methodwriter85

I don't really know enough about punk rock to do that. This playlist was based completely off of memory.

You just never know sometimes. When I was 15, I used to talk to men online. Around June of 2001, I had plans to meet up with two men in their 30's at different times. After the first meeting wound up freaking me out after we had a sexual encounter, I cancelled the second meeting. The second meeting, we were supposed to go to a motel. I was a 15-year old kid, who was going to meet a 30-something stranger in a motel. I am so glad that I cancelled it- maybe nothing would have happened and it would have been a good time, or I could've ended up on a milk carton. You really just never know whenever you choose to go off with people you don't know to a private place. Although the good thing is that we do have instincts that gnaw at this. Reading Jay Roberts's account, I really think that something deep down was telling him to go, and it had nothing to do with not wanting to do something gay. Even though from all appearances to Jay, he was having a good time and even though Jay was reluctant to leave, something told him to get on his bike and leave. That probably saved his life.

Mega cheese fries from Pat's Pizza: Pat's Mega Fries are served in a disposable aluminum pie tin. Fresh fries are loaded up in the pie tin and then covered with Cheese Whiz. Then a generous mixture of chopped bacon, shredded Swiss and mozzarella cheeses are applied to the top of the fries. The whole thing is then sent through the pizza oven for the shredded cheese to melt up and around some of the bacon. Instead of ketchup, you dip your fries into ranch dressing. It is so, so good. I only eat them though once in a blue moon, because as you can imagine, it's not a very healthy dish. Another great pig-out food would be the Pittsburgh sandwhich: Basically, stuffed between two pieces of Italian bread are fries, an Italian-dressing coleslaw, a tomato slice, and some kind of fried meat. Soooo good. I got that every night I went out when I was a student in Western Pennsylvania.

We like to think of serial killers as gruff, crazy, wild-eyed ugly people running around with axes, but quite often they're charming, attractive people. Which explains the the myriad of emotions. It's something so horrific, but at the same time, because Jay Roberts wasn't actually attacked(although I'm sure he was drugged- someone suggested that it was benzos), it was a pleasant memory on a pleasant afternoon from over 30 years ago. The knowledge that he could have very well ended up horrifically murdered(seriously, read about Randy Kraft- really chilling stuff) really contrasts with that emotion. It was interesting from a time period and cultural standpoint as well- as someone who grew up in the 1990's when it was constantly drilled in our heads that you could be kidnapped and end up on a milk carton, the thought that people had a habit of hitchhiking and accepting rides from strangers in the 1970's and 1980's just seems so foreign to me. And from what I understand, this case didn't gain much traction because the victims were thought of as dead queer runaways and the like- even though they were often straight. And the other thing it made me think about was how much we prize good-looking, masculine military straight guys. They're as much of a fantasy for gay men as the college frat boy jock. Think about how many stories have been written with the theme of seducing that straight military guy with beer and the like. We're essentially reading that story here- reading the p.o.v. of a straight guy getting seduced with very little protestation on his part, only the intentions of that seduction were entirely different from the Nifty stories. Again, very disturbing but still alluring. It made me think that the reason why Randy Kraft targeted these guys was because they were venerated, by himself and by the gay community at large. They weren't vulnerable, small women or children- they were grown men trained to be killers. Which is probably why they were the ultimate prize to him- Kraft caught these invincible young men and made them vulnerable. It just leaves you with the same question though- why didn't he kill the author of the article? Was there a connection and he had just a tiny moment of empathy? Or is it simply, as one comment said, Jay Roberts left before he passed out? In one of the comments, the author mentioned that he soon passed out when he got back to base, which strongly points to the idea that he got drugged. I think the author does such a great job of conveying all of these conflicting emotions and questions that this experience gave him. Randy Kraft made the author feel beautiful and special that one day over 33 years ago, and now he's realizing that it was a ploy, and he could have very well ended up dumped on the side of a California freeway.

Right. The O.C. and Laguna Beach made "rager", "dunzo", and "sick" popular across the U.S., but there are other terms that came out of the O.C. where I'm wondering if they were made-up slang. Like minty being someone acting fruity. Speaking of, I do think we should be at the point where they're saying things are sick. I always thought it'd be a hilarious callback to Be Rad if one of our Cali teens tells an Ohio guy that his car is "sick", and the Ohio guy wonders what's wrong with it. But we'd have to do it before we hit the mid-2000's, when everyone and their mother was saying that. I knew the term was "over" circa 2009 when I heard it being said by a businesswoman in Georgia on Househunters. Blue, what do you call it then when someone's trying to mack on a girl, and his friend/brother, etc etc says embarrassing things about him that leads to a cockblock? "Busting up his moves" or what?

