March: All's Fair... (Caleb & Klarissa)
..Characters - Caleb, Klarissa, Zoe
..Next step - Is Caleb even interested? I think the aim was just to make things more complicated for Caleb and Klarissa by introducing another woman.
..Final goal - ?

March: Hawaiian Artistry (Nalu & Ellie)
..Characters - Nalu, Ellie
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

April Showers (Amrita & Jonas)
..Characters - Amrita, Jonas
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: Lean On Me (Rori & Heiki)
..Characters - Rori, Heiki
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: A Family That Preys (Alex, Rori & Dana)
..Characters - Alex, Rori, Heiki, Dana, Maya, Konnui
..Next step - Alex reveals Rori's promotion and someone else reveals their secret
..Final goal - ?

March: After the Storm (Cedric & Chloe)
..Characters - Cedric, Chloe
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: Why The Caged Bird Sings (Kat)
..Characters - Kat, Cam, Miah, Jonah
..Next step - More Kat torture?
..Final goal - I think we're mostly just killing time and filling in the 8 years for Kat.

October: The Real World Waits (Karey, Dee & Paige)
..Characters - Karey, Dee
..Next step - Dee visits Karey in Florida
..Final goal - Move to new thread "The Fireman's Hose Job"

March: The Fireman's Hose Job (Karey & Dee)
..Characters - Karey, Dee
..Next step - Complete "The Real World Waits"
..Final goal - ?

September: Port Eden Pedigrees (Marco & Chance)
..Characters - Marco, Chance
..Next step - Finish bow chicka
..Final goal - ?

March: Down the Rabbit Hole (Devon & Hana)
..Characters - Devon, Hana
..Next step - I think there was supposed to be something with her going to visit family or something.
..Final goal - ?

March: Into the Wild (Chuck & Heiki)
..Characters - Chuck, Heiki
..Next step - Head to Canada
..Final goal - ?

November: Reborn in Fire (Kale & Nat)
..Characters - Kale, Natalie
..Next step - Working the rescue crew
..Final goal - Natalie's "rebirth"

March: In Brazil, They Throw Flowers (Tendaji & Renee)
..Characters - Tendaji, Renee
..Next step - Renee is in a hurry to whisk Tendaji out of there before Cedric shows up.
..Final goal - Love. Sweet, sweet love.

March: Everything Is Bigger In Texas (Gavin & Fiona)
..Characters - Gavin, Fiona
..Next step - I think we're introducing Dara into the mix?  Summertime.
..Final goal - ?

March: Haunting in Hawaii(Niko & Noe)
..Characters - Niko, Noe
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

April: Los Angeles Times (Jack & Araceli)
..Characters - Jack, Araceli
..Next step - Jack is left with the baby?
..Final goal - ?

March: An Innocent Song (Dante & Christa)
..Characters - Dante & Christa
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: Girls Gone Wild (Amy, Dee & Lily)
..Characters - Amy, Dee, Lily
..Next step - I don't even remember this.
..Final goal - ?

March: Age Is Only a Number(Kyrian & Kate)
..Characters - Kyrian, Kate
..Next step - Kate's life is going to be threatened in New York. No clue what's going on with Kyrian. When summer arrives, Kate will have gotten into a summer art program that will take her to Greece.
..Final goal -

April: Balm To My Wound (Bella & Davey)
..Characters - Davey, Bella
..Next step - Don't remember this either.  What are we doing with them?  Just fast-forwarding to the wedding?
..Final goal - ?

April: Take Me Out To the Ballgame (Alexis & Derrick)
..Characters - Derrick, Alexis
..Next step - This one has pretty much concluded.  I still have back scenes to write, of course.  Next is Christmas at the Hofmans.
..Final goal - ?

March: Che cosa faresti se ti baciassi? (Camden & Daniela)
..Characters - Camden, Dee, Daniela
..Next step - Er, idk?
..Final goal - ?

March: Bound By Blood (Kendall & Karey)
..Characters - Kendall, Karey
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: A Slice of The Big Apple (Lily & Matt)
..Characters - Lily, Matt, Trey
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: Definition of Insanity (Vin & Lena)
..Characters - Vin, Lena
..Next step - Finish sexy-time and then whatever at the airport.
..Final goal - ?

