methodwriter85

Happy 37th birthday, Tim! Welcome to the late 30's club!

Matt has Google stock, Robbie's company stock, a trust fund that was likely set up by JP in 1998, and not to mention his Carrswold inheritance. If worse comes to worse, Matt would probably get a job after graduation working the business side of his dad's laser eye centers, but I really doubt Matt will have trouble getting into grad school, even if it's not a top-tier one. I can't see military in the cards for Matt, either- unless he had a burning desire to "avenge" Robbie's death.

Hey, guys, I just ran across this article about a young guy who became an urban pioneer in Detroit in Detroit when he was 23...check it out. It's shockingly good, because really, who expects to read something good from Buzzfeed? Why I Bought A House in Detroit for $500 by Drew Philp I thought the article was really fascinating- somewhere between the story of, "Look, Downtown Detroit has a Whole Foods now!" and "Ruins of Detroit." It's pretty honest- the guy came in with some very idealistic intentions, and things didn't pan out exactly how he wanted them to, but in the process Drew saw a lot of grit and kindness against a backdrop of overwhelming despair and ruin. I also think it's really interesting that Philp, after a few years of living there, seems to have developed a bit of disdain towards the "new" people that are moving to Detroit- the ones that are rebuilding Downtown Detroit and are part of the whole artsty Detroit crowd. His comment about Whole Foods, I thought, was interesting: My interpretation of that remark is that Drew Philp identifies with his neighbors, like the friend who told him the story about the Native Americans...like he's part of the down-and-gritty fabric of the community, and while he's glad to be able to a shop at Whole Foods, the broader implications of having a Whole Foods in Detroit means he's supporting a vision of the city that he doesn't necessarily agree in. Philp doesn't seem to have much use for the Hipster Vision of Downtown Detroit. He also seemed rather disdainful of the divesting plans, as well as the "farm" idea, but doesn't really offer up any solutions. I grew up in Suburban America...you can't get much more American Suburbia than Northern Delaware, where people have their developments listed on their licenses because there aren't that many incorporated towns, and new stripmalls pop up every year to try and lure out-of-state shoppers to take advantage of our sales-tax free status. The bulk of neighborhoods around here in my suburb were built around the 1970's to early 1990's. People don't talk to each other. There are no neighborhood schools or Mom and Pop stores. That's why I'm really fascinated by stories about "community"- because you don't really experience it that much when you're from a suburb. I definitely would love to visit Detroit someday- there's something very visceral about the photos of Detroit that makes me want to see for myself what it's really like.

Hey, guys, I just ran across this article about a young guy who became an urban pioneer in Detroit in Detroit when he was 23...check it out: Why I Bought A House in Detroit for $500 by Drew Philp I thought the article was really fascinating- somewhere between the story of, "Look, Downtown Detroit has a Whole Foods now!" and "Ruins of Detroit." I also thought it was interesting how he feels, once he became part of the fabric of the community, kind of ambivalent about "Hipster Detroit", like he's betraying the community when he shops at Whole Foods.

I would love to see that happen, but I don't think it will...Mark's been pretty clear in his stance that he's not going to have the brothers fighting over boys. (Matt in doing so pretty much marked himself as NOT being a brother.) This is where CAP differs from the typical soap opera- on a regular soap, it would be de riguer for us to see siblings duking it out over love interests. Anyway, I knew a bisexual guy who got hit on by his wife's gay brother twice- said brother actually hit on him on the day Aaron was marrying his sister. Talk about fucked up. Really good point. I imagine this is distressing him to some extent...JJ may be pretty self-absorbed, but he also loves Matt, and he's the only one that Matt really has been a brother to.

Actually, their graduation is June 16th, 2002, as per the 2001-2002 Stanford University Academic Calendar. It's that whole quarter system thing going on...UD has a semi-quarter system going on, and as a result our graduation isn't until late May. It'd make sense that people who go to a school that is on a full quarter system don't graduate until June.

Interesting point. The United States didn't have a city with a million people until the 1870's, and we don't have a long, extensive history of urban developments like Europe or Asia do. But now we've got Detroit, which has lost 1.2 million people in 63 years. And it's interesting because it doesn't even seem the bottom has been hit yet. Baltimore and St. Louis hit their rock bottom, and are stabilizing. Pittsburgh is somewhat stabilizing. Philadelphia stabilized in the 1990's, and it's even recovering a bit of their population. It's just amazing to me though that a city the size that Detroit was even in the 1990's is now approaching the population size of Washington, D.C.

