Krista

Yes, I think most of them have turned the lights off and kept on working.

It's always interesting to read the different opinions, so I'm all for these sorts of discussions. We're all different people with different things we can overlook. I went into this film not knowing the ending of the book, so I can't really judge it based on the adaptation, just what is in front of me. I do feel like I gave the book a solidly good effort to finish it, but I couldn't. I do like hearing that the film does seem to not stray too far from the source material though. I think Authors sell the rights to their stories hoping for that and it irks me when smaller market authors have their stories completely gutted from their vision. It is the risk you take, but it can damage an author. Love, Victor I didn't like. To me, I thought it was okay the first four-ish episodes. After that it felt prolonged for the sake of attempting to stretch it out so it can be billed as a full season. Then for it to drudge through more seasons was rather pointless. They just left shallow unresolved issues linger on and on. I also heard that Season 2 of Heartstoppers is guilty of one of my most disliked tropes, but I've not started season 2 yet...

I was like that with Bros, I got about thirty minutes in, and couldn't go a minute longer. I actually think the larger media/film production companies have lost their way. You look around and people are starved for genuinely original films. The best film I've watched this year was on Netflix, and that was Otto with Tom Hanks. It was adorable and tragic, but I wouldn't call it organically original either. Action films are either sequels to whatever super hero depicted or remakes of decades old films, or whatever number the Fast and the Furious is on now, I stopped watching after the first film. Comedies have gone completely juvenile and completely formulaic from one film to the next. The actors change, that's it. Romantic comedies are the worst offenders and that is across all genres. Dramas for me anyway, have been the genre that's been a bit better at depicting a wider range of topics and themes, but still. Horror, I don't watch horror, so I couldn't tell you. The two most original and wide-audience films in the last two years... was based on Mario and Barbie, that should tell you the state of the film industry. And Television is no better... the U.S either copies from European shows, example: Ghosts. Or has long-winded.. and mind you, long beaten to death shows like Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, etc... and then countless spin-offs from hit shows that lose their luster one or two seasons after the first when the new wears off... it is honestly awful. I do not watch television at all, I have Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Paramount... etc.. all them.. lol.. and I'm paying for those with the television turned off.. and never logging in to watch on my other devices, so much so.. that I cannot remember the passwords and I have to reset them every time. It may just be me... but... when I am starved for something, I do write more... so. The show I'm most looking forward to is on Amazon Prime, and that's Prisma's second season. I tend to seek out foreign films and television more and more, because they feel genuinely more organic and unique... subtitles do give me a headache after awhile though.

I'll get out the brochures for your nursing home, Steven. As you know, I've had them saved up.

I watched the film late last night. The two leads carried the film better than I thought they would have. I thought the pacing was a bit erratic and rushed. It would have been better as a fleshed out mini-series. The book does some time jumps as well, so I understand why they followed along with the film. Didn't like the ending at all. One issue was resolved far too easily, again.. didn't read the book, so if it resolved simply then, fine. The second resolution isn't realistic, but this is fiction so we'll go with it. Since both were rushed, handled in seconds or in moments that didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense based on the setting and society both the book and film went with (more so the film), it just felt cheap. I don't think the "loosely based" characters are based on Hilary and Henry, so on. I think they're based loosely on the royal family, of sorts, if they were a bit more made-up, AU. It definitely toes the line of Fan Fiction territory when it deals with the Royal family, but not in a significantly obtrusive way. I wish they would have distanced themselves more from it, but since it is based in the not-so-distant future, an entirely made up structure for the Royal Family may have been just as awkward. Especially since it does delve into historical people, jokingly for the most part, but since they're mentioned you kind of have to follow the timeline then, as well as the family tree unfortunately. I feel for the most part the criticism/messaging within the film didn't go too far and were somewhat respectful towards them, but it may not be so to others so that is definitely my opinion. The President and her family are far more based in fiction and fictitious characters. The political system allowed for that, because within four or six years, there can be a lot of shifts and new people entering the fold. Not so much with the Royals, obviously. So they weren't really based on anything, they were structured to represent a certain blueprint of messaging that the book/film wanted to go with. A mixed family and immigrant family, a strong woman from a southern state overcoming a lot to be the first elected woman to the office of president. I wouldn't have ever connected the family to the Clintons loosely or otherwise. I do think these writers and the source material in general handled race better than Love, Victor. Love, Victor irked me mostly, but for entirely different reasons. It fell heavily into tropes that I honestly never cared for. RW&RB does as well, but like you said, the more adult themes made them a little less irritating to sit through. At times the leads felt younger than they were though. Sometimes I had to remind myself that these were college aged characters and not late-high school kids. The maturity level wasn't exactly there at times - and it is mirrored in 'how' the adults in the room treated them. I know that sort of characterization falls heavily into the Comedy genre the movie pushed for in the writing, so it isn't a true criticism just an observation. It did make them fall flat at times. The accent was still laughable. I agree it was completely disconnected to the rest of the family. Not so much the husband, he was an immigrant and his accent wouldn't have shifted far from his parents. The Son's lack of any accent either way wasn't all that realistic. Children learn to speak, their accent, inflections - they come from their upbringing, mostly from their parents, some can be based in geography, cultural influences, etc. You can grow up and take speech, public speaking, and pronunciation, and communication classes to break the accent - which fine, he could have done that. But it would have slipped, it would have almost been a little endearing for him to have some semblance of one, but since Uma Thurman's accent was atrocious, maybe it was a blessing. Overall I liked the film. Not all that deep or groundbreaking. More of the same. There were large sections of it that annoyed me, but not in a way that I wouldn't watch the film again. It is a nicely watchable film. My favorite scene was the "Argument.." in the bedroom. It was followed quickly by a minor scene that annoyed me, then a larger scene that annoyed me more... and then one of my biggest hang-ups about the film altogether happened shortly after. (I do hope all of that was vague enough)

