methodwriter85

I actually had a conversation with a girl from the White Rock Lake area of Dallas who told me about a rave club in Dallas called After Life. I guess raves actually became more of a thing AFTER your youth in in your area. Here, they were popular around 1999-2002, but then seemed to die out. It's kinda interesting to wonder about what this next generation of kids will get into as they come-of-age in the 2000's. What if Will got into parkour? It 's a pretty interesting subulture that emerged in the past decade, and it'd be a way to make Will his own character instead of just having him be into surfing like his father. I can see parkour being something that a guy like Will could be into- it's almost poetry, the way these guys work: There is no way in hell JJ would ever dirty himself like that, fussy fella that he is, but I can see the quiet intensity that Will has working for something like parkour.

Hey, Nephie, if you like him in scruff, you'd like this picture. http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l2j5ycledc1qc0skdo1_500.jpg God. Ian Somerhalder has to have one of the most beautiful male faces I've ever seen.

LOL. Mark, you missed your calling...you should've been a high school counselor, I think.;-) Anyways, I've got a team that I'm pulling for that is doing well. It's pretty nice.

This one's for you, Mark.

Chapter 14 -When Steven checks out Nathan while he sleeps. "Who Wouldn't Love You" by Kay Kyser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-54ixopJw8

Nah, I'm more broad-shouldered and stocky, although I do have the tree-trunk legs Nathan has. Back to the story...Brad is bringing up the events of 1985. Hmm. Wonder if that's signifcant, or foreshadowing something...maybe Brad and Robbie still have some issues to work through...

I don't think Darius will want to join the military, given the shit he's likely going to get for being middle-Eastern. As for the story...Nathan and Steven...I kinda like 'em. Maybe it's because Nathan reminds me of a guy I know, physically. Although Nathan isn't as dumb as a box like my sweet but really dumb friend is.

The only Hayes I can think of that could fit that would be Fred the Third, who we saw in Bloodlines harrassing Matt. I'm assuming he's the son of Fred Junior, and he must've been one of the cousins who raped Robbie back during the fall of '79. So he's roughly the same age as Robbie. Did he say in the story that he had kids? I think the only thing we knew for sure is that he's the town resident drunk. If he had kids though, I wouldn't see much of a point bringing them in because they're prolly just as abusive white trash as their dad is...Robbie doesn't seem to have a high opinion of his cousins or their kids. I'm assuming his brother and sister didn't have kids, because Frank seems to treat Matt as the only grandkid he's ever had. Of course, it's just as likely his two oldest shut out Frank and Robbie and sided with their mother and her church.

Wasn't that kind of the point of bringing in Matt Carrswold? It looked like the Hayes family was dying out because Marcel and Robbie weren't going to have biological kids, and Mark Arbour brought in Matt, which created a new generation of Hayes. I'm convinced that the Hayes family must be the gayest family. Ever. Even Frank experimented a little on the gay side. But back to Mat Carrswold and Danfield...for 9/11, they're seniors at Stanford. Still together, or do you think they've had a riff? Maybe Matt is visiting Danfield in D.C. that fateful summer?

I like to read obituraries, and I love walking around graveyards and reading grave stones. I love grave stones. Unfortunately, because I plan on getting cremated, I can't have one. It'll be a memorial plaque instead.

Mike, JJ will be 14 in 2000. He's good, but guys that age don't compete on that high of a level yet. I asked around....male figure skaters hit their prime in their early to mid-20's. That means he will likely compete in the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. Hopefully he'll bump into Jeremy Bloom...geez, that guy is hot.

Adam, I think the fire marsal one sounds a lot like Sean. He's a leader, but in this benevolent, easy-going way that doesn't come off the least bit bossy. As for Mark- you are a pretty nice guy. You are like that witty bisexual stoner/preppy uncle I wish I had.

I guess raves were more of an East Coast/West Coast thing, then? I wasn't cool enough, but I knew kids who snuck out to raves when we were 15. Maybe Will and JJ will hit one in Los Angeles at some point? Assuming in high school they make friends with older kids. I can't see Robbie or Brad being all that parental about that considering what they got up to in high school. Or Matt and Wade can hit one in San Francisco? I remember the clothing my sisters and her friends wore for it- baggy, brightly colored cargo pants, visors, wifebeaters, the pacifers, the glow sticks, and candy necklaces for some.

