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Post by mattyboy on Sept 1, 2023 12:00:09 GMT -5
Not sure how Isaac would know Carlo to take him shopping. They both go to school in Binghampton? Or are the Casatellis bros at that Catholic school at Boomer was at for a bit? Don't think you ever nailed that down, and you could move them in for a new school year in any case. Dominic had a couple of lines in Scars that looked like they had the potential to bloom into a whole story-line. But you've got a lot there that I'd love to see. I just read Things We Lost/Found last week, so would  a Tris Malone update. |
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Post by Dabeagle on Sept 1, 2023 20:50:48 GMT -5
I saw your comments on TWL/TWF! The school Boomer went to was closed down, I think - he went to the same one as Chris Licardi (I think the school was closing and why Boomer got the chance to leave, same with Chris). I'm sure you're right about Dominic and Carlo living in Binghamton, but I'm not as sure Isaac is there. Hunter lived south of Binghamton - perhaps a suburb - so Isaac may live in the general area of Binghamton so...sure, that could be possible. I guess in my head it was kind of nebulous as to where Isaac lived exactly.
When I saw your comments/reactions on my bar I ended up re-reading part of the story and it set me in the frame of mind to make notes for those two, since we haven't seen them since 'What You Leave Behind'.
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Post by mattyboy on Sept 1, 2023 23:54:45 GMT -5
Yeah, I didn't notice anything in Family that locked down a location, but Isaac seems to be on the fringe of the Bellamy/Cole Thomas friend group that we do have located in Binghampton. And Hunter is definitely Bingo (unless that's a different Park Terrace he's living in), and he works with Kari.
Brandon and Hal's new place could be anywhere, but in the Casatelli's school district seems plausible?
My apologies, I'm coming on strong on a pretty random bit of whimsy. You offered up a excellent agenda for C4 and your other new thing, and that's fine.
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Post by Neal on Sept 2, 2023 7:12:18 GMT -5
This might be better off in Sunday Musings, but it has to do mostly with more stories about characters from the SS Universe. After reading this POST and responses, specifically " Not sure how Isaac would know Carlo to take him shopping." I got to thinking about what exactly encompasses the "Sanitaria Springs Universe" and how the many characters might or might not interact with each other. I have admitted to being a "literalist" before in this forum, not to be confused with OCD! I just wondered how the various characters would connect with each other. I'd have never done this before the 1990's. It would have required too much effort. First, I would have to get some paper, a pencil, the book that caused the questions, a Dictionary, an Atlas and maybe an Encyclopedia. Then I would have to gather the facts write them down in a draft and if I really wanted to do it right, I would put paper in a typewriter and begin to type! I took "Typing" in high school (Class of 67). Apparently, it is called "Keyboarding" now. I understood how the typewriter worked. I push a key, through a system of springs and levers another lever would strike the paper and leave an imprint. I have a vague idea how this computer works. I push a key an electrical phenomenon happens, and letters appear on my TV! If I do it right the electrical phenomenon travels out of my house, magic happens, and my questions are answered and show up on my TV! Sometimes even with moving pictures! So, with a keyboard and monitor it was too easy to do this research and occupy space and time on a Friday evening. I decided to see where everybody was with relation to Sanitaria Springs. Since I have too much time on my hands this Friday evening, I thought I'd Google the distance from the Post Office in each mentioned city to the Post Office in Sanitaria Springs. Guess what! The real Sanitaria Springs doesn't have a Post Office. Their Zip Code (13833) is for a Post Office in Port Crane, NY. So, the distances below are approximate. The Ithaca result interested me because of the 10-mile difference in travel depending on which interstate you took. The others were mostly Interstate and there were alternate routes on state roads that made time and distance vary too. SANITARIA SPRINGS, NY TO BINGHAMTON, NY is about 12 miles. TO JOHNSON CITY, NY a suburb of Binghamton, is about 15 miles. TO ALBANY, NY is about 126 miles. TROY, NY is another 6 miles. TO ITHACA, NY is about 53 to 63 miles depending on the route you take.  Sanitaria Springs characters in or from where relatively easy to figure out how they might meet and interact. Johnson City, basically a western suburb of Binghamton, NY is easy Carlos and Dominic come from there. Their spending the summer in The Springs near where Micah was made sense. Ithaca, NY is easy because I think only Kale and Chase are in school there. May be Hamster is there studying Dentistry. I'm not sure. His other half Derek is still in Sanitaria Springs restoring the old house. Albany, NY (And Troy, NY) is where Alec, Sasha, Micah, Devyn, Griffin, Robin and Lucien are now. Along with many new characters introduced in "Drafted." It is Binghampton that confuses me. To me a lot of other characters might be from there. Isaac, Hal and Brandon come to mind. I reread "Family" and where they are is never specified. The only location comments in the story are, Brandon's comments, "he was originally from the area while I had moved here from about an hour away." and " My town wasn't enormous so they..." Is Binghamton the here and was My town Sanitaria Springs?