I'm voting for JJ to lose his virginity in a threesome with bitchy Sasha Cohen and hunky Jeremy Bloom at the 2006 Olympics. Apparently the Olympic Village is quite the slutty orgy. Mark will have a lot of fun with that. On a completely unrelated note, Mike, you might wanna check out this thread in the lounge about a marine who haplessly met infamous California serial killer Randy Steven Kraft in 1980. Dubbed the Freeway Killer because he dumped the victims near 5 Freeway leading to Camp Pendleton, Kraft targeted Marines during the 1970's and early 1980's. Before your time, of course, but I'm sure you knew older MP's that had heard about this. It's so crazy to me, as a child of the "Never Talk to Strangers" 90's that people often hitchhiked back in the 1970's and '80s.

Alright, you Los Angelenos...would a teenager from Malibu use the slang term "salt" his/someone's game? It was used on The O.C. in the mid-00's, and the generally meaning is similar to cramping a person's style. Like, say there's this guy who's hitting on this girl. His best bro decides to cockblock by telling the girl all this embarrassing stuff about him. The guy can turn around and say, "Way to salt my game, dude." Or a person can be "salty" by being rude.

The Grunge Era Playlist, Part II 1. 2. 3. She Don't Use Jelly by the Flaming Lips 4. Under the Bridge by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers 5. Spin the Bottle by Juliana Hatfield 6. Lump by The Presidents of the United States of America 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. The Distance by Cake 22. 23. 24. Ledbetter by Pearl Jam 25. Someone in the comment section for "Sex Type Thing" called it the Blurred Lines of the 90's. Eh, I can kinda see it.

Not quite- they didn't bump into each other on the campus quad.

Will especially has to be chomping at the bit to get his license. You KNOW he is. And if Blue is right and Will isn't subjected to restrictions because he's emancipated, then I imagine Will is going to be driving around a lot of his friends come junior year. (Although I'm not sure Blue is right about that- because driving is not a right so wouldn't emancipation be irrelevant?) He'll probably have some kind of tricked-out 2003 model year SUV with built in DVD/TV's in the back for his passengers. I remember how modern and cool that seemed back then. As for JJ being someone that would prefer to be driven...yes and no. I can see why you'd think that, but JJ strikes me as someone who likes alone time, and I could see him as someone who takes his commute as a way to meditate and be by himself. Although I can see Marie, Will, and John bugging JJ for rides come the summer of 2002, when he's allowed to transport other teenaged passengers. Which is why I think he'd get a compact Euro mini-car so he doesn't get pressed into it by Claire or Brad.

Good to know. See, the way Delaware developed...Delaware was divided into "hundreds" more often than into towns. As a result, there are few downtown areas here, which means that there's much less parallel parking, because Delaware's hundreds developed into suburbs for Philadelphia with lots and lots of strip mall shopping centers with ample parking. It's actually funny- Delaware is so suburban that our state licenses list our housing developments instead of just towns, because our "towns" are often just Census designated places that happen to have a large collection of housing developments, like my "town" called Bear. The only place in Delaware where parallel parking is critical is in Wilmington, and I always take the bus into there. I've also never tried driving myself into Philly, so yeah- parallel parking was a skill I just never really had to use so I forgot it. It's interesting for me to learn all the different driving rules in states in any event.

The curfew post-2006 also got pushed back from 12 a.m. to 11 p.m. But yeah, thanks for the illumination- so JJ on his 16th birthday in December of 2001 could get his license, provided that he's been driving on permit since around June. Which is very possible, because JJ has a driver and Escorial probably has plenty of small backwoods roads he could practice. His license would allow him to drive by himself from 5 a.m. to 12 a.m., and he cannot drive with other teenagers until June of 2002, i.e. the end of sophomore year. So JJ could drive around his brother and his cousins during the summer of 2002. However, are you saying that because Will's an emancipated minor, Will could just get his license when he turns 16 in September 2002 without any restrictions? That's going to be annoying to JJ and Marie. Of course, like I said before, Mark could just invoke artistic license and have JJ drive around Will, Marie, and John if he wants to. Like how the O.C. had everyone driving at the age of 15. LOL. I'm really not sure I could see JJ doing that, though. JJ strikes me as someone who would get a small Euro compact car, and prefer to be by himself when he drives because he gets irritated easily. In my case, I didn't bother getting a license until I was 19 and about to finish high school(I was held back a year), so I didn't have to worry about graduated licenses. I'm scared shitless though about what happens if I move and I need to get a new license, because I've completely forgotten how to parallel park and Delaware licenses are supposedly one of the easiest to get.

