Former Member

Poverty? ;-)

Yes, there are ‘Erics’ (aka Mitch/Devon/etc) in all of your stories, but you seem to try to keep it to just one Eric/Erik per Story Universe! Mitch met Seth’s Erik, but not the future Prince Eric! It was ‘finally’ because you hadn’t done a crossover in quite a while by our chronological calendar! I never suggested it was a first. ;-) But you are soooooo easy to tease! ;-)

Yay! Mitch with Sasha, David, and Alik! Finally another crossover! ;-) And a bonus visit with Iustina, Repetate, and Ralph! ;-) It’s like christmas in April! (Only three months late by the Eastern Calendar.) Thank you for letting us hear about them again! ;-) Vampires have a much longer world view than humans like the Commander. ;-) ps Do you have a strict One Eric per Story Universe limit in place? ;-)

Regardless of who is listed on the account, Blu doesn’t feel like he owns it. I don’t know who is at fault here. But the fact remains, Blu feels like it’s just Kaleb’s money.

Part of the problem is that it’s Kyle’s money, not Kyle & Blu’s money. Kyle doesn’t seem to realize that he hasn’t gotten Blu to feel like he shares ownership of the funds. Until they resolve that issue, the money is always going to be a problem. Having separate bank accounts suggests that they still aren’t thinking as a single family for the longterm.

It seems like Oli hasn’t had the experience of having close relatives visiting frequently the way Teddy did. Harry and Jill blamed Oli for being the opposite of Teddy, but never stopped to think about their own roles in his upbringing. They seem to have been completely different people when they raised their sons. As adults, their reactions to Ryder’s choices should have been moderated by their supposed maturity. While I know Oli and Teddy’s personalities are incredibly different in most ways, the treatment they received from their parents contributed to Oli’s wild behavior. In many ways he seems to have been neglected even though there were three adults in the household while he was growing up. ;-) How ironic that the Prodigal ‘Son’ is the one who not only understands Oli, but is most able to nurture and guide him. ;-)

I think the Sullivan house is a big part of Ryder’s rebirth. Dealing with it positively is a form of closure. There might have been other ways of resolving the issues, but this is 100% Ryder! ;-)

Hell is much more efficient than heaven. Hell will be fill with a lot of very surprised people who thought they were certainly heading elsewhere! There are no restrictions on who can enter! ;-) No self-contradictory rulebook that’s been translated and interpreted by ignorant and misogynistic idiots who claim to know the absolute truth while they violating the very rules they claim to believe in. No virgins waiting for suicide bombers. No chorus of angels for hypocrites and homophobes. No intersessions from demigods they call saints. Feasts of ham, bacon, and shellfish every night! Anarchy for those who tried to impose laws based on their personal religious views. ;-)

It’s not “RudyNeedsToBeShanked”? Then maybe it’s “PennyIsAFreeloader”. Or “PennyGetYourOwnWiFi”! ;-)

I don’t know. That sounded like a suicide note to me! I was thinking that the rude one is trying to make the sons he doesn’t want feel guilty. ;-)

And all that could be prearranged… ;-)

And you don’t think they’ll be a Messiah compilation album sold to take advantage of Ryder’s demise when he eventually dies at some point in the future? I’m surprised that record companies haven’t thought of the idea yet. I know that newspapers have obituaries prewritten for famous people, just needing the cause of death to be added. I’ve seen some biographical documentaries that were broadcast suspiciously soon after a celebrity has died. With all the download venues available, all you’d need to do is have the graphics ready to go along with the tracklist. It would only take a matter of a few hours to get things organized and posted. ;-)

I wonder where all that money came from to start that new program? It still seems a little fishy to me (and I hate fish and won’t eat seafood)! I have the feeling Andrew was involved in raising the funds. But the story is set in Texas, money and patronage seem to be more influential there than should be legally possible. ;-)

Wouldn’t the other band members be in their late 30s now? Ryder was just a kid when they became Messiah. There was an age gap back then that Ryder had to overcome with his talent. That makes their current childish behavior even more immature. But I know of fifty- and sixty-year-olds who are similarly drawn to alcohol and drugs – most of them have been in and out of jail and rehab all their lives, and don’t have jobs. They’d never be able to write songs or remain in a band.

I predict the final Messiah album will include a posthumous dedication…

I think if I went thirteen years without, I’d want some serious prep work before Teddy tried to just shove it in! Doctor Theodore should know that muscles cannot be stretched like that if they haven’t been exercised for more than a dozen years! A careless Teddy could easily have damaged things down there. ;-)

It was more about the write-the-outline-have-assistance-filling-in-the-blanks… ;-)

We don’t see it because the ‘m’ and the ‘i’ blend together. But I’m sure you hear it since they’re pronounced so differently! Maybe @FSELL can do what you do and have his computer read out each chapter before posting them. ;-)

Split them up when they get too long or cover too many different topics! That’s what I’ve started to do. (It also lets you see which parts others agree with.) ;-)

I’m the opposite! I hate phones – I spent almost my entire working life answering phones while at the same time trying to keep helping customers who actually made the effort to come into the store! I love my computers. If I could replace phone calls with emails, I’d be thrilled! ;-)

Jamie still hasn’t told Sam about his Around the World trip! He really needs to talk about this. Mike has revealed at least a few details already! ;-)

That should be Cal Fire, formerly the California Department of Forestry (until 2007). The pines and redwoods don’t usually explode in wildfires like the invasive, non-native eucalyptuses! Our native trees are adapted to droughts, but past attempts to prevent all forest fires without thinning out weaker or redundant trees has left us with overcrowded, overstressed, and weakened trees that burn faster and longer than is natural. ;-) The native redwood that once formed a landmark on the Oakland Hills ridges were cut down to build the Victorian Homes after the 1906 earthquake. Eucalyptus trees had been planted became outmoded. But the eucalyptus trees replaced the redwoods in the hills above Oakland. There have been some efforts to remove and replace them, but there has been pushback from supporters. There are so many here now that it is unlikely that they would ever be completely eradicated. There isn’t enough support for that anyway. ;-) The needles of the coastal redwoods are designed to capture the pervasive fog (winter, spring, and into early summer), creating their own precipitation. Redwoods are normally able to resist fires very well. It’s only when they are stressed by drought, disease, and overcrowding that they normally catch fire. ;-) The eucalyptuses were a major factor in the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire. Narrow roads, incompatible Mutual Aid firefighting equipment (mismatched hoses and radio frequencies), and insufficient water pressure all exasperated the situation. A small fire that was thought to have been extinguished flared back up the following day and overwhelmed those attempting to fight it. The conditions echoed an earlier fire in Berkeley that burned from the Hills all the way to the Bay before it was extinguished, so the Oakland Hills Fire could have been much worse. ;-) Australia and California have actually provided each other Mutual Aid to deal with particularly large bushfires/wildfires! ;-)

So Kyle and Blu aren’t perfect. It’s much more realistic if they actually have some conflicts otherwise they’re just caricatures. But did the twins shave their heads yet? ;-)

I think it's interesting that the school wanted Ryder to be in the meeting about Oli. ;-)

I’m wondering how Mark and Wendy’s parents feel about their kids’ detention? Being Oli’s friend certainly comes with penalties! But maybe they’ll feel better when Ms Flores is replaced, depending on who that replacement is, of course. ;-)