KJames

A writer should never have to apologize for fiction they write! That The Barlow Boy dealt with a tough topic is merely indicitave of the situation the world is going through right now; today and every day there are hundreds of kids for whom suicide is but one of the myriad of thoughts running through their heads in an illogical scramble to find some peace, calm and quiet from the madness that their world appears through their eyes. I think James did a wonderful job! I was walking that fence and it's not fun!

Unfortunately these floods do happen, and despite the TVA's flood control (which could be what created part of this mess) Mother Nature cannot be stopped when she's got her mind set to make a flood. These low-lying areas were flooded every few dozen years before the rivers and lakes were dammed or channelled and they'll continue to do so, eventually causing a failure in a man-made flood control system, or an inability to channel the amount of water necessary to prevent flooding (as this shows). I feel for the people that are displaced, though, in fact someone asked if The Grand Ole Opry's being closed was a good thing; The resort is closed, the Grand Ole Opry show has been relocated--they operate under the good, old-fashioned mantra of: The Show Must Go On. One of their members lost her home--everything was gone. They're all worried about the condtion of the stage in the downtown location, when they refurbished it back in the 1990s, they saved a 6' circle from the center of their original stage, and it has more historical significance for them than most of the rest of the stuff in the building because of the performers that have stood on that circle: The stage was under several feet of water.

Maybe a healthy case of positive thinking?

I've got a matted, framed cell of this guy on my hallway wall!

We actually live in Signal Hill, about 10 minutes from the CSU campus...Rob's last class session was this last Wednesday, and as the blog states, we still have to drop stuff off at the prof's office Thursday afternoon before we can hook/tow and leave. Neither of us really use anything recreationally ...but there are other ways to make one's self mellow......he won't be in a fieldwork course over the summer, it wouldn't allow him to come close to accumulating the req'd number of hours experience, so he's waiting 'til Fall...but if you're in Summer, let me know, maybe we can meet?

*HJ* I've learned to be patient where authors are concerned...writing something good doesn't take long, it's correcting the little mistakes that take forever. I *DO* like the story so far, and I'm glad to see that you at least opened the possibility for their damaged friendship to be repaired in the near future.

Who also happens to be the most blue eyed member!

I have no doubt we'd get along...I learned to be mellow years ago, so the sophistication happened more or less out of benign indifference. And you didn't logon under me? Even though paya doesn't have a pic posted, I wouldn't mind taking him out...

Your sentence about being 'shut-out' is quite a coincidence, because that was what I was thinking. I think the other Hayes boys had kids, what should happen is that the drunkard is so abusive, or neglecting, that his kids are basically planning to leave home and/or town as soon as they're of age and can find some suitable work to establish funding to leave town--but the tough guy act (they all have the typical Hayes muscular build) they've been putting on through school is only because they're gay and don't want to be hassled, and have been very close and supportive of each other (nothing sexually beyond the usual exploration stuff). Besides, when Matt peeled through town, one of the kids really eyed him up good, especially after he decked Fred Junior, so there's one kid in town already--was he a Hayes kid(?)--as virile and horny as the Hayes men are, why wouldn't there be some Hayes kids around Dar's age by now?

Happy Birthday, gorgeous!

I'll have to tell Rob that I've decided what I want for my birthday then, and ask him if I can go buy it...I can use the old one in trade, for $20 bucks, but that's better than nothing...but I want to ask them a couple questions first anyway.

Yang Bang quiet? Hmm...gotta watch those 'quiet' ones, you know? Maybe he's the strong, silent type? Reminds me of me, then. --- Bugeye--yeah...dating an older (than me) , sophisticated type (I can appreciate sophistication) appeals to me for some selfish reason . Are you somewhat sophisticated, at least? Ah...well, it doesn't matter...I can eat anything from Acapulco (Mexican Restaurant) to Zacatecas (another Mexican Restaurant), but not Lobster . Not just mexican food, just those were the names I came up with for covering an alpahbetic list of restaurants. I prefer Italian food...with garlic, not just 'Italian Style' food with no flavor.

Whatever, but didn't the Hayes family in Claremont, OH, have three brothers? Frank is now in Paly, so that would leave two breeders in Ohio, didn't one have a son who would have HS age kids roughly the same age bracket as Darius, JJ & Will? Those're the ones that should all be gay!

If I recall the story as Camilo wrote it, Lucas had several instances where the story was presented from his POV.

Now that's funny and it sounds like Mark would write it!

Mark, thanks for making the Touche to MW85...somehow I don't think we'll be seeing any resurrections...but I think we'll find out about a generation of Hayes kids that are all gay...

Benji, I did the frogs' legs 6 years ago on my 42nd birthday trip, we were at the Chef's Table that night. We're coming out with the motorhome the evening of the 13th...and coming home Sunday the 16th.

Are you sure? I don't think anyone who's 23 could look like that...

Reading grave stones and markers, I ran across one at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles, a very large cemetery for those of the Jewish faith--where Al Jolson is buried--in one of the mausoleum courtyards. It must've been a 'prepaid' guilt trip, or a last jab at seemingly uncaring children. It read: I told you I was sick!

