Welcome to "Fireside" book club!!!!!!!!!!!! - Page 7 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I am finding myself bleeding for both Bo and AJ as their story unfolds. Poor AJ is stuck with a man he believes abandoned him at birth... on the other hand you have Bo who has wanted to have contact with AJ but out of respect for AJ's Mom has stayed away and just tried to provide financially but has never gotten over being rejected by her when he asked her to marry him. I am really getting into this book and I am falling head over heels for these two poor tormented guys. I just want to hug them!!!!!!!!!
I have also finished the book. I have it here on my desk to refer to but I still can't remember all that happened before or after a certain chapter. I will talk in generalities that will not be spoilers if I can add anything to the discussion.
I also caught immediately the reference to her next book, Just Breathe, in chapter 5 or 6.
As for the Disney references - uumm - look at my alias and then you will know why I am a little lost in the discussion thread. I do have a niece that is interning down there this semester.
As for the Disney references - uumm - look at my alias and then you will know why I am a little lost in the discussion thread. I do have a niece that is interning down there this semester.
Well, that particular Disney reference was all about me needing glasses!
I've also felt bad for Bo and AJ. I think that Bo was in one of those situations where he was very misunderstood. NOw he is paying the price in judgment and mistrust. It is pretty sad. The more he explains, the more he will sound like he is making excuses, I think.
And poor AJ is left feeling abandoned when that was not at all the intention.
I have to say, not telling AJ where the money was coming from was a REALLY unkind choice on the part of the mother. That seems a little like taking credit for a gift someone else bought. NOT COOL!
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Hi all! Sorry life has been busy. I haven't yet finished the book but am chugging right along and even picked up another Lakeshore Chronicle at the library. I'm enjoying the story. I really feel of AJ. I've volunteered and worked in the past as a CASA and he reminds me so much of those children. It really angers me that so many of our court systems don't put more emphasis on the well being of a child. The lady at the school had me smoking mad. It reminded me to be grateful for all the places our kids have gone to school. Sometimes I feel like a horrible parent for having them move so much and then I remember to focus on the experiences they've had. I hope it helps them from becoming a bigoted small minded person. Sorry for such a ranty message. Looking forward to more contact with Bo and Kim and AJ. Missing Penelope!
Hi all! Sorry life has been busy. I haven't yet finished the book but am chugging right along and even picked up another Lakeshore Chronicle at the library. I'm enjoying the story. !
I'm not finished either. I decided to read along with the assigned reading so I can have the suspense each week for the discussions, but it seems like many people are finished.
Start thinking about what you want to discuss starting Saturday, everyone!
I almost cried for AJ. Not only does he get up rooted from the only parent he has ever known, but to end up in a place that is so foreign to him. When reading the book, I could just "see" his wonder at the snow and ice and winter sports.
There are so many dead beat parents out there, I can't believe the mother would take Bo's money, never let him have any contact with AJ and never tell him that the he was sending money. I maybe could have understood it, if the step father had been a good one, but he wasn't. Why would you not let a son have contact with a good father?
I almost cried for AJ. Not only does he get up rooted from the only parent he has ever known, but to end up in a place that is so foreign to him. When reading the book, I could just "see" his wonder at the snow and ice and winter sports.
There are so many dead beat parents out there, I can't believe the mother would take Bo's money, never let him have any contact with AJ and never tell him that the he was sending money. I maybe could have understood it, if the step father had been a good one, but he wasn't. Why would you not let a son have contact with a good father?
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I have no experience with the emotions involved in a situation like theirs. I do remember thinking while I was reading this part that I felt sorry for Bo. He was so young and had no knowledge or money to help him fight it. Yolanda's father was protective to the point of being controlling and very intimidating. I admired Bo for taking the time and initiative to set up the account for AJ. I feel like, at the time, Bo felt he had no choice but to do what he was told. After all, the terms of getting the charges Yolanda's father had brought against him dropped was that he stay away from her for good. And even though he did try to find Yolanda, no one could (or would) give him any help.
I'm not sure I think Yolanda didn't think he was good father material as much as I just think she was young and being told what to do. By the time she might have been strong enough to change it, she was married and probaby thought it was best to not "rock the boat". Her father had been a very controlling figure in her life, so it probably seemed natural to her to let her husband do the same thing. I do think she was wrong to not tell AJ that his father was providing for him and sending him gifts, though. But for all we know, that might have been the dead beat husband's doings, too.
JMHO
__________________
Betty Sue
Affiliated with CruisingCo.Com/MouseEarVacations.com
Disney Destination Specialist/ BettySueS@cruisingco.com August '09 Trip
I read that and wondered but thought - "No. ZuZu's Petals has to be from 'It's a Wonderful Life'." LOL! I love that you read that as ZaZu. And WOW!! Diz!! Kudos to you for that knowledge to tie it all in in spite of it all!!! LOVE IT!!!
Diz is The Queen of trivia, Sorry, Book Club, I've not been here this week, busy week at work, and paddling meetings on the weekend I've read up to Chapter 10.
I knew he would move in!!!! Let the games begin I can't wait to hear how all the relationships between the boarders develop. Now I'm going out to my car to retrieve MY reading glasses, ahem.......
Diz is The Queen of trivia, Sorry, Book Club, I've not been here this week, busy week at work, and paddling meetings on the weekend I've read up to Chapter 10.
I knew he would move in!!!! Let the games begin I can't wait to hear how all the relationships between the boarders develop. Now I'm going out to my car to retrieve MY reading glasses, ahem.......
This book (and Just Breathe AND Eat Pray Love, for those who were with us earlier) seems to highlight the upside to falling out of love and being left with nothing from it.
It certainly does leave space for new adventures and possibilities that you'd never even think of!
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