. My desire for a slow, painful death for Will is subsiding..... you can make it quick. “I was thinking the plane could leave here then stop in LA to pick up you and your contingent,” he said. - “That would probably end up being around 5,” I said, doing the math. How does Will getting into Harvard if he can't do math? Leaving the Silicon Valley area at 1PM puts them in an LA airports, wheels down at 2:15-2:30PM. But I digress. I think the kids need more empathy for Claire. Jack all but left her, Marie is leaving, John is running away to join the circus before graduating high school.... her world is falling apart. Arundel must have felt like a lifeboat in a sinking, shark infested sea. She doesn't see going to NY as leaving them, she feels abandoned already. I think Casey should quit his job and move into Escorial full time. PS I never saw Jack's character as a cheater. He was a Hobart not a Schluter-Crampton-Hayes-Hendrickson-Danfield-Carmichael.