Clancy59

@Carlos Hazday and @Kitt. I agree with you 100% about Rock. I have said it right from Day 1 of this entire debacle. He had no right to bully Jada the way he did. She has not kept it a secret that she has alopecia. She has been quite open about it. So for him to say the things he did and mock her on national TV at an awards show in front of millions of people world-wide was nothing short of bullying. Smith had already told him to leave her out of it, but he persisted. Granted, physical violence is not the answer to everything, but as someone already said, he was lucky it wasn’t a closed fist. Smith has already made several apologies—to Rock, the Academy, to his fans, etc. He has admitted he went too far and apologized again by resigning from the Academy. But everyone keeps acting as though Rock was the innocent one in all this. Baloney! He started it. I want to know how the Academy is going to sanction him if they punish Smith any further. Sorry for the rant. I just get upset that people are not seeing the bullying here. If I have broken a code, I apologize and we can delete his post.

I don’t know that it’s conceit so much as it is being fully aware of what he is capable of doing. Humble? Maybe. He definitely tries to downplay his assets and actions, as much as possible. He will admit to them when confronted with them, but he just truly doesn’t see himself as something special like everyone else does. It’s part of what makes people love him so much. He tries to avoid circumstances where he could be forced into actions he doesn’t want to do (I.e.; Domogarov, the redneck at the rally when he was 15, etc). But he isn’t afraid to use his abilities, if needed, whether they are martial arts related or a simple “stay out of my business” statement like he had with the Russian Ambassador. Yes, he is a contradiction at times. This is part of what makes him so interesting and what keeps his opponents guessing. It makes him a formidable opponent and an especially powerful politician (in the best way). It’s people like Kent and Cox who recognize this and are nurturing this in him. There will be others along the way. So, get out of the way, Stephen! You don’t understand this, but you are about to be bulldozed over and buried under the CJ Legacy. No matter how you try to bury him, he will dig his way out, with the help of other much more powerful people than you, and bury you in the debris they leave behind.

And just who is this Priestly woman? Why was she there, pushing her way into the house as if she had every right, in the first place? Why didn’t the husband make a peep? At first, I thought she was one of the grandmas, but that was obviously wrong. It sounds like that Dunspur woman overstepped her authority, also. She probably told Priestly she could remove kids in an emergency situation. But that only applies when their lives are in immediate danger, which is far from the truth here. It sounds like she has a history of this kind of behavior. Hopefully, this will be enough for her to not only lose her job, but also her license. I guess the ex-husband had to be notified about Belle, but I am willing to bet that Meredith has been in contact with him, also. He may want to get his hands on the estate, but she wants to get back at the ‘sinners’ who thwarted her in her campaign of terror. This out-of-state attorney have to either be admitted to the bar in this state or find a local partner firm. Hopefully, Belle’s wishes and Ruth’s choices for herself and Ian will bear a lot of weight in the court, if it gets that far.

These discussions always seem to go off into left field. They’re hysterical and quite enjoyable to read, though! I was amazed at the list of Loren’s injuries. I hadn’t expected all of that, I guess because he seemed to come down awake and conscious. I guess I have some rereading to do. Jay handled this just right. Yes, he was upset and had every right to be so, but he swallowed his anger and fear and took care of the truly important issue. Loren. He made sure Loren was taken care of and even his followers were kept up-to-date. However, I agree that there is a big elephant in the room. They really have not discussed their relationship. They keep dancing around it. Loren has appreciated Jay’s help, but now he is chafing at the ‘overprotective’ manner Jay is displaying. Jay is upset that Loren doesn’t seem to take his feelings into account when doing things, yet Loren admits (only to himself) that if Jay gets injured in a game, he will be devastated. They need to be locked in a room until they get things aired completely out between them!

Poor Jevikel. He has to be terrified right now. I know I would be. He probably wants to run up to the grazing fields to warn them himself. And those thatched roofs! Vikkel will be hearing from the Dragonriders about those again, I’m sure.

But she wrote the notes and picked up the rocks to wrap the notes around them. Fingerprints, fingerprints, fingerprints! Handwriting, handwriting, handwriting! 😉

Wasn’t the phone a second one from her drawer? Or did she take it from someone? I must have missed that. It’s been a while.

Janice might be truly evil, but she’s also truly stupid. She wrote the notes in her own handwriting, then recorded herself vandalizing Mikey’s house with Will (all without gloves to hide her fingerprints, I might add), and then emailed the video to the victim’s friends and family! How stupid can you get?

I gave out jars of cookie and brownie mixes for Christmas. I made them myself. One nephew doesn’t have a kitchen, but he does have a microwave. The jar he got had mug brownie mix.

This helped put your timeline in order, especially in relation to Ann’s timeline. Thank you! It can get very confusing trying to match dates and events like this. I was trying to figure out when they were in relation to Lessa and F’Lar taking over at the Weyr. Now we know! This was very helpful. 🐲

Oh, c’mon! @Kitt pulls up Rin from all those chapters and you offer box mix brownies? Those should be made from scratch! I can send you a couple of recipes if you need them.

