Mark Arbour

Thanks, and thanks to all of you for being patient. I'm planning to work on George as soon as I can. Lots of loose ends, and a big friggin' battle to tie up.

It's not all about children being undisciplined monsters who demand and get everything they want. The 50's style of parenting, where you do what you're told or you get the shit beaten out of you, is a wonderful way to create zombie suburban clones. Ask a parent who has a very intelligent and high-spirited child about that. Do you really want to crush them into conformity? Or would you rather them express their views, even if it's unpleasant at times? I'm not saying that there is a right or a wrong parenting style, but it's awful easy to decide how a child should be raised and handled when that child isn't yours. Brad gets Will better than Will even dreams he does. He sees this rebellious teen, going through normal cycles, and does his best to tamp him down without destroying him. Look at how Will handled the criticism he got on his birthday. There's a pretty fragile ego there, which isn't unusual for a guy that age. They want him to think creatively, they want to give him free-reign to voice his thoughts and feelings, and sometimes that gets a little uncomfortable. I'm betting that Brad, Robbie, Stef, and especially JP view the obnoxiousness as a small price to pay for the ultimate man who ends up with an internal locus of control and stronger sense of himself. And if they went too far in giving him shit on his birthday, and he strikes back, is it fair to beat him down over that? Do you revert to a hierarchical model and declare that you as a parent must be obeyed, or you will smite the child? How is that fair? What message does that send?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Jan!

The river trip is a given. I've gotten some good feedback on that!

Thanks Len. I agree. Age doesn't make you smart.

Sometimes kids have the clearest view of things. Sometimes.

LOL @ Will getting attention. His issue is more to be annoying, rather than to dominate the conversation.

Didn't you know that kid in school that did gross stuff? I tried to think of something appropriate.

The Yes song was a great flashback for me. And you even fit another BSB song in. I thought you ran through all of them.

September 19, 2000 Malibu, CA Will I pulled open the front door of the SUV. “Get the fuck out of my seat!” “I can sit here if I want to,” JJ said defiantly. “You want to sit in the front seat; you get Michael to drive you. You’re in my car, you sit in the back.” “Yeah, like it says ‘Will’ on the doors. It’s not your car, asshole,” he said. “In about a minute, I’m gonna beat the living shit out of you. Now fucking move!” I was screaming by the time I finished

That really cracked me up! The Elizabeth Danfield School for Evil Overlords.

To add to my comments on winning, here's an article about Colt McCoy, and some of the issues he had with coaching. Not every coach is warm and cuddly.

Ponder this. It's not so much about whether the program they're in (Stanford Hockey) is all that good (it isn't), it's about winning, and leadership. If you're achievement driven, it doesn't matter if you're at Stanford, Cal, or LSU, winning is VERY important.

I have to follow my muse. Besides, I'm lucky I had the time to write what I did.

Thank you! The stage is set for some drama, just a bit, and I think you've done a good job of lining out some of the potential problems ahead. If Matt and Wade have conflicts, the "battle lines" will be very confused. Who would Brad back? JP? Stef? Good think they're all calm, rational men.

Glad you liked it! I'm keeping my options open.

Yeah, well who say's he isn't? Maybe he/they truncated the name. ;-)

Remember back to the first CAP story, when Stef was banging Carol, Jeff's girlfriend.

I'd comment on this, but it would probably give away too much of what's coming down the road. I think the nature of Matt's crisis becomes less vague after Chapter 6. After that one's up, I'll explain it a little more in the forums.

There's a basic imbalance in Matt and Wade's relationship. One way or another, it has to come to equilibrium.

September 18, 2000 Malibu, CA Wade Gathan and I walked along the edge of the water, our pants rolled up so when the water surged around us they didn’t get too wet. Our shoes were back at the house. We’d walked for quite a ways, then turned around and were almost back to Brad and Robbie’s sumptuous Malibu pad. “Hard to beat this,” he said, trying to be cheerful. “It is beautiful, but there are a lot of beautiful places,” I opined. I thought of our farm and the horses in

Poppycock? Actually, it was in response to a topic of discussion loosely starting here. There's no implication here that gay men can't or don't have sex with women. In fact, it's just the opposite. Sigh.

In the forum topic "Paternity," the question came up as to whether or not gay men experiment, at least once, with women. So out of curiosity, and for you gay guys only, I'm wondering if, in your exploration of your sexuality, you ever took a walk on the wild side. This is NOT a public poll, so your name won't be listed.

Wow. Sharon was simply hoping he got hit by a bus.