methodwriter85

I used to be on ADD medication, but I got kicked off my mom's insurance so I have to make do. I really, really like that idea, because it ties into what was going on at the time. In 2000, the Port Authority put up the lease for the WTC. In January 2001, Silverstein, via Silverstein Properties and Westfield America, made a $3.2 billion bid for the lease to the World Trade Center. Silverstein was outbid by $50 million by Vornado Realty, with Boston Properties and Brookfield Properties also competing for the lease. However, Vornado withdrew and Silverstein's bid for the lease to the World Trade Center was accepted on July 24, 2001. Maybe Elizabeth mixed it up with Vornado Realty?

A 14-year old girl in Georgia got plastic surgery on her ears, chin, and nose in order to stave off bullies and have a better experience in high school. She used The Little Babyface Foundation, which provides free plastic surgery to children in need who have facial deformities. Bullied Teen Girl Gets Plastic Surgery This one hit at me emotionally, because when I was in 5th grade, I actually wrote a journal entry about all the plastic surgery I wanted to get, like a nose job and liposuction, because I thought that would make me less bullied because then I wouldn't look like an ugly fat gorilla. I felt for this girl, and hope that her high school experience will be a lot better, as mine was. But if Nadia is expecting the bullies to suddenly turn around and treat her like she's the Beautiful Swan, I honestly doubt that will happen. Bullies are bullies because they like to tear people down- if she's expecting some kind of validation from them, it won't happen. More likely they'll instead call her names like "Plastic Face" or something similiar. I remember I was sat down at one point by this girl, Aubrey. I was still getting teased pretty heavily in 10th grade, and she told me, "You are an amazing person and don't let anyone tell you that you're not." That's basically how you get through it- you have to come to the realization that the problem is with the person bullying you, not you. 11th and 12th grade were so much better. It wasn't because people stopped being bullies- I still got called names like "gorilla", but because *I* had taken pro-active steps in my life to gain confidence and make good friends. When I had that, the bullies didn't matter so much. By changing herself, Nadia kind of let the bullies win, in a way. Of course, I can't blame her for doing it- at 14, I would have done it, too. But what I eventually learned(and this wasn't easy and it was one long road) is that you can't make people like you and want to get to know you if they don't want to. And if they're people who decided they don't like you because of superficial things like looks, they're not someone who's worth building any kind of relationship with. You do not need the validation of someone who gets their jollies from tearing someone down, you really don't.

Maybe Elizabeth got involved in a ponzi scheme with investors, and the tech crash means people want their money, and the only way for Elizabeth to cover her ass and avoid getting sent to jail is to get control of Wade's money so she can payout her investors? It's possible that ABC forced Elizabeth to invest in her energy company as part of the blackmail, which depleted her own trust and she got involved in the ponzi scheme to restore her funds. Only the Tech Crash ruined that.

Is that his dad? Definitely looks like he was probably a cutie when he was young. I wouldn't say they have a huge resemblance, though. Though they both give off a very friendly vibe. I could see the dad smoking a J with Mark Arbour in Circa 1981 California. LOL. In any event, kudos to the dad for raising a son with a strong sense of sportmanship and class. As for other guys I like...Trey Hardee. I'm liking him because he reminds me of an older version of the pole vaulters that I lusted over in high school. Bar none, the pole vaulters/long jump guys had the best bodies of track guys.

sucks. 1D and TW are totes better. No, seriously though, I have ADD, and one of the symptoms of it is that I'll get hyperfocused on certain things at a time. It sucks, but it's something that I've had since I was a child, and the "broken record" aspect of me is something that I just have to accept about my personality. It's really not something I can help.