I was thinking the same thing. He’ll get the phone back, but it will be wiped clean. Hopefully, he’ll talk to his father and let him know what he witnessed. And, hopefully, Dad is open to helping him with the issue and will get him an attorney who can get an IT specialist who can trace the missing files, because, nothing is truly erased from digital devices. We haven’t met his parents yet, but I am quite hopeful on this. Those so-called ‘friends’ of his are racist idiots, and the sooner he loses them, the better. All except Natalie. Parker mentioned that she has been separating herself from them all that year. Sounds like she has become aware of how immature they truly are. It also sounds like she understands that Parker is not like the other guys in the group. She may be willing to give him another chance and support him in this. This is going to be an interesting story. Each generation seemed like it was getting better until recently. My mother had actually told my grandmother once that she wouldn’t have been surprised if my brother or I had eventually had a black partner. My grandmother was horrified. Today, it is fairly common. Times, they are a-changing! Let’s hope they keep doing so for the better.

I was reading through the comments and making my own reactions to them when I noticed that several of them were already noted as “Popular Comment,” meaning that 6 or more people had reacted to that comment. Then I saw how long ago it had been posted. The longest one was 38 minutes! @Mrsgnomie, you certainly got some reactions to this chapter! And I think there will be many more!

Jay, you can break your ankle just walking down the street! I am not trying to make your concern or reaction for Loren uncalled for—you have every right to feel this way—just take a deep breath before you confront him! Rushing back to him from vacation will tell him, in every way, just where your heart is. It wasn’t fair of him to sneak in this rock climbing trip while you were gone, especially on such a difficult and dangerous route. At least the others there knew what to do. You have every right to be upset, but you have to be calm first and make sure he’s OK. Once things settle down, THEN you can lay into him! Its a good thing your buddies understand you. They never even questioned how you would react to the video and immediately helped you plan to leave for Washington. That’s what you call friendship. That’s what you call support. That’s what you call love. Jay is going to be a bear while traveling because of his anxiety to get to Loren. I can sympathize. I am anxiously awaiting the next chapter to see their reunion!

Someone was eavesdropping! In this case it is for the good! Get him outta there, Jan! Get him packed up right now and ship him back to Beau and the Alpha so they have no choice but to take him with Rafe. Even if he convinces himself that he wants to stay for the kids’ sakes, he has to be made to understand that he’ll be in a much better position to help them once he gets that education at the Academy!

Alec may have found himself exorcised from his childhood home, but I get the strongest feeling it wasn’t his father who was responsible for any of that. His mother has always been the control factor in that family unit. She was the one who laid down the rules and made the decisions. Dad often was trying to mitigate the extreme damage that could occur from her actions, while not completely denying or defying her proclamations. He definitely gave off the feeling that he is afraid of her. What does she have over him? I strongly believe SHE was the one who cleared Alec out of their lives. She obviously couldn’t accept that she had an imperfect child, as shown by the unwillingness to obtain the services needed for his undiagnosed ADHD and other issues. I said in an earlier chapter that this is one of the problems with homeschooling. Issues that are caught and diagnosed in regular classrooms are missed otherwise. I am willing to bet that Dad has Alec’s things stashed somewhere she can’t find them. After all, Dad did call Alec when Mom became so ill. I’m thinking he wants them to make amends before she passes. Alec may have been in therapy to come to terms with his ‘difficult’ childhood, and especially his mother, but it sounds like he hasn’t been willing to actually try to do so. The same about Finn. He would rather wallow in the despair of both situations and feel sorry for himself. Good for River for recognizing this and forcing this trip, especially the possible final confrontation with Mom. It sounds like River may have had his own reconciliation with his own mother already.

Goddess number 3. Weren’t there 7? That little sojourn into the white realm scared me for a few moments as I thought that Stefan had, somehow, gotten ahold of him and whisked him away. How does Vincent know about all these gods and goddesses in order to identify them as he does? Poor Dirk. The grief is now finally hitting him. The fact that his bear has abandoned him like this was totally unexpected. I certainly hope it’s not a permanent thing and he’s just lurking off in a distant ‘room’ somewhere watching Dirk and how he deals with everything. Superb chapter. I look forward to them each week and wish they were even more frequent.

People are responding to this chapter and comments with tears. Yes, it is a sad time in their lives, but it isn’t tragic. It’s actually, in a bizarre way, a happy time for the family. I know it’s a weird thing to say, and people will look at this with narrowed eyes, but think about it. Like several people, including myself, mentioned: 1) Belle passed in her sleep, without pain, and in control of her own life, as far as she could be, knowing she was loved. She was not dependent on drugs or whacked out on such powerful drugs that she was sick every minute (I hope this makes sense). 2) Her children were cared for and loved in a new home. She saw them getting settled into their new family and knew they would survive and thrive. 3) This was not an unexpected occurrence. Everyone knew it was coming. Yes, someone’s actual death is always a shock, but when you know it is coming, it can be easier to deal with than when you get blindsided (whether by an accident or medical emergency). So, yes. This was a sad chapter. But at the same time, it was a happy one. For myself, this is represented by ❤️s. Hopefully others will see this, also. 🔔