I understand the feelings, I am in the field where I see caregivers and their relatives. I see the commitment and I also see the ones that act like it is a bother. The worry in your words, the time you spent and kept your mother safely living with you, as independently as she could be. I want you to know that trying isn't failing, it never will be. We can only do what we are capable and some things are out of our control. I helped care for a loved one for a time, unlike you though I had a lot more help, more family members to step in and shoulder the mixed emotions, the worries, the negative thoughts, and tough decisions. I hope you find some peace and remember a lot of the happier times, and a little more of the joy you likely had when things were better during the time you cared for your mother.

I did finally watch the trailer, Uma Thurman's accent is awful. My goodness. She sounds like an imitation Kathy Bates in all the worst ways. It almost makes her sound hateful every time she opens her mouth. If that is the intention, then okay, but from what I remember from the half of the book I read, the character didn't feel all that uptight? The one or two tender moments depicted here still sounded off-tone to what she was saying. It has been a bit so maybe I'm not remembering correctly. The acting from one of the leads also sounded rather one-note and wooden as well, but to be honest the first half of this trailer wasn't the best at selling the film. Hopefully the hype behind the book itself will carry it better.

People like Trace are fewer and farther between, too many people stuck to their phones to know how the world really works anymore. How many people would have said, "fine.." and left? Only to make the connection later if they were to hear it in the news the next morning. Anyway, yes.. Trace needs to be more common. At least so far in the story. Aww! It seemed like a lot of us decided to hit hard with these stories. Secrets tends to lean that way. It is torture to keep them, it is usually an explosion when they aren't. So I can see why these themes can be similar. I knew going in that this wasn't going to be a resolved sort of part. I didn't have the time or word-space to do it. I was talked into rewriting this idea.. partly myself, because I wanted to submit something. And a certain Wildthing added his unwanted two-twoonies and convinced me to go through with it. I wouldn't want to leave the story here, I think it is rather skeletal as is. So I will probably work on it, I have plans on doing a second part to see how far I can get when I have more time and freedom to do so. I am glad you liked the story so far! At least enough to want a continuation... Thank you for reading! It does need continuing. I may take the risk. lol 😮 Overall yes, apparently a heavy dosage! Lol. I also agree, at least as far as Joel is concerned, they shouldn't be allowed to call themselves his parents. I doubt his mother would care... at least right now. Hopefully I'll get back to this story whenever I finally finish other things.. Thank you for reading and leaving a comment. Thank you for reading. We're all glad that you are a survivor as well, we're all unimaginably better off for having met you. I could not imagine a decision of that nature ever having to cross a person's mind at that age. I'm glad you took the steps of freeing yourself completely from a bad situation. That you made it out of all of that, and are the better for doing so despite all you probably had to go through. I am so glad you shared this with us. I am also glad after reading this, that knowing that the first thought that crossed my mind afterwards was that I would never. I could never live with myself not knowing where my child was... no matter what they said, done, were. I wouldn't think I was any kind of parent if I could do that. So at least you gave me that as well. Thank you for reading. Hopefully I will continue this in a somewhat timely manner.. lol So much for my retirement after, 'The Best Year...' at least for a bit. Yes, poor Joel was completely blindsided. He knew he had to keep his secret, there was ample evidence there. I'm also glad you brought up the father. I find him at fault in all this too. He never spoke his mind, but he didn't defend his son either. I don't think highly of him either, myself. As the author of the writing, I'll have to make some decisions regarding him more so, I think. Yes, it does happen everywhere. Even in places and in cultures where you may think it doesn't. But it is good to know that you can find the opposite in places where you think it happens more often than not. That's what makes these types of of stories worth reading... I wonder if it would have been more impactful if I had placed them in Boston, New York, or SanFran, maybe London, instead of my usual small town, rural setting where people think the culture supports these things more often