Nice, Kev! I like all the stuff you added. I think The Kid in my class was named Ricky, but I can't remember his last name. He was strange though. And a little creepy. He wore these big boots and always talked about how his Dad owned a gun. And we were in like 2nd grade. I'm still a little creeped out by that.
Author's Response:
Wow, Azlin! Usually The Kid is just weird! You had The Scary Kid - Yikes!
I'm glad you liked the changes. Muggins read through it about 6 times (at once) and gave me 3 sets of comments (at once) - this is the result! It was fun to write, that's for sure.
Thanks for beta-ing and for reviewing!
Andy has always been one of my favorite characters, and I've never seen any stories that feature him so I'm really excited about this. What a great start and I can't wait to read more!
Author's Response:
I'm so glad you like it! There's definitely not many Andy stories; hopefully, I'll do justice to him. I'm quite excited to see Season 4 Andy, actually. I think he's going to be a lot of fun.
I'm afraid you'll have to wait about 3 weeks for an update. I'm away for a couple weeks starting soon (visiting my sister in Scottsdale, naturally), and I won't really have a lot of access to a computer, particularly since no one but my husband knows anything about my writing fanfic...or my reading fanfic...or my obsessive TWoP reading and posting.
Thanks so much for reviewing!
Wow, I loved this first chapter. It definitely fits the bill with Andy as far as I'm concerned...I always get this vibe that he just wants to fit in with everyone. And I love how you did this backstory with Andy being The Kid. Great idea! Keep up the great work!
Author's Response:
Thanks so much, PhatHalpert! I had a lot of fun writing about Andy as The Kid - it did seem to fit! And the poor guy - he's still on the outside looking in, and sniffing at the girls. Sigh.
Thanks for reviewing! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
This was great and makes perfect sense...now we know why Andy always tries so hard to be normal (in the process becoming extremely abnormal)! I wouldn't be surprised at all if this actually happened in his past. Great job!
Author's Response:
Thanks so much, MoreLikeSwaying! I have to say it hit me sort of suddenly, and it was from Andy's mom's perspective of "Oh, my God, my kid is The Kid!"
Andy does try so hard. Sadly, as an adult, I think he often thinks he's succeeding, but we know he's not! Poor guy. What fun Andy will be next season, though! I'm looking forward to that.
Thanks so much for reviewing - I'm really glad you liked it!
Poor Andy.
"He wouldn't smell Mrs. Huber, though, because she smelled just like Danny Huber. Andy had no idea what that smell was, but he didn't want even a tiny sniff."
What a fantastic little detail. It made me laugh out loud.
I really like what you've got going here so far. I look forward to the rest of it!
Thanks staingirl! I had formaldehyde in mind for the Huber family. Live upstairs from the family funeral parlour, perhaps? Niiice. I'm glad you liked that detail. We all have these little snippets of details wandering around our heads from our childhoods, don't we? Of course, I don't actually know anyone who smelled of formaldehyde, but there always were those kids who had an odd body odor. And it's kind of (darkly) funny to imagine their moms did too. I'm glad you laughed out loud! We can always use more laughs.
It'll be about 3 weeks before there's more, but they'll all be stand-alone, and no cliff-hangers!
Thanks for reviewing!
10 [Report This]Oh, that's so sad- and at the same time darkly funny. I can totally see it, with his strategies and lists and not. quite. getting it.
(Mark Plaster was The Kid's name, by the way).
Thanks, lis! I especially like how you noticed he wasn't quite getting it. I think not. quite. getting it is an Andy thing which followed him through life! ("I'm gonna go get my banjo out of my car.")
My wishes for the Mark Plasters of the world, that people no longer consider them The Kid!
Thanks so much for reviewing!
I never thought I was The Kid until now. Thanks a lot for shattering my psyche and making me riddled with self doubt over the first few years of my school life. :)
I love Andy-centric stories, have written two of my own, and this one is quite funny. Therefore I will certainly follow it and show it all the love it deserves. After all, I know the ratio of JAM to NOT JAM stories around here, and when one like this comes along, you gotta strike while the iron's hot! Excellent!
Cousin Mose, maybe it's like Michael Scott (or was it David Brent?): If you don't know a Michael Scott, perhaps you are a Michael Scott. But you seem to have gotten past your Kid-status, right? I mean, somebody married you and stuck around a while! Seriously, though, we all have aspects of The Kid, or our siblings do/did, or our kids do/did. I do love the idea that Andy overheard this and decided he'd do something about it. Maybe he didn't entirely succeed, but he was trying.
I'm writing stories I get ideas for, and stories I think I can write. I'm not sure I could do a great job at a traditional (or non-traditional) JAM story, plus I think there's so many good JAM stories out there, I'd rather find my weird little niche. Welcome to my weird little niche. It's like Hotel California, you can never leave. ;)
Thanks so much for reviewing!
10 [Report This]Wow, this was unbelievably good...even if we didn't know who Andy turned into this could stand on its own as a great little short story. Very funny, but touching and even a little sad in its way. Ian Leuschner was the kid in my elementary school. Not a well adjusted fellow at all. Great, great job with this.