I have to agree with Yang Bang. This is satire- the moralizing at the end lessened the bark. The article doesn't need to be hit over the head with the moral at the end. We get it. If you don't get it, then the lecture part will still go over your head. And you know, the idea that all "masculine" gay guys were once effeminate kids who were teased in elementary school for having a limp wrist is a pretty fucking offensive thing to say, because here are guys who did indeed have a very hard time coming out of the closet because they were masculine jocks growing up and had more in common with straight guys as opposed to gay guys. Otherwise, an excellent article.

I would imagine that California and New Jersey would have pretty strict driving laws, because both states are notorious for their heavily trafficked interstate highways, right? I read that in California, it's illegal to drive in the state with an out-of-state driver's license if you've been there longer than 10 days. Delaware's much more relaxed. We have a lot of traffic here, but it's not that insane. It's focused mainly around I-95 and the out-of-staters that come here to take advantage of the no-sales tax at Christiana Mall.

That's actually something I'm wondering about- I know that circa 2003 in Delaware, you could get a permit at 15 years and 10 months, and an actual license at 16 and a half, but with restrictions, like you couldn't drive past a certain time and you couldn't have more than 1 or 2 passengers. According to a website I found, the California driving laws were changed in 2006...you could get a permit at 15 and a half and drive as long as you were with someone aged 25. At 16, you could get a restricted license- for the first year, you cannot drive between 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and you cannot transport people under the age of 20 unless you're with an adult over 25, a guardian, or an instructor. (Man, that's harsh.) Although it's possible before that, JJ could've gotten a less restricted license- I wonder what the laws were before the change in 2006. Of course, Mark can just take artistic license and have JJ drive his cousins/teenage friends around. Although JJ strikes me as a compact Euro car type, not an SUV type. There was a general move in the 2000's about raising the driving age to 18- I know they slowly edged it up in Delaware- now you can't get a permit until you turn 16. In New Jersey, you can't get a permit until you're 17. In any event...it is totally going to bug Will that JJ and Marie are getting their licenses first, and he'll be one of the last guys in his grade to get his. I think in a couple of years, JJ will be an ideal Bret Easton Ellis novel character- gorgeous, rich, snobby, and bisexual. Does anyone here remember The Rules of Attraction? I LOVED that movie when I was 17. (And it wasn't that far-off from depicting what college is like.) I still have a crush on Ian Somerhalder because of that movie. God, he's beautiful. (Which is why he's the character model for Jack Hobart.) I'm not sure JJ would want to be that tall. He might hope for 5'8" or 5'9" which would make him more average height, but 6 feet is kinda tall for a singles male figure skater. Extra height makes it harder to jump, and a shorter person can do them easier because of the lower center of gravity. Evan Lysacek being 6'1" makes him a rarity for singles male figure skaters.

I saw this commercial, and thought the guy looks a lot like how I picture Thirty-something Ace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFYHF1w8w3g Vaguely exotic with a natural tan, dark and thick wavy hair, dark eyes, a long hook nose, and a charming smile. His name's Jay Hayden- he's basically been in tons of commercials over the past couple of years.

So, grunge is something I remember and love from my childhood. Here are some great Grunge Era tunes. (I deem the Grunge Era as being about 1991 to 1996, with the Grunge Era officially over when Hanson and Spice Girls ruled the charts in 1997.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. (I have gotten jokes about this since I was 5.) 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Soul to Squeeze- Red Hot Chili Peppers 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Grunge is without a doubt my favorite Gen Xer contribution to the world. I really wish I could have been born in 1975 instead of 1985 so I could've experienced the Grunge Era as a college student instead of as an elementary school kid.