Is Binghamton the nebulose location of the other stories on this site? It doesn't matter, mostly, until somebody asks about characters interacting in future stories. Which is the question that sent me off in this ponder. The story is "The Thing" where the events of the story happen aren't always critical to the story. Characters have popped into various stories not related to the core SS guys. Jake and Kris from The Quantum showing up in Albany comes to mind as a big cross story connection. There have been lots of other cameos recently which I really like, too. Which brings me to my conclusions about; 1. "Not sure how Isaac would know Carlo to take him shopping." In "Bloom" Isaac shops where Hunter works. Hunter lives in Park Terrace which he comments on "Park Terrace is part of Binghamton, but also thinks it's its own place. I mean, it is and it isn't. Like our school system is tied to Binghamton city schools." So, however unlikely it is, Isaac and Carlo could be going to the same consolidated high school in Metropolitan Binghamton. If so, then Carlo noticing Isaac and Marshall in school could result in contact. Although I would hope it was Isaac and Marshall taking Carlo under their wing and not breaking them up. 2. Isaac, Hal and Brandon, must live in Metropolitan Binghampton. Wow. It took you a lot less time to read this than it did to write it. I can't imagine what it takes to fabricate a multiple page story. Especially from your imagination without facts and data to align. |
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Post by Dabeagle on Sept 2, 2023 13:58:46 GMT -5
Yeah, I didn't notice anything in Family that locked down a location, but Isaac seems to be on the fringe of the Bellamy/Cole Thomas friend group that we do have located in Binghampton. And Hunter is definitely Bingo (unless that's a different Park Terrace he's living in), and he works with Kari. Brandon and Hal's new place could be anywhere, but in the Casatelli's school district seems plausible? My apologies, I'm coming on strong on a pretty random bit of whimsy. You offered up a excellent agenda for C4 and your other new thing, and that's fine. No, no, not at all! You just made a good point and reminded me of that connection.
Pedro was maintaining the Wiki and the supporting pages for family tree and characters (still looking for volunteers to help with that) but it seems I'm the one that uses those resources most because I can't get anyone else to come play with me anymore :-)
My...process, if you can call it that, relies a lot on what my mind is revolving around at a given time. With my current serial heading toward it's conclusion, I plan to start on the Marshall story next, which interests me since he's a new perspective - and I'm curious how he thinks of Isaac turning his world upside down. I also had an idea come to me - and that's an issue all by itself. I think of things all the time. I tell myself stories on long car drives where I don't feel like listening to the radio, but they get lost because I can't jot anything down. This time I was at my desk, busy doing the 'hurry up and wait' part of my job, and I began making notes. Israfil would get a good laugh because I had to write them down in a notebook, as he does, because of the company's security protocols on electronics.
Anyway, point is, never feel bad about making those connections, they may be what I need to make a spark to do something.
