Wow, Anson is a bit of a coward, huh? Poor Hani. It looks like Phelps is going to turn out to be a better mentor, though, with more active compassion, so that's something... You're doing a nice job of showing how Hani is already building layers of self-protection.
ARRGH! Tim, I cannot take this! Why can't the two boys in love simply be allowed to talk to each other? It's starting to feel to me like the constant intervention by the friends is actually slowing them down!
I feel terrible for Chad, dealing with apparent betrayal on two sides. Not sure how to feel about Maddie and Kendra's connection... if they're so good at bossing Roy around, why isn't he all settled and happy?
A gym that smells only of lavender and lemon and has its own rugby team. I could go for that. Gunner and Adam do seem a bit... over-friendly though. And Roy and Chad were really funny in this chapter... how much longer can they hold out?
If "Mr. Petersen" hurts Wes, I will be displeased. But at least he seems to be relaxing a little bit?
I'm deeply relieved that it wasn't worse today. The first headline I saw this morning was, "Gunshots heard inside Canadian parliament." It was terrifying. I hope Nathan Cirillo and the unnamed soldier in Montreal rest in peace.
Yowza. Lovely to see Zupan and Zander again. But Rebecca... look, it's simply not realistic that she could continue this way without being mentally ill. She needs to get better very very quickly or we've got to accept that she's got a screw loose. This is just too weird.
I think you may just be looking at the wrong stores. ToysRUs doesn't have a lot of that stuff, but microscopes and chemistry sets are still readily available. Check Barnes & Noble, or one of the catalog stores like Constructive Playthings.
http://www.constructiveplaythings.com/category
Edit: oh and there's also Hearthsong, which is terribly froufrou to my eye but they do have this carpentry tool I'm thinking of getting for the Glint this year. The Dove's already in wood shop so I think he won't care for it.
http://www.hearthsong.com/hobbies/cool-4-in-1-woodshop-tool.htm
I think a lot of the more exciting activities have moved from "toy" to "craft" categories. My impression is that kids are as dumb as they ever were but we're less tolerant of medical bills...
I am so in love with Michael now! And sad that he probably won't get to keep Jonah. That's what comes of making secondary characters so charming. Also I'm ready to run away to Sicily looking for an old house with blue shutters. Delightfully sadistic chapter, Aditus.
Like a lot of people said, it would depend on the reason. With one of my exes I would, not the other. My impression is that people don't change terribly much unless they really work at it, so if there was lots of lying and cheating and fighting and yelling, then no.
And if you're still in pain from whatever happened, then would you be going into it with an open mind? I think that depends on the individual also.
The thing is that headlines saying INSTALL APPS WITH CAUTION barely even register, do they? You've got to have a specific concern to attract much attention.
I don't have a flashlight app, no use for it, but I've got a banking app from a bank that's had its customer database hacked, and several of my recreational apps would likely allow me to be tracked if anyone in China were interested in my whereabouts.