Chris and Barb sharing the same room....

[Marvin]

On the one hand, money, but on the other hand, effort and leaving the hoard... hmm...

Oh, Barb leaves sometimes. Just not very often. A few times a month or so? Maybe less now.

 

[Taurine]

I think this is the room that Chris is staying in now. Usually he keeps all of his lego shit in his room, but now it's in what I think is the music room (which Chris said his Mom sleeps in).

 

[Anon]

On the one hand, money, but on the other hand, effort and leaving the hoard... hmm...

Oh, Barb leaves sometimes. Just not very often. A few times a month or so? Maybe less now.

I wonder what the neighbors think of the Westons. Do they think they might be reserved, or do they know the full extent of the Weston's craziness?

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

I know that White Knighting is unfashionable, but I wish them a way to find a decent grief counseling program and the appropriate course of treatment of words and antidepressants to get them through this.

It's not a question of being "unfashionable", and your wish to see them get something they need is not wrong in any way. It's just more (and I'm sure you're aware) that any efforts you made would fall into a black hole.

 

[Marvin]

On the one hand, money, but on the other hand, effort and leaving the hoard... hmm...

Oh, Barb leaves sometimes. Just not very often. A few times a month or so? Maybe less now.

I wonder what the neighbors think of the Westons. Do they think they might be reserved, or do they know the full extent of the Weston's craziness?

They probably don't know anything, aside from what they could tell from the cars on the lawn. Maybe they know Bob died? I wouldn't expect them to know much.

 

[IcyHotWings]

I'm not entirely sure how all this works, but I would assume when Bob went, so did his retirement, leaving Chris' tugboat and Barb's retirement, if she gets any in the first place, and even then I'm not entirely sure Barb's retirement would be as much as Bob's since he was an engineer and she was just an office worker among many others. I actually think Chris might be having to pitch in even more than previous.

I'm not 100% sure - I work at a bank, but I'm just a front-end teller, I don't work on any serious financial stuff - but I think any retirement funds that Bob had left in his IRA or whatnot would have been transferred into an estate account upon his death, with probably Barb as the beneficiary. She probably would have had to go into the bank with his death certificate in order for this to happen (I think that's how it is at our bank, at least), though, and I'm split on whether this would have happened. On the one hand, money, but on the other hand, effort and leaving the hoard... hmm...

Again, this isn't the sort of thing I work on, IRAs are not the sorts of accounts I ever touch except on very, very rare occasions. Take whatever information I'm saying with a grain of salt, this is just stuff I've picked up from overhearing the CSRs talk about it over the years.

Yeah, that actually makes a good bit of sense... Any idea how much money it might have been? I'm guessing our "dynamic duo" they probably just thought "Hey, here's a large sum of money, let's go blow all (or most) of right away!". Maybe that's how they got Chris' Mitsubishi? Not trying to A-Log or anything here, just being the voice of the darker situation, I guess.

 

[Metagross]

Chris mentioned how he had to take care of his mother? I think is mostly a Barb psychology thing. Which probably has to do with the death of Bob making her feel the need to have someone take care of her and someone to focus her affections (as pushy as they might be) on. So she might have made Chris move to an area where he can watch over her as much as she watches him. It seems like a desperate women desperately trying to have a symbiotic relationship, or rather hold on tight to what she has left. Which sad to say, isn't much.

 

[Batman VS Tony Danza]

Chris mentioned how he had to take care of his mother? I think is mostly a Barb psychology thing. Which probably has to do with the death of Bob making her feel the need to have someone take care of her and someone to focus her affections (as pushy as they might be) on. So she might have made Chris move to an area where he can watch over her as much as she watches him. It seems like a desperate women desperately trying to have a symbiotic relationship, or rather hold on tight to what she has left. Which sad to say, isn't much.

I sometimes wonder if some of the reason Barb is doing this is because to a certain extent she always wanted to. Barb was clingy and liked spooning with Chris even when Bob was alive. Bob made it clear he didn't approve. His death made it much worse and while I believe this is Barb's fucked up way of dealing with the fear of being alone I could easily see Chris living in close to the same situation when Bob was alive if he never showed any signs of protest.

 

[JULAY]

I'm not entirely sure how all this works, but I would assume when Bob went, so did his retirement, leaving Chris' tugboat and Barb's retirement, if she gets any in the first place, and even then I'm not entirely sure Barb's retirement would be as much as Bob's since he was an engineer and she was just an office worker among many others. I actually think Chris might be having to pitch in even more than previous.

I'm not 100% sure - I work at a bank, but I'm just a front-end teller, I don't work on any serious financial stuff - but I think any retirement funds that Bob had left in his IRA or whatnot would have been transferred into an estate account upon his death, with probably Barb as the beneficiary. She probably would have had to go into the bank with his death certificate in order for this to happen (I think that's how it is at our bank, at least), though, and I'm split on whether this would have happened. On the one hand, money, but on the other hand, effort and leaving the hoard... hmm...

