methodwriter85

It's a new year, so I guess it's time to look back on the old one. For me, the dominant theme was my continued grief process into accepting Steve's death. It wasn't every day, like the end of 2013 was, but there were moments where things would just flare up every month or every two/three months. I still don't feel like the same guy I was when Steve died, and I haven't quite let go of the idea that I was supposed to have met up one day with Steve in our 50's, at our old favorite college bars, and have a chat with him over my favorite beer. It's shaped me- I'm a little sadder, a little less of a cheerful person, but I wouldn't trade the six years I had Steve as my brother for anything. I really wouldn't. I can say that for six years, I had a friend I knew I could talk to in the middle of the night about anything, and who knew everything there was to know about me when I was 21 to 24 and still liked me anyway. There are people who never experience that, and I'm so glad that I did. We never had a "t.v." kind of friendship, you know, where there were all these crazy hijinks and big moments. It was just a bunch of little moments- which sadly I didn't really take the time to take pictures of (save for one) because I always knew that Steve would be around no matter what, even if it was just at the end of a phone call. I don't have that anymore, and I miss it a lot, but I know I've moved on. Seeing Steve's parents, seeing his old high school friends, and mourning with the people who loved him really helped me a lot. Most of the people that knew Steve aren't in Delaware anymore...so I had to give people second-hand accounts when I tallked to them. And as well-intentioned as they were, they viewed Steve through the lens of "Oh, this was some 27-year old idiot who died from a drug overdose." I needed to be around people who loved him, too. I was disappointed that I missed the formal memorial, but again...I had this whole t.v. image of how it was supposed to go, and it didn't happen, but in the end I made the connections I needed to make when I was there. There is nothing that means more to me than the moment when Steve's parents came up to me and told me they felt like they knew me, because he had talked about me so much. Ditto for when Steve 's dad said how much they loved the picture I took of Steve- so much so that they enlarged it and put it in a frame. I needed that. I really did. It helped me realize that this wasn't some bad dream, and that I wasn't just imagining this...being so far removed from the "grief hub" made it easy to feel that way. Life is absurd and strange, and it really was that weekend I went up for the memorial, but it was absurd in a way that made think about the fact that while 23-year Me as well as the person that Steve brought out of me were gone, there's still a lot to go and things to learn and do because I still have my entire life ahead of me. As for the employment stuff, I won't deny I'm still angry about my internship crashing and burning, and being demonized by people I thought I could trust. But I got through it, bit by bit...volunteering with Newark History Museum helped...working odd-end jobs helped...so I feel good. In any event, it wasn't like 2013, where I had a paying job for exactly the first week of that year. I was actually employed for the bulk of the year. I've finished my Holiday retail jobs, and I'm about to get back on the interview train...we'll see where things go. I'm getting to a point where I'm thinking seriously about going back to school- either to get a PhD in history, or maybe another master's degree, this time in urban planning. I'm going to give myself the end of 2015 to make a decision about that. I do think, and have the feeling, that I'm on the right track, but we'll see if it pays off this year.

So now that we're half-way done with this decade, here are the trends I associate with young guys getting into during the first half of the 2010's: 1. Tank tops in funky prints or colors...no more white or black wifebeaters. 2. The Henley shirt revival. They were popular in the late 90's/very early 00's, and they came back again. (I really like this one- it's such a flattering look as long as you have broad shoulders!) 3. Facial hair, from scruff to beards to full-on huge beards to weirdly groomed mustaches. The latter was mostly a Hipster thing, but even white-collar and preppy guys were at least getting into scruff. The carefully shaved metrosexual look was out. 4. Tattoos. Not just the whole "Oh, I'll put a barbed wire tattoo on my bicep" type that Private Tim's generation did, but doing like full-sleeves, writing messages, and what I deemed the "necklace" look." I'll admit I haven't been a fan of that one. I don't mind tats if they're subtle, but a lot of guys seem to be going overboard. I absolutely can't stand the one where guys are putting a bird with spread wings on the front of their chest- that tattoo should be on their back! 5. Flat front shorts. And of course, 6. The undercut haircut I tried to do that look, but my hair is just too coarse and wire to pull that off.