See, the thing is, right now I'm not that interested in what's going on with Will because he really alienated me as a character with the Hawaii stunt, and Wade is a nice guy but the whole "he's the New JP without the cold-hearted tendencies" deal also isn't that interesting with me. The last character narrator that I honestly thought could have been a really fascinating character was Gathan, but that pretty much got dropped in favor of focusing on Will's sexual adventures instead. Of course, people may disagree with me on that, but it's just my opinion. It kind of feels like, "Oh, Will's a happy kid who grew up with doting parents and a privileged background so we must mess him up to make his pain and suffering equal to Gathan", and thus all these things got thrown on him- his rebellion against Brad and eventually all of his parental units, the rape, Tony's rejection, his suddenly bad relationship with Darius, Jeanine suddenly giving Brad's mother a run for her money, etc etc etc. I constantly get told that he's just being a teenager, but then we're also supposed to think he's mature enough that he can make major life decisions already. It feels like "tell" instead of "show" when it comes to Will, and often he feels like a major Marty Stu instead of an authentic character. I think this go-around with Will has been better, but there are still a lot of contrived things when it comes to Will. (A 14-year old is going to blackmail the USAFSA? Really?) Whereas when it's come to JJ, a lot of the stuff that's happened to him(and maybe this is a by-product of being a peripheral character) has felt organic and not forced. Yeah, he's a bitch, but I was also kind of an asshole at 14(as are most people), but what JJ does and says often makes sense when you consider his character history and the relationships he has. It also helps that JJ is in a place at his life where the drama pretty much writes itself. I could apply the insight to other characters, and I have often, in the past, but right now I don't want to. Disclaimer: I actually do like the character of Will, and really, CAP is a great soap.

Mark gave JJ my first name and my birthdate. I'm sorry if that's given me an attachment to the character that you lack, but really, no one's forcing you to read these posts. By all means, if you want to add analysis to characters that you actually care about- that's great and I encourage you to do it. But to knock someone else's analysis and whining about how there's too much posting on said character- well, this board hasn't exactly been hopping in awhile, and frankly if I seem like I'm talking to myself here lately that's probably because I am. And with the Olympics, and with having a character that's chasing an Olympic dream, I thought that was fair speculation to make.

Interesting hypothesis. The big problem with doing that would be whether or not JJ would be willing to leave his coach at El Segundo, which is possible, but with JJ as a junior on the verge of making it big- it doesn't really seem like he'd just up and leave this coach. He's been with this coach since around November/December 1999, and aside from his 13th place finish in Norway, his career has been going pretty well. I think for JJ to change coaches, he needs to hit a wall with his career, or there needs to be a coach at Cal that he really wants to work with. As for Marie and needing a minion...I'm kinda hoping she's got more of a quirky personality as opposed to the Preppy Princess that Claire was(and is). John kind of fufills that Preppy Prince deal already. And we already know she's a Harry Potter fanatic from before the movies came out, which suggests she might be kinda nerdy. (I remember the Harry Potter fans pre-movie. Every one was kind of a nerd in some way who wanted to roleplay.) It'd be cool if she was that cute, pretty girl who was also kind of a nerd, like Emma Stone. We've seen Brad struggle with having a son that was so much like him; it'd be interesting for Claire to have a daughter that isn't really like her as a counter-balance to that. Anyway, I kind of figured Claire could do it because at 13 and 14, John and Marie don't need to be looked after that much, and Jack's there anyway, plus there's always Isidore. It's a little different from Tiffany, who has a baby to bring up. Even with nannies and Wade's help, I can't see her jetting off for a culmulative total of 5 to 6 weeks in order to be with JJ at every event. Maybe Isidore? I don't know. In any event, JJ needs a new guard, and he needs a new escort.

Let's hear it for the U.S. men's rowing team, who took bronze. I love how excited they are!

PSU'S Appeal I agree with the 60 million fine and the 4-year Bowl ban, but it's really unfair to all of the student-athletes who worked so hard at Penn State during the 1998 to 2011 period to have all those wins taken away from them.