for various reasons. But, I would be lost in those cities... so I am not brave enough to write my characters into them for very long at all. A house, culture, society, that has those values are rather frustrating. In my personal life, I know of two friends that have had similar experiences to Joel. They both met and married two men that had experiences completely opposite of them. You can guess where they choose to visit during Holidays, it won't take more than one. Well two, because both families spend time with me during the holidays. They both lived with me for a time, I'm forever grateful that Mom had the means to bring them into the house when they needed a home. ❤️ Thank you, I am glad you liked the start of this story. Maybe I'll get to it one of these days. Thank you for reading and enjoying the story. I'll get to this story some day, I think. You're not wrong. I am tired of scapegoat people using religion as a moral crutch for their own end and not really delving into what it all is about. I am a Christian, I am in the process of reading the bible. It is a bit of a slow process, I must admit. I have a more private relationship with faith, I find it far easier and more fulfilling. His mother didn't do what she did because she was religious. She did what she did, because she was able to bring hate into her heart and she allowed it to live there rent free. In the writing the only "religion" they had was during two holidays. They are no more Christian people than a cow is to a horse, but unlike Cows and Horses these types of people still think they should belong in the Kentucky Derby.. If that made any sense... stay with me, it is difficult answering all of these comments all in one go. Maybe I can sneak in sunshine, rainbows, and puppies, more Trace, and more little brothers into the following chapters. Shouldn't be too hard, I'm not tooooooooooooooo evil. I'm just slow with updating stories. I hope she does too. Lol. Otherwise, I feel I did a bit of a disservice and I guess that's the first step to me continuing the story. Maybe the feeling will linger well past all the writing I still have left to do on another project. The legal aspect is something I am interested in touching on, but not hovering around too much. Maybe since Trace talked Joel off a bridge, he might be able to talk Joel's mother into releasing all of her hang ups and find out she still loves her son... who knows. I don't. It will be a ride for both of us... if you come back to this story when I do. Thank you! It may start sad, it may not end sad. There's hope. I do have some semblance of a plan to continue this story. At least into a second part. It definitely deserves that from me. There's probably a bit of a line, but they need all the 10 minutes they have coming to them.

I actually found this the other day, after I heard someone moaning about not being able to be a Tyler Childers fan.. otherwise, I'm typically months behind. I personally think the song is really pretty, but I'm also a country/folksong sort of fan, and I usually have this sort of playlist playing in the background when I'm writing. But the video is beautiful too. I need to see the full film version of this... wish I had the funding to make it. I'd have to recast Colton Haynes though, I can't unsee the horrid acting from Teenwolf to be confident.. lol

Oh wow, I remember you. Welcome back.

I am of the minority that DNF'd this book, apparently. I just couldn't get into the characters halfway through. If it builds to something worthwhile, let me know and I'll give it another shot. I usually like to read books before I watch films, just so I can be tortured by the fact that the film adaptation isn't all that good.

In your case it is all the above, sweet pea.

Sorry for jumping around with the Status. I forgot that you cannot read reviews or see them... if the story is marked in-process.. or any other status other than complete. So.. oopsies. It is on hold, as I am still dealing with the real life things and... I still have The Best Year to write on. Other than that, we'll see if my motivation to continue this story survives afterwards.

I'm glad you stuck with the story. The story itself started out as an Anthology, that went on too long for me to get it edited and submitted for publishing. A small idea that just got big enough to be what it was. If I knew going in, I would have slowed the first parts down a little bit, did more character fleshing out. I think that is what detracts from the earlier parts a little bit. Thank you for leaving a comment.

It was a fun sort of side-project to jump into. I wish I had more time to flesh out my story a bit better. Now that it is back in my hands, I'll see if I can squeeze it into my schedule a bit. I had the same idea that @astone2292 had, but decided against it, thinking it was too cheeky and dastardly. I won't make that mistake again, I'll see you next go.