Author's Response:
Thanks so much, brokenloon! It was a fun little story to write. I think we can all identify a little bit with The Kid or his parents, or at least look back on our own Kid and have a little more sympathy.
My sister had some little tic-y activities she used to do. She actually told me a few years back (when one of my kids was being tic-y) that she'd pray to God every night when she was a kid that she'd wake up "normal"...I had no idea! Maybe she should've had a list, but we know how well that worked out for Andy!
I'm sending good thoughts out to the Ian Leuschners and Joey Shawns of the world...
Thanks so much for reviewing!
Oh this was so enjoyable. This is what I exactly picture Andy to be as a child. Please say he's kept this list going for awhile, it's just that funny.
Just from season three alone
Don't speak pig latin,
Don't play the banjo,
Don't sing four part harmony into your phone and make it your ring tone.
Sorry, got carried away.
It was very unique, I love - hate - love Andy, and I like your take on where he came from. Especially his seemingly normal parents. Can't wait to read more.
Have fun in Scottsdale, or should I say the Sandals resort in Jamaica. Is that you Urkel Grue?
Author's Response:
If only I had Urkel Grue's gams. And her body in general. Melora Hardin seems to get rid of her baby belly pretty quickly, if she ever even had it to begin with!
The subsequent chapters will pick up at different times in Andy's life. At least one has a list, but it's a different kind of list. I really like your list ideas, though. Sadly, I don't think Andy realized that the pig latin, falsetto accompanied banjo-playing, and self-recorded ring tone are not cool. Sigh. (Actually, I thought the ring tone was cool, so I guess I'm...kinda lame.)
Did you ever check out my story where I used Morning Rest? It was chapter 2 of Jim's Poker story. It was kinda smutty though, so you maybe wouldn't want to read it...!
Thanks so much for your review! As for his seemingly normal parents, I definitely saw myself in the Sarah Bernard role. I've been that mom. I am that mom half the time. And I loved your TWoP post about that Cow Plop thing - I'm going to keep that in mind!
10 [Report This]That was oddly sweet. A good read.
Author's Response: Thanks, Swedge! I do have a lot of sympathy for The Kid, since sometimes my kids do the things on Andy's list...Let's just say that I can really relate to Andy's mom. Thanks for reviewing!
This is SO pitiful! but i KNOW that Andy WAS That Kid. I really love Andy's character, so i'm glad you're doing this. you're off to a great start and i can't wait to see where you take it :)
Author's Response:
Thanks so much, rulesofjinx! Once you think about it, it makes so much sense that Andy was that kid! It is sort of pitiful, but we all make it, right? He does have a life, and parents who love him, so he's ahead of some other people! Plus, he has such a great defense mechanism set up for himself as an adult. (He's forced to go to Anger Management, so he calls himself "management material"? Priceless.)
It'll be a while before it's updated, but everything should stand on its own...
Thanks so much for reviewing.
I adore Andy, and I'm alsways on the lookout for fics about him, so thank you! Also, it makes perfect sense that Andy would be The Kid, and then want to fit in. This is probably where he started suffering from crippling insecurity. I SO want to see more of this story, it has got great potential.
Author's Response:
Thanks, so much techiequeen! Andy is definitely underrepresented on the fic front so far, although an Andy/Kelly story was just rec'd over on TWoP. (I haven't seen it yet, but I'll bet it's great.) I can definitely see Andy being The Kid!
I think the adult Andy thinks he's left The Kid waaay behind (or at least that no one knows he was The Kid), but we know he hasn't! He's still kind of the weird guy who doesn't fit in. I'm loving what they've done with Andy since he came back from Anger Management, and I think we'll see fun things in Season 4.
It will probably be about 3 weeks before I add the next chapter; I'm going to Scottsdale to visit my sister.
Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm really glad you liked it.
I absolutely love this story. It is so different. I felt an ache in my stomach for poor Andy.
Thanks, dstny! Believe it or not, I thought of this while vacuuming. Weird, huh? Because I hardly ever vacuum. Sarah Bernard's "He's the kid!" wail just popped into my head.
In some ways, Andy still is The Kid, isn't he? Then again, many of us have aspects of The Kid in us, and I think many of us can relate to feeling weird and wanting to be normal. I think we're all doing really well. As long as we haven't punched a hole in the drywall, that is, because that guy? Weird.
Thanks so much for your review!
Aw, Andy. I just want to hug him.
And, there seemed to be a new That Kid every year in my school. And, invariably, That Kid would develop an INSANE crush on me. And no other boy would. That kind of sucked, being That Kid's love interest. I ran and hid a lot. Oh, god. I was "That Girl." and not in a sassy, Marlo Thomas kind of way. Sigh.
Yes, classes changed, so most of us have more than one Kid in our past.
The one I really remember is from kindergarten or first grade. The first time I ever heard my mom swear ("You damn kid!") was when that kid pushed my brother who had a lollypop in his mouth. And, yeah, that boy really liked me, too. Isn't it great to be a weirdo-magnet? Is 'great' the right word? No. No, it is not.
Thanks for reviewing, Maybe Once!