methodwriter85

I got a pop-up book of illustrations about celebrity scandals like Britney Spears' meltdown and Mel Gibson's racist rants.

Again, I think it's reasonable for a family member to expect that another family member isn't going to sleep with their love interest. It's not the same.

Alright, I'm going to try another Marie...Anna Sophia Robb? (Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Carrie Diaries.) I'm leaning towards blonde girls with doll-faces and big blue or green eyes because that's the Claire Be Rad description, but if that's wrong and Maire ISN'T supposed to look like Claire and looks more like Jack, please let me know, Mark. The fail on Marie is getting me down, because she doesn't seem to have a particularly quirky or picky look like Tony or Austin seem to have. When I read Austin's description, I just thought, "There's no way in hell I'm going to find a model that fits his looks. That mouth thing is way too distinctive." I also wonder what the hell Tony's supposed to look like ,because I feel like I've trotted out every single Italian-looking hunk to no avail. LOL. The description of Tony's looks have also been pretty vague- it seems like a generic Italian hunk look (but he can't look "pretty" like say Young Antonio Sabato Junior), but you've been picky as hell about it, Mark. LOL.

Perks of Being A Wallflower DVD, a black dress shirt, cookie decorator, and shaving lotions. Not really much but I also got myself a grey henley shirt courtesy of Old Navy, and I'm probably hitting up the sales tomorrow.

Probably not well. Liquefaction was an issue with the 1989 quake, and I imagine that it's still an issue. Also, a lot of the buildings that were built from the 1910's to the 1970's weren't built as strongly as they could have been, and while retrofitting helps...it's still probably not going to be pretty. I mean seriously, look at the damage of the 1989 quake, and that was a 6.9 rather than a 7.8. They say the only reason why the death toll wasn't in the hundreds for '89 was because people weren't on the roads like they usually would have been because of the World Series.

I thought I was going to do this in three parts, but it looks like I'll probably have to do five parts. LOL. Part 4 1. "Killing Me Softly" by the Fugees 2. 3. 4. 5. " 6. 7. "You Only Get What You Give" by The New Radicals 8. 9. 10. " 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. "Brimful of Asha" by Cornshop (Norman Cooke Remix) 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

I'd say Matchbox Twenty and Third Eye Blind were my first big bands, followed by Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Good Charlotte.

Big Time Rush's cover of All I Want for Christmas:

Chapter 61 -When Darius gives Austin some advice. "The Wanderer" by Dion and the Belmonts -When Will has one of his sad attacks, and Darius admits that he gets them, too. "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran -When Will and Zach talk on the phone. "Nothing at All" by Heart

Hey, guys, I came across this interesting article, from the point-of-view of a Millennial who went away to war instead of going away to college. I think it's a pretty raw look into the mindset of a certain subset of this generation. The Division of Generation Y Two different narratives for this generation...both different, but in some ways, the same. I definitely felt a bit of guilt for the fact that I wasn't off in Iraq or Afghanistan, getting physically or emotionally maimed like Gen Y military counterparts. The biggest thing I worried about in 2005-2006 was whether or not a friend might get too wasted at a party and need to go to a hospital. These guys had to worry about whether or not the little Aghan kid approaching them might or might not be a human bomb. It's insane. I remember in 2007, I took part in an Iraq "die-in" at U of D...basically, we lied on the ground and pretended to be dead veterans- some of us were dressed in military gear, and had fake blood and everything. We probably looked utterly ridiculous, and University of Delaware is an incredibly politically apathetic campus (despite the fact that Joe Biden is one of ours), but I remember lying there, really thinking about the thousands of guys and gals who sacrificed. It's like Vietnam, but worse, because so many of their counterparts lived blissfully unaware of the problems in Iraq/Afghanistan, where we cared more about getting new Ipods and Britney Meltdown '07 than them.

Not really, but it settled around me a bit.

Merry Christmas Eve! Here's a favorite Christmas tune of mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzrws1hWzGk

Here's an interesting photo series, where the photographer juxtaposed photos of modern-day San Francisco with pictures of the aftermath of the 1906 Earthquake. Pretty cool-looking, I think. The best shot has to be the dead horses and the modern-day driver.

1. 2. "Sitting Up In My Room" by Brandy 3. 4. "Scream" by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson 5. 6. 7. 8. "The Macarena" by Los Del Rios 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. "I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole 23. 24 25. 26. 27. 28. Stephen Jenkens circa 1997. Goddman he was hot. 29. 30. This song was hot when I was graduating from 5th grade, so for that reason, I associate this song with my elementary school graduation. Which is kind of weird, but there you go. Later on, I'd associate it with singing karoke at the end of the night at Spaghetti Benders, which makes way more sense.

