Bad Boy Gone Good by Colin Kelly

[Nigel Gordon]

I am sure that this topic existed as I am certain I had posted to it, but I have not been able to find it, wonder if it vanished in the site move?

If it is still around somewhere then my apologies for double listing it but to be honest I think it deserves a double listing. The story has now got to Chapter 3, I can't say much about it without spoiling it, but I can say it is well worth reading and has a surprising twist in it. Just hope the later chapters don't take as long to get posted.

[Lugnutz]

The butler did it.

Good story too.

[Graeme]

The other thread on this story is in the Codey's World Author Discussions section. I really enjoyed the first chapter, but I have a lot of trouble at the moment following serialised stories, so I'm waiting for the story to get further along before I go back to the start and read it all the way through

[Lugnutz]

He stole a line from me for chapter 2.

http://forums.awesomedude.com/index.php?showtopic=8820

[JamesSavik]

Thanks Colin.

Too many people cast the addict as a one dimensional sociopathic screw-ball with the ability to cause chaos and mayhem- just because.

There's always another layer that we don't really want to look at and see. We don't see the addict riding a wave that he doesn't understand or control.

When you can see the flawed, hurt and/or damaged human being underneath that mask, you have to change the way you think.

Evil isn't what you think. I used to think it was a kid selling dime bags on the corner to his class mates.

Then I found out he was selling because his mama owed a dealer money and it was that or get pimped out.

Good and evil? Black and white? Forget it. Our world is a lot more complicated than that. There aren't just 50 Shades of Gray. It's more like ten thousand.

[colinian]

Thanks, guys.

I'll try to get chapters out sooner, but work comes first. Gotta pay the mortgage. Gotta pay property tax (the next half is due April 10). Gotta figure out the Federal and State income tax. Thank God for TurboTax! And that same-gender marriage is recognized by the Feds and by the State of California.

Colin

[Rutabaga]

Glad to see chapter 4 up. Young Jado needs some legal help ASAP, among other things to get the trustee off its ass.

R

[JamesSavik]

Regarding Chapter 4- I think Jado might find there more to kicking weed and other drugs than just giving it up.

If there wasn't, rehabs would go out of business in short order.

[colinian]

Regarding Chapter 4- I think Jado might find there more to kicking weed and other drugs than just giving it up.

If there wasn't, rehabs would go out of business in short order.

That's right, James. But remember, he's only 17 years old and his reasoning is screwed up. Maybe because of too much weed?

Colin

[JamesSavik]

This is something that people don't get about addiction. It takes a lot of 12 step meetings and talking to tons of recovering addicts. It is very subtle and simple but hard to grasp about addiction.

Q: What do you get when an addict goes cold turkey?

A: An addict without drugs.

Addiction is about a LOT MORE than drugs and/or booze.

Tons and tons have been written on the subject. There are various theories, many treatments but no one really has a "cure".

When it is all said and done, the addict himself has to decide that they are sick of addiction, and want to kick bad enough to do what is necessary.

Nothing else works. Not civil commitment, forced treatment or even jail.

If I knew what makes that difference, I could become a billionaire and win a Nobel.

[Lugnutz]

Quitting drugs is like quitting smoking, only intensified. If you have the willpower, you have a start. A friend mentioned that smoking is 150% more addictive than drugs. I've never had to quit drugs, but smoking on the other hand is a bitch and most will jump back on the wagon within a month or two. I have a reason to quit smoking now. MS can open your eyes. Been almost 3 weeks dry for me after smoking for 35 years. My 5 weeks not smoking don't count because I was confined and smoking was not allowed. As soon as I was out, I smoked again for two weeks. Then I quit for me.

[Nigel Gordon]

Quitting drugs is like quitting smoking, only intensified. If you have the willpower, you have a start. A friend mentioned that smoking is 150% more addictive than drugs. I've never had to quit drugs, but smoking on the other hand is a bitch and most will jump back on the wagon within a month or two. I have a reason to quit smoking now. MS can open your eyes. Been almost 3 weeks dry for me after smoking for 35 years. My 5 weeks not smoking don't count because I was confined and smoking was not allowed. As soon as I was out, I smoked again for two weeks. Then I quit for me.

Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances around - it is far more addictive than most drugs including heroin.

It's been said that if you can quit smoking you can quit anything, except boasting about the fact that you have quit smoking.

[colinian]

This is something that people don't get about addiction. It takes a lot of 12 step meetings and talking to tons of recovering addicts. It is very subtle and simple but hard to grasp about addiction.

Q: What do you get when an addict goes cold turkey?

A: An addict without drugs.

Addiction is about a LOT MORE than drugs and/or booze.

Tons and tons have been written on the subject. There are various theories, many treatments but no one really has a "cure".

When it is all said and done, the addict himself has to decide that they are sick of addiction, and want to kick bad enough to do what is necessary.

Nothing else works. Not civil commitment, forced treatment or even jail.

If I knew what makes that difference, I could become a billionaire and win a Nobel.

In Bad Boy Gone Good Jado will have to be on a road to kick his habit that he defines for himself. The question, of course, is where that road is going to start and end.

Colin

[Rutabaga]

Some good and some ominous developments in chapter 7.

Here's a link pertinent to one issue that came up in passing (and, in the case of the story characters, apparently won't be an issue):

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/us/california-gay-therapy-ban/

R

[colinian]

Two groups say they're filing lawsuits challenging the newly signed California law. Good luck with that because a similar law in New Jersey just passed muster in the U.S. Supreme Court: U.S. top court rejects challenge to New Jersey 'gay conversion therapy' ban. As a result of that ruling when the lawsuits are filed it's unlikely they will be able to put the California law on hold.

Colin

[Rutabaga]

Oregon is poised to become the third state to ban gay conversion therapy for minors.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7235838

California's ban has withstood court challenge.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3837922

R

[colinian]

Oregon is poised to become the third state to ban gay conversion therapy for minors.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7235838

California's ban has withstood court challenge.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3837922

R

Those are both totally excellent! Thanks for the posts, Ritabaga.

Colin

[Rutabaga]

Every year, somebody puts out a series of nominations for Darwin Awards, highlighting the dumbass activities of people who are (in many cases litereally) too stupid to live.

Clearly Pete in this story is a strong contender for the next round of Darwin Awards.

R

[Nigel Gordon]

Every year, somebody puts out a series of nominations for Darwin Awards, highlighting the dumbass activities of people who are (in many cases litereally) too stupid to live.

Clearly Pete in this story is a strong contender for the next round of Darwin Awards.

R

Sorry but I suspect the level of intelligence required for the Darwin Awards exceeds that of Pete! Is it possible to have a negative IQ score?

[colinian]

Every year, somebody puts out a series of nominations for Darwin Awards, highlighting the dumbass activities of people who are (in many cases litereally) too stupid to live.

Clearly Pete in this story is a strong contender for the next round of Darwin Awards.

R

Just wait until you read chapter 9.

Colin

[JamesSavik]

This is one of the stores that has me jumping every time a chapter appears.

I hope when karma lands on Pete, it lands on him with both feet and a knee to the balls.

[colinian]

Thanks, James. You just stopped me from making Pete more likeable. [just kidding!]

Colin

[colinian]

Two Bad Boy Gone Good readers emailed me with similar complaints. What they both said, more or less, was that they were confused by the timeline starting with chapter 6 through chapter 8. One said there were too many interrelated timelines; the other said there were errors in the timeline. My solution was to create a date heading for each section of the story in these chapters where it's important to know when actions in the story are happening. There were no errors in the timeline, it's that the time that things happened was not specified and thus caused confusion that might have looked like errors; I think that adding the headers will eliminate this confusion.

A typical date heading looks like this:

~~~<< Tuesday Night at about 11:00 PM >>~~~

Since I had the hood open anyway, I also fixed some typos and clarified some of my clumsy language in these three chapters.

Let me know what you think. Does it help you or distract you when you're reading Bad Boy Gone Good?

Colin

[Rutabaga]

The lesson in the latest chapter is that when someone gets a restraining order affecting a student, the relevant school should be notified of it.

R

[Lugnutz]

Like in this case?