I had an e-friend back in 2000-2001 who was a Michigan transplant from California, and she wrote "Cali." I kinda figured that was a typical way of referring to the state- everyone has nicknames for their states. I know people who call New Jersey "Dirty Jerz", or the more broadly done "Jersey"....in Delaware, we say "The 302". Delaware has only one area code- 302 - so that makes it a handy way of referring to the state. When I think of Californians, I have that image that Blue described, but also that of people who are always outdoors, always outside, always doing something. JJ's pretty much always inside on the ice skating rink, and I can't picturing him outside rollerblading on the boardwalk or hiking in Topanga Canyon. My Cali friend once said to me, "I can't picture you being in California...you're a "sit inside and read a book" kind of guy, not an outdoorsy person kind of guy." JJ strikes me as being similar in that regard...the only time you'll see him outside is when he's walking to his next boutique. I've kind of always assumed that Private Tim's teen years looked like this: Tim strikes me as a cross between Brandon and Steve- I picture him as a tall blond jock like Steve Sanders (he played water polo, right?), but studious and rule-abiding like Brandon Walsh.

Florida and Texas cities are actually growing, though.

Hope you have a good one. This one's for you! "22" by Taylor Swift Is that what being 22 feels like, Matt? It's been so long I just can't remember.

In an attempt to bring a writer's colony to the struggling city of Detroit, they're piloting a program where writers will be offered a home in the city, free of charge, if they agree to stay there for two years. (Not being done by a government agency, so this is not political.) I think it's a pretty interesting idea and I hope it does wind up seeding a writer's colony there. I would totally want to go if I were a writer- I gotta admit, the idea of living in Detroit as a modern day urban pioneer seems like a pretty cool idea. I remember watching this cool video that talks about how twentysomething are moving there and buying entire buildings and such because the real estate is so cheap. The implosion and vanishing of Detroit (according to 2013 estimates, the population is already down to 681k from the 2010 population of 713k) is really fascinating...almost kind of romantic in a Greek hubris sort of way. The city was built on the promise of good American cars, and greased by the idea that gas would always be cheap and plentiful. When that failed, the city failed. Disclaimer: Please do not talk about U.S. or Detroit politics here. Thank you.

I'm not saying you need a perfect body. I'm saying that if you don't have muscle tone, it's not going to look good on a guy. A guy who's a bear will have muscle tone in a way that someone like Harry Styles, who is thin, doesn't.

Well, according to Daisy, JJ's only real competition at the East Coast Sectionals would be Johnny Weir, so he'd have a much easier time getting into Nationals. And I do think the New York City condo is going to become occupied at some point...Will is a dyed in the wool Cali guy, but JJ's not. I can see JJ moving somewhere different so that he doesn't have to deal with his family's drama all the time, and so that he can be in a place where his brother isn't instantly taking up attention as the Golden Boy. I can see him satisfied with weekly skypes and monthly visits when it comes to his family. Plus, I can see JJ really liking being able to utilize his Burberry coat collection more often if he lives in the Northeast. I don't think Will's flipped his opinion of Zach. He just appreciates Zach's honesty about himself, and finds his candor a pretty redeeming feature. Will's going into this thing with Zach where he sees Zach as pretty much a very flawed guy but who's honest with him, as opposed to with Tony, when he thought Tony was full of honor but it turned out he had none.

Right. At the very least, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson have the muscle tone for tattoos to look good on them. Harry Styles, at least at the time of the pic, doesn't. (I don't get why he's treated as the hottest guy in the group when he's clearly not.) A case of someone who went way overboard and ruined their looks in the process? Ryan Scheckler. God. He had such great, fantastic skin tone, and you can't see it anymore. And he's only 24. Unless he starts tattooing on his face the guy doesn't have much of a canvas left.

Can we just take a moment to say how hot Alexander Dreymon is? Yowza.

JJ's not around because he's in the middle of figure skating season. Early October was the Central Pacific Regionals, right now he's at Skate America in Colorado, and next up would be the Pacific Coast Sectionals in early November. He has at least one more Grand Prix to go to, possibly the Grand Prix final, as well as the U.S. championships- which keeps him busy until at least January. That's probably keeping him sane more than anything else. I also kind of figure that, as it's been said by Will and by JP, JJ generally keeps to himself these days, which makes sense. He doesn't want to get himself in the middle of family drama again- he's leaving all that to Will. I think JJ's just doing his skating thing and biding his time until he's 18 and able to move far, far away from the dramatics of his family and hoping he doesn't get sucked into another big drama before that happens. Although I can see JJ moving away before he turns 18...I can't see Brad kicking up much fuss about it if JJ were to decide to move to another region to work with a coach, and have Tiffany serve as his guardian/coach. He's almost 16 anyway. It's probably a good thing that Tony is at Stanford and Zach is, for the most part, way on the other side of the country. As for Brad, it's interesting to see where he's at- since 1986, he probably has defined himself as being a businessman, being Robbie's partner, and raising kids with his partner and Jeanine. Now Robbie's gone, Jeanine's gone, and his kids are mostly grown. It's interesting to see how Brad rebuilds his identity after losing such a big piece of it, especially considering that he's approaching 40.

