Timothy M.

Tillykke med fødselsdagen from Denmark.

Ehren has missed out on most of the important stuff many of us take for granted: loving parents, a home, the chance to have friends, go to school, have enough to eat, clean clothes and a shower as needed. Living on the streets is a hard life, but he’s clever and resourceful. On the day we meet him, he makes a snap decision to help a girl in need, in spite of being scared of the potential consequences. The ripples from this first stone are complicated further when Ehren flings another daring missile, and life as he knows it unravels around him. But luckily he has made friends who are loyal to him, and we keep hoping he'll gain some of the things he's lost. Dabeagle writes great stories, but I think this will always be my favorite. I hope he'll return to Ehren one day, to let us know how he's doing.

Hej Kitt, you're more than welcome, and we'll still be in the other topics too. This is for when I get up in the morning and go to GA and everyone else seems to have left one or two hours earlier. Then at least there will be one chat place with a good chance of meeting people.

I shall have to initiate some name-calling in my prompt story to establish this pattern for Rob.

Godmorgen from Denmark. I'll be happy to hang out here, when North America sleeps. You'll have to put up with me posting links to SATW comics, though. We should get @Caz Pedroso from UK and @Puppilull from Sweden to visit here too, they're usually awake when I am, and great ladies with wonderful sense of humor.

Yes - that's why I keep slapping my inner editor for being raises hand sheepishly Ehm, me... But I did the Google search just now, and nothing came up.

At long last I'm back and able to comment on this wonderful chapter. So nice to be in the presence of sensible and intelligent teens who are aware of both heads and their hearts. For a while Nate kept his cards close, but the uncles made him see he needed to tell Bodie what the big deal was. And Bodie knew at once what he meant, and he was the first to show his hand. A show of hands was what took their relationship to the next level, but also pushed the pressure back. Bodie's cards were Love, Commitment and Joy - he has found the meaning of his life and of being gay. Nate was the reward and the reason, and that makes it easy to accept himself and realize his ex-friends are on the wrong side, together with anyone else who cannot understand that love is love, regardless of gender or race or wealth or nationality. Nate's cards were Love and Honesty and Trust - he knows Bodie will never betray him or leave him or lie to him, and they can talk about anything. Bodie will listen and understand and come up with a solution to deal with any issue. This time his idea bought them a year in which they can snuggle and kiss as much as they like, safe in the knowledge that the other won't expect or push things over the line they agreed on. A safe space to be friends who are dating and getting to know each other, looking forward to their whole life together. Sex will be on the table eventually, but they can keep that card in the deck for now. Deal Me In - yes exactly, they both were on board with that. They wanted to deal into love, a future together, mutual support, being part of each other's family, talking about stuff before it becomes a problem, standing up for each other, and all the other relationship related matters. I think they also made a commitment to deal each other in when they worry or having fears - no matter how insignificant or silly they may seem. Because the team game is better than flying solo here.

I loved this one - and no editing needed, as far as I can see. I'm glad they got saved from the shredder even if the pages did argue most of the time.

But with @Renee Stevens's new awesome system, there's no hard deadline. You don't have to get it done before next Friday, in order to give Renee a chance to feature the prompt, since it's now up to authors to mention their stories.

I agree with @northie Prompt 611 is very inspiring. It's been added to my list for later use in my Prompt story.

I think any version of Word is fine, just make sure you do not use indents or add empty lines between paragraphs.

@Headstall , @LitLover , @Sweetlion , @dughlas , @Daddydavek and @Lisa for your comments, they made me very happy. and now that Mark has seen this, he may forgive me for the persistent nagging about JJ in the current CAP story.

