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Post by Neal on Feb 12, 2024 2:38:40 GMT -5
A Life Discovered 1 & 2
I like this story. I liked the first chapter covering things since Colin's death. The second chapter had some interesting insights.
The twist in Bailey's plans and Mr. Chambers are all intriguing.
I am looking forward to reading the next chapters.
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Post by mattyboy on Feb 12, 2024 20:24:35 GMT -5
Me too!
I though it was brilliant setting it in Auburn and Bailey went to school in Binghampton. Lots of chances for SS crossovers if you want, but easy to keep separate too, and Annabelle doesn't have to know Dale Kennedy or Phil Esmore or Ansel.
I didn't get why Bailey had to buy everything for the apt in chapter 2. He'd inherited a house full of stuff from Colin, and could have stashed the kitchen stuff and some furniture in a shed at the lot or something. It's hard to get rid of a houseful of stuff that you might be emotionally attached to, and there was a decent chance some of it would be useful (as well as having Colin & Daisy memories). But that's minor and picky and I'm enjoying it all a lot!
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Post by mattyboy on Feb 21, 2024 9:21:07 GMT -5
Intrigued by the set up in LD3. Everett seems to genuinely want input and analysis from Bailey. Business seems to be in a real growth phase if it needs to expand its production floor, which is excellent. Eric's being a little pushy, but some of his trying-to-make-friends gig counts as a good idea.
But I think a lot of people are taking Bailey as office-candy and don't know yet that Bailey was authentically the "nicest boy in school" AND got a first-class moral education from Colin that set him up with a acute sense of what rotten-to-the-core behavior looks like and how it gets covered up. (maybe not Everett, so far he seems more interested in Bailey-as-analyst than Bailey-as-ornamental-assistant).
I'm kinda waiting for "if you can, you should" getting quoted in some significant moment (probably a couple of chapters out from here).
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Post by Neal on Feb 26, 2024 6:03:03 GMT -5
I'm really enjoying this story. I like chapter 4. Interesting developments for Bailey done in plausible and realistic way.
Mattyboy's comments about the furnishings for the apartment have been banging around in my head. My conclusion is that he, like me, has bought in to these characters as if they are real people too.
Colin passed more than 4 years ago, and Bailey rented out the old house. I think. In real life there would be issues about the contents of the home, what to keep what to let go. Rent the house furnished or empty. Since Baileys original plan was to move far away from his home, he might have thought it easier to sell/donate the contents of the house rather than pay for/deal with storage. In my head Bailey kept some small emotionally significant things like pictures and photo albums (Daisy's squeeky ball comes to my mind) along with the ASPCA folder. So, having to acquire furnishings for the new apartment as opposed to things he might have stored for 4 years somewhere crossed my mind too.
If I really "get in to" a story, I find myself filling in details and/or wishing the author had expounded on some background place, event or person. Then, like now, I remind myself that this is fiction not a biography. Some minutiae that I might want that doesn't really affect the authors "Big Picture" of their story is to be expected. Plus, it allows me to color the story to my liking. Like, what kind of chair was Colins chair? In my head it was not a recliner, it was an old wing back cloth cover chair with soft cushions. And don't get me started on what I think the garage smelled and sounded like. Did the garage have a newer lift or an older hydraulic one that came out of the floor. If it was hydraulic, did it raise slowly then jump the last foot of travel because the seals leaked, like the one I used to work with?
Apparently, I have "gotten into" this story as I am referring to Colin and Bailey as if they were real. I do like the story, and I am looking forward to more of it.
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Post by mattyboy on Mar 1, 2024 11:04:56 GMT -5
Yes, both Bailey and Colin were very believable and realistic characters (and like-able ones). Bailey's a bit of an outlier, maybe, in not being neurotic or traumatized, but that's part of the story, that he was the most-resilient and least-damaged of his siblings, which is why he was the one to make a break for it. And Colin (and Daisy) (and Annabelle) helped him grow past that.
Yeah, Bailey might be renting out the house furnished, but that's sort of what made me wonder if that table that he had his first meal with Colin at was something that mattered to him. Colin seemed to be comfortable, but not particularly proud of or attached to material stuff. But Bailey doesn't have much, cut off as his is from bio-family and Colin being fairly solitary.
The shelter subplot seems like how Bensiamin is going to explore that, so we'll see how it goes.
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Post by Neal on Mar 4, 2024 20:08:19 GMT -5
I just read Chapter 5. I am really happy with the story. I like the background of bailey's work life, hanging with Dan and especially his chat with Annabelle. I'm looking forward to next Sunday's installment.
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Post by Neal on Apr 2, 2024 5:53:42 GMT -5
wow!
I finally got some time to reflect on what I've been reading in this story and string together some thoughts.
