B1ue

I don't think she'd have enough to do it on her own, no. But she'd have enough to seed the intial moves, and she'd be in a position to know every single person Brad, Stef, and Luke have managed to piss off over the years. The real problem with my thoery is when she'd have done all this. Her movements are pretty limited in her role as nanny, and while Brad and Robbie would have no call to place actual restrictions on her, they'd have every right to wonder where she was going and why.

I'm going to need to reread Bloodlines, because I don't remember him being that fussy, so perhaps there are other things I missed. I don't think I truly believe what I'm about to type, but throwing out theories is fun, especially with Mark's dark muttering in the background. We've essentially figured out who the insitgators of Amphion are (Dan and Lark), who their most active agents are (Brandon, Carson), their public face (Cary Chase and that other dweeb from chapter 4 or so), but who came up with this operation? Who is driving the timing, found all these people with their axes to grind and made sure they met not only each other but the right people in Brad and Robbie's world? Who might have enough second or third hand knowledge of both of their careers in order to come up with an idea to wreck them both but not, perhaps, enough saavy to beat them both on their own turf and on their own terms? Who has, better than a half-forgotten high school crush, a solid seventeen years of exasperation and bitterness built up against Robbie and Brad? Who might see Matt, especially, as a threat to her own continued lifestyle, due to the role he has assumed in the lives of JJ, Darius, and Will, and saw in the stories of Brian, Bitty, and Nick that not even a blood tie is truly enough to keep you around if the clan decides you are no longer welcome? And, who, with college coming up fast for all three boys, might just realize her own usefulness might be coming to and end, and might have decided to stake out a retirement claim? Jeanine has the contacts, knows the family and it's history, and has money enough of her own by now, and most certainly has enough motivation to want to wreck Robbie and Brad, if only to more firmly cement her own ties in JJ, Will, and Darius's lives. The timing troubles me, ideally she'd have wanted to wait at least a couple years to limit the fall-out if the plan blew up in her face. But she may have originally hatched a slow, long term plan that got snatched out of her hands by her idiot co-conspiritors, or the targets themselves. Robbie, one could have predicted he'd wilt like the delicate flower he is, but Brad going crazy would have been impossible to predict. And having both a Brandon and a Carson planted in the right places, especially Carson as Robbie's confidant, might have been planned to take longer than it actually did. Like I said, I'll need more information before I think something that elaborate was actually plausable, but I am the product of my upbringing. As the child, grandchild, and little brother of sergeants and petty officers, the Keep It Simple Stupid principle was drilled in fairly early. The Cramptons revel in soap opera thinking, so this might be right up their alley.

I think some of this is a bit premature. Brad is demonstrably not falling apart. In fact, I think he's acting quite normally to the comfortable world he's crated for himself falling apart. Granted, Brad reacting normally is for him pretty abnormal, but parenthood might have introduced Brad emotions other than rage. Remember how he acted when Billy died? The man has ice water in his veins, quite like JP, except when he's angry. And throwing around money like he has lately probably isn't indicative of an underlying problem. He has an awful lot of it, and during his narration has emphasized that all the expenditures he's been making have been well within what we might call "mad money." And, for a living, he daily shuffles around more money than most of us will ever see at one time. So I don't think he'll ever turn consumerism into a vice. Hedonism is cheaper, and far more his style. Also, I don't think Robbie is hiding at Escorial, per se. Nor would he have hidden himself on the yatch, as Brandon would have figured that one out pretty shortly as well. But JP has total control over who can access Escorial. And honestly, don't you think JP's limited patience is a much more daunting barier than a few measely hundred miles of water? Short of someone *cough*Carson*cough* oozing up to Matt and Wade and convincing them to invite him to granddad's house for some good times, I think Robbie is well beyond reach. Someone asked earlier how JP might react to all this as the patriarch. Unless Steph or Brad directly ask him to intervene, with all the consequences that would imply, I think this is one instance where he might hold himself back. It isn't his fight to lose, after all.

And yet, no country. Tsk, tsk.

First, thank you for reacting so calmly to my earlier posts. A more visceral reaction would not have been undeserved, but I'm glad to have not inspired one. Those two points do much to allieviate my distaste. The first I'd forgotten, the second I'll buy. Together, they explain the extreme actions and reactions of all the characters in this chapter. Except for his dad, who can go jump off a cliff for all I care. Dispassionate reasoning, no, but the panic I felt was odd. Especially since at the same time he was panicking, he pulled out his back pocket a pretty complicated escape. Given, most of it was the calming influence of old habits, but still.