Thank you all for reading and leaving a comment on my story. I may have been convinced to put this addition in last minute... I don't know how I get talked into these things. I also checked my G key to make sure it was still working, because Bride is definitely not Bridge.. lol. Silly me... when I noticed them, I couldn't go back and change it. I will make an attempt to respond to every comment individually in the coming days, something has come up in RL that requires time and stuff and I don't have the mental energy right now. Didn't want to leave y'all hanging with nothing.

Congratulations to you both!

Completely foreign concept to me. Lol. Our lunches were done in two or three stages, when necessary. Twenty-five minutes or so to eat. I think it is political, but not in the way you're thinking. We get a lot of government funding with our lunches, since so many of our state's school children live hovering just above, at, or below the poverty level. So Lunches, being part of that funding, requires butts in the seats eating that food, in order to maintain that funding. So most school districts require it. Even on half-days, my children will be given lunches, either to eat just before being dismissed, or taken as sack lunches home. That is why for sickness as well, after a certain percentage of students are out across the county/district the schools are also closed. A little of it has to do with safety. Back when I was in school, we only got twenty or so minutes to get our food and eat it. It took ten or so minutes to get to a fast food place, and however long it took to get the food, and you had to be back in the classroom or you receive a tardy. Some rural areas, it just isn't recommended, since there is a bit of a distance to drive and get back, and in a small window to do it all in. I could be wrong on the Funding, I will do a little research on it to be certain. Thank you for sticking with this story, and welcome back to GA. I do remember you, Gandalf.

I'm somewhat glad Jackson still irritates readers. I've always set out for him to do so. As much as it may pain you to read him at times, it is intentional. And yeah, being present in the cafeteria is 'still' mandatory here. They cannot eat in the library, open classrooms, etc. Only students who are 18 can sign themselves out and leave campus to go eat... and that is only if they do not have tardy strikes against them. Or at least that is how the school system my children are enrolled handles lunchtimes - although none of them are in high school yet and no where near old enough to drive. It was the same for me growing up. I stayed in the cafeteria even after I turned 18, only because there were only four restaurants in my home town and none of them were any good.

The ending has never changed, but that's about it. I never set out to do all these swim meets really. I got a lot of good feedback on the first one, that I decided to implement more. I regressed Jackson a bit more than I planned, I always wanted him to have bits and pieces of him from the beginning of the story. No one changes completely, so I don't want him to go from boundless energy, full of trouble, and a bit self-centered... to none of that. I think I did that a lot more with him than I might have intended if I was able to write the entire thing within a year or two. Prom being implemented the way that it was, changed. I didn't do Prom ever.. and I've written 3 high school coming of age stories. Albeit, the first one I ever wrote was back in 2003ish and it was just rough all around. SIS never had a Prom either. So I wanted a prom. This is the last story I will write in the High School setting, I am too far removed to enjoy the writing process of it really... and if the story was written back then, the attic scene would have been in Luke's field under a tree... that is where I originally planned on having them. While I was writing the chapter, I kept going back to that idea, but having them out in the open actually worried me, because Cindy's character had evolved slightly, and I thought the two needed more privacy, literally in the back of my mind.. I thought Henry or her would go searching 'there' for them... and maybe not the park. So I changed it. Other than those things, a lot of the bigger plot points have remained the same. I've always liked this story. I've just suffered having to write it. I love Jackson and Luke, I love their journey. I got held up over the years by lacking of motivation, time, and demands of real life. And yeah, you have powered through, you're about to suffer along with the few people that have lasted since 2016... lol. I'll be glad when this story is marked Completed. I can retire in peace knowing that this monster is finally over and I can hopefully bring it all around to a nice conclusion.

yeah, small towns = school cafeteria or gym is the place for dances, graduations, etc. No fancy buildings to speak of... lol.

