methodwriter85

You'd want to put an effeminate, 5'2", 100-pound guy who likely collects Louis Vuitton purses and Prada shoes like baseball cards in miltary school? Are you kidding me? He wouldn't last a week there. I don't disagree with what you're saying for the most part. I'm talking about New York City for when JJ's 18 and out of high school, not now. I think he could really grow up if he started over in a city where he doesn't have his brother being around to blame for why people ignore him.

They're not called "meets", they're called competitions. Just another reminder. I'm kinda bummed that Boston Nationals isn't happening. If Wade and Matt decided to go, we could've had hot orgy scenes with their friends who went off to Harvard and the like. There's no way they don't have friends who go to college in Boston, or somewhere in New England. I'm convinced that the only way JJ is going to grow up and mature is if he moves away from California once he's out of high school, and he's forced to set up his own support system. New York City would be great for that, but I could also see Chicago. Maybe Denver? That seems like an area with a lot of Olympic-caliber training going on. I could totally see JJ ultimately pursuing an acting career in New York City. He's got the theatrics, in any sense. Maybe once he's done with figure skating, he'll decide to attend Tisch? Another thought...would JJ actually eat pizza? Wouldn't he be on some crazy diet all the time like Evan Lysacek is?

Well, to be fair to JJ, the adults do favor and bend over backward for Will to a pretty sickening degree.

I grew up in and around the suburban college town of Newark, Delaware, so there were plenty of pizza places. My favorite though, was this place called Peace of Pizza. I think they eventually started skimping on ingredients like Papa John's did, so my preference switched The best known Delaware pizza though is called Grotto's- it's like a beach tradition around here. When I lived in Western Pennsylvania, there was like only one decent pizza place. Kind of sucked. I have to say my favorite pizza I've ever tasted came from a chain called Mellow Mushrooms in Chattanooga, TN. Over in reviews: I agree with you. I think JJ pretty much figures he'll never be able to beat the genius Will in terms of grades- I'm betting he probably tried, but there was always a B or a C that kept him from getting the perfect grades that Will gets, so he decided to go another way. And when he got to Harvard-Westlake and saw that good grades were going to require more than just a passing effort, JJ checked out and is basically getting himself kicked out instead of actually dropping out. He COULD save everyone the trouble and just take the damned GED, but that would require active action and he's not into that. I'm sure Robbie would help him prepare though- I doubt JJ would be the first 15-year old high school GED dropout he's met. As a self-admitted attention whore, I think JJ feels like any attention is good attention, even when it's attention for being a jerk. Being the happy, sweet boy got him zero attention, so he's doing it instead by being a diva bitch. I think JJ in general feels left behind by his brothers- Darius to college, Will to precocious puberty turning him into this big gay stud practically overnight, while he's stuck in the body of a 12-year old that no one's going to give a second look at. He wants to understand and relate to his brothers, but he can't because the puberty fairy is visiting him late and he's still got the body and mind of a child. It's frustrating, and he's venting with that frustration by being a bitch to his brothers to try and get them to pay more attention to him.

Except it's already being said that JJ's grades are bad, and if they're bad, then that probably suggests that he hasn't soaked up the Michelle Kwan mode of being academically diligent. I've consulted with Daisy on this, and she said the mindset of the time period was actually pretty split- yes, you had the Michelle Kwans of the world. But you also had a fair amount of people who would totally backburner school in order to pursue this, and JJ seems to have fallen into the latter category. From Mark in reviews: Okay, this is where I go with the whole "JJ parallels my life" deal. I bombed out my freshman year of high school. I somehow managed to flunk or get a D in computer applications, gym, and Algebra. My grades were really bad, and I kept getting pulled into conferences about how to do better. I would nod my head, then go straight back into slacking off. It wasn't until 11th grade, when my slacker friends had gotten kicked out of school and I had discovered a love of history due to history camp that I started trying more. I think if someone find a hook with a him- a subject that he loves- he'd have more motivaton to do well in school. But for now, his concentration is on this stuff. As for Darius, the real naval service academy probably would haven't accepted him, but in the story, and for story purposes, they did. Which is where Darius decided to give up the spot because he realized it could go to someone more deserving. There was one moment in chapter 86 that I really liked- Will having this little moment where he realizes that barring Ryan, most of his current high school friendships are pretty shallow. I think what Will doesn't realize yet is that he tends to make friends with guys on the basis of how hard they make his dick, instead of what their personalities are like, and because of that he's setting himself up for shallow relationships. I had something similiar freshman year of college where I tended towards trying to make friends with guys I liked looking at, rather than guys I actually had stuff in common with. When you make friends with people for superficial reasons, you tend to get back pretty superficial friends. Have you noticed that his best friendships right now- his friendship with Wade and with Tiffany- are friendships were sex isn't really part of the equation?