Carlos is very right. A week ago, the speculation was all on Ethan, who we haven't even met. The thing is, we're speculating on characters because we find something interesting about their story that feels unresolved. Will's part of the story feels largely done, which is why we haven't talked about him as much lately. I could be wrong, but other than going through the grieving process- all of the major problems going on with Will like his relationships with Brad, Tony, and Marie- have pretty much been resolved for this story. It feels like for the most part, Will's story is now about just getting himself and his loved ones through their grief. Wade's a bit different, as it seems like his major issues are just about getting ready to ramp up as his fight with his mother and the introduction of a "new" sibling complicates his life plans. I'm also assuming that we're going to see more of Brad in upcoming chapters as he works through his grief, because as Mark has said, this story is going to go up to at least Thanksgiving 2001. Which brings me back to my musing on the role of the Hayes in CAP...have they been resolved as a core CAP family? Because Robbie's gone, Matt's a Carrswold, and I'd be shocked if Gathan became a narrator again. The Hayes "curse" has been lifted, and we gained an understanding of what happened to the Hayes family that unleashed a good 50+ years of suffering. Gathan seems like he'll step up and be a good family leader for the Hayes going into the 21st century. Most importantly, other than Gathan or Zach, none of the New Generation Hayes family really made much of an impression- just really small background characters. And it feels hard to imagine what else Mark could possibly do with the Hayes family. At the same time, it feels like the Danfield family is being ramped up- first just the immediate family, then the birth of a new heir, then the cousins, aunts, and uncles, and now we're getting into illegitimate heirs like Ethan while witnessing family tragedy like the death of its patriarch, which should have repercussions for a long time and serve a good decade of story. I think if that's what we're working towards, it makes a lot of sense. Having the Hayes as the blue-collar counterpoint to the wealthy Cramptons and Schluters made a lot of sense in a small city-set soap. But now that the Schluters have become international-level wealthy, they need a dramatic foil family that's on that kind of level. The Danfields were revealed in Paternity to be a lot more wealthy than I thought they were (like Bush-family level), plus they've described as having the kind of pedigree that makes the Kennedy's look like noveau-rich posers.

Sorry about that. Good point. Frank is probably going to absolute shit. I hope Isidore is strong enough to keep him okay, but I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if Frank takes to the drink and dies of a broken heart before he's in his 70's. Frank really did invest everything into Robbie- and it paid in dividends, but only for 37 years. Gathan's a toss-up. I'm not sure I can see Gathan playing much of a factor here, because while Robbie was kind to him and the like, I didn't get the feeling that Gathan was all that close to Robbie. He seemed much into talking with Will, Stefan, and Brad. As for Matt, Matt's loss is great- but not quite as great as the others, because he still has a father. It'd be interesting to see if this draws Matt closer to his parents.

1. That's why we're working with Daisy to keep JJ's career plausible and make it possible that he COULD strike near a medal. JJ, barring his Norway Grand Prix , actually had a good 2000-2001 season. The 2001-2002 season is actually his first "senior" season...we're trying to put him at around Johnny Weir-level, which was promising but not dominant yet. (Evan Lyscacek was actually still skating as a junior this season, and he was going through a slump as well as having his Grand Prix season cancelled.) What happens during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 season are what really determines things, though. 2. I like your idea of the 2002 Olympics, but I honestly can't see Mark writing Mitt Romney in any kind of positive light. Mark also seems rather freaked out by Mormons. 3. That's a good way of summing up how figure skating has shaped the story even though we've only had a couple of chapters that took place directly in the skating world, and we've seen much more in terms of horseback reading, as Henson put it. The world drew in JJ, who drew in Jeanine and Tiffany, and Jeanine subsequently went from being a normal person to becoming a Stage Mother. The way that figure skating changed both JJ and Jeanine did drive a fair amount of story, especially in how they related to Will. I also think that without skating, JJ probably would have been really jealous of Will's popularity and ability to be good in nearly everything, and I could've seen them developing a Billy/Brad kind of relationship. But because JJ had something he could do better than Will ever could, that was averted.

