C James

I really don't know why so many want to do such awful things to quiet, sweet, innocent me? I'm just a harmless goat, flailing away at a keyboard high in the mountains of far northern Arizona...

Bishop John Shelby Spong, the retired Anglican 8th Bishop of Newark, published an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury (the leader of the Anglican Church). Here is an excerpt, but read the whole thing. He really takes the archbishop to task. http://towardequality.blogspot.com/2007/09...hbishop-of.html

Good points, and thank you for making me think. I still say we should blame Shadowgod for this... Thanks Bob! But I think the real credit here has to go to all of you in this forum; I love the comments, more than I can possibly express. All of you, not me, make that happen. I indeed am having the time of my life with writing, I love it, but that's in a very large part becuase of the readers and commenters. Thank you all. But, what, Cliffhangers? In one of my stories? We all know that I never use cliffhangers... Thanks Bob!! Hi Bob! What? Me, get a swelled head? Not so! It's just my doors have been getting inexplicably narrower.

Prove what? It's your forum, who else but you would come up with voting procedures? And could anyone but a Californian come up with something so odd?

Steve, are you slandering my fine state? I'm shocked.. shocked, I tell ya... And agreed, under normal circumstances a taco hell should be faster than that, but you must remember, you were in a very big city at the height of the lunch rush hour. Besides, after those election rules you came up with, how can you say California isn't strange?

:lmao: :lmao: Benji, That was great!

Yes, Did you? :P You said; You are clearly complaining that it took 45 minutes to get a burrito at a restaurant. Right? Therefor, as 45 miniutes is quite fast (especially at the busy times like lunch or dinner), you must be complaining that it didn't take long enough.

So your complaint is that you got the burrito too fast?!?!? I guess you were enjoying the wait so much you didn't want it to end? Yup, Californians are strange critters...

Hrmmm, I think your priorities are a bit odd. Granted, California is sadly deficient in large reptiles. Not only don't you have alligators, you don't even have the cute and cuddly Gila Monster. What evil goats? Is there any such thing as an evil goat? Yes, quite agreed! California is just, well, flaky... Just like its residents.

You have a point... OKay, blended they shall be. Perhaps even pureed. Shaken not stirred only works if we substitute Gin for the Schnapps. :wacko: Well, actually, it sounds like all things Californian... Complicated? It's not complicated... It's even low in sodium!

:king: Happy Birthday Robert!!! :king: :king: Best wishes and many happy returns!!! :king:

OK, after consulting the shadowy one himself (so if you don't like the proposal below, blame him) we have a procedure for the polls. 3 polls will be created, featuring 11 choices each. Those three polls will run simultaneously. The top 4 choices will advance to the next round of polls 3 polls. once there, three new polls will be created, (four, if this occurs on a Tuesday during the waning phase of the moon.) The winning choice will be assigned to the three polls at random, and the losing entries added for leavening (with a touch of brewer's yeast to make sure they rise). The winners of this round shall be randomized, and their letters re-arranged randomly for the next poll, which will pit them against the losers. At this point, all the letters of all the entries will be but in a pot and mixed together (with a little rosemary for flavor) and simmered as 220 degrees for three hours. The resulting conglomerations will be divided into groupings of six letters, for a subsequent round of polls. Once the moon has begun to wax, the cycle will repeat. Peppermint Schnapps may be substituted for the Rosemary at any time. This is a certified low-sodium election.

Oh, shoot! I had the "allow users to select more than one" box checked. Fixed! I voted for "Capricans"

Thanks! I can't comment on the future, but you have a very good point; If he'd just stood there, that would look bad. Thanks! Yep, he used paper, becuase paper was what he had. He seems to have done ok, even if several songs were pronounced to stink. Helen's comment about the pop one was my favorite. LoL (and might be a clue as to my tastes in music, ROFL) And you're right, we really must blame Shadowgod! Ok, I'm calling a vote... All in favor of blaming shadowgod (I'll count you as in favor, Bondwriter!) and I'm voting yes as well. Anyone opposed? Anyone?? OK, the voting is closed, and the consensus has been reached; this is Shadowgod's fault!

