methodwriter85

Hey, I have a question- do high school upperclassmen and college kids mix in the Malibu social scene? Or is it more segregated? What colleges are in the area that lean on the conservative side and have a decent football program? Would a college kid from that area party with high schoolers?

Right. It started switching over to being a girl's name after it being Darryl Hannah's character in the movie Splash.

I was thinking a boy and a girl, but eh, whatever goes. We probably won't even know in this story since it's ending in March 2000. Maybe if Tiffany has a boy she'll name him Danfield Hinkleback-Graves or Carrswold Hinkleback-Graves. I kinda like that a lot- AND it's totally trendy(for 2000) to name a baby after a surname. Danfield or Carrswold would both work well for first names for a boy, I think.

Well, I was thinking Madison because that was a top girl name. Maybe Edward instead of Jacob?

Let's go with Hinkleback. The kids could be named Jacob Hinkleback-Graves and Madison Hinkleback-Graves. I do think a hyphenated name needs to be in there. Very 2000's. Anyway, chapter 58...glad the referendum passed. Let's hope they can save the town! For you trivia-mad people....Mark and I worked out the grade configurations of Gen 4. Darius and Gathan are the class of 2000. Ella is the class of 2001. Zach Hayes would be the class of 2003. JJ, Marie, and Will are all in the class of 2004. And John would be the class of '05. So currently, JJ and Will are in 8th grade...Will dating Drew reminded me of how it never worked out whenever an 8th grader tried to date a sophomore. Funny the little ways CAP reflects real-life sometimes.

Mark's written her as being a natural blue-eyed blond, so I would assume she is. Going by that, I'd say she's either Irish, Scottish, Polish, German, or Swede. Or Dutch. I've assumed the Hayes family is Aryan German. They're too bulky and big-boned to be Irish. And they have rounder noses, which is more of a German thing. The Irish tend to be skinnier with sharper facial features. Mark's got a thing for blonds/blondes, and redheads- ever notice how most of the protagonists are blond, some of them blond with red highlights? The only dark-haired protagonist is/was Brad. I'm normally into dark-haired guys, but I gotta say he's turned me on to the charms of the fairer-haired.

I started my second semester of grad school this week. The workload is pretty intimidating, but I think I got it down by this point. I hope, anyway. One thing that struck me is how much more relaxed I feel as opposed to that first week of grad school. Everything- god I just felt like I couldn't breate. I spent the night before my first classes that semester reading the reflections of a woman who dropped out of her PhD program. I was positive that I would flunk out. And I did pretty well. I think that's given me a confidence going forward. Now I just have to recalibrate and figure out how to balance this new semester schedule.

See, I'm already ahead of you. I plan on using a Faith Hill song pretty soon. Anyway...the movie that Robbie passed on... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q3ltyPJJMQ&feature=feedf American Beauty. God, what a great movie. "Today I quit my job, and I blackmailed my boss for almost 60,000 dollars. Pass the asparagus." LOL. I had the biggest crush on Wes Bentley in that.

Something Irish. I like the idea of Tiffany coming from a big, tight-knit Irish-Catholic family. Gives her something similar to Jeanine, coming from a big, Italian-Catholic family from New Jersey. (I'm assuming it's the part of New Jersey that was hit hard by 9/11.) God Mark, you always keep us guessing. That's what I love about you. The only predictable storylines you have would be Cody-the-sage-advice-giver-working-his-way-through-the-CAP-family and Every-Crampton/Schluter-Boy-Gets-A-Hayes. Everything else, we always have to guess...keeps things exciting. Anyway, the cell phone conversation...it's weird to remember that cell phones used to be a status symbol, and that it wasn't common for kids to have them. Just a couple of short years later, it was common for 9-year olds to have them. I wonder how Gathan, Ella, and Zach are going to be influenced by getting into that family....their parents are right not to want them to become spoiled. Look at how Brian turned out. Zach's parents are Wally and Clara Hayes. Wally was one of the cousins that raped Robbie, but he's pretty contrite and has worked his way into a comfortable lower middle-class existence as a garbage man. Zach's 14, which puts him in the same age group as JJ and Will, although probably about a year ahead- maybe 8th or 9th grade. That's why I'm guessing he's going to play a role a role in Will and JJ's coming of age, while Gathan seems likely to be part of Matt and Wade's, going by age. The kid they bought a cell phone for awhile back was Caleb, Matt's maternal half-brother. I think he should be about 17 now.

I have to admit, the scenario about Tiffany dragging Matt and Wade through custody hell is so much more interesting than, "And the lesbians with their kids sired by surrogate fathers lived happily ever after..." Knowing Mark's M.O., I think it's going to much more complcated than that.

I don't think that'd cause an issue with them- both Matt and Wade pretty much seem to enjoy having sex with both men and women, but they also seem to consider themselves gay because there's more of an emotional pull to men. Brad's continually marveled at the sexual fluidity of the new generation of guys.