Ridley and I were opposites, I wanted to be out of the house with my time being strained to the point of... me not having any time. Since me and him are opposites, I think it did help me write him. I wanted him to be someone who is so tired they just didn't care, along with dealing with things that is so far removed from the people around him. I wanted him to feel alien, mostly when he didn't have to. It is so heartbreaking for me to read his story, mostly for the reason that I and him are vastly different and reacted to the parallel experience of playing basketball in such polar opposite ways. I'm glad you brought up the story, it always makes me smile when people do. The NIL monster, I don't know. I don't see it being a big thing outside of the "Big Two.." and to a stretch, much outside the "Power 5" conferences. Although, I also think we're headed to a massive market, "Power 3," conference. I don't think the Big 12, PAC 12, and the smaller conferences are going to outlast the massive program swapping we're starting to see. Adding in opening transferring up and the ability to test pro-leagues, and NIL being allowed to become a bidding war, it get truly messy. There will be some outliers for sure, and not just in the big market sports. Some athletes who already have massive followings on social media accounts will also get massive NIL deals to go along with it. I think one of the highest paid NIL athletes in the country is a female gymnast from LSU. Maybe in olympic years non-big three sports will get more attention. I know NIL deals for Women's Basketball has increased a lot more than I figured it would. Football and Men's basketball being the leading two. I hope I am wrong and it gets spread out and you see athletes from smaller market sports getting something out of their time, since you know athletes are getting millions of dollars in bigger marketed sports. I find it very difficult to watch Men's basketball now. I like seeing growth with a team over two - three years. Now it is all transfers and freshmen, who will only play a season - if that. You will start seeing more and more athletes sitting out if they're not guaranteed to be in Post-tournaments/championships/non-storied bowl games. It happened last year and the year before that. It is why I do not watch professional leagues either. They tend to gut the entire team within two or three years, if they're smaller market - less than that. and Baseball players have the best uniforms, that's all I'm saying. lol

I must admit I went full on indulgence with these chapters. Almost unapologetically so, but as I entered the third chapter... I want to say?? I started to think... maybe I went overboard a little bit. Either way, I had fun writing Prom. And yes, I feel most proms are formalities to whatever happens afterwards. It is a fun couple of hours, but a true lead up to longer lasting fun.

I don't think Tony ever formally turned in Pete for doping. I think he just dismissed him from his team after learning of the incident. I can't remember it exactly, but I don't think it was during a swimming event where he was caught. So it could have just been an "in-house.." removal that wouldn't hold outside repercussions. I honestly, think I just said.. "he was caught doping.." and Tony put a stop to all discussions on it and it was never really dealt with on a larger picture, or explained exactly. You can argue that Tony not submitting an actual report that would have come back on the program in a negative light, and got Pete further disciplined and issued bans - was a bad coaching decision. It isn't out of the realm of impossibilities that a lot of these are handled in that manner, especially someone who is attempting to grow the program like Tony, Emily, and his wife. Not excusing the decision though, it would just be the scenario I probably would have went with... I think it is more poetic for a cheater to be beaten when they're no longer cheating... rather than beaten because they're banned. The blind loyalty Matt and Aiden had for him also played into that factor of having Pete as this... mostly unseen problem.

Jackson's story was actually based on something that happened with me. I was a three sport athlete in high school. Volleyball, Basketball, and Softball - although, my schedules conflicted a lot. I was just 'good' enough for my coaches to work something out. I was best in Basketball. I started getting college interest my Junior year, pre-season. I didn't like the college that wanted me, it was local and I didn't like the academics. They contacted my coach, who went ahead and got their package and contact information. She gave me the package and the contact information, but I never opened it and I never contacted them. My Senior year, they approached me again, but I got three other offers during that time. None of which I liked, I started looking around at other college opportunities. At the time I thought I wanted to become a Veterinarian and none of them even had animal sciences or pre-veterinary specific undergrad opportunities, so that limited me. Anyway, when my mind changed and I 'started' looking at these packages, I found one that I liked. I switched from Veterinary school to teaching, specializing in Mathematics. The college had a great education program, but when I contacted them, they had moved on and had actively recruited other athletes and apologized and officially rescinded the offer. I ended up thinking about just walking on to a team, but that summer I was horsing around with some of my friends and I attempted to dunk the basketball. I do not and never had those kinds of hops and I landed wrong and severely injured my left knee, I fractured my kneecap, tore my ACL, you name it, I went all in. I had surgery and I changed my mind again academically to physical therapy. I put all my ambitions of playing a sport at the collegiate level away - I almost wrote it that way with Jackson. Getting drunk at a party and severely injuring himself enough to miss out on this season earlier in the writing. Basketball scholarships are different though, most colleges are willing to pay for a full scholarship and are limited to how many. Partial scholarships are an entirely different thing as it allows more to receive them and more people can be part of the team. If I had been recruited through Volleyball - it would have been more akin to how you described as most volleyball programs have 15 - 20 athletes on the roster and they're low market enough to not all receive full scholarships. Same with Softball. I should have done more research on the recruitment side of swimming. I made the assumption that it was similar and in some regards it is, but with partial scholarships and swimming program size being larger than what I expected does take away from some of the realism. I am now well aware of that.