Foe the example of the lady you cited, I totally agree (and that was a bad cite on my part), but in the case of inner-citty poor (living well below the powerty line) in all too many cases squandering money on $200 guy's shoes and jewlery, that's all too real, sadly. His intent was mainly to be generous, but if he thoguht ti through, he would see that only as a writer would be be entitled to a full 1/4 share in the band (the other three were the only writers at first) but they had given him 1/4 anyway, before they knew. I can't say anything about the future, but what is shown so far is that he has a good head for money for everyday situations, just as you say. I was in error when I implied in my prior post that his financial acumen extended beyond his experience level. We have no way of knowing if it does, and no reason to believe that it does. But he was using instruments frequently at the studio? Surly he's use them to test some of his ideas? And BTW, Brandon was a musician before becoming a roadie; he was in a band (as both singer and guitarist per the narration) that was just starting to get some success. It's listed in the first paragraph of Ch 2, and I think a couple of other places; Also, he's a very skilled guitarist;

Happy 60th Marty!!!!

Here is the updated list... Looks like 33. So, we could do three polls of 11 and then send the top 3 from each to a semi-final, and the top 2 of them to a final? Let me know if I missed any, or if there are any additions to make. . Shadists Shadowists. Shadowers Shadow Worshippers Shadow puppets Shades Masochists The Fossilized Danglers Cliffists Shadowers Cremnophobics Luminati The Flock The Sect The Cult The Chosen The Indoctrinated The Children The Sanctioned The Conscript The Select The Allowed Shadowgod's Allowed The Worshipers The Idoliters Shadowgod's Sheltered The Unseemly Ghouls Card Carrying Shadows Shadyside Shadowenvy Demons

OK, let the voting commence!! <G>

I'll get the runoff poll up.. I'm still rooting for "Capricans".

I can't comment on the future plot, but I think I can say that Brandon's naivety won't be limited to Chase. Thanks!! Lol, the adds are often funny! Brandon does have a phobia or two, though one has only been hinted at (I'll mention what it is in my reply to emoe lower down . He's also got a few flaws... One of which was illustrated by the very act of tearing off after Gabe; a propensity for rash actions and taking risks without thinking. Who knows what he's running off into? The other phobia, if you can call it a phobia, is his propensity to feel "Unequal" to people. He thinks Chase outclasses him in the looks department, he feels the three brothers are "Light-years ahead" of him financially, and he's a fish out of water, and knows it. I have to disagree there, though I might be quite wrong.. Being poor sometimes does not equate to being conservative with money. In a rational world, you would be quite right, but in our world I've seen too many contrary examples. Some of the people most prone to reckless spending are those least able to afford it; look how popular lavish gold jewelry and $200 shoes are amongst some segments of America's poor. Or designer clothes, or eating in restaurants when not necessary, etc, etc, etc. Out of the people I know personally, I've seen some horrendous example of unwise spending by those least able to afford it. One woman in particular comes to mind; she never saves, and spends every penny of her paycheck, maxes out her credit cards, etc, on jewelry, fancy clothes, and trading in her car on a new one every year. As a result, she pays horrendous interest fees, and has no reserves at all, so any unexpected event leaves her in a dire mess. Brandon however does have a good sense for money and had a very accurate sense of his financial picture; he knew to the dollar how much he'd have left over after his rent, etc. IMHO, it would have been foolish for him to ask for money for the songs; he's just been handed (membership in a top group) an income beyond his wildest dreams, along with a very generous lump of money to "tide him over". IMHO, doing anything that could appear ungenerous or ungrateful would be a bad move from a purely buisness perspective alone. It would be akin to, after being offered your dream job, risking offending your interviewer by asking them to get your parking ticket validated. That's what I was thinking when I wrote that part, anyway. Thanks very much for the feedback though; things like that make me think, and it may very well help me in future scenes. Yep, it's only mentioned in passing but he's afraid of heights. So is Dimitri (though with him, I was clearer about it). I considered doing exactly that, but what stopped me was this: Would Brandon have wanted to out himself to an enemy? My guess was no, so he didn't. Hey now, it's California thats weird, not Arizona! He did have access to insturments at the studio. However, you raise a very good point indeed. I'm utterly unfamiliar with the music buisness, so for background I often rely on insufficient data; in this case, a memory of a musician I knew in Phoenix while I was in college. He would just sit down and write, usually (but not always) the lyrics first, and then the music itself. Just like Instinct, he'd then spend loads of time in the studio doing the songs over and over, fine-tuning them, but as for the writing, I watched him do it. He just sat there with a pencil and paper. He was pretty fast, too. HOWEVER, as I'm fond of saying, annecdote is not the singular of data, so I may well have been seeing the exception rather than the rule. This is one of the pitfalls of writing about something you know little about. I'll be sure to clarify this in the narration (thanks!): The many hours they are spending in the studio rehearsing are in large part to re-work and make changes to the songs. Thanks Jan! That would have been interesting. First let me say that the following isn;t a spoiler (so spare me your spines! ) becuase it's real world data plus some of what has been in the posted chapters. She's indeed his manager, because he's a member of the group and she's their manager (and this would require his signature). One thing we need to be clear on though, she's his manager, not his agent. An agent, as opposed to a manager, would indeed owe a fiduciary duty to the client. A manager would not to the same degree, especially when she's the manager of an entity rather than an individual. That means her managerial fiduciary is primarily to the entity that he is a part of, rather than to him personally. Once lump was fired, she was no longer his manager. Also, in a case like that, her first fiduciary is to the group, not to any individual, so it would be quite appropriate for her to suggest Lump's removal. (as its hinted that she did). (I was worried about this very thing so i checked into it before I began the re-write). Thanks Jack! Brandon has done some drooling already (his eyes popping out, helen noticing, etc) but you may very well be right; more drooling could very well be in the offing.