Thanks. I remember 8 Mile hitting pretty hard and fast at the closing months of 2002...there were people calling for Eminem to get an Oscar nomination. I've never seen the movie, but it hasn't really aged well, from what I understand, but the song has held up well.

Yeah. It had this kind of 80's new wave vibe to it that I liked a lot.

Has anyone gotten into this? It's a podcast where people discuss a murder that happened in 1999, of Baltimore high schooler Hae Min Lee, a South Korean immigrant. Her boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted of her murder. He's maintained his innocence. It's become popular enough that SNL did a parody about it. Here's an New Yorker article about the hit podcast: What “Serial” Really Taught Us - The New Yorker What “Serial” Really Taught Us - The New Yorker The podcast gave millions of people what felt like a personal connection to the realities of criminal prosecution. View on www.newyorker.com Preview by Yahoo Here's a link to the website of the podcast. I think it's pretty interesting that we get to kind of "imagine' the case and how it unfolds, rather than just watching it on T.V.

Chapter 34 -When JJ pulls out a show-stopping performance that wins him the title of U.S. Eastern Sectionals Champ. "Lose Yourself" by Eminem I pretty much always planned on using this one for JJ. Glad we got to a point where I could use it, and it was period-appropriate. This was probably the "peak" of Eminem, so to speak. I knew so many Eminem wannabees back in the late 90's/early 2000's. Weird to think he's like 41 or 42 now.

I liked that character...I think he would have been good for Will; not so sure about JJ. Unfortunately it just doesn't make that much sense for either him or Ryan (who I liked) to show up since they're probably both busy being juniors at Harvard-Westlake while Will's going to school in Palo Alto and JJ's operating out of Boston now. JJ managed to hold on to his virginity until he was almost 17. That feels like a record for this current CAP generation, LOL. It's interesting to see how JJ makes actual skating history "diverge" a bit, as Parker Pennington was the winner of the real 2003 Eastern Sectionals. I like how Mark's blending in the real skaters with our fictional ones. I really, really, really hope we see the 2003 U.S. Nationals, because that was known as the '"Disaster" championship where Johnny Weir messed up royally and other male skaters followed. JJ's reaction to Johnny Weir would be priceless. Mark's already set up them hating each other.

Alex from Target was featured on ABC's The Year in Review. Seriously though, how does this kid go back to being a normal 11th grade kid after a whirlwind like this?

So these were the tunes that I enjoyed in 2014- give it a listen! Methodwriter85's 2014 Playlist 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. " by the Chainsmokers (This kinda felt like a modern-day take on Valley Girl by Frank Zappa.) 7. 8. 9. " 10. 11. " (I enjoyed it before it got played a million times) 12. " 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18." 20. 21." 22. " 23. The homage to Robert Palmer was so cool. She blew the hell out of Shania Twain's homage. I don't think 2014 was as good as 2011 and 2012 were, but I still enjoyed this year's music.

Let's be honest here- I think the main benefit that they're trying to go for here is appealing to developers who want to create riverfront property that people would actually want to live on. Anyway... No NFL Team for '15; Raiders Extend Lease Are there any Angelenos who actually want a football team/stadium? It doesn't seem like a big priority. Aside from college football, California in general seems like more a basketball state, followed by baseball. (Isn't the Dodgers fan-base like criminally crazy or something?) I do vaguely remember when the Raiders were in Los Angeles. I remember seeing L.A. Raiders gear somewhere. It is kind of funny though to think that the 2nd biggest city in the country doesn't have an NFL team, meanwhile a small city like Green Bay does.

Happy birthday, Greg!!! To celebrate, I'm going to post a favorite tune of mine from your youth!