March: Port Eden Pedigrees (Mark & Sascha)
..Characters - Mark, Sascha, Aleros, Solomans
..Next step - He didn't like her much upon first meeting. I suppose we'll have to toss them together in another environment.
..Final goal - ?

March: High On Calories (Niccolo & Leigha)
..Characters - Niccolo, Leigha
..Next step - Finish the date so they can start being all gushy and attracted to each other.  Then Nicco goes home and shows up whenever whatshisface-cousin returns to Port Eden
..Final goal - ?

March: Strength In Numbers (Dane & Kai)
..Characters - Dane, Kai
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: City of Hope (Keran & Claudia)
..Characters - Keran, Claudia
..Next step - Announcement of the wedding.
            - Claudia's asking her dad if he'll help her set up a little fundraising
              dinner for Keran to talk to investors at.
..Final goal - Get to Christmas with the rest.

March: Paradise Lost (Greg & Maleena)
..Characters - Greg, Maleena
..Next step - Greg needs to take her to a charity publicity thing before she's
              really showing.  There, he'll announce their impending wedding and how
              happy he is, blah blah.
            - Baby's birth and him helping her dump the baby on Jack's doorstep.
..Final goal - Misery for all.

March: Homecoming (Jack)
..Characters - Jack, Ally, Amy, Athena
..Next step - Need to get him back to Florida
..Final goal - ?

March: City of Dreams (Daphne & Logan)
..Characters - Daphne, Logan, Anthony, Kyra, Lilith, Finn, Mara, Perri
..Next step - Convo between Finn and Logan, the lion scene with Daphne, Jason, and Logan. Scene in makeup with Daphne, Lilith, maybe Perri, and Logan. That will lead to another scene with Finn and Logan. And I assume that Mara and Kyra and Anthony will get in the middle there somewhere.
..Final goal - ?

March: Prodigal Daughter (Tali & Jenna)
..Characters - Tali, Jenna, Blake, Jess
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: Photographic Positive (Christian & Mara)
..Characters - Christian, Mara
..Next step - Re-introduce them
..Final goal -

March: Absolute Zero (Adrian & Renee)
..Characters - Adrian, Renee
..Next step - ?
..Final goal - ?

March: New York Spirit
..Characters - General thread for New York

March: Florida Sunshine
..Characters - General thread for Florida

March: I Love L.A.
..Characters - General thread for Los Angeles

March: Lei-d in Hawaii
..Characters - General thread for Hawaii

Active Characters with no threads:

Nikki
Carlos
Kiley
Ian

All characters:


This message was last edited by the GM at 22:18, Wed 13 Mar 2013.

Calling all writers!

Need your help getting us all up to speed on our characters and threads.  It's been so long that a lot of plottishness may have been forgotten about.

Please help!

I added stuff to the threads that were on the list. It probably needs to be drastically weeded through and I probably added people to threads where I should have put in an entry for a new thread that's been made. But I'm too tired for all that. So I just put in my two cents where I could.

Schedule for Alexis and Derrick:

April-June: Everything is going well for Alexis & production team.  Alexis is on a high, and despite a few grumblings from team members regarding her "secret affair" with Derrick (which is more like low-key in public, all-professional during 'working hours', and very hot in private, at least to Alexis), she feels very comfortable with the relationship and it shows.

You (Deb) can decide how the team / Derrick is doing.

June-August: Somewhere in the middle of June, something happens to change Alexis' mood.  For a little over a week, she becomes tense and anxious and very short-tempered, and will not tell Derrick what is going on, insisting everything is fine if and when he asks.  Shortly after they land in whatever state they land in the last week of June, she calms down and mostly returns to normal.  She is, however, somewhat distant and throws herself into her work.  If Derrick asks, she's "working on a deadline" but will not elaborate.  She doesn't seem as into the relationship as she was earlier.

August: Her anxiety increases shortly before they travel to Arizona and peaks the morning they land.  Based on past schedules, I'm putting the three games in Phoenix on: Monday, Aug 20; Tuesday, Aug 21; Wednesday, Aug 22.

I have something in mind for those three days.  We can either start the day before they land in Arizona, the day of, or really, any time before that.  If you have things you'd like to play out, just write them in up there and let me know when you want to start.

Also, I have no idea what you have in mind for the proposal, so feel free to throw that in there somewhere.