Happy birthday, ya big ol' bear!

I agree with you. It's a really good thing JJ wasn't around, because he straight up would have laughed his ass off at Ethan. It does make me wonder though what kind of private schools Ethan grew up at- wouldn't etiquette and general table manners been part of what they were trained in? You mean to tell me that in 7 or so years of dining in private school dining halls, no one ever brought up how bad his table manners are? I went to a public elementary school, and I had teachers single me out and teach table manners to me when I was in 2nd grade or so. As for the Claremont stuff, I love reading the updates about the town. I like that it hasn't just been forgotten, and the family really does have a strong commitment to it.

Beck from Nickelodeon's Victorious as Joe?

Chapter 60 -When Brad muses on how much Claremont has transformed in the past 2 years, with a renewed sense of energy. "Sim Broadway" from Sim City 3000 -When Mat and Wade get into a fight about how he's acting like a freshman. "We Need A Resolution" by Aaliyah God, it's a fucking shame that Aaliyah died. She really was doing a lot of good work right up to when she died. I think R&B music would have looked a lot different if she hadn't died. - When they play a soccer game, and Darius blows up at Ethan for his poor sportsmanship. "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim -When Nana begins her training of Ethan. "The Rain in Spain" from My Fair Lady

Well, the first two books are good, in any event.

Friday I went to this alumni lunch deal at my old high school, where I get a free Bobbie hoagie and sit around and watch current students do a Holiday showcase. I talked to some people about my friend Steve's death...when I mentioned that he died a drug overdose, almost all of them asked me, "So did they rule out suicide?" I mean, I get the question, and on an intellectual level I get it, but a part of me just felt pissed off. Pissed off that my friend Steve is going to be dismissed by people who didn't know him as some druggie who took his own life, and pissed off that Steve for going out the way he did. I don't know. I almost feel like it would be easier if Steve had died of a car accident, but he left the way he left, and I feel like omitting how he died would kind of be like I'm shaming him for it. I refuse to do that. I got told by an e-friend that they think I'm idealizing him because as he put it, heroin is not a social drug and it's used by people who have a massive ability to cope with life., and I do wonder about that. I really want to believe that Steve's heroin use was a one-time thing, and he just accidentally overdosed. I absolutely refuse to believe that Steve did this intentionally- Steve had just 1 paper left before he was going to officially be Mr. Therapist. He was finally going to be done with college, after years of bitching about how much he hated school. There was some chick he planned to bang at Thanksgiving. There's no way he'd intentionally check out like this when he was so close to being done. I don't think Steve joined the 27 Club on purpose. I refuse to believe it. Anyway...tonight I went Christmas caroling. I have an awful voice, but it was fun. There some rinky dink Christmas parade at this nearby small town that I went to, and at times I just ran and shouted out, "Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!" It just nice to laugh like that. Earlier I just looked out over the Delaware River...it was a really nice, unseasonably warm day, and nothing relaxes me more than being near the water. It was great.

Alright, here's the first official clip, when Four shows Tris his tattoos: I could do without the contemporary sounding pop song, but in general...wow, Theo and Shailene have smoking hot chemistry.

I allowed things from 1989 on this list, yes. '89 is the first year I can remember, but I wouldn't really call myself a child of the 80's. This is basically tail-end-of-the-80's music, the exception being the stuff from 1994 like "Another Night" by Real McCoy. The bulk of this stuff is from 1990-1992.

Sounds of A 90's Childhood Playlist, Part 2 1." 2. " 3. 4. " 5. 6. 7. 8. " 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. " 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. " 21. 22. 23. 24. "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow 25. 26. 27. 28. "We Are Young" by Supergrass 29. 30. "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal I honestly think 1994 to 1996 were the best years for music in that decade, with 1995 being the high water mark. Everything was on full-blast that year.

They were interesting chapters. The drama of competitive sports pretty much writes itself. Speaking of...Brian Boitano came out as gay in advance of being a delagate to the 2014 Olympics, as a protest against the anti-gay policies of Russia. I wonder if JJ will still be involved with figure skating at that point, or if he'll finish with it sometime after 2006.

I don't think I can ever look at a bottle of Smirnoff Vodka again, after the Great Mexican Food Puke Incident of 2010. As for Guiness...yeah, not that big of a fan. I also can't stand Heinenken. If you guys have ever read Cross-Currents, the lead character pimps Negra Modelo a lot, and I gotta agree, it is a pretty great beer. Miles ahead of Corona, but it's not that widely available around here unless you go to a Mexican restaurant. Another beer I really like but isn't widely available where I live- Michelob Amber Bock. I discovered it in Florida, and it was sold in Western P.A., but I can't find it in Delaware.