Blue, I can see where your point on that...as much as we might malign ugly/artistic architecture, I prefer that than seeing yet another "new building trying to look old" stuff that I'm seeing so much of going up around my old college town of Newark. Seriously, three or four story brick façade apartment buildings with retail on the first floor have spread like wildflowers in Newark, Delaware and are so unimaginative. Anyway....Army Corps Know Reevaluating Billion Dollar L.A. Rehab Well, that didn't take long. Piggyback Yard doesn't exactly seem that keen to give the land up. But in more positive news...check out the potential designs for the new bridge that will cross the river at Glendale/Griffith's Park! I'm digging Option E.

So in this week's lighthearted, "awww" news, a young Toronto man found an Elizabeth Gallagher to take around with him around the world during Christmas. See, he booked these tickets for his girlfriend, Elizabeth Gallagher, but they broke up. Since the tickets are non-refundable/ non-transferrable (but passport information is not required), he could only take an Elizabeth Gallagher who had a Canadian passport. He found her in Nova Scotia, a young 23-year old student with plans to become a social worker. She has a serious boyfriend, which promises to keep this platonic. Still, what a cute story! They'll document their trip around the world and I hope they become good friends after this! That's good on the woman's fiancé, though, that he's willing to be okay with his girlfriend going on a three-week trip around the world with a total stranger. Would any of you be willing to do this, provided that whoever you go on this trip with is thoroughly vetted and background-checked? In any event, it's such a warm fuzzy story.

Zach is 17, and probably counting down the days to his 18th birthday on June 12th, 2003. I wonder how much awful Christian rock music Zach is probably making himself listen to in front of his schoolmates. I also wonder if he's wearing one of those "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets. I remember those being pretty popular with the Uber-Christian crowd back then.

That's pretty scary, Rustle. Glad you never had anything more than an encounter with David Brooks. It's just crazy to think that so many guys from the same neighborhood disappeared in a 3-year time span, and no one put it together. I'm pretty sure that's why Dean Corll picked them. Young good-looking guys tend to associate with other young good-looking guys, even though they're not attracted sexually. He wouldn't have picked guys that were fat or ugly because they wouldn't have attracted good-looking guys. There was a story that someone posted about how he saw James Dremayla (the last victim) at the swimming pool with the two, and said they were going to go to a party together. His instincts were screaming about the two, so he didn't go with them, thank god. Too bad James didn't- he looked like a very trusting, naïve 13-year old kid who probably just wanted some cool older guys to pay attention to him.

Wow, that's pretty crazy. Did you ever meet Dean Corrll or Elmer Wayne Henley? Did David Owen Brooks ever invite you to go "to a party"?

David Brooks, an accomplice in the Houston Mass Murders of the early 1970's, is up for parole. A teenager at the time, he and fellow Houston teen Elmer Wayne Henley lured 28 teenage boys to home of Dean Corll, who raped, tortured, and murder them. At the time, it was the largest victim toll for serial killers in history. I think it's a pretty fascinating case, because it said a lot about class politics and the mindset of the time period- all these kids were just written off as runaways, and since they weren't from affluent families it just wasn't that much of a priority for the police department. Parents weren't that tightly controlling of their children's whereabouts back then, and it was a time when it was normal for teenagers to hitchhike or run away. From a modern viewpoint, there's just something incredibly insidious about the fact that Dean Corll was able to make dozens of teenaged boys disappear from the same neighborhood, and no one in charge of protecting the public put it together. I think modern police tactics would make it hard to replicate something like Dean Corll or John Wayne Gacy again, not to mention the fact that teenagers are so plugged in and wired these days- if one went missing, people would notice pretty fast, especially if you're talking about teenagers from stable families. Do any of you old-timers here remember the case? I think it's incredible that this guy put up numbers comparable to John Wayne Gacy but isn't remembered that much. Here's an article about a guy who wrote about the case in his book The Lost Boys: The Houston Mass Murders: What Really Happened The Houston Mass Murders: What Really Happened A Q&A with Skip Hollandsworth, author of “The Lost Boys.” View on www.texasmonthly.com Preview by Yahoo It's crazy to think there might still be undiscovered victims that we'll never know about, and they're still trying to identify victims forty years later.