If we were going to go by usual CAP protocol, some long-lost Hayes teenaged relative who looks like Robbie would show up, probably his brother or his sister's son, but I think Mark has run that "Hayes look-alike" well dry. It should be noted that Gathan and Zach, probably the only two New Generation Hayes Men we've gotten any real intel on, don't look like Robbie. (Zach looks like the dream boat Liam Hemsworth...god, I'm hoping we see more of that manipulative bastard.) I would be interested in learning what happened to Robbie's brother and sister, and if they had any hot conveniently-aged off-spring. Honestly, I'd welcome that more than I did Tony. Then again, the Hayes family might have run their course as major players in the story. (I don't really think of Matt as a Hayes- it's in biology only. He's a Carrswold first and foremost.) The "curse", so to speak, has been lifted, Robbie's gone and Gathan looks like he's going to be a capable family leader for the Hayes and a good leader for New Claremont. The Hayes family story feels "completed", for the most part, while it seems like Mark's ramping up the Danfield family story. I forget this one: JJ is supposed to be pretty close to Matt, but Matt's more of a brotherly figure to him. I'm not sure who I can see as a fatherly figure to him...maybe Max? (Once JJ goes back to living in Los Angeles.) I can't see it being Father Tim or Cody, either.

Veronica Roth Responds (SPOILERS) I think as much as you want to heap scorn on her, keep in mind that Veronica Roth is only 25 years old, and this is her first major book series. And I'm going to point to what she says here: You have to room to say, "I got what you'e trying to do, but it didn't quite work and here's why", but to be completely dismissive and act as if she at the ripe ol' age of 25 has completely wrecked her career because of how she wrote the third book doesn't sit well with me. Authors grow, change, and evolve. That Veronica Roth has managed to create characters that we care about and root for is half the battle. And the fact that you did like- even love the first books does say that she has some talent there, and talent can grow if it's nurtured right.

As for the important of the device, you're right that it is pretty minor, but it does allow for something different in the story, it explains why JJ isn't just partying and hanging out with his brothers like the way Ace, Brad, and Billy did, and it's a glimpse into a world where JJ's uber-rich family isn't necessarily an asset, because of the very conservative values they expouse. It's also a pretty fun, catty world where the drama writes itself, as we saw in Norway. At this point, JJ's probably not on them, because he's subjected to random drug testing. As in an official could literally knock on his door and ask for a urine sample. He's also not really into the partying scene and his friends are people like Allistair, so it wouldn't really make sense for him to use it. Will has a pretty good read on people that he's not thinking he's falling in love with, and if JJ was using Will would totally know. But when JJ's 20, and trying to make up for the time he lost having fun because he sacrificed his childhood; there could be another answer entirely.

Now that kind of surprised me, because you would think having a large university like U Michigan be such a strong focal point of the state would have added a lot more drinking to the state. I was also surprised to learn that Minnesota doesn't have a public intoxication law. I wonder if that means people can legally walk down the street in public and drink in Minnesota? I know here in Delaware, you have to be at some kind of private event or private patio/deck to drink outside, and if you're at a party and step on the sidewalk in front of the house, you could be arrested for public intoxication.

This week marks the 5th anniversary of the passing of a very lovely online friend and member of the community, author Dan Kincaid/Sam. (He died, I believe, on either October 25th of 2008, or October 26th.) I only had the privilege of corresponding with him for a few months before he died, but I'm really glad we did. Back in those days, Adam and I were...well, let's just say that we had somewhat of a personality clash going on, and Sam was really good at being a mediator. He was a very sweet, caring person, which you felt while reading his bio story,It Started With Brian . Sam was also unbelievably smart, too, which is why I felt so honored whenever the guy would tell me that he found me to be a pretty bright person, if prone to being annoying to above-25 people. Sam had a way of making you feel like he cared a lot about you, and I definitely miss having the conversations we used to have. When I was 22, I was going through an extremely rough patch in my life (I'd say it was the lowest point of my life), and Sam would often call me out on my bullshit and try to encourage me to do better and feel better. He would constantly tell me that I'd turn out fine, when at 22 I was this big fucking neurotic mess with little to think about except my next college rager, and how bitter I was about my troubled upbringing. This, while the guy himself knew that he wouldn't live to see his 35th birthday. But that's the kind of guy Sam was, and why this world is a little bit sadder and a little bit darker without someone like him around doing his best to make things better for those around him. Strange to think he's been gone 5 years, and that Adam is now 34, the same age that Sam was when he passed. I really hope that Sam's life partner and his son (who should be about 17 now) are doing well. And I like to think that somewhere, Sam smiled when I got my graduate degree from IUP last year with a 3.75 G.P.A. Anyway...*throws back SoCo Lime shot over shoulder* Here's to you, Sam. Those who were privileged to have known you will never forget you.