Mark Arbour

Thanks for the review! I think that Will is seeing what that division causes when he notes how his mom sometimes tries to get back at his dad through him.

My experience is that most 14 year olds think the world is centered around them.

July 13, 2000 Van Nuys, CA Will I felt the tension soar as the plane descended into Van Nuys. The only thing that was making this slightly bearable was that John was with me. We were sitting in the back of the plane, just hanging out. “Did your parents know we were, uh…?” I stammered to a halt. I’d started my sentence without really thinking about it, and that had taken me to a whole new place. “Boyfriends?” he asked playfully. “Are we?” I teased. “I

No kidding. I modeled him after a college kid I see periodically. "See" as in view, look at, not "see."

This is a busy time of year for me. The next few months will be slower.

Glad you enjoyed it.

October, 1796 HMS Belvidera swung peacefully at her anchor at the mouth of the inner harbor, announcing to all that would venture past that she was there to look after England’s interests. Her captain was much less peaceful, as he stood on his quarterdeck waiting for his gig to be lowered and manned. “I will be interviewing the commodore if I am needed,” Granger said to Roberts officiously. “And if that Corsican gent returns, sir?” Roberts asked.

I love your brain.

You got some great suggestions here. DomLuka is the reason I'm here at GA...I followed him here with Vic and Sharon. Dom was like my Moses. In addition to the others listed here, I'd recommend that you check out some of Comicality's stuff. It may not meet your criteria, but it's good writing. Adam Phillip's "Crosscurrents" is also out of your genre, but good nonetheless. One of the things you might do is check in at the sites of the various promising and hosted authors here, pick a story, and see if you like their style. If not, move on. I'd also sort the GA Stories site by "Most Read". I mean, if other people are reading it, maybe you should give it a try? Finally, I'd also recommend John Francis (The Pecman), over at Awesomedude. His "Pieces of Destiny" is a great Civil War era story.

I think you'll like it. I'm too busy with the two I'm working on now to think too much about it, though.

"Here, try it," you should have said as you unzipped your zipper.

Both of those ladies came from noble families without a lot of money. That usually means that they have lots of pride to make up for their lack of cash. In my personal experience, no one is more arrogant or status conscious than a person who has blue blood and no bank account. My opinion is that the gracious chatelaines that you see here are largely that way because they ended up with a bunch of money, but that would be pretty crass to actually say in public. Oops.

I think part of the problem is that rich people in SoCal are different than rich people in other places, something you lay out clearly here. JP is basically a CA transplant, and carries his Ohio (Midwest) breeding with him. He's also ensconced up in Northern California, which is so much different than the southern part of the state. But if we take him as a model, he's got that old money breeding (like Wade) where status really doesn't matter to them. Why? Status, to them, is a birthright, and they have no need to earn it, or prove anything. My personal experience with SoCal rich people is that even after a couple of generations, they still act pretty nouveau riche. Robbie and Brad must be a bit of an enigma in Malibu, in that they've largely embraced the culture, but they have a different social background than most of their contemporaries. I also think that the issue of public vs. private schools changed a lot over the 20 years we're talking about (1980 vs. 2000). If Isidore was at a Junior League brunch in 1980 and some woman was "bragging" about sending her daughter to a private school, she'd probably look at the woman with disdainful amusement, as if that would possibly make any difference in social status between Isidore's daughter and the lady's daughter. It just simply didn't matter. Besides, in 1980, motivation to go to private school was primarily driven by religion. In 2000, the issue isn't about status or religion, it's about getting the best possible education for your child. So I can see Claire at a similar Junior League brunch in 2000, asking the lady questions about her daughter's school and their academic creds, because that would be most important to her. Jeremy, For Tim, arguing is foreplay.

No, it's about drilling.

Well, I'm bisexual. That means I'm straight enough to ask those questions, and gay enough to be interested in the answer.

You're just being bitchy since I'm not sending Zach to Paris. You're such a JJ.

First of all, JP wouldn't be human if he wasn't sitting back and internally laughing his ass off at that whole situation. I think he would do that, not to undermine Brad, but because that's been his policy all along. I think he realizes (as Stef did in BeRad) that if you give conflicted teens a safe place to land and think things through, they'll probably work it out the way you want them to in the end. Besides, maintaining an open door like that is easy: there are other ways to close it if you have to. Second, what a great movie (Willy Wonka) and a great visual. Third, I don't know if they're "fine" with it, but I think they're realistic enough to know there's not much they can do to prevent it. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I don't see Zach in Paris either, and I don't see him as another "Billy." To expand, if he were another "Billy," I would get hate mail about how all of my characters were the same, etc., etc. Besides, if you watch Zach, he's a lot more insidious than Billy was.

OMG! Where have you been? Good to see you around!

Well, it's summer, so we'll assume Kevin is off doing something.

Old white people are really hard to deal with.

Let me guess...you're taking stats? Interesting observations.

Yep

"Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinqo, cinqo, seis ...."

LOL

July 12, 2000 Escorial Palo Alto, CA Will Big dinners at Escorial were usually fun, but I figured this one could go either way. We sat down in our assigned places, with John on one side of me and my dad on the other. John and I hadn’t had a chance to do more than kiss and say hello, since my trek up to the City had taken up most of my time. “It is so nice to have you all here,” Grandmaman said. “Nothing makes me happier than having all of my children home.”