But why does he have to be 'shocked out of his complacency' and come out of his comfortable cocoon? Is he doing anyone any real harm by being in there? OK, so he's rude to Carullo, but that guy would get on my nerves too, and if he simply left JJ alone and ignored him, there wouldn't be a problem - hmm or would JJ seek him out just to be rude?. As for being rude to Will and the rest of the family, it seems to me JJ isn't the one getting in touch with them, so why don't they ignore him too? And JJ may have no right to grab Maddy and shout at her, but if that is the main reason they're harassing him, then I find them vindictive rather than constructive in approach. She'll have to learn some manners too, especially concerning noise level, if she wants to be in JP's presence. But I guess that will be in ten years time when she's a teen. JJ may be a douche but that's nothing new. And in the past when they've gotten through to him with shock treatment, did they follow it up with some consistent help and kindness ? (Apart from the time he was in hospital after cutting himself.) If their reason was worry over JJ's mental health and him acting like this because he's lonely and depressive - or worse, being abused again, then yes, their tactics might make sense. But if their only reason is that they want him to be polite to people who try to butt into his cocoon, then I may end up siding completely with @centexhairysub about the wrongness of their approach. Right now I'm undecided, mostly because JP condones their approach. But even he has been wrong from time to time - and in fact, none of them were close enough to JJ or made the effort to approach him and gain his trust and find out why he was acting like this when he first developed his hostile character. It was only by accident they found out what was wrong, so I'd expect them to cut him some slack this time, or at least make a real effort to find out why he was acting up. Wasn't that was JP told Brad and Robbie after Will wrecked their belongings? 'This is what happens when your kid thinks you don't love him' or something similar? Again, has JJ done any serious harm to anybody with his behavior? If they feel sorry for Carullo, simply set him up in another apartment so he's free to leave. On the other hand, I dislike JJ a lot, so if you're out to bitch-slap him, it's OK with me. I just want them to have a proper reason to do it.

I've come across stories with great plot lines which were badly written, and well written stories where the characters sucked (think Wheel of Time, lol), and I can in a way understand the temptation to take such stories and improve them, or finish them if they're abandoned. However, if someone is a good enough writer to do that, why don't they write something of their own or collaborate with someone who has the ideas but can't write? And of course passing them off as your own original work is never OK. I guess making an example of people who are caught in the act of plagiarism by banning them also works as a deterrent to other GA members. Both those who managed to clean up their act before they were caught, and anyone tempted to steal the property of someone else in the future.

I forgot to reply to this comment, sorry Lisa. It made me at the time. And you're right about the music playing a major role.

Hmm, if so, why doesn't he think about it in any way ? Either as in the person being useless (if JJ does not want to deal with matters) or supportive (if he feels vindicated by whatever they discuss). I think he was in therapy when living on the west coast, but no one has bothered to help him find someone in N.Y.

Makes me sad when things like this happens. Cia's advice seems great for all the accomplished GA authors. I have to admit I'd rather be ignorant of any plagiarism. But I guess that's because I'm sure no one would want to steal my stories. They're neither complete nor good enough.

You're a positive force in the world of GA, always ready with kind attention and nice comments.

I agree, and he should demand that Don and Sue go with him to the office of the recommended charity and have his rights read to all of them. And of course he should refuse to be adopted by an idiot like Don.

Thanks for the reply, it was both interesting and gave me food for thought. I haven't had time to go back over the chapters, but my feeling was the same as yours about JJ not acting much different to how he's always been, and that none of the adults in his life has made an effort to understand him or help him. I think he suffers from being an emotion-driven character in a family of intellectuals, and Robbie was the only person who was similar to JJ in this respect. I can relate to your distaste for the story characters (and readers) enjoying JJ's distress at the party. I didn't find much pleasure in it, which is why I refrained from 'liking' the chapter. But at least JJ seems more angry that depressed in the car, and I hope Stef is waiting at the condo and will be able to work out a better way for JJ and the family to interact and understand each other. Oh, and I also think you're right about why JJ is rude to Carullo, but I'd like to add that I'd probably also be annoyed with someone who kept doing the eager puppy act after I'd clearly shown I preferred to be left alone. In any case it will be interesting to discover the purpose and outcome of this plan hatched by JP, Stef, Will and Darius.

It was almost a relief to see Don was still an ignorant jerk. Gives me something to rant about. I'm glad Nathan, Robbie and Sue stood up to him. Daniel is still being a coward, but he'll have to talk to Nathan and Robbie eventually.