Chapter 64 - When Brad grieves for Robbie while looking at where the Twin Towers used to be. "Fields of Gold" by Sting -When the gang goes to Johnny Rockets and watches the staff dance. "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees They used to have one in Delaware, at Christiana Mall, circa the late 90's/very early '00s. It was pretty fun- part of that whole 50's theme restaurant deal that was popular back then. The malted shakes were insane. And it was fun to watch them dance to 70's music. - When Zach and Will discuss what this new bond they have means to them, and Zach confesses his fears that Gathan will try to turn Will against him. "How Deep Is Your Love?" by the Bee Gees

So, the year's over, and we're starting a new year...what was your playlist for 2013? Here was mine... 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. It seems like for 2013, there were two trends- electronic-based, and folksy inspired stuff. Kinda diametrically opposed, but it makes sense that there'd be two trends that were pretty opposite of each other. Like back in the late 90's, when you had boyband pop on one side and the Limp Bizkit/Korn rap-metal stuff on the other. I kind of wonder if that's why Blurred Lines was such a huge hit- there wasn't anything like it coming out because it was a 70's R&B throwback. In any event, I'm definitely enjoying this decade for music, as opposed to back in the 2000's when it was pretty much hip-hop 24/7/365 in the Top 40.

Just don't do that to random strangers. You will get your ass kicked. Philly fans are fucking insane.

I'm allergic to nickel, so that's good to know.

I remember reading this story my friend had written about the tattoos that 1D got at a tattoo parlor when they were on tour in Maryland, and I just kept thinking how dumb it is to get on-the-whim tattoos like the ones they got. (Although Zayn does actually put some thought into them- Louis Tomlinson just seemed like he was doing them just to do it.) Although, of course, if they ever regret it they can afford the laser sessions to take them off. I did think, when I saw the chest tattoos that Harry Styles got, that he really should have bulked up first, because they emphasize his lack of chest muscle. As for myself, I've never gotten a tattoo. Mainly because I have skin that's highly sensitive (I have to use unscented, hypoallegenic soap), and I had a sister who had a pretty bad reaction to a tattoo of the zodiac sun that she tried to get back in the 1990's. I know my other sisters have tattoos, but I also know that with my luck, I'd have a bad allergic reaction. I also can't really think of anything I'd want to have on my body for the rest of my life. My taste at 28 isn't the same as it was at even 23, and at 33 I can see it being different again.

Chapter 63 -When Will sees the 2001-2002 Ironmen team in action. -At the celebratory dinner, when Will gets annoyed at Wally. "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen -When Will and Zach have sex, and get a little kinky. "What's Your Fantasy" by Ludacris

I think it's the interesting thing about Will- he's fully capable of getting ruthless and driven to a goal like his father and Stefan, and he's certainly got the brains and acumen where you could see him leading a Fortune 500 company...but I can't see it suiting him. (I remember reading the end of chapter 62 and thinking, "You're way too compassionate to lead Corporate America like your father does, kid.") He wants more of a balance in his life, which you can't really have if you live a life that's driven by complete and total ambition to get ahead in one area of his life. Will could do it, he totally could, but I can't see him actually doing it because it's not his style. Will is the guy who wants a career, but he also wants a good relationship and be the kind of dad that could play with his kids on the front lawn early in the evening. At the same time though, like you said, he understands that mindset. And I'm really enjoying the total honesty between Zach and Will- I think Will pretty saw in Zach an underdog who had been forced by his family squabbles to go and strike out on his own on the East Coast...but the truth was a lot more complicated and cynical than that- that Zach pretty much didn't want his father to crowd around him and play the awful stage dad that embarrassed him with scouts. For Will, with whom "family" is synonymous with "breathing", it had to be pretty counter to his instincts. I wonder if JJ is that ruthlessly ambitious...I think he probably comes close. I think there's very little JJ wouldn't sacrifice, even if he has mellowed out a bit. I think there are some interesting parallels with Zach and JJ that could be cool to explore at some point. Yeah. The truth of the matter is, even at the start of 2014 when we're 10 years into Massachusetts having gay marriage, there still hasn't been an active, openly gay American football player. Zach would be 28/29 right now- if he's a pro, he probably won't wind up retiring until he's more like 33/34 circa 2019. Would a 27-year old Will be cool with that arrangement, especially when he's got friends announcing their gay weddings on Facebook and showing off the new families they've started?

I just realized that pick should have been for Chapter 63. Oops.

Happy birthday!