Right, I know they don't give a crap about Jake. If I didn't before, their treatment of him in this chapter says it all. But, given that, why did they bother to lie to Jake? Telling him it's only a minor procedure, and that they'd still have a deal as long as he cooperated. And that bullshit about "your father wants what's best for you," when they flat know that isn't true. Also, I got the distinct impression that the DA was hoping Jake would die mid-procedure, since that would simplify things enormously. I'll buy that from Jake's father, but a politician? It was all pretty disturbing to me, especially as Jake isn't a violent criminal. An annoying one, yes, but not violent. I mean, really, what could the man have been thinking? Forcing a minor against his will to undergo a potentially life-threatening, unecessary operation, in order to gain redundant evidence? And forcing said minor to do it right that moment, when there were weeks and months to play with in order to cajole the boy? The kind of media coverage that could, even briefly, erupt from that would at the very least put a pretty big taint in the potential jury pool. And if Jake were to die... if I can imagine Jake's mother on the six o'clock news, crocodile tears running down her face, or Linda and Cody's real tears, why can't the DA? Especially since they, again, flat know Jake's parents are mercenary enough to milk the system for all it's worth. Further, this chapter moves the story firmly into action-adventure land, where nearly all arms of the legal system are corrupt and out to systematically screw over someone who is at best a minor annoyance, a place we've been before. I'd probably better stop here. Anything further would venture into flame, and this story doesn't deserve that. I have nothing but respect for the quality of CJ's writing, particularly the emotional highs and lows his characters experience. I'm just starting to suspect I read Cj's stories for the wrong reasons, is all.

No, USC for one was defintely not giving a damn about AP classes in 1999/2000. One of my friends discovered this to her shock. And when I was choosing schools, only state schools would give me specific class credit for all 9 tests I took. Most only took a couple, and gave general credit for the rest, and private top schools not even that. This is partly because California public universities are and were under state direction to give credit for AP classes, while a private school had more discrection. In a word, yes. I went through the process in fall 01, and I got several offers from schools way out of my education league, simply on the strength of my SAT scores. Those schools included Cal Berkley and Tulane, though I wound up choosing UCSB (I swear, I did not know it was a party school when I applied. It was a whim. But when I saw several thousand surf boys wandering around half-naked during a later college visit, I knew was home). Admittedly, they were some high scores, but my GPA barely cracked 3.5 even with the extra points from AP and Honor classes. For an in-state student with some powerful local connections*, one well written essay picked up by the right admissions counseler, and Darius would be in, no sweat. He might not have a scholarship, and he might get a "just barely accepted" letter like I did, but he'd be in. UCs and CSUs have long had flexible admission standards for in state students. Only a couple years after this, California students were guaranteed a spot in some UC if you had better than average SAT scores, or a 3.3 (I think) GPA, or some lower combination of both. It might not be your first choice school, but somewhere a spot was yours. If he lived out of state, the process would be trickier, of course. Also, it'd depend on what major he chose. Unfortunately, most pre-law majors are pretty impacted, but JP would probably be able to guide him to one like anthropology, which while not standard law school fare, meets the writing and research guidelines a law school might like to see. Actually, now that I think about it all, Will isn't going to a Ivy League either. He'll go to Santa Barbara like I did, or some other surf school, possibly on scholarship for that sport. He'll have to make up the academics on the back end by picking a major like computer science or organic chemistry. *Not saying he'd use those connections, but it's not like people won't figure out they're there, and see the potential for donations, at the very least.

Just read chapter 10. Wow, Jake is sometimes dumb, and other times extremely dumb. I'm not trying to make light of his fears, but any chance he had of some kind of normal life is gone now. Not least because he just made an enemy of that A.D.A. and the cops, by making them all look like idiots. No one would know but the cops, Jake, and the DA himself, but that's more than enough. I am curious how people that are quite used to managing and manipulating the emotions of others so badly mishandled Jake. Even something as simple as having a doctor on hand once they got to the hospital might have tipped the whole situation in the other direction. Or they could have, you know, not lied to Jake, and treated him for once as an adult. It's your story CJ, but do you really think they'd be that condescending and cruel to someone they actually want cooperation from?