I also agree with @centexhairysub about this being a very harsh wake-up call for JJ, which may backfire in unexpected ways. I'm wondering why no one has followed up on JJ's need for therapy after all the stuff he's been through. He clearly has massive anger issues and low self-esteem which he hides behind snobbish manners. I've never liked him, but he does seem to have been abandoned by the family for long stretches of time. But I wonder if there's been stuff going on which hasn't been described in detail where JJ has rebuffed every attempt to talk to him. JP's words seem to indicate so, and he rarely deals out such severe judgement without good cause. I can't help about the 'broach' gift. (e.g. She obliged me by opening the box and smiled broadly at the beautiful fleur de lys broach it contained. ) Isn't it spelled brooch ? Does autocorrect strike again ?

Did you notice what JP said to JJ ? Apparently, JP feels the family has tried to tell JJ whatever it is they object to in his prickly and mean behavior. You may be correct in saying JJ acts the way he does due to all the trauma he's been through, but I'd like to point out most of the main CAP characters (including Will) has been through some pretty bad stuff, and they've worked hard to deal with it. Will and Brad has gone to therapy sessions, which JJ would probably benefit from, but I bet he would fly into a rage if anyone suggested it. I'd also like to point out how the family is in a really stressful situation right now, with an unknown enemy trying to bring them down. Of course, they could simply ignore JJ, but the danger of that is him doing something which fucks up whatever they try to achieve regarding Alex and Wade. No matter how clever and satisfactory JJ's revenge on Mary Ellen was at the time, it also created trouble they could have done without. On the other hand, I do agree the public lesson was probably too harsh, but I can't help wondering why JJ reacted so badly to the presence of his brothers. If he'd pretended to be delighted to see them, thanked Bellona for the lovely surprise, and been gracious to Ella to spite Darius (who did at one point ask JJ to back off with the nasty stuff), their whole scheme would have fallen completely flat. Instead he stomps off in a rage and calls Stef to complain - and surely this is not a good pattern to keep up, as JP points out. I feel sorry for JJ, even if I dislike him, and I think you're right about the risk of this intervention setting him off on a negative spiral. Talking to him would have been better, and even if they've already tried this, maybe they shouldn't have given up so soon? I'd love to hear your suggestion of how they should have approached the matter instead. But of course, if you don't find any fault with JJ's outlook and behavior, then there's nothing to change. As for people sending you flaming PMs just ignore the idiots. I like and understand your point of view and it's refreshing to have someone defend JJ. After all, I used to do it with Will.

If this dinner stunt had been the work of Stef, Will and Darius by themselves I would tend to agree with your evaluation, even though I don't like JJ at all. But since JP seems to endorse the lesson they are trying to teach JJ, I'm going postpone my judgement. I have the feeling the dinner was a wake-up call, telling JJ he cannot ignore his family when they try to tell him something. He may disagree with their opinions and argue against them, and if he has rational reasons they will listen. But bitchy behavior will get him nowhere. I expect Stef is either at the condo already or on his way, in order to make JJ understand whatever it is the family wants him to learn from this. Not that Stef hasn't been a bit bitchy himself lately, lol, so maybe he's not the best example for JJ. JJ may think the whole thing totally unfair (and your arguments have a lot of merit), but he does owe his family some sort of loyalty, since they're funding his life, right? And if there's one thing JP can't stand it's bad manners and selfish, snobbish behavior. Marie, Claire and Isidore learned that lesson over the big party. You're right about JJ doing well to get his shit together for himself, and as far as I recall the rest of the family has backed him up and admired him for doing so, e.g. with the revenge he enacted on MaryEllen. I agree about the whole Maddy incident btw, she''s a spoiled brat who may end up as manipulative as her mother if she isn't checked at some point, but if she's only three, there's hope for that. But JJ does seem to think his (family's) wealth and status entitles him to do what he wants, and I'm guessing this is what they're trying to stop in the only way which can get through to JJ. And now I have to go and update the list.

LOL, no, that's not a good idea, even if it takes quiet a lot, normally, But I do have a few sore spots which will set me off.