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Post by Dabeagle on Sept 2, 2023 14:00:48 GMT -5
This might be better off in Sunday Musings, but it has to do mostly with more stories about characters from the SS Universe. After reading this POST and responses, specifically " Not sure how Isaac would know Carlo to take him shopping." I got to thinking about what exactly encompasses the "Sanitaria Springs Universe" and how the many characters might or might not interact with each other. I have admitted to being a "literalist" before in this forum, not to be confused with OCD! I just wondered how the various characters would connect with each other. I'd have never done this before the 1990's. It would have required too much effort. First, I would have to get some paper, a pencil, the book that caused the questions, a Dictionary, an Atlas and maybe an Encyclopedia. Then I would have to gather the facts write them down in a draft and if I really wanted to do it right, I would put paper in a typewriter and begin to type! I took "Typing" in high school (Class of 67). Apparently, it is called "Keyboarding" now. I understood how the typewriter worked. I push a key, through a system of springs and levers another lever would strike the paper and leave an imprint. I have a vague idea how this computer works. I push a key an electrical phenomenon happens, and letters appear on my TV! If I do it right the electrical phenomenon travels out of my house, magic happens, and my questions are answered and show up on my TV! Sometimes even with moving pictures! So, with a keyboard and monitor it was too easy to do this research and occupy space and time on a Friday evening. I decided to see where everybody was with relation to Sanitaria Springs. Since I have too much time on my hands this Friday evening, I thought I'd Google the distance from the Post Office in each mentioned city to the Post Office in Sanitaria Springs. Guess what! The real Sanitaria Springs doesn't have a Post Office. Their Zip Code (13833) is for a Post Office in Port Crane, NY. So, the distances below are approximate. The Ithaca result interested me because of the 10-mile difference in travel depending on which interstate you took. The others were mostly Interstate and there were alternate routes on state roads that made time and distance vary too. SANITARIA SPRINGS, NY TO BINGHAMTON, NY is about 12 miles. TO JOHNSON CITY, NY a suburb of Binghamton, is about 15 miles. TO ALBANY, NY is about 126 miles. TROY, NY is another 6 miles. TO ITHACA, NY is about 53 to 63 miles depending on the route you take. View AttachmentSanitaria Springs characters in or from where relatively easy to figure out how they might meet and interact. Johnson City, basically a western suburb of Binghamton, NY is easy Carlos and Dominic come from there. Their spending the summer in The Springs near where Micah was made sense. Ithaca, NY is easy because I think only Kale and Chase are in school there. May be Hamster is there studying Dentistry. I'm not sure. His other half Derek is still in Sanitaria Springs restoring the old house. Albany, NY (And Troy, NY) is where Alec, Sasha, Micah, Devyn, Griffin, Robin and Lucien are now. Along with many new characters introduced in "Drafted." It is Binghampton that confuses me. To me a lot of other characters might be from there. Isaac, Hal and Brandon come to mind. I reread "Family" and where they are is never specified. The only location comments in the story are, Brandon's comments, "he was originally from the area while I had moved here from about an hour away." and " My town wasn't enormous so they..." Is Binghamton the here and was My town Sanitaria Springs?
Is Binghamton the nebulose location of the other stories on this site? It doesn't matter, mostly, until somebody asks about characters interacting in future stories. Which is the question that sent me off in this ponder. The story is "The Thing" where the events of the story happen aren't always critical to the story. Characters have popped into various stories not related to the core SS guys. Jake and Kris from The Quantum showing up in Albany comes to mind as a big cross story connection. There have been lots of other cameos recently which I really like, too. Which brings me to my conclusions about; 1. "Not sure how Isaac would know Carlo to take him shopping." In "Bloom" Isaac shops where Hunter works. Hunter lives in Park Terrace which he comments on "Park Terrace is part of Binghamton, but also thinks it's its own place. I mean, it is and it isn't. Like our school system is tied to Binghamton city schools." So, however unlikely it is, Isaac and Carlo could be going to the same consolidated high school in Metropolitan Binghamton. If so, then Carlo noticing Isaac and Marshall in school could result in contact. Although I would hope it was Isaac and Marshall taking Carlo under their wing and not breaking them up. 2. Isaac, Hal and Brandon, must live in Metropolitan Binghampton. Wow. It took you a lot less time to read this than it did to write it. I can't imagine what it takes to fabricate a multiple page story. Especially from your imagination without facts and data to align. Someday, Neal, we need to get together for a cup of coffee.
This is a really excellent analysis that strengthens the ideas Matty was expressing - and frankly it helps me when I think about who is where and what could be possible. Frankly I think SS has gotten big enough that I may not remember it all anymore - which is one reason I ask you to beta read SS stories for me to look for things like this and help me not make mistakes with the timeline or locations. So far so good!
