methodwriter85

Alright, let's hear it for the class of 2004! Welcome, freshmen! (I was in '05, so I went through high school with the '04ers for most of it.) It'll be interesting to see if JJ can handle figure skating and a school like HW, and how he's going to negotiate the 5 or so weeks of school he's going to miss. I would seriously pay to be there when JJ has to spend a lunch period cleaning up the cafeteria. That'd be hilarious. I can see JJ looking at Will and spitting out, "I can not believe I let you talk me into going here. My pedicure is ruined!" In any event, from personal experience, siblings in the same grade or just a grade apart tended to be at constant war with each other. This should be fun. LOL.

It'll be interesting to see how JJ fits into HW, or whether or not he winds up dropping out and getting a tutor because they won't let him miss 5-6 weeks of the school year.

I'm going to level with you- I pretty much think music went on an uptick in 2003, and I prefer music from the mid-2000's over that of 2000. I think 2000 was a weird transition year where the late 90's boybands, Latin Pop explosion, and pretty girl princesses were still going strong, but were starting to grate. I think the only really good things going on musically that year would have been Moby and Eminem, at least in terms of what was hitting the mainstream. (Linkin Park didn't really hit until the end of 2000 and they were more of a 2001 band.) I also like the poppy punk things going on, as well as bands like Staind. It's why I've been pretty frustrated at having to soundtrack not just one, but two stories set in 2000. Mark's crammed three stories within the end-of-Millenium era, and I've essentially exhausted 1996-2000 music. I've had to branch out as a result, but god, it can get frustrating. There are times where there is a song I REALLY want to use, but it wasn't released until 2001 or 2002. I stick to the rule though because I want to use music that would have been around in the year that the story takes place. The rule used to be that the music would generally have to be from within three years prior to the year the story took place, but Mark packing Bloodlines in 1998-1999, Millenium in 1999-2000, and PMS in 2000 really kinda killed that rule. So I branch out into older tunes and non-conventional tunes as well, but I'm still really frustrated because I'm frankly pretty sick of this era and I want us at post-9/11 music already. I do think 9/11 definitely sounded the death knell of the late 90's pop boom, for sure. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed what I picked, though. Thanks. It's not that this era is a total wash, as you've seen here.

I'm kinda picturing Ryan Grafton as like a young Mike Vogel. (You might known him from such distinguished films as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Cloverfield.) I remembered him mainly from "Havoc". It's only been recent this guy has gotten out of teenaged roles. He was in them for awhile. (His eyes are actually pretty blue- you just can't tell from this pic.)

Chapter 41 -When Will writes an email to Tony, who he still can't shake, and imagines a life with AIDS. -When Wade gets Will to think about how fortunate he really is as a young gay man without baggage about being gay, and that he can't play Russian Roulette with his life. "What's This Life For?" by Creed -When Gathan mopes about Kristin. (Dear god, does EVERYONE have to mope about their love interests?) Weezer. The Blue Album. End to end, an awesome album that perfectly describes teen angst. My sister downloaded and burned a copy of it for me, and the album was on repeat for me freshman year. -When JJ and Will start their 9th grade year at Harvard-Westlake, and don't exactly hit it off with the kids there. I basically adored Good Charlotte through those first two albums. Joel Madden was hot before he went overboard on the tattoos. -When Will thinks to himself that maybe it won't be so bad at Harvard-Westlake. "Degrassi Junior High Theme Song" Someone once described Degrassi Junior High to me as an 80's after-school special that never ended. LOL.

Happy birthday!

You were not kidding. I'm reading the HW middle school handbook online. Therefore, we strongly discourage family trips that result in students missing school. Such absences undermine the ethos of commitment and disadvantage the student whose work is interrupted. Even if the school has been notified in advance of an absence for a family trip, the days missed are unexcused. Teachers are under no obligation to help a student make up missed work under these circumstances. The JJ situation seems murkier. It looks like missing school for school-sponsored athletic competitions is okay, but not if it's not school-sponsored. My guess would be that, for the 5 or so non concurrent weeks that JJ misses, JJ would hire a tutor who traveled with him and worked in tandem with his teachers, who would then fax the assignments to teachers. If you wanna go creative, they COULD buy a cam and JJ could conference with each of his teachers online.

It'd be great if you come back soon, but you deserve a break.

Model Phillip Fusco for Tony?

Blue, I was thinking about this, and the thought crossed my mind that as pissed off as JJ would be, he wouldn't have told the entire world what happened. Because by nature of being a figure skater with a family-friendly asexual Disney image, JJ would have to keep any sexual attachments, both straight and ESPECIALLY gay, under wraps. He might trust his family but I would bet his coach would drill into him the need for utter discretion in whatever he does, and I don't think JJ would risk the wrath of the Powers That Be if it ever got out that he wasn't as straight as an arrow. Much more likely: JJ would destroy his room in a fit of rage while screaming bloody murder, but never tell his family what he was so angry about. David prescribes JJ some Lexapro, or maybe Prozac. Then Jeanine would take him on a shopping spree at Bloomingdales for a new bedroom spread and furniture. Maybe a nice, new Burberry suit. That would be freaking hilarious- Jeanine looking around JJ's wrecked room and saying, "I think it's time we hit up Bloomingdale's again."