I just noticed that this thread is closed. Which doesn't really stop any of us from posting because we're all GMs, but still. Why?

On to baseball stuff.

Derrick says he wants to propose at the end of the season. It'll be during either a "Thank God It's Over" dinner or a "What An Awesome Season" dinner. Probably the latter. I think the rush of having a camera crew following them will bolster spirits, and the pressure of having a camera crew following them will encourage best-efforts. So the two combined will lead to a much better season than the year before. Normally, Derrick would hit a spot in the season where he'd get a little down about not being able to actually play. But he's feeling good about Alexis, and then he was already thinking about looking for a coaching job that wouldn't send him traveling around, so it will bypass him this year. He may mention it. Other than that, what you've got looks good. And Derrick is kinda checked out lately, so I don't have any specific scenes I want to play. But he's willing to jump into any scenes for which he's been requesting.

Bumpity

How the girls feel about their siblings...

       Laura:

Keira- She feels sad for Keira because she had to deal with so much so fast.  She realizes that when the family fell apart, Keira had no one to really protect her or lean on like she did.  Still, Laura has distanced herself from her, especially since she has no idea how Keira feels about her or the rest of the family.  Every year, she sends her a Christmas card.

Shawn- Since they both still live in the same town, Laura is closest to Shawn than any of her other siblings.  She's always looked up to him, and has made her peace with feeling abandoned by her brothers in her teen years.  Intellectually, she knows it wasn't deliberate or personal.  Just life.  She wishes she could be more supportive of him, like he was for her, and gets frustrated when she can't be.  He gets a Christmas card hand-delivered and sealed with a purple lipstick kiss (just because she likes to mess with him).

Logan- She is extremely proud of her big brother for following his passion and has watched every episode of every show he's worked on, even though she doesn't like reality shows.  She would like to be closer to him, but the distance between them prevents that, since they are both very busy people.  He also gets a Christmas card every year and she sends him her crappy artistic photos whenever she has time to take pictures.

Maggie- Laura misses her little sister terribly.  Rosalind, Maggie and Laura had been inseparable, even through college and weddings and Laura's first baby.  But when Maggie disappeared into the great big world, she left a hole in Laura that can't be filled.  She's very angry at Maggie for being so irresponsible and wishes she could just sit down with her and smack some sense into her.  She'd send a Christmas card if the woman would just stay in one place for more than a month.

Rosalind- She also misses Rosalind, though at least she lives closer and doesn't move around.  They talk infrequently, due to Laura's busy home life and Rosalind's... doing whatever it is she does that makes her leave the house so often.  Laura gets frustrated when she needs to get a hold of her sister, and can't, and Rosalind is notorious for not calling people back.  They used to be extremely close, but because Rosalind is so unreliable, Laura turned to Shawn for support instead.  She loves her dearly, but resents not being a part of her life.  She is also rather jealous that Rosalind doesn't have the responsibility of young children holding her back from doing what she wants, and gets upset knowing that Rosalind *isn't* doing what she loves.  Rosalind always gets a Christmas card, copies of Laura's photos, and occasionally a clay kitten wearing a top hat that is an inside joke no one else but Maggie would understand.

Ginnifer- Laura never really got close to her baby sister.  Ginnifer was never quite old enough to join in on the crazy stunts of her sisters, and didn't make it to the bonding stage they'd already reached.  Laura has always felt bad for leaving Ginnifer out, but hasn't been able to rectify the situation.  She hates that Ginnifer seems so wild, and often blames herself.  She stopped sending Christmas cards after two years of them returning unopened.

       Maggie:

Keira- Maggie is fairly indifferent to Keira.  To her, she's the girl who majorly screwed up her family's lives; causing her father to leave the family and her mother to go batshit crazy.  She has no interest in her background and figures that if Keira really wanted to be friends, she would have made an effort years ago.  Consequently, to her, the woman is simply one of her mother's kids.

Shawn- She's grateful for her brothers and loves them dearly.  The feeling of being abandoned by them in her pre-teen years sticks with her, however, and she thinks of them often with sadness.  Shawn, she attempted to reconnect with, but since he was going through his awful ex-girlfriend issues, it just wasn't the right time.  Maggie hasn't seen or spoken to him in nearly 5 years, so she doesn't know anything about his life, except for what her sisters and mother have told her.