Do people take AP classes when they have IV league in mind? My impression was that top schools see AP classes on your transcript, pat you on the head saying "That's nice," and treat them as if they were honors classes, including not giving even general education credit for the tests. Wouldn't straight honors and using the extra time to do volunteer work, such as at a certain mission in Hollywood, look slightly better on one's C.V.? But if I am wrong, why wait until 10th grade? I took my first AP test in 9th. Got a 5, too. Will, the child and grandchild of overachievers, would have the educational foundation to do even better. He could probably do at least 15 or so throughout school, if he paced himself.

Was going to comment "Jeremy, isn't that the stuff we'd have grown up with?" That JJ and Will are exactly your age explains a bit. I can't imagine how that escaped my notice. Both Will and JJ seem to be pretty focused on athletics, so I doubt they'd do what I did and almost overnight go from athlete to computer nerd. If Drew hangs around, he might be a mmorpg player, which started releasing around then (Everquest in March 99, Asheron's Call in November 99). Not sure though, we haven't really seen enough of him to get to know his interests, outside of Will's bedroom. Edit: ooh, forgot to add. Circa 2000 was when the console wars broke out again with the near simultaneous releases of X-box, PS2, and Game Cube. Also: "The Real Slim Shady" was the first single from the Marshall Mathers cd.

Lark's confusion was that he refused to admit he was bisexual, insisting he was completely heterosexual. Max makes a few comments along those lines in Man in Motion.

To answer a question a couple pages back, Raves bloomed and died on the west coast in about the time frames Jeremy mentions. I'm a couple years older than him, and my age group caught the tail end of it in high school. By the time I hit college, the scene had mostly moved on. For reference, I went to high school in a rural Northern California area, but commuted down to San Francisco and Oakland for parties. I went to college at UC Santa Barbara. My Los Angeles area cousins, some of whom partied in the west half of LA, some didn't, remind me that urban culture had the beginnings of a hey-day in the early 2000s. It'd never really been out of style completely, and sag-and-bag/white rappers and the like were always on the scene, but the heavy commercialization of that subculture started cranking up around then. Slim Shady for instance was released in 1999, going triple platinum, with the single "The Real Slim Shady" out in May 2000. And then came the advent of the Bratz in 2001, which my mother still affectional calls "Chola Barbies."

Yahoo group? And I second the reccomendation to watch Erin Brockovich. It's a well-constructed story about someone that should be totally out of her depth, but isn't. More feel-good than drama, and takes a lot of the same themes as coming of age stories, since that's a fair description of what she's doing.

Not disagreeing with you, but that sort of "thinking" suggests even stronger that Kevin would be looking at a Mr. Right Now, not a Mr. Right. In essence, not thinking in terms of a husband, as you said. To be fair though, it wasn't Kevin that set the terms of the relationship. It was defintely Brad. Yes, he could have refused the gift, but think THAT through. That's a pretty insulting move, since it was not a simple little gift, but one that took a substantial amount of money and time. If he'd refused the car, their summer romance would have pretty much ended there, since I doubt Brad would have gotten over the embarassment. Plus, Brad did make it clear that Robbie was the "real" love, and Kevin a side deal. I liked the honesty, but Kevin showed nerve telling Brad he wasn't going to take him too seriously after that. I cannot decide if Brad intended to place himself in the Sugar Daddy role. He's got to be feeling the oneupmanship urge, and it is probably his wealth that he feels the most secure about, in terms of his own self-image. And I do emphasize the "his" next to the wealth; it's important that he made his own forutne, with help, but with his own effort as well. On the other hand, JP and Stef do the crazy generous thing all the time, as do Matt and Wade. In a family where money is only a way of keeping score, a car is only extravagant, not insane. In either case, Kevin I would guess interpreted it as a Sugar Daddy move. He's not wealthy as all get out, after all. He's not complaining, because he isn't stupid. He "knows" he's a temp, and he's wise to enjoy Brad, and all the many attractive facets of him, as much as he's able. Of course, this could all be a plot engineered by Brad's enemies. In which case, Kevin no doubt plans to run Brad down in the very car he purchased for him, possibly in the same spot that Billy was killed, or some other ironic locality.

