methodwriter85

JWolf, after a year absence, is back to posting more chapters of the English Year. See how our Corbin Crowley navigates his way through the spring '09 semester at Old Dominion!

I really like how you basically hinted at this, until coming right out in this chapter and admitting that Adam feels this almost personality split going on with "Peter" and "Adam", and that he has a hard time admitting to it. It'll be interesting to see if the rest of his family gets to meet "Adam", and see how they react to it.

One bit I really liked in this was how Adam didn't seem to get that Chris Baker had basically fellated him the entire year in terms of pledging. He is so insecure and so jealous of his golden boy brother and so used to being the afterthought that he doesn't get that when people view him as a "catch", even if it's in a platonic way. I thought that was a really nice, subtle background character development. Kevin O'Malley. God, something about those lanky hot stoner boys just make you lose all reason.

Glad you're writing again. Really enjoyed this chapter. I thought the section where they're at Rob Winslow's house and Adam was noting all the pictures was hilarious. I was at a New Year's party once for a guy who was able to use his parent's house, and I spent the night marveling at how many childhood photos they had managed to put up of this guy. He was CLEARLY an only child.

This guy is basically a Duran Duran super-fan: I think it's great that he's using archival boxes to store their posters. Another fan wrote a book: Back to rock stars...Stephen Jenkins from Third Eye Blind. I had such a thing for him.

Stanford Silenced Women Who Warned About Brock Turner If this is all true, and JP is still around in 2016, I feel like he would be so utterly disappointed in Stanford.

If we go with Mark's m.o. and general patterns, we should be reading about 2016 in the year 2029 or so. LOL. The lag right now seems to be between 11-13 years- the last years Mark skipped were 1996-1997. There haven't been time jumps over years since Bloodlines. That may or may not change as we go along.(Now that JJ isn't skating, I'm hoping we skip 2006. That was a pretty boring year for the most part. The only reason I wanted Mark to cover that year was because of the Winter Olympics.) I always kind of thought that if Mark ever did reach "present" time, he could do a send-off to the family we know, and then do a series based around the Cramptons in the early 19th century as they founded Claremont, or maybe something based around the Gilded Age of America. The 1870's-1900's would be a pretty interesting time period for a super-rich family, and it's an era Mark hasn't done yet. Anyway, 2004 is coming up in CAP. That was a pretty interesting year. It was the first election year I could vote in, and I still remember those 'Swiftboat Veterans for Truth' ads that SNL skewered. We also have gay marriage, the Jim McGreevey scandal (although I'm not sure that would be something West Coast people cared about), and the rise of Facebook. And Will finally turns 18. Not that it ever really mattered to the guys who he hooked up with being underaged, LOL.

Eh. Maybe they don't know. I could have sworn they did know, though. Brad's "I've been taking care of your son for 14 years" line was such a great line from that book. It was the first time that JJ's parentage since Man in Motion was mentioned.

They know that, and Matt and Wade found out about that during Millennium at the same time Ella was introduced, I think. I could be wrong. They've remained tight-lipped about JJ because the reality that his bio mother was whoring herself out to someone who was basically her uncle is just not very pleasant.

I guess. He's Rich's half-brother, and Rich is Ella's bio father, which I guess makes JJ her uncle, basically. I don't think anyone's really discussed with JJ the fact that he's Jim Crampton's son. Will doesn't even know. Of that generation, only Wade and Matt know. Meanwhile, he's got not just one but two Golden Boy brothers, both of whom everybody just seems to love and adore. (I'd be shocked if Darius wasn't prom king for Malibu High's class of 2000.) New York is definitely good for him for that reason. JJ should get a gossip/society blog. I bet he'd be amazing at it. The one thing about him is that even though he's not the best at friendships/relationships, he can be really keen at observing people.

I watched a couple of documentaries on Duran Duran. They really were gorgeous. Still look pretty damn good for men in their 50's: It's pretty cool they're still going for it after all these decades. They're touring the U.S. this summer...they should be in California this July if you want to see them, Mr. M. Here's a video about it:

Aww. I thought you guys would like this story... Tony Dow of Leave It To Beaver Is Reunited With His First Car After 51 Years So sweet. I like to picture that this is what Frank is like- a sweet old grandpa who will occasionally regale you with stories of his youth in the 1960's. (Well, more like 1950's for him. Frank is about 9 years older than Tony Dow.) And yeah, that's one "cherry" car, to use old Californian slang. (Per the commentary for Fast Times At Ridgemont High.) Cars play SUCH a big part in this story, and I think it's kind of sweet to see a story happen with one of the CAP "faces" that could totally be a story on CAP. (And pretty much is- J.P. has Steven's old car, and Brent or Trent is restoring Jeff's 1968 El Dorado.) I wonder if we'll ever see one of the 1980's cars show up, although they don't seem to be as loved as 60's cars. Ace would get SO much love at a car show if he still somehow had his Delorean.