I really like the story. Some interesting things have happened to Bailey. Some interesting thoughts and ideas about real life issues have been interjected and made me think.
Unfortunately, I saw some videos plastered all over the web of Ring Doorbell Videos of Ruby Franke's son getting help last week. The image of that boy asking for help kept popping up in my head whenever Bailey's thoughts referred to his abuse. All I'm going to say about it is I hope both of those women serve the full 60 years in prison.
I'm with Ghandi on this paraphrased statement ""I like your Christ, but not your Christians. Christians are not very Christ like."
I like how Bailey's job is going and the comments about Office/job politics rang true.
I like the way Bailey's life is going in the story and I hope the Franke boy's life goes well for him too.
I like Eric and Elliot too. Caring and compassionate people, like them, get very little coverage in the real-world media.
I'm looking forward, now, to reading more of this story.
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Post by Bensiamin on Apr 2, 2024 17:49:56 GMT -5
Neal and Mattyboy - don’t take my silence as not being aware of your comments. I’ve followed them and and am happy you find Bailey’s story credible, believable and realistic. In my mind that was an absolute necessity given how “realistic” (if surprisingly painful) Colin’s story was in “A Life Lived.”
To Mattyboy’s question about why Bailey had to buy all new furnishings for his apartment, I’d say he didn’t really know why but he did and now following his conversations with Elliott he’s beginning to understand the need for closure and a new beginning. That connects to Neal’s observation about abused children, and specifically Bailey’s coming to grips with his abuse and being able to build his own life free of emotional encumbrances.
At this point, Bailey is at a transition point for a few major elements of his life!
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Post by Neal on Apr 8, 2024 4:12:38 GMT -5
A Life Discovered 10
To Bensiamin, thank you for valuing my comments.
I like this chapter. Partly because it reminds me of something I learned back in the 1970's during Human Relations training in the Coast Guard. I don't remember many specifics, but the author was a Doctor Massey (I think). His premise was "You Are What You Were When You Were 10 Years Old." And the training video contained examples of his theory based on how people that were 10 years old in various previous decades behaved in the current times. The training made a big impression on me as I have thought of it many times in my life since then.
What it boiled down to was your "Gut Reactions" to things is programmed in you by age 10 and your "Gut Reactions" to things only changes after "Significant Emotional Events". I think it applies to Bailey because his unconscious reactions to stimulus is affecting his outlook/decisions in his life. Bailey discovering the expectations/observations of his youth and how they affect his opinions/actions now is interesting to me.
I also like how Bailey's work life and how he is "fitting" in at his new job is going too. The psychology of "hero" at work is also very interesting as I saw it in action in my professional life.
I'm looking forward to more of the story.
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Post by Neal on Apr 15, 2024 2:09:41 GMT -5
A Life Discovered 11
Nice ending to a nice story.
I liked the story because of the HEA for Bailey and for the insights into a careers and business operations I didn't know about. I liked the human psychology insights too. They made me reflect on some of my life choices and interactions with others. I'm a "Chain Saw" solutions kind of guy. "Thought Provoking" seems too strong a phrase. Thought inspiring seems more appropriate. Well done!
I think the AI generated image at the end was very well done. Made me curious if the people are totally AI generated or AI manipulated images of actual people. The image on the title page particularly interests me because I know someone in his early 20's who is 6'1' tall, slender and could pass for Bailey's twin.
Thank you for the story.
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Post by Dabeagle on Apr 15, 2024 6:02:08 GMT -5
SO with the final chapter, some final thoughts. Bensiamin really saved me here, because ending A Life Lived as i did - abruptly - was realistic, yet left a lot untold. Ben stepped in and took us to the next place we could still visit - Bailey's future. It's always flattering when someone adapts or continues your ideas - I got to experience plenty of that with Sanitaria Springs, but one of the things I enjoy most is where someone else goes with the ideas. Bensiamin always delivers with a side of the psychological, as Neal noted, which clues us in to how things get where they are. I don't know what will happen to the young man that inspired the character of Bailey, but he would be lucky to live as Bailey does - loved, and able to love in return. That was the lesson Colin learned so late.
Now...I won't say that's all there is to life. Maybe if you've been behind walls your whole life, it can be a shattering experience to find something like that was so close, and yet so far. However...it's not that simple, is it? Love, I mean. It's not easy to find someone you get who also gets you. There are a ton of intangibles to work out for a relationship to be successful, so the future Ben navigated for Bailey isn't small by any means. Personally I find the hard part to be what comes next - daily work. Chores. Paying bills. Like Mattyboy, I'd like to see if Bailey sticks with the mantra of those that can help, should - perhaps not with a child, but there are many ways.
Who knows? Maybe Ben will have another dream and share it with us. In the meantime, I'm grateful to him for this effort and humbled to have someone take something from my own ideas and grow it into something new.
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