Yeah. I feel like anybody I know who went to college and got a degree are at least thinking about graduate school, if they didn't already do it. I mean, even nursing and elementary school teachers want masters now. The only people I know who were able to pretty much go straight into having a good job with just their bachelor degree were like accountants and engineers. As for JJ, I think his graduation year- 2004- nicely sets him up to be able to do his freshman year of college, for 2004-2005. He'd probably take off for his sophomore year to concentrate on the 2006 Olympics. I think he'd probably do a lot of summer sessions, and I think JJ would probably pick a college that has a well-known and well-regarded figure skating program affliated with it, because it would be a culture that would understand how to deal with his abscences. My guess would be he graduates in 2009 or 2010. Which is actually very "of the times"- like grad school, it's starting to become normal for people to go through college in 5 years or more. I'm not entirely disagreeing with you here. But didn't Darius also make it pretty clear that the only reason he was even being considered for Anapolis was because his rich granddaddies tried to pull some strings for him? As in Darius's grades were maybe just barely tolerable for him to get in, and he wouldn't have if he were just from a normal family? And didn't Darius mention to Will that his grades at Santa Clara aren't all that good, either? But don't we also know that JJ's grades are bad which is why he's being punished and not allowed to go to the Junior Grand Prix Final in Scotland? And I'm not sure JJ's looking up to Michelle Kwan. I think his likely idols are probably Evengi Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin. This was the era of Russian Male Figure Skating dominance, I believe. I wonder if that's the reason why Johnny Weir began to believe he was Russian.

Your son is probably going to have an extremely easy time getting laid by Les Miserables fans, then. Anyway, Brendan Dooling, the guy I picked out for Josh the Sexually Confused Guy...he's currently playing a sexually confused 80's prepster on the Carrie Diaries. Man, I'm good. I gotta say, this guy favors the 80's preppie look extremely well. They revealed him as being "confused" by staring longingly at photos of Circa 1984 Rob Lowe. Which...can you blame him? Rob Lowe is still hot but in 1984 the dude was just unreal. Rob Lowe was also the inspiration, physical-wise, for Neal. Which was funny, because Rob Lowe kinda has this vibe where you can picture him as bi. I swear, I think he and Andrew McCarthy had some homoerotic chemistry in that fight scene from Class.

That's a good point, Blue. You are right that it seems like other than JP, education has been more about the status symbol rather than having a true love of learning. There was only one academic with Max in Brad's generation, and none of this current generation really seem like they're headed that way. Will likes learning and school, but more because That's What You're Supposed to Do, as opposed to having a real thirst for knowlege. It kind of reminded me of what someone said to me once about rich families and colleges. The kids go to college because it allows their parents to put them into high positions at their family companies, rather than some idealistic love of knowledge. It'll be interesting to see what happens if/when JJ decides not to go to college. Because I'm pretty sure at this point, JJ sees himself at 20 traveling the world showing off his shiny new gold medal, not going through his sophomore year of college struggling through a stats class. Would JP be okay with JJ pursuing his career instead of college, or would he threaten to disinherit him?