Chapter 57 -When Brad and Robbie decide to replace the bad f**k vibes of Claremont High's locker room. "Hot-Blooded" by Foreigner One of the things I really like about this story is that since it's less about 2000 and more about the two men coming to terms with their adolescence and their present selves, so I've felt carte blanche to branch out from limiting the songs to 1998-2000 like I usually do. Hot-Blooded is a great song.

Heh. Well, I think I've served you pretty well as a muse over the past two years. The only real bad mis-step I've had was convincing you that doing a story on Marcel would be a great idea so you could get that Generation Xer perspective in CAP. God. Still living that one down.:wacko: I liked Brad's conversation with that Zach kid. I guess he's likely destined to play a part in JJ and Will's coming of age, huh? Glad he seems likeable so far.

Good point. I guess I just didn't think of NYC and D.C. being that much of a commute, especially considering how they're linked by trains. Although eh, like someone said, they could be broken up by then. But Wade really is part of that family, regardless of whether or not he winds up married to Matt. Although I'm not even sure they'd get "married"- they don't seem like the "let's get married and raise a family" type like Brad and Robbie were. And sometimes it worries me how I talk about these characters like they're real people. LOL.

Still, the winters aren't that long, you're not subjected to subzero temperatures, and when March rolls around, you get the beauty of cherry tree blossoms... Anyway, whether or not Wade moves back to DC to pursue politics, he's still pretty much a part of the family. And it's not like these people don't have private jets so as to facilitate their continental lifestyles.

Here's another On the Mark character I'm picturing... Austin Butler for Derek, Mark's doomed friend from the wrong side of the hill?

D.C., with a humid subtropical climate, is the land of snow & ice? Huh? Their winters get maybe a foot of snow each year. I think you're thinking of Minnesota there, buddy. *wink*

Well, if Wade becomes a lobbyist or something in D.C. after graduation, I was thinking that Matt being in New York City would make having a long-distance relationship easier than if Matt stayed in California. It's not like Matt would exactly be hurting for work for most of the next decade if he were in New York. I think Wade would start with Hilary, but then he'd jump for Obama when Hilary starts looking less likely. Although being that Wade is from a Southern family, I could see Wade being really attracted to the idea of working for a black candidate as a subconcious means to atone for his family uses slaves to grow their tobacco empire way back.

Maybe Matt could wind up working for Bear Stearns after he finishes his MBA circa 2004-2005? That could make an '08 story even more interesting. Matt working as a rising investment banker in New York City while making the commute every weekend to see Wade in DC, who's campaigning for Obama. Working at Enron seems a little too soon for Matt- he'd be just out of undergrad in spring '02. Even with connections he'd still end up in the mail room- so maybe he could be a rising player in Bear Stearns in '05-'08 instead?

Maybe when JJ has his own story, he can have a flashback to his great-grandmother dying when he was about six years old, in 1992? He's already got lots of family stuff to deal with, so why not add a flashback about that? I kinda like the idea of it being one of Brad's kids remembering her death, which occurred in their childhood.

I'm not saying they won't be in the lives of whatever kids come out of this, but c'mon...I don't think Tiffany and Jeanine expect or intended for the biological fathers to have an active role in parenting here. The parents are Tiffany and Jeanine here. I think they would understand and respect that.

It had to have happened somewhere between the fall of 1991 (which is where A Summer Love ends) and the spring of 1995 (which is where If It Fits begins.) I didn't really mind Tonto dying off-book...there are gap years, and we can't be with these characters EVERY year.

The thing they have to remember, though, is that Jeanine and Tiffany are the parents here. They're the sperm donors. While I have no doubt in my mind that Jeanine and Tiffany will allow them lots of visitation and involvement, Robbie/Brad and Matt/Wade aren't really going to be parenting these kids. It'll be interesting to see how that works out- like if they get hesitant when they're presented with termination of parental status papers. As for the Stefan...good point about Escorial needing an infusion of youth. Although Matt and Wade spend time there, don't they?

Thanks, Ivy. I'm not musical myself- I can't sing and I can't play an instrument, but I do really love music, and a wide variety at that. I use a lot of Wikipedia and billboard charts to come up with song choices, as well as looking at movie soundtracks. Chapter 56 -When Robbie works through his sense of guilt about leaving his cousin's children in the dust, and then he and Brad make love. "17 Again" by Eurythmics -When Gathan discusses his college choices with Robbie and Brad. "Be True To Your School" by the Beach Boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4dHkSAciJs

It's pretty exciting that we're seeing the rise of a new generation of characters. I wonder when the official "handoff" begins. September 11th might be a good place- it was a huge generational touchstone, like the Pearl Harbor for Generation Y.