Logan- Logan, she's sort of proud of, but thinks he's sold out.  She believes he can do much better than Hollywood, though how he'd become a famous cameraman without Hollywood is something she hasn't figured out yet.  Not that she gives it a whole lot of thought; it's his life, after all.  Partly in punishment, partly because she has her own thing going on, she hasn't seen or spoken to him, either, in the past 5 years.

Laura- Loves the woman to death, but thinks she's selling herself short by letting herself settle for a husband and children.  She saw what kids and marriage did to her mother and sister, and wants nothing to do with that nonsense.  (Though if she really dug deep into her psyche, she might be surprised to know that she's a little jealous of her sister and her ability to connect fully with another human being and raise three more of them.)  She calls her whenever she has the chance, though, because she couldn't bear not hearing her voice one last time.  Every time.

Rosalind- Of all her siblings, she misses Rosalind the most.  The two of them spent almost all of their time together as children and that kind of bond is not easily broken.  As she travels, she collects things that remind her of Rossie and saves them to give to her when she finally blows back into town.  She does regret not staying in her life but the longer she stays away, the harder it is to give in and go back.  She calls her as often as she can, though, and wants desperately to reconnect on a deeper level.

Ginnifer- Still her wittle teeny baby sister, even after all these years.  Although the two didn't grow very close, Maggie is fond of her.  She enjoys hearing about her exploits and sometimes sends her money when no one else will.  Maggie would like to get to know her better, but holds back just in case Ginnifer hates her guts or something.

       Rosalind:

Keira- Like Maggie, she's indifferent to Keira.  The difference in ages and Keira's leaving home early kept the two of them from connecting.  She doesn't dislike her or blame her for anything, she just doesn't know her.

Shawn- Though the boys spent a lot of time with the girls when they were little, they were off doing their own things by the time Rosalind got old enough to comprehend her family's lives.  She's not nearly as close to Shawn as she could be, though she is closer to him than to Logan.  She's not sure how to feel about him, except she does like him and feels comfortable enough to still tease him about the Bunny Game.

Logan- Her early memories of him are fuzzy, but pleasant, and she teases him as well about the Bunny Game.  For his birthday, she sends him hand-painted cards with elaborate scenes, and each time there is a pink kitten hiding somewhere in the picture.  She has no idea if he knows they are there, or if he keeps them, but it makes her happy to imagine he does.

Laura- Every childhood memory of hers has Laura and Maggie in it.  She loves her sisters dearly and could not imagine what life would have been like without them.  Though she wishes she could have more time with Laura, something always seems to get in the way.  Sometimes she wonders if it's something subconscious, but doesn't explore it too much.  She hasn't really seen Laura much, especially lately.

Maggie- Rosalind happily accepts Maggie's calls whenever they happen and they spend hours talking.  However, Rosalind is incredibly angry with her sister for disappearing and not keeping in touch.  For five years, she's answered the phone with the fervent hope that this time, she'd be calling for Rosalind to meet her at the airport.  So far, all she's gotten has been disappointment.

Ginnifer- Though the two are close in age, Rosalind doesn't have much in common with her little sister.  There once was a time where they actually got along and it seemed as if they might become friends, but obviously, nothing came of it.  Rosalind does make somewhat of an effort and sends her the hand-painted goth birthday cards she believes her sister likes.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:54, Thu 16 Jan 2014.

I'll try to work on this as I can.

      Keira:

Logan -

Shawn -

Laura -

Maggie -

Rosalind -

Ginnifer -


      Logan:

Keira - Because they were fairly close growing up, Logan risked his mother's wrath to keep in touch after Keira was disowned. After his mother had calmed down, he became the go-between to arrange for Hannah's visits with the rest of their family. Now, the pair are still fairly close, texting and emailing often, but Logan sees more of Hannah than of her mother due to distance and the demands of both his job and Keira's.

Shawn - As the only boys in the family, Logan and Shawn have always been close, though not in the same way that the girls might be. They don't speak often, but when they do, there's no sign that they've ever been separated. Logan keeps up on the happenings in Shawn's life via email or actually listening to his mother.