I could scarcely have imagined, when I started this blog, that it would morph more into a dream journal than anything else. I'm not shocked that I cannot maintain a proper blog. I do not have enough opinions or enough variation in my day-to-day life to justify one, even to myself. But there have been many, many fragments of dreams that I would wish not to lose. So here they'll be. I wrote the paragraph above, and this one, to create a buffer of sorts so that the actual dream image will be behind the cut, I hope. It was that bad. The narrative of the dream started with what I called in-story displacement. There was some sort of parralel world action going on, and I was trying to find my brother. Along the way, I theorized how I got to be in this world, and decided that this new reality was a five dimensional version of displacement. Time and syncrocity worked to put one another out of whack and in weak spots, people and power flowed through. One such place was called the Miracle of the Innocents. Apparently, a hundred or so years before my arrival, a certain warlord ruled. One town defied that rule, and so to teach them a lesson, he and his soldiers descended on the town's school, which was just outside the town's walls. They killed every single student there, drove iron spikes through thier skulls, and attempted to light their bodies on fire. But it didn't work. The fires, halfway through, suddenly went out all at once and would not light again. The bodies could not be moved from the pile that had been made of them, and as the days and weeks turned into years, they did not begin to decay either. When I arrived, looking for a place to make divinations to find my brother, the children were still perfectly preserved. The blood was even still wet, the coals born of the children that had been on the bottom of the pile still smouldering. The villigers, who left quickly, and everyone in the surrounding region decided that God had stopped time in that one place in order to force the warlord to face his own guilt. It quickly became a pilgrimage sight, and a small shrine, attended by a solitary priest, was made to attend it. I knew instantly that it was no miracle at all, merely a spot where time had been displaced. The atrocity widened and amplified the weakness, I was sure, but the weakness had probably always been there. And after I had worked my magic, using the spot to make ephemeral mental contact with my own future memories, the miracle ceased. The coals unleashed their pent up heat, and the fire blazed. The attendent priest threw himself upon the pile in expiation. My companions and I simply left.

Anyone else see a bomb go off in their heads when they hit the last line? My subconcious picked the classic orange nuclear sunset.

It'd be a neat trick for an Army officer to die commanding a platoon in a naval battle. I'm not certain enough to say it's impossible, but I don't see how. The newspaper article seems to imply he died in combat during the push towards the Rhine. You may be thinking of Steven's brother Billy, Brad's father, who died while part of a submarine crew.

I think Aaron is, one way or another, almost certainly dead. The Hayes family, however, has a rather extreme tendency to look like one another, so there may be readily identifiable descendents. About Stefan's birthday phobia, if his birthday is in early to mid-July, he's probably just managed to hide it in the background of Bastille Day/Fourth of July Celebrations.

Hmm. I don't have warm fuzzy feelings for Brett. He seems like a genuinely nice guy that's crazy for Cory, but I have to wonder if he does relationships like his sister does, and if I read right when he seemed to imply he used to lust after Jake. Hell, from one point-of-view, a three-way relationship with Cory and Jake would solve several problems at once. In any case, Jake needs a man in his life. Not that sex solves all problems, but having a friend-with-benefits (down Chas!) might take the edge off and leave his mind free to worry about his real problems.

I decided to trash can the previous entry I had up here. No, not the one where I insulted Emu's manners and he insulted my maturity in the comments, but the one I had up after that. Most of it is just literary analysis run amock, and no one deserves that, espeically if you haven't had coffee yet. So I'll summarize the cogent points that I tried to get across (and don't require prior reading). **Stories, including webcomics, can affect my mind and disposition in ways that television and movies rarely do. Perhaps because of the massive amount of editing and that no fewer than four minds (and usually quite a lot more) interpret any line utttered before a proper studio's camera, but those medium just do not often leave me scratching my head for weeks or months later that a written book can. Usually it's either a character making a choice that I cannot empathize with, or because the authro/artist made certain choices with the narrative that left a hole I demanded filling. **"Boy Meets Boy" by K. Sandra Fuhr was the latest story to leave me squirming. It's a great read, for the msot part, and I gave up most of my sleep over the last few days to read not only all four years of that comic's archive, but the entirety of it's sequal, which ran for five years, and the sequal to that, which ahs been posted for almost a year now. Yes, I read a solid decade of one artists work. Her characters were that interesting. As was her choice of plots. I also found interesting that while, like a tv show, her characters didn't really change or grow much during any particular story, they changed markedly during the course of the comic as a whole. **What killed me inside about Boy Meets Boy is that of the six I consider to be main characters, five get exactly what they want or need in life. And the last gets stuck holding the check. It's implied he might get a happy ending too, in fact the very last comic shows the first step in that, I did not feel it was enough. The previous version of this entry was a lengthy analysis of why I did not like this, but I'll spare you all that. I've slept more since I posted it, and am once again sane. **After my analysis, which was partly just my way of thinking through what, exactly, bothered me, I wrote a short story attempting to cure myself of that itch. Said story shall hopefully be included in the upcoming Summer anthology. It is not an original interpretation of the theme, but it I think it's appropriate to the comic, the anthology, and the themes I like best. Ten years of Sandra Delete (Ms Fuhr's online handle) has been only part of my two week long reading binge. I recieved about 5 books at once, including two I had shipped from Britain because I preferred their covers to the American ones. I know what you're thinking, but that was actually sanity talking. The original plan called for me to go to London and pick up copies in person later this month. I had my passport renewed in anticipation and everything. When the third book in the trilogy releases next year, nothing will stop me. I bought yet another new book today, so I'll wander off to read it. Later. Gabriel