Thanks Metoo! And WELCOME to GA, and congratulations on your first post! Awww, you bring down one measly airliner full of innocent people, and you act like it's a bad thing? Poor misunderstood Dimitri. What? a Cliffhanger???? But.. but... but.. We all know I never, ever use those... Brandon may not be purely selfless; he's got pride issues, feeling outclassed, etc. That's why Helen knew what he'd do, and let him do it. He did that as much out of a need to salvage his sense of self-worth, though gratitude was a part of it too. Of course, one big reason he hasn't made a move on Chase is his feeling of being "outclassed", and now with this scene, he's gone a big way to remedying that. I write that "sheered" line several weeks ago, so it may or may not have been influenced by the forum posts, I honestly don't know. Brandon has a few flaws... One of which was illustrated by the very act of tearing off after Gabe; a propensity for rash actions and taking risks without thinking. Who knows what he's running off into? He's chasing after a desperate criminal, after all, who may be armed, etc. Brandon also has self-esteem issues, feeling "outclassed" by the three brothers, as has been mentioned in the narration. He's also a bit nieve (Thus not picking up anything from Chase, but also leaving him vulnerable to other, more serious misjudgements). He's trying very hard to please everyone right now, so at the moment we're only seeing him at his best. "Beleive" is one of their old songs. "beyond" is too. And BTW, it is not a good thing to have names beginning with the same letter, so I should have never had both oft-mentioned songs beginning with a "b". The reason i do is I didn't know that rule when i was writing the draft of the first eight chapters four years ago, and the names were fixed in my head so I didn't change them in the re-write. As for Gunter, I wanted a name for a security guy that was slightly imposing. However, there is something embarasing I'm leaving out. When I wrote the original draft, his name was Joe. That would make four characters with names beginning with a "J", TWO of them named "Joe" (Lump's real first name). Oops... So, he got a name change.

LoL, Yes indeed, he seems to have the market cornered on Time Travel around here. I'll try to have the next chapter read the correct number, but you can't expect a goat to be able to count.

No wonder they offered me a free, one-way ticket to Nepal! What a thing to say about a sweet, innocent, quiet lurker like me! Yes, you CONVENIENTLY forgot to mention that! Hrmmmm... Canceled! However, the plots to cook me around here make this par for the course! LoL

Thanks Benji! I can't comment on the future, but thanks!! BTW, to let everyone know: I goofed on the chapter page: It says "Chapter 6: Lump's Return". I use a template to prepare the HTML chapter page, and pase in the chapter text. Then I edit the title, but I forgot to change the 6 to a 7. This will be fixed when the next chapter goes up. (I'll send an amended Ch 7)

Today is Tuesday! And in other, less interesting news, Chapter 7: Lump's Return. is up. Thanks Joe! CJ