Laura - Logan has always gotten along with Laura, and might have even considered her close before she became part of what he termed "the triplets." He isn't sure how it evolved, but at some point, it became difficult to separate his three middle sisters into individual personalities. They were always together. As a result, he feels like an outsider when it comes to interacting with them. Though he loves them and occasionally entertains the thought that one day they might all work on a project together. What that might be, he has no idea. He has a photo album where he keeps all the pictures Laura sends him.

Maggie - He feels guilty that he hasn't kept up with Maggie, but honestly, he has no idea how to get in touch with the woman. See Laura re: outsider.

Rosalind - Similar to Laura, he's fond of her, though he feels like an outsider when interacting with her. He has an album where he keeps the cards she sends him. He and Jason look through both her album and Laura's almost as often as Jason's favorite books. While Jason noticed it first, once it was pointed out, Logan has enjoyed searching for the pink kitten in each one.

Ginnifer - By the time Ginny was old enough to really interact with, Logan was much too old for it. As a result, he feels like he knows next to nothing about her. He attempts to be nice to her, but from what he can tell, she's a ball of drama, so he tries not to get sucked in. Often that may make him seem as though he doesn't care, but really, he just isn't sure how to interact with her without having to deal with her issues.


      Shawn:

Keira - Shawn was too young to be freely mobile when Keira was disowned, but he did occasionally tag along when Logan visited her. He never made a big deal of it and he's pretty sure his mom has no idea he's ever spoken to her after that. Their communications these days tend to only happen at the big family gatherings and only when his mom isn't nearby.

Logan - Thick as thieves. Or something like that. Their dad has always been a pretty busy guy (it takes a lot of overtime to feed a family their size), so Logan has filled in when advice was needed or Shawn needed someone to chat sports with. The brothers don't talk as often as they once did, but Shawn never feels awkward around Logan and now that they're grown, he finds that he even gets to give Logan advice once in a while.

Laura - He remembers fondly the years when he used to be very close to Laura. He is still much closer to her than he is to any of the other "Borg" but somehow it's not quite the same as it used to be. Still, they get along well, and since she's almost the only Boland left in Medina, he gets to see her more than any of his other siblings. He appreciates that she's practically drama-free and she's pretty reliable for sound advice (even if it's just "What movies are out that are good right now?").

Maggie - If she ever called him, he'd pick up, though he has no idea what they'd talk about. It's been so long since he's spoken to her, he's not even completely sure she's alive. Though, surely his mother would have told him if she died. Right?

Rosalind - He tries to keep up with her (at least through his mother), but he hasn't truly felt connected to the "Borg" since they were little. Nonetheless, he always tries to be friendly at family gatherings and if she ever called and needed something, he'd be there.

Ginnifer - Shawn worries about Ginnifer. Perhaps because she's so much younger than him, he feels protective of her. He took notice when Klarissa ended up in rehab and while his mother can't seem to see it, it's fairly obvious to him that Ginny is on drugs. He's not quite sure what to do about it, but when he has a chance to think about it, he tries to come up with something. They don't talk much, but if he ever found out she needed something, he'd take care of it without her even having to ask.


      Ginnifer:

Keira -

Logan -

Shawn -

Laura -

Maggie -

Rosalind -
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:56, Thu 16 Jan 2014.

Ok, so the little discrepancies I discovered while trying to write the timeline:

1) In Logan's profile, it says, "At the 1993 Christmas gathering, it was revealed that his mother had been aware of abuse suffered by her youngest sister, Gizi. Rather than stopping the abuse, Eniko had instead blamed Gizi, accusing her of stealing a boy from her. The revelation had been too much for the struggling marriage and a few days later, Logan's father had moved out."

The reveal was actually at the Thanksgiving gathering.  Not a huge discrepancy, just thought you might want to know. :)

2) From Logan's: "The situation reached a climax three years later when Keira became pregnant at the age of sixteen.

The next year was difficult for Logan and his younger siblings. Their mother was under a lot of stress and Keira didn't make things better. After months of insisting that she wasn't going to marry the father of her child, she finally gave in. After her daughter, Hannah, was born."

Keira turned 16 in August of 1997.  So if she got pregnant when she was already 16, then the "year" would have happened through late 97-98.  This means she would have had to have had Hannah and gotten married in 98.