I left the original phrasing intact, so that the full discussion, both my original statement, your response, and my response to that, could be read. As I said, I do not mind other people disagreeing with me. I mind being insulted when they do so. Being called "awful, bigoted, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou," even if you think it is justified, is not acceptable to me here, in this place. I also said exactly what words you put in my mouth, that my opinions about their dress is in anyway a reflection on affection they may lack or crave. I'll offer no opinions why you chose to ignore my statement to that effect. Now, had you replied in your first post the same way you did on your third, I would not have said anything at all about manners or what I will and will not tolerate. Note, there is a distinct lack of insults in your third post, but plenty of disagreement. This is what I expect of comments/replies. If you cannot abide by this, please do not comment. And yes, I can delete comments. Why should I have to? To Arpeggio: fair enough, you did say you disagreed. And no, it probably isn't nice.

Bad parenting? Okay, I can see where you got that impression, but that wasn't what I meant. So let me be clear. My cousin and her husband, for all that I can judge, did a great job raising her sons. They are well-mannered (rather better than you are), decently educated, well-rounded in their activities, and best of all see their dreams as ones that can be attained, rather than deferred then denied. They will face very few of the hurdles my cousin and I had to jump to get where we are today, let alone what our parent's had to go through. Not that they won't have their own challenges, but they will be as prepared as any of us can be for adulthood, and my impression is that they are grateful for that. But as all parent's must, my cousin had to pick and choose which battles with her children were worth fighting, and which were just not important enough to bother with. Clearly, their pant's fell into the latter catagory, where in my own immediete family that would not have been the case. So it makes me wonder what was worth, for her, telling her sons, "no, I will not allow you to do that." As for my clothing, if I'd had been dressed as you suggested, I'd have been dehydrated hours before that picture had been taken, and then where would we all be? Also, I'll thank you to remember this is my blog and my space. Telling me I am wrong, as Arpeggio and you did is one thing, insulting me and putting words into my mouth (where did I say my cousins, any of the three, crave or lack affection?) is quite another. Please do not do so again.

Yes, they do deserve to be judged. This is not something like a lazy eye, or the color of their skin, or even glasses, none of which can be changed easily or cheaply. This is the way they choose to dress themselves. Specifically, because they think they look good like that, and think others will as well. You're correct that it does not make them bad people, but I'm allowed to decide that, instead of looking good, they look like morons. Also note, I never implied or said that tired, false argument that they cannot dress themselves, because clearly they can. It has to take a lot of work and practice walking to get your pants to hang at just the right height.

I am aware of this cultural phenomenon, but I thought surely, surely!, at least the members of my own family would be able to resist. We are not a shy, easy-going lot, after all, quite prepared to buck traditons on their head just to see what will happen. But no, I saw one of my cousins yesterday for the first time in about, oh, a year and a half, and low and behold, when he stood to take the dog out of his house, I couldn't help but notice his pants were sagging nearly off his butt entirely. Much facepalming ensues, by me at least. This particular cousin also got blessed by the muscle, skinny waist, and nice hair fairies, so why he'd delibretely make himself look like an idiot is beyond my ken. When I noticed his little brother was also doing this, all hope for their generation vanished. It also made me wonder if we perhaps needed to have supported my cousin, their mother, a bit more during their teenage years if this is the kind of thing she's letting them get away with. I also realized something I hadn't conciously noticed before. The boys that sag have some very colorful boxers, don't they? This must bring an extra complication to their mornings, much as their girlfriends agonize over earings, they must choose "what color will I choose to flag my ass with?" If you have not yet seen Glee's "Physical" music video, do so. Now.

Why not rent the "Laguna Beach: The Real OC"? That's probably pretty similar, and at the right time.