Again, this isn't the sort of thing I work on, IRAs are not the sorts of accounts I ever touch except on very, very rare occasions. Take whatever information I'm saying with a grain of salt, this is just stuff I've picked up from overhearing the CSRs talk about it over the years.

Bob probably didn't have an IRA, just his GE Defined Benefit Pension plan. When he would have retired, 401(k) and other IRAs were brand new, and generally only senior executives had them in those days. If Bob's pension plan had a survivor benefit, and he named Barb as the beneficiary, then she is getting a percentage of what they got when Bob was alive. In my company, if a survivor is within 5 years of age as the deceased employee, they get 50%, and if the difference is more than that, you get a lesser amount depending on the age discrepancy. Barb was more than 10 years younger than Bob... but anyway.

If there was no survivorship clause, then she gets nothing. Also, if Bob didn't name her as the beneficiary, she gets nothing. I actually have some friends who work in HR at GE... I'll have to ask the next time I talk to them what the terms of their pension plan are / were when Bob retired.

 

[Aristocrat]

Then again, I've never hated Chris. I laugh at him, sure, and I think a lot of the stuff he says/does is just plain dumb and wrong but I have never felt any genuine ill will towards the man and don't really get why someone would. Like all of the A-Loggers, for example.

I don't think there's any reason to hate Chris or wish harm on him. The A-loggers are basically not much better than Chris himself in that respect. Chris is a pretty terrible person, and it's entertaining to watch him fail. He also has this weird talent for taking any sympathy you may have for him in any moment, and making you regret ever feeling it. But honestly, with a few exceptions, he's done nothing at all to any of the people who follow him, and hating him is a pretty lame and immature overreaction. In fact, i think that most of us here would secretly love to watch him miraculously turn it all around somehow. (we all know he won't, but it'd be fucking riveting if he did.)

As for Cole, eh... i don't have a lot of sympathy for him. He admits that he could find out definitively who his father is (or rather, isn't) but just didn't want to pay for the DNA tests, so he's being a bit histrionic about the whole thing. Then again, he was talking to Chris, who was being Chris' usual inconsiderate, selfish self about the whole deal, so maybe he was just being a dick about it because Chris was irritating him.

I have never A-Logged at Chris, but I do want him to feel that proverbial burning sensation he'll always keep getting every time he messes with that proverbial stove so maybe one day he will finally start to learn that actions have consequences. Sooner or later, the monkey stops sticking his hand over the burner (although unlike Chris, monkeys can be trained, they can learn from mistakes, can be potty trained, and are liked by people).

During the video where Chris was humping his blow-up doll out in broad daylight on the front lawn, notice there were no other people around. I think the neighbors have learned to keep the curtains drawn, the doors locked, and the kids inside when word gets around that Chris is outdoors.

 

[Batman VS Tony Danza]

Neighbor #1: "That Chandler kid is outside with a DVD player"

Neighbor #2: "You don't think he's going to come to our door and try to sell it, do you? Oh god!"

Neighbor #1: "Quick! Turn everything off and pretend we're not here!"

Neighbor #2: "... well?"

Neighbor #1: "False alarm. He's just fucking it up with a rock. Kind of. Not really. It's fine. He got winded and left"

 

[snowkitten91]

Hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband cause that crazy manbaby's out again.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

During the video where Chris was humping his blow-up doll out in broad daylight on the front lawn, notice there were no other people around. I think the neighbors have learned to keep the curtains drawn, the doors locked, and the kids inside when word gets around that Chris is outdoors.

I don't think his neighbors give a shit about him or Barb. The reason there's no activity in the neighborhood is probably because they're all elderly shut-ins just like Barb. Chris is probably the only person over 18 but under 50 on the block.

 

[Marvin]

During the video where Chris was humping his blow-up doll out in broad daylight on the front lawn, notice there were no other people around. I think the neighbors have learned to keep the curtains drawn, the doors locked, and the kids inside when word gets around that Chris is outdoors.

I don't think his neighbors give a shit about him or Barb. The reason there's no activity in the neighborhood is probably because they're all elderly shut-ins just like Barb. Chris is probably the only person over 18 but under 50 on the block.

This. Like when I was growing up, our neighbors could've been doing all sorts of crazy shit, but if they were doing it at frequencies comparable to Chris' time spent outside, I wouldn't have noticed anything.

The only neighbor I remember was Hans, the weird old german guy who would walk down our street once a day, and I only remember him because little 13 year old Marvin shouted something (it was totally just "hi") out the window at him on a dare and got in trouble when he complained to my legal guardian.

 

[Holdek]

Chris mentioned how he had to take care of his mother? I think is mostly a Barb psychology thing. Which probably has to do with the death of Bob making her feel the need to have someone take care of her and someone to focus her affections (as pushy as they might be) on. So she might have made Chris move to an area where he can watch over her as much as she watches him. It seems like a desperate women desperately trying to have a symbiotic relationship, or rather hold on tight to what she has left. Which sad to say, isn't much.