3) Even if she got pregnant early in 97 (meaning she was 15 when she got pregnant and 16 when she had the baby), there's still a problem for the next section, where it says: "When Keira's marriage calmed things down again, the younger girls no longer needed the distraction and the video-making slowed. Shawn continued to write and Logan began taking photography and video classes when he started high school the next year."

Logan graduated in May 2001 (I researched Medina High School, they graduate the Saturday before the last day of school, which is  the last Thursday of May)  - meaning he was a week away from turning 17 when he graduated high school.  Since it's a 4-year high school, he either had to have started high school in fall of 1997 (age 13) or started in fall of 1998 (age 14) and graduated a year early.

Based on the wiki, if Keira got married in 97, then he would have started in 98; but if Keira got married in 98, then he didn't start high school until 99, and that means he didn't start high school until he was 15.

Also, when I was looking up Medina High School (since this would have been the high school they attended), I came across this:

"Along with homecoming and prom royalty, Medina also has a Mr. Medina contest for the senior boy with the most spirit. They decide this person by having about 5 finalists be part of a pageant-like event with 3 portions: speech (and formal apparel), talent, and costume. After watching this show, students vote. The winner is announced at a big pep rally at the end of the week."

I could soooooo see Logan or Shawn running for Mr. Medina. XD
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:04, Fri 17 Jan 2014.

I will look at my files. I'm wondering if I had a different birthdate for someone when I was coming up with my timeline and doing all the math. Because I know I did all that math. Which doesn't mean my math was right, just that I attempted to make it right and had a whole timeline that included people being born and whatnot.

And I think I noticed the Thanksgiving/Christmas discrepancy before. But it was at a time when I couldn't fix the reference. Or maybe I forgot I'd mentioned it in his bio. Something. But I know I noticed it. Probably when I was getting ready for NaNo, since I was going to write Eniko's novel then.

When I get home, I will list all the birthdates I have in my character ancestry file and see if we match up.

This is what I have in the ancestry file:

15 Aug 1981 - Keira Boland
01 Jun 1984 - Logan Daniel Boland
16 Apr 1985 - Shawn Boland
30 Jun 1986 - Laura Elaine Boland
31 May 1988 - Maggie Catherine Boland
24 Mar 1990 - Rosalind Rhiann Boland
1994 - Ginnifer Boland

Your dates all match the character data sheet and my other files. So, to see what I had determined for Logan's high school start.

I don't think I figured it by his age. I figured it by when he would have started kindergarten. With a birthday in June, he would have made the cutoff to start school the year he turned 5. So:

K - 1989 (August/September)
1 - 1990
2 - 1991
3 - 1992
4 - 1993
5 - 1994
6 - 1995
7 - 1996
8 - 1997
9 - 1998

So he would have started high school in August/September of 1998. So Hannah still could have been born before then with no problem. As far as when Hannah was born, I'll probably have to change her birthdate, because as far as the Bolands have told me, she was 16 when she got pregnant, not just 16 when she gave birth. I don't know why I thought there was enough time in 1997 for her to be born. But that means the earliest she was born was late May of 1998. Still enough time for Keira to get a quick wedding in front of a judge before Logan started high school.

But you're right. Graduating in May of 2001 is either wrong, or means he graduated early. I don't see him as the graduate early type. Too much home chaos means that while he may not have gotten bad grades, he most likely could not have managed a course load that would have gotten him out of there early. So I need to change that to 2002. That actually works better, because it would send him to CA a year later and then they'd only have one year of film school, which is what I actually wanted to begin with. I sent him to college purely as a way to stall him going to CA because I didn't want him to have finished film school, but I did want him to have attended.

So the discrepancy actually works out nicely.

I will fix Hannah's birthdate and Logan's graduation date and move to CA date and we'll be good.

Okey doke, so after researching more about the Medina school district, I came across something that may throw some wrenches into the timeline.

Medina has a policy that a student must be 5 years old before Aug 1.  Any student who has a birthday August 1st or later has to wait until the following year to enroll.  There are early entrance evaluations available, but only for students who turn five between Sept 30 and Jan 1 of that school year.

So basically, any child born between August 1st and Sept 29 is hosed.  They have to wait an entire year before starting kindergarten regardless of learning ability.  I don't know how far back that policy goes, so I don't know if it would affect the previous generation (Gizi's), but it definitely would affect the Boland Seven and their cousins, namely Keira, Caleigh, Mara, and Klarissa.