At the end of the day though...you really think Stefan would have turned down young Ashton Kutcher (or another hot young guy) just because he was wearing a trucker hat? I mean, Stefan lived through the 1970's. If he could survive that era, he'd be able to tolerate anything.

JP strikes me as someone who'd still be pretty spry at 80. I would be guessing by this point, he's moved back to Claremont on at least a part-time basis and is busy with forming good committees with good people to continue Claremont's revival, as well as Claremont Tech's expansion. I wonder if Jim would still be around at this point. He should be about 90, right? Him and Steven were about 17 when Pearl Harbor hit, and I think he was always supposed to be about a decade older than J.P. Weird to think of a guy in his 90's having an illicit son who's barely in his 30's. But really, I do think most of JP's contemporaries would be dying off now, right? I don't think Frank would be alive in 2016. I think he'd make it to his early 70's, but not his 80's. JP I can see living to 100, but not Frank.

Starting the "Song A Day" challenge...picking one song that represents each year from your life. 1985 is "In-Between Days" by the Cure:

Yeah, I had a crush on him from when he did Alpha Dog back when he was a kid. Man, this sucks. I honestly thought he was set to become one of the leading character actors of his generation.

Oh my god, I loved seeing dkstories and Private Tim going at it in the political forum. Like, just get a room, you know? Do Over was a wonderful piece of time travel fiction, but I thought it started being overkill when he made like 3 sequels. How the HELL did a topic this old get revived in the Lounge? I thought the archive only went back 4 pages.

I think Van and Matt (On the Mark Matt) both kind of inspired the Hayes ideal, because there is a bit of variety with them. I think Matt kind of adds in that mid-western Alpha Guy act. I think in personality, Matt seems closer to someone like Tony, i.e. He Who Shall Not Be Named. Mark has said that the Hayes face is basically based on Wally Cleaver from Leave It To Beaver, especially the eyes. I'm assuming that means he had a friend who resembled young Tony Dow. LOL. Anyway, I recently discovered a Scottish 1970's pop band called The Bay City Rollers after watching this great BBC documentary called Rollermania on them. I thought they were just a one-hit wonder who did the song called "Saturday Night" but apparently they were absolutely huge worldwide from 1974-1977, but then dropped off big time by 1978. I gotta admit, there's some kind of inexplicable appeal to them. Here's some Bay City Roller songs I probably would have tried adding in as the (early) part of the story was contemporary to when they were big: "Give A Little Love" "I Only Want to Be With You" "Money Honey" "Rock N Roll Love Letter" "You Made Me Believe In Magic" "Strangers in the Wind" Do any of you guys remember them? They had a pretty fascinating, trainwreck kind of history. They wound up being completely ripped off by their manager and their record company, and they all wound up having a pretty tough time of it after their days as teen idol pin-ups were over. Anyway, you gotta love unabashed 70's pop. I can't see Mark being into them, though.

Aww, how can you not like the Four Seasons? They're a wonderful oldies group. "Big Girls Don't Cry" in Dirty Dancing and "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" from Ten Things I Hate About You were just wonderful music choices. But yeah, Jersey Boys sucked. At least the movie version did. I can't speak to the musical version. I did think Erich Bergen was cute, though. Here's an interesting fact though- "Saturday Night" by the Bay City Rollers inspired the Ramones to make "Blitzkrieg Bop."

There was. It was called The Boy From Oz, starring Hugh Jackman as gay songwriter Peter Allen. There was also a musical on Boy George called Taboo, although it wasn't a jukebox musical. I think the Bay City Rollers would actually make a pretty good musical. You've got the crazy, tacky costumes, the exuberant pop music, and the big downfall that befalls the group. You also have a gay manager who may or may not be evil, a lead singer who may or may not be interested in men, a member who may or may not be interested in looking at little kids, a member who becomes addicted to amphetamines, a member who can't stand playing a teen idol when he's pushing 30, and a forty year battle to reclaim royalties that the band says are due to them. And of course, you get the reunion when they're in their 50's/60's. (Well, semi-reunion.) It would also have inherent late Baby Boomer/early Gen Xer nostalgia appeal to it.