I'm just curious to see how JJ's career will unfold and develop now that it seems like Jeanine is effectively barred from being involved. He won't have that stage mother pushing him anymore. Of course, there's Tiffany, but I can't see Tiffany developing into one- she knows all too well just how much b.s. goes into this sport, given her own experience with USFSA. I think that's why Tiffany has a generally healthy attitude- she wants JJ to do well, but she's not filling his head with Olympic Dreams at 13 like Jeanine and whatever coach at LA Galaxy did. He'll remain a diva bitch, I'm sure, but I got the feeling that Jeanine likely pushed a lot of that "win at any cost" attitude on JJ, whether intentionally or not, and with her effectively gone- will JJ have that kind of attitude, or will he actually develop some good sportmanship where he can handle placing second at the big meets without spitting and hissing like a cat? And sometimes I wonder if JJ actually really loves figure skating, or if he does it because he's great at it and his brothers aren't. That'll be interesting to explore if and when JJ hits that senior elite level. We see JJ's dedication to the sport, like how he'll practice stances in his room for hours on end, but...if you think about it, when has he actually talked about why he loves the sport? I don't know, watching the Olympics made me think a lot about the topic of elite athlete parents. Some seem to have really healthy attitudes; other seem very much like they pretty much forced their kids into it so they could vicariously live through their glory. *cough* Debbie Phelps *cough* I definitely think Jeanine just kind of turned into a stage mother who really would do anything to ensure that her star athlete did best, even if that meant humiliating her other son. And that's not something I think can be completely blamed on post-partum depression, because she was totally on that path by the time Jeanine had that talk to Brad in late 1999 about how JJ hated school and wanted to focus on figure skating full-time because the "O" word was being uttered. U of Delaware has this pretty well-renowned figure skating club, which has coached Olympic-level figure skaters like Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski, and Kimmie Meissner. I remember when I was in 3rd grade, there was this girl who came to class to take standardized tests with us- her parents had her tutored full-time because she was trying to pursue a figure skating career. I'm not sure what happened to her, but man...I just couldn't imagine what that had to be like.

The 1996 Olympic dorms were turned into college dorms.

Sam Mikulak- may not have medaled, but what a class act.

"Tongue Tied" by GroupLove

Going back to Bloodlines, Matt noticed that both Will and Darius were very protective of JJ, largely because of how small he's always been. I think the negative side to that is that JJ doesn't really stand up for himself all that often, because he's always had Will and Darius around to do it for him. It'll be interesting to see how and if that changes, because competitive sports aren't an easy place to be if you don't have much of a backbone. I kind of figure that the diva bitch from hell act is his main defense mechanism, because from accounts it's not exactly roses and sunshine backstage.

Well, Mark, that was kind of the point. As for Westie's point, I get it- I just kind of feel like a student who worked with a professor over a long-term project, and then the professor announced a new subject instead. Thus throwing away the research I did on the project. In any event, I wasn't being that serious, just joshing with Mark. The only character I'll ever draw a firm line in the sand with is JJ, and I've been good about that. I might rant but then I'm done when it comes to Will and the other characters. Over in reviews: Well, I do think JJ will probably be better at not doing the "I'm the Shit" routine with fellow skaters, at least those who he percieves as on his level like Evan and Shane. But you're right; he can't learn too much, or else there won't be too many places for you to take JJ as a character. I'm betting his major life lessons will come when the Olympics roll around in '06 and '10 and the realization that he'll never be an Olympic Gold medalist sets in. From the previous chapter: That's the major difference I've noticed between Teenaged Brad and Teenaged Will. Brad seemed like, for the most part, all about the power that being the most popular guy at Gunn High School gave him, especially at the beginning of Be Rad. He cared about helping people if they were right in front of his face, like Mouse, but for the most part, all Brad really cared about was surfing, controlling Gunn High School's social scene, art, and pot. Whereas, while Will is obviously going to be popular given his good looks and chill attitude, Will doesn't really definine himself or think of himself in terms of being Social King...he just is who he is. He wants to be seen as cool, but it's nowhere near his top priority. Will's more of that guy who was popular in high school because he was a genuninely likeable guy who was nice to everyone, whereas Brad was more along the lines of that guy who was popular in high school because he threw great parties at his big mansion and crossing him would lead to social ostracism. And I think like Tonto, Will has a stronger sense of civic responsibility- being interested in saving marine life, his volunteer work, trying singlehandedly to end homophobia in figure skating, etc etc. I can't see Brad rushing to 2010 Louisiana to try and save wildlife drowning in oil or Brad leading a Prop 8 protest, but I could see Will doing that, easily. It'll be interesting to see how Will's black-and-white view of the world either changes or stays firm as he navigates his teens and twenties.

See, I always thought that commerical was hilarous. Because who hasn't experienced looking at a guy, thinking he's a total hot boy, and then he talks and peals drop out?