Keira and Klarissa probably won't be terribly affected, since they didn't graduate.  But Caleigh and Mara might be.  I haven't yet pinned down Mara's timeline, so I won't know until I do.

Want to go trivia hunting?

Have I ever specifically said that Caleigh graduated from college. Not being able to start kindergarten until 1990 would mean:

K-1990
1-1991
2-1992
3-1993
4-1994
5-1995
6-1996
7-1997
8-1998
9-1999
10-2000
11-2001
12-2002, so she'd graduate in May of 2003. Her cast page says that in 2015, she and her husband had been married for a decade. So, either they got married before she finished college (since 2003-2005 is only 2 years and even the overachievers usually take 3), or she quit college to become his wife. She has nothing on the wiki though, so unless she specifically mentioned college graduation (and put a date to it), the high school thing doesn't make much difference.

As far as Klarissa, Most places put the cutoff in the middle of August (it was in October when I was turning 5, but I don't know of anywhere with a cutoff that late anymore), so anyone in September, I would have already put in the right year for kindergarten, if I knew their birthdate (and not just birth year) when I figured their timeline. The August bdays are going to be the ones I might have gotten wrong.

In California, it's December 1st (or at least it was when I went to school).  In NYC, it's December 31st. :)  Phoenix is Sept 1st.

Anyhoos, those 4 I listed are the only 4 whose birthdays fall within the "you're hosed" timeframe.  Well, Jason's does too, but he doesn't go to school in Ohio.  I'll take a look and see if I find anything on Caleigh, and I don't know that there's anything that will need to be looked at in Mara's timeline.  Even if there's a year that needs to be adjusted, she's a smart girl and incredibly impatient, so the idea that she graduated in 3 years instead of 4 is not far-fetched for her character.

Interesting to me is the fact that both the troublemakers started later than their cousins (and didn't graduate).  I kind of wonder if starting a year later had any impact on the way they felt about themselves.

I'm sure it did. I started when I was six, not because I missed the cutoff with my bday, but because my older cousin had been held back and my parents didn't want me to be held back too, and have it harm my self-esteem (or some crap like that). At least that's what they told me. But I was ready when I was 5, so I was ahead of everyone else by the time I started and that seriously messed with me all through school. I always felt like I got cheated out of a year. When they considered skipping me a grade, I felt like that would just put me where I belonged. And then they said I didn't know multiplication, so they wouldn't skip me, so then I was pissed when we didn't learn multiplication until I hit the year I would have been skipped to. That made it feel like being cheated out of a year twice.

My personality type, and the fact that we moved around so much, meant that I just read a lot and quietly stewed about it. For kids who grew up in the same schools their whole life, and who have less quiet and studious personalities, I imagine that feeling of being cheated would exhibit itself in all sorts of troublesome ways.

There is the opportunity to skip Caleigh ahead a year, too.  I doubt Mara would have ever been skipped, because she's smart, but wasn't very focused in school.  And she wouldn't have been willing to leave her friends behind since friendships were always more important to her than education.

However, she definitely would have fought to leave school early if she could.  But I'm still researching her posts to see what her timeline is so we'll see if it's even needed.

So I asked Maggie when she got married.  She said it was a whirlwind romance with an old high school boyfriend and spontaneous marriage at the age of 25.  I did the math AFTER coming up with the age; it would have been in 2014, and is exactly 5 years prior to the date (Feb 2019) I'd chosen to start writing the Trifecta novels (I'm wondering if it would be more fun to call them the "Irish Triplets" since Logan and Shawn are "Irish Twins" hehe).

Coincidence that she hasn't talked to Logan or Shawn in almost 5 years?  I think not.  I believe (though she won't confirm) that Maggie got married in secret and when the relationship failed, she was too embarrassed to tell anyone and maybe too messed up in the head to deal with it.  So instead of doing the adult thing, she simply found another way out of it and vanished.

I am fairly certain that Maggie didn't tell a soul about the marriage.  And there are a few other things that will remain secret for the time being.  :D

Man. Your characters and their failed marriages. They never seem to cope well. :D

Let's hope Isabella doesn't have another failed marriage, yes? ;)

David says that's never going to happen. He actually seemed a little offended that you would even suggest it.