Chapter 34 -When Marc and Brad have a lunch date that seems to suggest that they're finally over the drama of their break-up. "We Are Going To Be Friends" by The White Stripes -When JJ contemplates art and life. (And death.) "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" by The Dream Academy

Aww. I loved the Paul Walker reference. He really was such a handsome guy. I'll always remember him as the 1950's hottie from Pleasantville. Anyway, Mark liked this male model I picked for Patrick Christian, Ella's designer boyfriend: His name is Heath Hutchins...former Southern college football player turned model. He underwent a big transformation in order to become a fashion model as well...it's funny watching this interview of him from when he was a college football player. You can barely tell it's the same guy. He had to drop about 50 pounds of muscle mass to do this.

University of Delaware has something we call Alumni Weekend, where hordes of former Blue Hens come back and visit campus to relive their past, including and up to staying in the dorms. I wound up spending a nice afternoon with a couple that I knew in passing at UD, Johanna and Chris. Johanna was an R.A. with my friend Stephen, and we wound up connecting at his memorial two years ago. Jo and Chris live in Queens, and had ridden the bus down here. This was their first time at Alumni Weekend. (They were class of 2009, a year ahead of me.) I met them at a gaming store. We hit Duck Donuts, then sampled beer at Growler's, and then made a trek over to the shuttered Dickinson Hall, where she and Steve were R.A.'s at. Along the way, we talked about our lives- where we've been, where we want to go, and all the angst in between. Jo also has the angst of getting a master's degree and realizing that she can't use it. (She's switched over to education- I believe she was originally trying to do media.) Chris is an urban planner, which is something I've been interested in. And we're all in a shitload of student loan debt, which Jo is about to add more to as she's going back to school for an education degree. I also talked to them about all the changes in Newark, which have been pretty numerous as building after building gets knocked down in order to create yet more student housing apartments with retail (that often goes unused) on the first floor is getting pretty different from the Newark of today. When we got to Dickinson Hall, I told them about how I used to process my grieving process by standing outside this dorm, and just remembering. Then we all just talked about the memories we had of this place. Pretty crazy to think of all of the thousands and thousands of people that lived in that complex for over 40 years. All these stories that we'll never know took place within those walls, and the whole thing is going to be gone soon. Depressing, but that place gave me some great memories, even though I never lived there. Then we walked over to Elkton Rd. (or South Main Street), then went up Amstel, then cut through the Ewing Kirkbride Complex to get back to Main Street. We sat down on the brick borders surrounding Kirkbride to share our memories of the Kirkbride Jesus Guy, a c and how we're all going to hell. I wound up having dinner at Homegrown with them and another couple...it was nice. Seriously nice. I love my buddies at work, but I really, really needed conversation with people my own age who understand my Millennial angst bullshit. We part ways after a second trip to Duck Donuts, and I felt really good. There's some really dumb shit going on in my life (the worry about bills, the worry about my future, my lack of a car of my own), but it was nice to remember that excited young college kid that I once was, and how much fun that period in my life brought me. Not to say that there wasn't plenty of angst to go around during my early 20's, but there was so much to experience then. It also just felt nice to talk to people that *get* what it's like to have gone through college and then ended up in a menial job, and struggling with the thought of going back to school to try and get a more marketable degree. Not to mention being able to talk about my grieving of Stephen, because as I've said, all of my mutual friends with him left the area, and I didn't really get to be around his memorial two years ago. Anyway, it was a nice day and made me happy.

Given that Stanford plays a HUGE part in this story, I thought I'd post this: All-American Stanford Swimmer Found Guilty of Raping Unconscious Woman Wow. That statistic is eye-opening: of 175 reported sexual assaults on campus between 1997 to 2009, only FOUR of them were formally adjudicated by Stanford. That is just mind-boggling to me. You would figure that would be the case at some party school like WVU, not one of the most prestigious academic universities in the country that has near-Ivy League status. I can just picture JP reading this article and shaking his head. It's absolutely crazy to me that this is somehow being treated like some "grey" area rape- there were freaking witnesses that saw this poor, unconscious girl getting raped behind a dumpster and the guy RAN because he was afraid of being caught. It's unbelievable that he's getting six months in county jail for what he did.

I'm posting this picture I found on Reddit, because I laughed at how this former emo kid is basically cringing at how he dressed at 16, without realizing that he's still following a very prevalent trend in his 20's: Emo boys should be showing up at this point, but we really hit the peak emo thing circa 2005-2006, which contrasted against the Retro 80's preppie look that other guys were doing. I like to picture Stefan and JJ reacting in horror when they see one of these creatures. As for the current stuff...I'm kind of getting sick of the scraggly beard and buzzcut look right now, but what can you do? I find myself longing for the days of sideswept surfer boy Zac Efron hair that I was never, ever able to do.