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Post by Neal on Sept 3, 2023 0:47:58 GMT -5
Well... DUH!
"Pedro was maintaining the Wiki and the supporting pages for family tree and characters (still looking for volunteers to help with that) but it seems I'm the one that uses those resources most because I can't get anyone else to come play with me anymore :-)"
I was vaguely aware of the WIKI thing. Somewhere somehow along the line I downloaded the Sanitariafamilytree.pdf and tucked it away in my "DABEAGLE" folder and forgot it was there. Then I couldn't find the WIKI entry. As I usually do, I made it too hard on myself trying to find the WIKI entries. As my father said to me many times, I was trying to get to my ass going through my elbow. So, after Googling, searching within the WIKI site and looking for links on the homepage of this site I gave up. Today I clicked the "Take me to Sanitaria Springs" link to look for a story. This time I didn't immediately scroll down and look for a story. TA DA! Right there near the top of the first screen is a "WIKI" button! Well... Sheep Dip! Is my face red?
It looks complicated to maintain that WIKI stuff and I can see why it fell behind. Sorry, I'm not volunteering as it looks to be above my skill levels. I am impressed by what was done and thought about contributing there but then I saw that I would just be sending information to Dabeagle@Dabeagle.com and thought that would just be adding to your workload. It is in my best selfish interests not to distract you from writing more stories.
I did note references to "The Binghamton Group" that I wasn't aware of. I guess that answers my question about Binghamton being that nebulous other city. I also noted the disclaimer about the real Sanitaria Springs and the fictional Sanitaria Springs.
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Post by Neal on Sept 3, 2023 0:55:34 GMT -5
"Someday, Neal, we need to get together for a cup of coffee."
Be warned. Next time I drive to Maine from here you and GLH are targeted.
It is my pleasure to contribute to your stories and this site. You may have noticed that I am extremely interested in your site and your stories. Just not obsessively so though. That would be creepy.
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Post by mattyboy on Sept 4, 2023 19:29:35 GMT -5
Isaac, Hal and Brandon come to mind. I reread "Family" and where they are is never specified. The only location comments in the story are, Brandon's comments, "he was originally from the area while I had moved here from about an hour away." and " My town wasn't enormous so they..." Is Binghamton the here and was My town Sanitaria Springs?
2. Isaac, Hal and Brandon, must live in Metropolitan Binghampton. This is interesting. So maybe Brandon's from Ithaca? Utica? Scranton? Brandon's Dad winds up plugged in enough to the local networks to get Panic-Derry a job, so maybe from the NY side and not Scranton? Could even be Syracuse at a stretch I guess. I feel Ithaca people are either attached to Cornell or are fed up with it, and Brandon's never done either (or identified it as a university town) (that I recall). Family is very clean of place references- I think it's even just a "state trooper" not a NY state trooper that gets Isaac out of that "facility." Was that deliberate when you were writing it, to make it an "anywhere" story? But then Isaac and Kari started doing cameos and that locked them in? |
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Post by Neal on Sept 4, 2023 22:31:21 GMT -5
Isaac, Hal and Brandon come to mind. I reread "Family" and where they are is never specified. The only location comments in the story are, Brandon's comments, "he was originally from the area while I had moved here from about an hour away." and " My town wasn't enormous so they..." Is Binghamton the here and was My town Sanitaria Springs?