This was heartbreaking. But Belle was surrounded by family and friends. She was loved. She was well-cared for. She had the chance to say good-bye to her loved ones and to see that her babies were happy and in a safe place. She knew that everything was taken care of and there were no loose threads. Then she passed in her sleep, in control and with no pain, while being held by a loving friend. If it had to be, there really couldn’t be a much better, easier way to pass. I am undecided about how Ruth and Ian will feel in the morning, not being there for her, but they have all had the chance to say good-bye, so they can be comforted with the knowledge that she passed peacefully in her sleep. Yes, they will mourn, but they knew it was coming. They aren’t blindsided as if it was unexpected and they have a large support system to help them through the next days, weeks and months while they learn to live their lives without Belle being physically present. Yes, it was ultimately a sad chapter, but it was also a happy one, knowing that everyone is as settled as can be.

People don’t give kids the credit they deserve. They don’t suddenly become concerned citizens overnight simply because they receive that paper that says they have qualified for high school or college graduation. It is a slow process where they see and watch adults and how they react to each other and various situations. They THINK! They WONDER! They think about how they would react if they had any say. They wonder how they would react. If you have never had a chance to sit down and have a serious discussion with a kid—and I’m talking about elementary age kids here—please take the time to do so. Not a discussion about the merits about the new Batman movie. Pick a serious topic. Explain about and ask them their opinions about censorship, or racism or Ukraine. THEY WILL BLOW YOU AWAY! THEY GET IT! Kids are SMART. People think they have to be protected because they are so innocent. Well, guess what. They are members of the human race and live in this modern world. They KNOW what is going on. They may not understand all of it, which is why adults have to explain things to them, but give them a chance and they will. They are more than capable of making a decision on their own. They may change it at a later date, but they CAN and ARE able to defend their reasoning if given the chance. I’ve had many deep discussions about censorship in my role as a Librarian for over 31 years. I honestly was careful to not push a specific opinion or side of any news stories about censorship issues. I would present the issues from both sides of the argument and ask them what they thought. They would ask a few questions and then the gloves were off, as far as they were concerned. THEY would come out with adult-level arguments with no prompting. It was very rewarding. Try it. You will be amazed.

Whether or not Parker is racist, the important thing is that he is realizing that there are racist elements in just about anything we do. And people can interpret anything as racism, if they look at it hard enough. Even trying NOT to be racist can be racist! The only issue is accepting people at face, or maybe heart, value. If a person is good, that is the only thing that counts. It sounds like Parker is one of the good ones. As was common in the heat of the protests that summer, people were very quick to point fingers. The students in the protest line were very quick to point at Parker and call him racist simply because he attended the school they were targeting. They didn’t take into account that, possibly, not everyone there might have the same outlook. In this case, they were being just as racist as those they were accusing of racism. They didn’t bother to talk with Parker to discover he was as upset about the incident as they were. Well, according to the blurb, Parker is about to be dragged into the protests, whether he wants to or not. He is about to have an eye-opening experience.

@kbois, Thank you! That fixed it! I was trying to find the answer under Settings, but nothing would click!

Mine is lack with white print. It has come through this way a couple of times on this page alone.

Loved this chapter! This was so fun the way they led up to the official announcement. So Corey knew, but David didn’t? That’s what it sounds like. Jay can really keep a secret. Well, they’ll all be one big, happy family now! Oh! I hope he gave his family a ‘heads-up’ so it wasn’t a complete surprise! Will they get ambushed by media, also, I wonder? On a side note, I’m not sure I like this new color scheme. Reading the chapter isn’t too bad, but maneuvering in the Comments is a bit of a headache. You can’t see many of the buttons.

Alec has had a lot of abuse poured into and onto him from every direction. He has been conditioned to think that he is to blame for all kinds of problems and evils. Even while he tells himself he is not to blame, deep within himself, he believes this to be true. He did have a face-to-face with his parents at that dinner at his (first?) graduation. His mother lit into him AGAIN and he realized that he was now an adult and refused to take it. He simply stood up and left. Sometimes you simply have to do that with people who aren’t listening, as she clearly wasn’t. Alec needs professional counseling. It doesn’t seem like he is getting it. Yes, he is being medicated for stress (overly medicated, if you ask me. And btw, they don’t work on a sporadic basis like that. I am on buProprion and it is a daily med or it doesn’t do anything helpful), but that is only a bandaid for the underlying cause, which he doesn’t seem to have dealt with adequately. Those meds can come from a GP for stress. River is not a licensed professional, is he? If he is, great. If not,… That last message from Finn is interesting. As upset as he was at the time, once he calmed down and thought things through, he realized there was fault on both their sides. Neither one was willing to concede anything to the other. There is a saying, ‘Distance makes the heart grow fonder.’ Obviously, Alec has never gotten over Finn. He is about to find out that Finn has never gotten over him.