Don't forget Adam's body glitter and glowing lipstick...really adds to the sexy. Nah, actually, I picture College Adam as the kinda guy who went to frat-like parties, only instead of frat kids, it was all the soccer players at his school. You know, they all sit around in their Tommy Hilfiger t-shirts over wifebeaters, baggy cargo pants, and black Adidas sandals, keying beers and such. We're in 1999 now, right? Trends to know... -Britney Spears and the pop princess explosion that included Christinia Aguilera, Mandy Moore, and Jessica Simpson. Blond girls singing pop is back in again. Accompanied by the explosion of boy bands- Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, 98 Degrees, LFO, and many others. -Latin pop explosion. Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Marc Antony, Jennifer Lopez, etc. -Electronic pets. Particularly Tamogotchi and Nanopets. Will and JJ are probably obsessed with their pets, like we were back in middle school. -Pokemon. Seriously. Meet anyone who was in middle school circa 1999, and they or someone they knew was OBSESSED with it. -Harry Potter. When it was still just a book. -IMacs. Really seemed cool back then, and in retrospect signaled the major comeback of MacIntosh. Stefan and Brad will hopefully invest in Mac stock. -Abercrombie and Fitch. Really, really explodes in popularity that year. Anything else I'm missing? -The Blair Witch Project. I feel like everyone and their mother saw that movie. Remember all the parodies people made?

Speaking of teenage angst stuff...shouldn't Brad and Robbie be helping Darius visit different colleges throughout the summer instead of reading these letters? I feel like it's custom for parents to start the college tours with their kids the summer before senior year. I just kinda realized this when replying to KJames in the 9/11 thread that summer/fall 1999 is college application time for Darius Schluter. And it's Darius's generation that things started really getting cutt-throat with admissions, right?

KJames, Darius wouldn't be applying to colleges in the fall of 2001. Trvia time- Darius was born on January 19, 1982. He's the class of 2000. Unless he takes two years off from school, Darius is going to be a sophomore in college by the time 9/11 rolls around. College application time for Darius would be the summer/fall of 1999, not the summer/fall of 2001. It was a good idea, though. Just doesn't work because of Darius's age. And I'm pretty sure Beau Danfield is straight. Didn't get any kind of gay vibe off of the character. Could be wrong, but I don't think he's supposed to be a gay character. I do like the idea of all of the Hayes grandkids being gay. LOL. But what triplets are you talking about? We don't really know much about that Generation of Hayes, just that Robbie had Matt and Matt got adopted. It doesn't seem like Robbie's brother or sister had kids, because Robbie only mentioned his cousins having kids.

They peaked and sorta went on the wane while Matt is in college, right? (late 90's/early 00's) I remember my sister used to promote the Philly rave scene circa 2000. I don't think they were popular anymore by the time I got to late high school/early college. Adam Phillips, can you weigh in on this? Were raves still going strong during your college years?

I was kinda inspired after catching the Footloose musical. It's that time of year, and for me, it'll have been 5 years ago since my senior prom. I thought I'd share some cheesy songs that were played at my prom. (May 12th, 2005 if I remember correctly. Or it might've been May 13th.) God, I love the beat of this song. It just makes you want to get up and cheer, really. True by Ryan Cabrera This was the prom king/queen dance song. I couldn't stand the guy who got voted prom king for most of high school, but we had gotten chill by senior year. The girl who got prom queen was this cool black dancer chick. I just remember the beginning of the song always made me think it was the start of "More than Worlds" by Extreme, but alas, it wasn't. The faculty set their foot down and wanted older songs played, so this oldie from 1982 made it in. It was also on the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack, which was a very popular movie when I was in 12th grade. I remember dancing to this song with my friend Kayla- she was a nice girl, and we just talked about what it meant to be graduating from high school. Anyone wanna share some prom songs with me?

Right. Whoops. Gonna change that now.

The music recs for Bloodlines are bumped up for Cyn. Just remember my word of caution: a lot of these won't work, so you'll have to take the title and artist name to find another vid on youtube that hasn't been yanked. And I'm listening to 98 Degrees. God, I loooovvvvveeeeedddd Nick Lachey.