I sometimes wonder if some of the reason Barb is doing this is because to a certain extent she always wanted to. Barb was clingy and liked spooning with Chris even when Bob was alive. Bob made it clear he didn't approve. His death made it much worse and while I believe this is Barb's fucked up way of dealing with the fear of being alone I could easily see Chris living in close to the same situation when Bob was alive if he never showed any signs of protest.

Chris mentioned that Bob and Barb didn't really get along too well anymore. They basically argued with each other and slept in separate bedrooms. So her emotional substitution of Bob with Chris was probably a gradual thing that became more rapid after Bob paid Charon's toll.

 

[applecat]

The only neighbor I remember was Hans, the weird old german guy who would walk down our street once a day, and I only remember him because little 13 year old Marvin shouted something (it was totally just "hi") out the window at him on a dare and got in trouble when he complained to my legal guardian.

I have to say, your little anecdotes aren't quite Christory-level amusing, but it's still interesting whenever you slip them in.

 

[GFYS]

Only two houses have direct line-of-sight of the Chandler's front yard and cars. Everyone else has obstructed views, or no doors/windows facing. The owners are all 50+, but some homes have a younger generation (a few 20~30 somethings) living with their parents. For the most part, they are all aware of some of Chris' antics through postcards and pictures being sent to them via first class mail. Most received notification of Chris and Barb's arrest and pending trial. Judging from the mean age, I doubt too many - if any - have ever gone online to see just how deep the CWC rabbit hole goes.

I sometimes wonder if some of the reason Barb is doing this is because to a certain extent she always wanted to. Barb was clingy and liked spooning with Chris even when Bob was alive. Bob made it clear he didn't approve. His death made it much worse and while I believe this is Barb's fucked up way of dealing with the fear of being alone I could easily see Chris living in close to the same situation when Bob was alive if he never showed any signs of protest.

Ah, that's a great point I never considered. That sounds depressingly plausible, given some of the details we know about Barb and her tendencies.

 

[Zim]

Generally I don't think most people notice things their neighbors do unless it's in your face sort of wierd. As it's been said, Chris is not really so noticable unless you're looking for him. His neighbors have probably seen him doing some really wierd things but they don't care like we do. They don't watch like we do.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

I know that White Knighting is unfashionable, but I wish them a way to find a decent grief counseling program and the appropriate course of treatment of words and antidepressants to get them through this. I spent six weeks never leaving my home under these exact mental circumstances, I was in physical pain and drowning in sadness over what was left undone. Thank God I found the right help and a doctor who listened to me, I honestly do believe they saved my life. I wish I could tell the Chandlers the same thing.

I shall now remove my armour and stable my destrier. Flame all you would like now.

[/quote]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with it as long as it's adding something meaningful to the discussion, and if the Chandler's situation is akin to the one you found yourself in then one have to be an asshole to take pleasure in it. White knight away!

As with everything involving Chris, the situation is always multi-faceted so there's probably more than just grief at play here. It could also be a argued that they're finally reaping the rewards of a lifetime of abrasive and unpleasant conduct towards almost everybody else they've been involved with. You're either with or against them in their eyes and you'll only be placed in the "with" category if you're prepared to instantly gratify them. Bob'n Barb took these rigid, closed minded ideals and drilled them into their child with a mental condition that latches onto and identifies with rigid, closed minded ideals.

It's great that you found help and also that you acknowledge and appreciate what it did for you, but I would imagine it also took a fair amount of effort from yourself as well, effort that I'm not convinced the Chandlers are prepared to put in.

 

[MysticMisty]

I suspect that Barb has always wanted to keep a short leash on Chris while Bob (to an extent) tried to give Chris opportunities to be normal (which he failed at by properly admitting something is wrong with Chris and public school special ed isn't good enough to help him become normal, and by giving up on a real job too easily). Bob arranged for Chris to go to Anime Mid-Atlantic by himself, for example, and was likely the one who taught him how to drive. But after the Ohio incident Barb was able to tighten the leash significantly. If Bob wanted to allow Chris to go somewhere alone outside of Ruckersville or Charlottesvile, Barb likely would have reminded him that Chris drove to Ohio and that their precious snowflake might wander again, and he'd agree another Ohio incident would be bad.

As Bob became sick and grew sicker, this was another opportunity for Barb to tighten the leash. Bob had become too weak to object about most things, and Chris couldn't really fight back. All Barb had to do is guilt trip him with "Yes, you could go to Friday's After Five on your own...but Bob might DIE while you're away and I'll change the locks anyways!" and Chris would stress sigh and say "Yes Mommy" and go play more games.

Now that Bob is gone there's nobody to stop Barb and it's far too late for Chris to object. In a way, Barb's death will be a massive relief for him. Not only will he regain the freedom he had prior to his trip to Ohio, he'll be able to do whatever the fuck he wants to an extent. He'll keep getting banned from places and could get arrested again, but Barb won't be there to stop him from getting alcohol and trying to pick up chicks, and staying out as late as he wants.