I stopped by 7-Eleven this afternoon and the clerk said to me, "I'm not even supposed to be here today." Then we discussed the practical limitations of playing hockey on the roof. Good times with a complete stranger.

The Rebel Black Dot Society
Being of limited talent and imagination, all of my important characters are distilled/reworked versions of myself. Margaret is as I imagine I'd be, or hope I'd be, were I a girl. (There's just no way to say that without it sounding weird.) Scipio is the pure asshole I wish I had the courage to be. Parker is me crossed with a healthy dose of Steeziness. Mary is as devout as I long to be. Pete is the least changed version of myself, though he is kinder than I as my more jerkish tendencies have been transfered to Scipio. However, there is one enormous (and it is hard to overstate how vital this is) difference between Pete and me: he has no Mountain of Love. My brother is the single most important thing in the world to me; Bog, country, Dr Pepper, these are all secondary concerns. Pete has an older sister, quite similar to my own sister, but she is six years Pete's elder (The L.A.W. is three and a half mine). Still, my brother and I are closer than any other siblings I have ever encountered, or any of whom I've ever heard, and I didn't want to simply abandon such a potentially rich element. So, I have embodied our bond in the brother-sister duo of Parker and Mary Peppard. I think I feel more comfortable dealing with such a bond between two characters who are much less me. I'm babbling, aren't I?

Margaret Eastman, 19, has four siblings, a sister and three brothers. Francis Xavier, 28, is her half-brother from their mother's first marriage. She has an older sister, Paige, 21, and twin younger brothers, Sean and Will, 16.

Pete Foster, 20, has an older sister, April, 26.

Mary Peppard, 19, has an older brother, Parker, 22.

Scipio Winter, 20, has five siblings, four sisters and a brother. Livia, 23; Cato, 22; Julia, 19; Portia, 16; and Agrippina, 15.

Parker Peppard, 22, has a younger sister, Mary, 19.

Stacey Hiraki, 18, is an only child.

Kari Putterman, 19, I don't know yet.

Brandy McCown, 21, has siblings (she seems like the type), but I have yet to devise them.

Mark Greenwald, 22, is probably an only child. Jerk.

Opinion Poll
Which name is better for the frat boy to whom Margaret loses her virginity: Jeremy Metz or Geoff Metz? He's a frathole, but other than that he's not a bad guy. The sex was exactly what Margaret wanted at the time it happened, but as the story progresses Metz begins to feel uncomfortable, not that he did anything wrong, but more like he feels he was inadvertently part of something unfortunate.

And I unapologetically love the terms sorostitute and frathole. Long live the F.R.A.T. Party!