They're somewhere else. I'll bump it up for you. Although word of caution- youtube deletes a lot of vids, so there will be music links that don't work. Still, that's why I left the song title and artist up- you'll be able to find it, I think.

Speculating about the sexualities of the kids aside...here's one thing that is for certain. They're going to throw some SICK ragers in the 'bu for high school. And this song will be on the playlist, no doubt. (By '03, when they're in 11th grade, all of these kids are going to have IPods.) I really like the beat for this. But point is, you can't really avoid hip-hop when it comes to that generation...it's a pervasive way of life. Unless you're going to a punkish/emo kid party, every high school and college generally features nothing but hip-hop music. It's going to be interesting seeing how preppy-as-hell Brad, Claire, and Robbie deal with their kids being into hip-hop. ESPECIALLY Claire. I can already imagine her horror at her daughting wanting to wear Juicy Couture sweatsuits, and the whale tail look. LOL. Anyways, how do you guys think Brad and Stefan will deal with the coming dot-com bust? Also, where do y'all think Mark is going to send Darius to college? It's coming up. Will it be Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or some place entirely different? I like the idea of him going to Columbia University. It has a really good law program, and I think Darius will be a lawyer someday. The way he took his mother down in If It Fits? Man. Awesome stuff.

I had so much fun doing the music for this story. I was 12 in 1998, so I really remember a lot of the music that came out at the time. One online friend told me I totally lost him on the music recs for this story. LOL. This one's actually a bit older than '98- from '92, but I remember it from this rather interesting scene that Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon did in a movie once. Not to mention the fact that it appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I used this as a music rec for when Matt and Danfield ride horses in Chapter 29 and have joint talk. (So I went for the obvious. Sue me.) I was TOTALLY in love with David Boreanaz when I was 12. I mean, TOTALLY. Gah. Angel was so hot. But back to Danfield...do y'all think he's the one for Matt, or is it just a college romance? I'd kinda be surprised if Matt really settled down...he seems too young for that. I don't know if I see him getting married in his early 20's like Brad did.

Performers have the special ability, even among the Artisans, to delight those around them with their warmth, their good humor, and with their often extraordinary skills in music, comedy, and drama. Whether on the job, with friends, or with their families, Performers are exciting and full of fun, and their great social interest lies in stimulating those around them to take a break from work and worry, to lighten up and enjoy life. Performers are plentiful, something over ten percent of the population, and this is fortunate, because they bring pleasure to so many of us. Performers are the people for whom it can truly be said "all the world's a stage." Born entertainers, they love the excitement of playing to an audience, and will quickly become the center of attention wherever they are. Performers aren't comfortable being alone, and seek the company of others whenever possible-which they usually find, for they make wonderful playmates. Performers are smooth, talkative, and witty; they always seem to know the latest jokes and stories, and are quick with wisecracks and wordplay-nothing is so serious or sacred that it can't be made fun of. Performers also like to live in the fast lane, and seem up on the latest fashions of dress, food, drink, and music. Lively and uninhibited, Performers are the life of the party, always trying to create in those around them a mood of eat, drink, and be merry. The Performers' talent for enjoying life is healthy for the most part, though it also makes them more subject to temptations than the other types. Pleasure seems to be an end in itself for them, and variety is the spice of life. And so Performers are open to trying almost anything that promises them a good time, not always giving enough thought to the consequences. Like the other Artisans, Performers are incurably optimistic - "Always look on the bright side," is their motto - and they will avoid worries and troubles by ignoring them as long as possible. They are also the most generous of all the types, and second only to the Composer Artisans [iSFPs] in kindness. Performers haven't a mean or stingy bone in their body-what's theirs is yours-and they seem to have little idea of saving or conserving. They give what they have to one and all without expectation of reward, just as they love freely, and without expecting anything in return. In so many ways, Performers view life as an eternal cornucopia from which flows an endless supply of pleasures. Elizabeth Taylor, John Goodman, Marylin Monroe, Judy Garland, Magic Johnson, Pablo Picasso, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Elvis, and Leonard Bernstein are examples of Performer Artisans.

Interesting story, Mike. It's sad how most preemies didn't stand a chance back in those days. Contrast that to JJ's birth in 1985, where being six weeks premature wasn't that big of a deal.