Riley won't be 18 until 2018. If CAP continues at its current year lag, we won't see 2018 CAP until it's 2030 in our world. Well, he could always pull a Will when he's 14, but I can't see a Danfield kid doing that and risking embarrassing the family. He couldn't really silently do that because Wade is so high-profile and the tabloids absolutely love U.S. political family dirt. I do think Wade, Matt, and Tiffany will be much healthier when it comes to parenting their kids than Brad, Robbie, and Jeanine were.

Btw, have you seen Wolf Of Wall Street? Mark signed off on Margot Robbie as Mary Ellen: The Wolf of Wall Street Hot Scene (NSFW) Brooklyn accent aside, I can SOOOOOO see Mary Ellen pulling something like that with a boyfriend/husband. Margot Robbie in any event was such a little scene stealer. I'm not usually one for blonde bombshell actresses but she rocked the hell out of her part in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Do you have any feelings about the developer maligned here, Blue? Is Geoffrey Palmer Destroying Downtown L.A.? We had a developer in central Delaware, called Zimmerman, who built a bunch of shitty cheap buildings that included a gaudy 'Z' in the mid-2000's, but then got screwed by the economy crashing. I think he's under indictment now.

This would have made an awesome soundtrack choice for when Brad and Robbie went through their break-up drama in Millennium: "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift As I've said before, I'm absolutely obsessed with Sean O'Pry right now. Dear god. Also, JJ's general storyline about him losing his virginity to Alex and the like. "White Houses" by Vanessa Carlton I gotta admit, I really thought we were going to get this storyline more like in 2004 when JJ was 18, which would have allowed me to use this tune, but eh. I'm still kinda surprised that Mark gave JJ his first love interest at 16 because that's not really THAT unusual or "late bloomer", but I guess that's supposed to contrast with Will who got into this stuff at 13.

"Night Changes" by One Direction

Chapter 29 -When Wade sends Hammer off on his way to the Peace Corps in Africa. "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve That will always be one of my favorite movie endings involving comeuppance. Sarah Michelle Gellar in Cruel Intentions is basically how I picture Bitty.

It's been a weird couple of days. I turned 29 yesterday, and on November 29th, I commemorated the 1st year anniversary of my close friend Steve's death. Basically, I drove over to where Steve's old dorm where he was an R.A. and I spent a shit ton of time with him, and I got out a small candle and the prayer card that I got from Steve's memorial. It was actually kind of funny- I cried on my way there, but when I actually got to the dorm, I was pretty calm. I didn't really do much for my birthday- no birthday cake, no cards, no party. I did get some well-wishes, and I'm expecting that I'll get my birthday gifts for Christmas. I'll do something with one of my friends when he gets some free time- he said he owes me a night getting drunk once he's done with family time. Part of me wanted to do big stuff, but the other part of me was pretty content with what I did do- make a steak, then go over to my old college hangout bar to have an Angry Orchard and then listen to a good cover band. I also saw a stage play of It's A Wonderful Life at the local community theater, which was fun. Basically, it was set up like a 1940's radio station doing a radio broadcast of It's A Wonderful Life, with the actors voicing different characters. It definitely lifted my spirits, considering that I'm stuck in this soul-crushing retail stock boy job that I absolutely hate and can't wait to be let go from. I miss being excited for birthdays, but I kept thinking about how this is another birthday Steve won't get to celebrate. He missed his 28th birthday, and he'll miss his 29th. I think it's a combo of really hating this retail job and missing Steve that kept me from bouncing up and down for it. I'm grateful I had this birthday, for sure. It was just a pretty quiet one.

Thanks guys!