Just a reminder that figure skating competitions aren't referred to as meets or tournaments, as per Daisy's instructions. You can call them competitions, if you're being generic, or you can call them by what they are. What JJ missed was the ISU Junior Grand Prix Finale in Scotland, which were held December 14th to December 17th, 2000. Although Brad calling them "meets" actually kind of works because it shows that he's kind of clueless about the sport. I thought it was pretty clear that it was an abberation for JJ to do that bad at Norway. During this 2000-2001 season, JJ also got a bronze medal at the International Junior Competition in France in August and won the Southwest Pacific Regionals in October. We didn't see JJ at the Pacific Coast Sectionals on November 15th, but I'm betting he did well there, too. Remember, we've only ever actually been to like two of JJ's competitions- Southwest Pacific Regionals and the Norway Junior Grand Prix. But yeah, JJ would never file for emancipation. I think it kind of speaks to something I saw once on Behind the Music: Tiffany. Tiffany was an 80's teen pop star, kind of like a less popular version of Debbie Gibson. She filed for emancipation and it hurt her career. Why? Because you can't maintain a wholesome, happy-go-lucky teen innocent image if you're battling your parents in court. It ruined her image of being the carefree teenaged mall rat. If JJ filed for emancipation, it would ruin his image of being a happy, innocent teenager like on those Disney sitcoms. What JJ could do, but I'm not sure JP would be ever be cool with, is to take the GED and drop out of school. He's 15, so he's old enough to take it. I'm getting the feeling that as a consequence of basically letting Jeanine parent JJ without much interference from Brad or Robbie, the typical Crampton/Schluter attitude towards education wasn't exactly passed down to JJ like it was to Will. I don't get the feeling that JJ isn't smart- I think he's probably a bright person, but he's not particularly motivated to do well so he does just enough to get by without ever fully applying himself. And the more he's gotten into figure skating, the less motivated he feels to do well at school.

Guys started growing their hair out again and stopping with the gel around 2003...so maybe Cody Simpson's hair could be JJ's 2003 and onward hairstyle? Maybe JJ gets a boyfriend who prefers his curls or something, kinda like the scene in The Ordinary Us when Quin's love interest discovers that he's got curly hair, when it's not drowned in product. There's this shift in clothing and hairstyles that happens in 2003 that I think you'd like writing about, when you get around to a 2003 story. The hip-hop styles and the more urban styles gave way to guys wearing their hair more natural and ditching Tommy Hilfiger for brands like Hollister, and the prep look came back in. Birkenstocks also made a big comeback in 2003, but that was usually paired with the Hollister crowd.

I think the face would be Lucas Till, but I picture JJ's hair as being like Cody Simpson's: I keep picturing JJ as having wavy blond hair. This look isn't period(, short, spikey and gelled would be), but Will's already described JJ as being someone who doesn't really dress to fit in.

Happy birthday, Matt. Do a three Wisemen shot for me, okay? (That's Jose Curveo, Jack Daniels, and Jim Beam.)

I always thought it was kind of funny that macho, masculine guys like nearly every Hayes guy could be total bottoms, and effeminate guys could wind up as tops. I like Noah being Will's friend. Even though I'm sure they're going to have sex, I also think Noah has the makings of being a good friend. I liked Ryan as Will's friend as well, but he reads as that friend in high school who becomes totally into their significant other to the detriment of their friendships. I also really like Noah being from a poor background, and not being given a trust fund from the Cramptons/Schluters to be made rich like Gathan was. One thing a good soap usually has is class tension, and I feel like that's been missing for the most part ever since this soap left Claremont. It's nice to have that back again.

I'm not sure if that's a function of Will being a total bottom, or a function of the fact that Will's usually the younger guy or he's the gay guy hooking up with a "straight" guy and topping is more acceptable in the mind of a guy who's "straight" but hooking up with another guy. See, I haven't really seen much of this being like Be Rad 2.0. Brad at the start of Be Rad was mainly concerned with three things- sex, weed, and his social standing/power at Gunn High School. Will's into smoking and sex like his dad was, but he seems to be more into helping people, as well as what's right and wrong, than Brad was. 17-year old Brad felt way more shallow than Will does. And Will's story arc is more about taking control of his life than the trauma of coming out and finding true love. Brad was also wayyyy more into preppie culture than Will is, although that's likely more a function of the fact that preppie wasn't exactly cool in 2000 like it was in 1980/1981. Will's generation was highly influenced by hip-hop, as opposed to how whitebread Brad's generation was. As Adam Phillips (who's Matt's age), everybody wanted to be black. Tommy Hilfiger was really popular at the time and that was totally influenced by baggier hip-hop styles.The closet we had to prep was Abercrombie and Fitch, but even that wasn't really the kind of prep that Brad would have grown up with in the early 80's. It was more like laidback surfer prep.

See, I've had no interest in going out to West Hollywood, because I figured I'd be ripped to shreds by catty queens for being a stocky guy with non-perfect features and a lack of fashion sense. I don't know- I haven't really been that interested in going out to gay clubs because of how body-obsessed the gay community can be...I met quite a few catty queen types at U of Delaware. When I met gay people in Western PA at IUP, I was shocked at how much more laidback and accepting they were.