http://www.udreview.com/udpd-steps-up-tailgate-regulation-1.2641368 I love reading about how my alma matter has turned into a fascist police state where no students are allowed to have fun. J-walkers and tailgaters get punished, yet that same weekend three students were robbed by gun point and the UD police didn't give a damn because they don't make money off of them like they do fining students over ridiculous reasons. University of Delaware was once a great school, with lots of uniqe and great things about it. But in the school's singleminded attempt to kill off the party scene so that UD will be seen as a serious Public Ivy academic school, they've curtailed the freedom of their young adults to explore their boundaries, create fun memories that they'll laugh about when they're middle-aged and sitting in an office, and meet people in situations that they might otherwise never have met. College tailgating is a time-honored tradition, and gives people a chance to mingle and meet new friends. These freshmen will grow up, become alumni, and when they come back for Homecoming with their own kids while pumped full of nostalgia for their own glory days, their kids just might be persuaded to come here. It's an ingredient in creating a successful football team, healthy alumni giving, and the next generation of students. By making it so that your students are fearful of tailgating, you have essentially cut your nose to spite your face. Especially when you consider that UD has been talking for such a long time about how they want to move up a football division(with a planned stadium expansion to 30k). Guess what? Big-time football universities also have big-time tailgating. You can't have one without the other, and the fact that UD football attendence is down to 1998 levels pretty much speaks for itself. UD can give prize giveaways all it wants, but until students feel like they can tailgate without an arrest, the kids are going to stay away from the games.

I know you too well. JJ can just say he's Methodist or something when he starts wearing his cross to interviews and talks about how his Uncle adopted him as an orphan and Christianity gave him the strength to pursue a career... Of course, he'll probably also plug Students Against Drunk Driving. It'd make sense for that to be his volunteer work. According to Daisy, they'd love that.

On the other hand, I can't see Mark ever having a lead protagonist who was Mormon. Maybe a devout Episcopalian, but not Mormon given their stance on homosexuality. So maybe JJ flirts with Mormonism for a bit in 2002 but falls out of it by the time he's ready for his own story in 2006. We might not even follow 2002, so who knows? I would guess Mark is going to skip over 2002 once we have the 9/11 story and head straight into 2003 and the Iraq War. Makes the most sense. 2002 was the year of Enron, and we've already done corporate intrigue with Millennium. There could be the D.C. sniper, but I don't think that's enough to base a story around. And JJ isn't actually going to those Olympics, at least as a competitor.

This is from a while back, but I gotta say...told ya so. I KNEW someone would pick up on it being weird that Ella should look like Claire since Claire isn't actually a biological Crampton like Ella is. I kinda wonder if Ella is going to change her name to Crampton, but the Hayes name does seem to be losing its stigma because of Robbie, and hopefully when Gathan's the Mayor it'll be totally over by then.

Have a good birthday. You're a riot.

Would it really be just Claremont, though? Prop 8 does happen in California, and from what I understand, was driven and funded by the conservatives in places like Orange County. THAT will piss off so many CAP characters. '08 is going to be an insane year for Mark to cover. The decade in general is insane. These characters really have no clue. My guess would be that Ace and Claire are going to be Bush supporters, but Claire will then get eventually turned off by the evangelical undertones of the administration. Mark really can't ignore religion once the CAP characters are under the Bush administration. It's plays too big of a role in what kind of legislation gets passed and just the general undertone of the country. As for Iraq, I think JP's going to be absolutely frustrated that JJ and Will's high school/college friends are going to be more interested in Facebook/Myspace, updating their Ipods and freak-dancing to the Black Eyed Pea's at parties than they will be in protesting the war.

Particularly after dealing with the death of their beloved war hero son, Aaron. It makes total sense. Which again makes me think that 9/11 and the Iraq War are going to have some pretty interesting effects on the broader soap canvas. You just know that Darius is going to get crap from the closeminded people in Claremont for looking middle-Eastern, and some of the Hayes should enlist, and at least a few people are going to jump on the religion bandwagon. Reverend White is going to get total mileage out of 9/11, and the political climate is going to veer very sharply towards the right because of who got Bush into the White House.

double-post

Baptist? That seems really off for the area. I'm going to fanwank that the Hayes were originally Methodist, which is why they used to attend church with the Schluters and the Cramptons, but then switched over to Baptist after Aaron "died".

Holy flashback, right? It's been weird setting back my pop clock to when I was 14. The main thing to note about the year was that the pop girls and boys were going strong, Eminem was the emerging prince, and the Latin Pop explosion was still going. And leather/pleather pants were very popular. I want to use "Breathe" by Faith Hill, but I'm not really sure that fits any of the relationships I'm seeing in this one.

Happy birthday. Welcome to your twenties. Soooo much better than being a teenager.

See, I would have pegged the Hayes family as being Irish Catholic, but then Mark wrote that they went to church with Steven Hayes, so they couldn't have been. I think Methodist is most likely for them.

I hit about two Marg's and six or seven glasses of Yuengling. I like my alcohol tolerance low. Massachusetts passes gay marriage his senior year of high school. That'll be huge. (There was also the gay scandal in NJ, but I'm not sure how many jokes were being made about Governor Jim McGreevy in California, however.) There was also Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and of course, the O.C. God, I can't wait for '03-'04!

The WTC Plaza: From what I gathered, the WTC Plaza was a really popular gathering spot to listen to musicians and such. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvVxXaJT4yo&feature=related Watch at the 2:56 mark. It's absolutely eerie.

You may be angry at her, but for the sake of your kid, I would say you shouldn't drop her stuff into a pile on the floor. At least pack her stuff up. She's doing her best to move on and I think she at least deserves the courtesy of having her husband/long-time boyfriend pack up her stuff so she can move out.