If you're interested, here's a short article from 2006 that talks about the difficulty of being openly gay in figure skating. http://www.outsports.com/olympics/2006torino/kimfigureskating.htm It's a pretty interesting environment for JJ to grow up in- on one hand, being from a family that has so many openly gay and bi men. On the other hand, he's pursuing a sport where anything but a heterosexual, straight-arrow public image would cost him sponsorships and contracts. Some really interesting conflict there. That's because it really would be a shame to lose the HW crew that you spent so much time building up. Well, from what I understand, because Will's maintaining a 4.0 and selflessly volunteers at the Mission(where he used his contacts to buy a fake I.D. and get roofies) that automatically makes him an upstanding young man who deserves all of the accolades that he's given by the adults, save for the big meanies like Jeanine and Brad.

So, I'm thinking now that Jeanine seems like she's likely blackballed from doing anything else with JJ's career, Claire will step up and be his chaperone at events. I think Tiffany will come to as many events as she can, but she does have a baby to take care of. Claire seems like a great candidate to accompany him to events for the rest of this season, as well as the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons. Do people over 18 still get chaperones, Daisy? It kind of seems like a sport that protective over image would likely still have legal adults getting followed around.

He could have retired at his peak, but eh- he decided to go for the record, and he pulled it off. Why begrudge him that? It's like a nice victory lap and a thank-you to all his fans. It's not like Michael's embarrassing himself- he's just not the dominant beast he was in 2008. Anyway, Conor Dwyer. Hell, yes. He so looks like a preppy frat boy. And let's also hear it for Team USA taking gymnastics for the first time since 1996! I remember the '96 Olympics, so it was cool to see Team USA stand on the top of the podium again.

Or JJ can wind up being someone who doesn't fit into either "gay" or "straight". It'd be funny if that's the one thing he winds up having in common with his hated Gathan. I agree completely. I see JJ ultimately moving off to NYC or maybe Europe, but Will feels like he's an L.A. boy for life. And his HW friends have been pretty awesomely depicted. Mark has done such a great job of writing them; I'd hate to lose them, too.

It's going to be interesting when Evan begins to skate with JJ at El Segundo, starting in 2003.

I liked that JJ was only making out with Evan, not having sex. I like that Mark's taking it slow with JJ in regards to things like sexuality; it makes a nice contrast to Will's very precocious sexuality. JJ's taking slower steps into adulthood, as opposed to Will's headlong rush into it. You're really attached to the idea of Will being in LA and at HW, aren't you? To be honest, so am I. I've loved Will's HW friends and it'd be a shame to lose them. The impression that I've gotten from people is that SoCal people generally don't do well in NorCal, but we'll see what happens if/when Will decides to go to Palo Alto and Menlo School.

Chapter 55 -When Will catches JJ and Evan Lysacek making out. Probably my favorite tune out of the late 90's/very early 00's pop craze. I've used this in pretty much every story since Bloodlines, save for The Box. I'm glad I got to use it for a JJ moment. I'm sure he likes Mandy Moore and the 90's teen pop craze, too. (He sure as hell doesn't strike me as someone listening to Pennywise or Pantera, that's for sure.)

From reviews... In thinking about it, I can't really see Billy's fate awaiting JJ, at least not when JJ is still so driven to see himself at the 2006(possibly 2010) Olympics. He's got an image to protect, and a drive so strong that I can't see him being as easily led as Billy was. That was Billy's downfall- he couldn't say no to peer pressure, and rode in a car with guys that were so completely blitzed that they couldn't drive. I can't see JJ putting himself into that kind of situation, because any partying JJ does will be behind tightly closed doors with people he trusts not to blab things to the media. When 2006 comes and goes without any Olympic medals to show for it, THEN I can see JJ possibly heading into some risky behavior. But for now, JJ's life is pretty well regulated, without any room for self-destructive behavior. For now. Watching the Olympics really emphasizes just how much these elite athletes pour their entire selves and being into this sport. I think the ego deflation will be good for him, but you gotta realize- JJ over the past two years has sacrificed so many things- going on family trips, school days, extracurricular activities, friendships, social events- all for the chance to be the best. This is a really high-pressure and competitive sport where someone can just like *that* go from being the odds-on-favorite to not even placing. Not the same sport, of course, but seeing Jordyn Weiber, crying her eyes out, really made me think about just how much these people sacrifice, and often never realize their dreams. JJ's entire sense of self-worth is tied up into being a figure skater, which will lead to some interesting things down the road, because we know going into this that JJ will never reach the pinnacle of figure skating. Yeah, his ego is over-blown...but...what else does JJ really have that he's good at, as opposed to his brothers who are good at nearly everything they try?