You're right about that. We don't. Life is so strange..when you don't know...how can you tell where you're going to...you can't be sure of any situation...Something could change..and then you won't know... (God, wasn't 1982 an awesome year for music? Long live New Wave.)

And I really, really, really thank you for that. Thank god.

Anyway, did anyone else just love the Harry Potter reference? I do not think there's anybody currently in their 20's or teen years who didn't experience the phenom either themselves, or by-proxy. It was to Will and JJ's generation what Twilight is to Courtney's generation- you just couldn't escape. I remember in the summer of 2002 running into a bunch of Potterheads celebrating Harry's birthday at Borders. Six years later, I ran into Twihards at that same Borders. I was really confused by the Twihards. LOL. As for Ryan, I'm 27 now, so I have lots of mileage on me now. And in terms of all that life experience , I've learned that people have a tendency to run in and out of your life, and sometimes they'll run back into your life in ways you don't expect. I really don't feel like that's the last time we'll see Ryan. I mean, its not like Will is moving off to the Australian outback to study the aboriginals- he's just moving 5 hours up the coast, and I'm there'll be visits and weekly AIM sessions. Plus, JJ does still go to HW, so that should keep Allister around. I was really, really happy that you didn't take Thanksgiving 2000 and have it turn into "Let's catch up with all the previous characters and give them long monologues and the like!" like you did for Thanksgiving 1998 and Thanksgiving 1999. I mean, it's fine to see Lou and Marcel show up, but the focus really needed to be on the central, immediate family characters.

Yeah, they'll be friends, but like most high school friendships, people move in different directions and what was your bff one month is suddenly just an acquaintance the next. That's very much what 9th grade is like for a lot of people (And in my experience, also what freshman year of college is like.) What Andy and Matt had in Cross-Currents was pretty nice but extremely rare. I gotta admit though...I really thought Mark was setting up this large, on-going story with Ryan, but it didn't quite work that way. It's interesting how that happens- I mean, there was a point where Wade was just going to be "Danfield", one of Matt's hook-up buddies and hockey teammates, and by the end of Bloodlines he had become a co-protagonist. You never really know where things are going to go with characters in CAP.

Happy birthday!

Well, Matt's in a relationship, and from what I understand, they're not open- so he better not be stepping out on Cam or else I'm a gonna be driving up to Widener to put the hurt on the boy! (J/K...I wouldn't drive up to Chester without bulletproof glass on my car in a milion years.) But yeah, I agree completely with this. Don't look desperate. Just be there to have fun. Anyway, Matt, my sister used to be involved with clubs in Philly, back in the early 2000's with places like Shampoo. The general idea was that the gay bars there were mostly rave type clubs...I'm not sure if that's true anymore, but it sounds like Shampoo hasn't changed much, from what I've heard of people who've gone there. When the weather warms up, I recomend going down to Rehoboh Beach in Delaware, which has a strong gay community. It tends to be an older beach place, but there are still young people. There's this bar caled Aqua with hot shirtless waiters there in the summer. What's really cool, and what I love about Rehoboth Beach, is when you see gay families walking around, or two men strolling down the boardwalk holding hands.

I've never been in a relationship, and one reason is because I know that I'm too self-centered to be in one. I've had a long and hard life that shattered my ability to trust in and believe in people, and I simply don't feel like taking on a relationship while I'm still trying to figure myself out. I spent so long worrying about the state of my dysfunctional family that I neglected to really focus on myself and what makes me tick, and I've only started doing that in recent years. I'd love to have a boyfriend someday, but right now I know that I'm not in any kind of emotional place for one.

I'm not big on the gay bar scene, but I've been to two so far. It was fine, but one was kind of like the "you need to look perfect for people to talk to you" kind of bar...the other seemed nicer and more laid-back. Actually though, while it wasn't officially a gay bar, there was this bar I went to in graduate school that a lot of gay people went to. It was pretty cool to see two guys cuddling in a bar that wasn't actually a gay bar. I preferred that experience the most. I haven't really pursued going to gay bars all that much because I'm not trying to look for hook-up partners, and because I've found that I tend to prefer being friends with straight guys as opposed to gay ones.

I didn't have a lot of guy friends until I was a junior in high school, and one thing I had to learn the hard way is that guys tend to make fun of their friends. A lot. It took me until I was a freshman in college before I got used to banter.

I think you're right. I get off on people calling me out on my b.s.