2. Isaac, Hal and Brandon, must live in Metropolitan Binghampton. This is interesting. So maybe Brandon's from Ithaca? Utica? Scranton? Brandon's Dad winds up plugged in enough to the local networks to get Panic-Derry a job, so maybe from the NY side and not Scranton? Could even be Syracuse at a stretch I guess. I feel Ithaca people are either attached to Cornell or are fed up with it, and Brandon's never done either (or identified it as a university town) (that I recall). Family is very clean of place references- I think it's even just a "state trooper" not a NY state trooper that gets Isaac out of that "facility." Was that deliberate when you were writing it, to make it an "anywhere" story? But then Isaac and Kari started doing cameos and that locked them in? Mattyboy, thanks for giving me an "Ah Ha!" moment. When I wrote the "Is Binghamton the here and was My town Sanitaria Springs?" bit I was wondering how Sanitaria Springs could be the "My Town" because it was too close to Binghamton to take an hour to get there. It didn't even occur to me to think about the other nearby cities. Now, it seems so obvious to me that your other suggestions fit the knowns better than my short sighted one. Made me remember something someone told me a long time ago. "You can't see the forest if you are staring at a tree.' I like your other observation and questions too. |
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Post by Dabeagle on Sept 6, 2023 11:25:18 GMT -5
Isaac, Hal and Brandon come to mind. I reread "Family" and where they are is never specified. The only location comments in the story are, Brandon's comments, "he was originally from the area while I had moved here from about an hour away." and " My town wasn't enormous so they..." Is Binghamton the here and was My town Sanitaria Springs?
2. Isaac, Hal and Brandon, must live in Metropolitan Binghampton. This is interesting. So maybe Brandon's from Ithaca? Utica? Scranton? Brandon's Dad winds up plugged in enough to the local networks to get Panic-Derry a job, so maybe from the NY side and not Scranton? Could even be Syracuse at a stretch I guess. I feel Ithaca people are either attached to Cornell or are fed up with it, and Brandon's never done either (or identified it as a university town) (that I recall). Family is very clean of place references- I think it's even just a "state trooper" not a NY state trooper that gets Isaac out of that "facility." Was that deliberate when you were writing it, to make it an "anywhere" story? But then Isaac and Kari started doing cameos and that locked them in? So most of my stories for the last 20 years or so are located roughly in NY; the specific area can be nebulous, but I'm most familiar with things here so it makes what I write more realistic. Some of my very early stories were set in Nevada because I was living there at the time, but I wasn't really there long enough to feel established or attached to the point of continuing to write with that as a location. As time has gone by I've slowly begun to tie more of my universes into SS (which complicates the Wiki sometimes) and that is more or less a personal satisfaction and an Easter Egg for longtime or voracious readers of my stories. So after Family was written, I had interest from readers about Isaac, and he's a fun character with his attitude so I brought him into the SS universe because it facilitated writing his character. So I didn't originally think of Family as an SS story, thus the more ambiguous references, but that worked out when I added this to the SS canon because nothing was specific. |
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Post by Neal on Sept 7, 2023 0:05:35 GMT -5
Dave,
A self-serving suggestion/thought because you wrote "I tell myself stories on long car drives where I don't feel like listening to the radio, but they get lost because I can't jot anything down."
I discovered that my android phone has a "Voice Recorder" app preinstalled. I moved the app's icon to my phones homepage because I think of things at random times that I need to get next time I'm at the store and then can't remember when I'm at the store.
Now it is a quick one-handed operation to give myself reminders when I can't use the stylus in the S22 Ultra. I usually transcribe the audio notes to Samsung Notes when it is convenient. The pop out stylus is really nice, but it takes two hands to use it.
Keep up the good work.
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Post by mattyboy on Oct 3, 2023 21:30:07 GMT -5
Dominic had a couple of lines in Scars that looked like they had the potential to bloom into a whole story-line. date. This is what I was thinking about... “So you're really good with Carlo coming tomorrow?” Dominic asked, letting the screen door close behind him. I frowned lightly. “Yeah, of course. Why?” He picked up his basketball, bounced it a few times and then took a shot. The ball bounced off into the shadows, and he let it go. “Some people invite him just to be polite, but they are really only asking for me to go. Because I'm...what they expect a guy to act like. That's why he stayed inside. He doesn't want to go if you really don't want him there.” He looked at me steadily. There didn't seem to be a challenge in his posture, just a statement." |
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Post by Dabeagle on Oct 3, 2023 22:24:54 GMT -5
Carlo has potential, or even Dom as his brother and having to see what he goes through. It's not something I've thought much about. I'm getting close to being done with the Tim French story, and then I have to fill in the last one for the Conversations story. After that, we'll see. I go in streaks so at the moment, I'm creating. Who knows what will happen next week?
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a Tris Malone update. 