Tim, that's priceless! But they'll grow them back... Not my fault he chose a frog for his avatar, nor was it my fault that they were skinned, battered and fried. Blame Emeril's New Orleans Fish House at The MGM Grand Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas.

Happy Birthday, Adrian, this one's not early!

Welcome back! Having read some of the stories, I would get confused if the 'author' switched as you describe in your option 2, so I agree with others about continuing the story under your brother's account--it eliminates searching for two authors or by title rather than author. As Trebs advised, use of a disclaimer is appropriate enough for works started by one author and finished by another with permission or as a tribute. You should continue posting stories he started to publish using his account, but start and manage the discussion threads, including the story notifications, using your own. In the story, credit your brother as author, and note yourself as 'editor' or 'co-author' for purposes of having finished the story and that'll be fine. Either way, I'll be looking foward to seeing how some of them turn out. It's going to be difficult--writing "someone else's" story exposes how they were thinking, to a degree, and there will be times where you will experience a sudden understanding flash of what he was thinking or feeling, either about himself or his characters, or feel as though he just told you something, verbally--as though he were standing there next to you. Don't commit yourself to any firm deadline dates as I'm sure you'll run across points where you've got to just stop for a day or so. Others use the example of It Started With Brian on here, but a mainstream example--using your second option--would be the continuation of the DUNE series in print, by Frank Herbert's son, Brian, who partnered with Kevin J. Anderson for his writing abilities. In writing the story, and fleshing it out they used Frank's notes and outlines which had been discovered in two safe-deposit boxes that were held by the estate at a bank. They use both of their names as 'co-authors', but attibute the story and its notes and outline to Frank Herbert in print inside the pages. Personally, I don't like the way Mr. Herbert's son has handled that situation--his name is on the work so the estate makes most of the money as he was never credited with assisting his father in any of the past books, and so one can infer that he has no writing ability as an established author of any recognition. But, Kevin J. Anderson has written many, many science-fiction stories and so his name recognition alone could keep the DUNE franchise alive for the Herbert estate without a co-author since, as it is mentioned, Mr. Herbert's notes and outlines were detailed and copious--to the point that it took a very detailed examination of computer printouts and reading several disks of computer files (they even had to find an old DOS machine with 3 1/2" floppys to read the disks) to determine that it was a continuation of the DUNE universe, and good for at least three more stories. We all love you for wanting to do this; so many times an author will pass, and things will just stop and disappear--as though the person were forgotten--thanks for helping us to remember.

Thanks, babe! (That was a feel good post, you know?)

Izzata Duck-billed Playtpus and a Tasmanian Devil?

So... Rob's birthday is the 13th...I asked him if he wanted to go to 'Vegas--silly question. So we're taking our motorhome to the KOA again. This time with two new friends, and Grandma and her long-time friend Millie... Now, ordinarily that wouldn't be so bad...but we also take our two toy poodles and my cat with us. Combine that with the fact that Rob's fieldwork site has his supervision on Thursday around 1pm, and he's got to turn in a couple forms to his college professor that day as well, since it's the paperwork deadline. So, after leaving his site, we peel through CSULB, drop off the papers at his instructor's office, head home to get the animals and to our friends to pick them up, and then it's off to the motorhome storage lot... I'll have them load the 'kids' while I do Rob (we're taking our luggage over Wednesday, ahead of time) and hookup the van/tow...but we probably won't be getting Grandma and Millie until 4:30pm! Now, the bad part about that is that Grandma's long departed boyfriend (of 26 years--they could have married, but made more money by not) never drove at night, so--she doesn't think I should drive at night. Problem is, he started motorhoming at 67, and I started at 45. I think I can still drive at night to a better degree than he could. I think she just likes to see where she's going. God help me, I've still got to call her and give her the heads up on when we're going to pick her up and why...hopefully she doesn't back out of going...but she's not going to be happy that we're getting away so 'late' or that the last two hours are going to be driving at night (dark is around 8pm now)...and when Grandma's in a grumpy mood, everybody knows it--whether they want to, or not. === On edit 6/3/10. Well, the trip got underway by 5pm, we picked up Grandma and her friend on the way up to the storage lot from Rob's fieldwork site, and dropped off Rob's final paperwork on the way, then got the pets...so all-in-all everything worked okay--even Grandma didn't have a problem with it! (Thank G-d! ) Well, everything seems to be working on the rig for a change--even though our ramp door still is warped (we had to stop twice to reclose it)--so I'm a 'happy camper' now...except that the A/C worked so good that Grandma and her friend were both complaining about the cold air blowing on them. Until it stayed off for a few minutes too long...wonderful what a little desert heat can do...<heh><heh><heh> We stopped in Barstow at the clearance outlet mall and ate at the Arby's, so that gave us about an hour's break, then we finally arrived in 'Vegas with slight traffic after Barstow at about 2:00am. Grandma and Millie were on their second wind, and ready to gamble when we checked them into their hotel, but we needed to sleep. So, all in all the trip was a success! Now to get that door fixed, permanently and correctly...