Just finished a German exam over a mobile telephone. Hard to hear the examiner, and for some reason I was nervous as all hell. I speak German, for gods' sakes.
That's it, though, my last exam for the foreseeable future. Do I care about the result? Course I do!

I have, for as long as I can remember, had a love affair with the language of music. In seventh grade (That's about age 12-13) my friends used to joke that when I played "A Whole New World" from Aladdin on my trumpet, it was like I went into a trance.

I never learned to read sheet music because of my vision problems. I actually found it MUCH easier to just learn to listen to what the guy next to me was playing and just copy him. I got so good at it that I could pick up a new part of a piece after an hour of practice listening to someone else sight-read it.

Musetta' Waltz was an experiment that I guarantee you I will never venture into again. I wanted to write a story about the transgendered prisoner that Richard O'Donnell fell in love with and eventually married. The problem was she was a three time loser, and that was the reason she was there in the first place. As I said somewhere before, I was painted into a corner, after all pleasant events, supportive family, acceptance are not going to get someone in jail. In defense of Musetta's Waltz, it does get better, a lot better for her.

I am concerned about the portrayal of TG in the media recently. For example, a Canadian Colonel has recently pled guilty of a escalating series of crimes that ended with the rape and murder of two women. But the image that has made the rounds is the man dressed in woman's underwear that he had stolen from women and girls, and his cross-dressing has been played up. Even my mother wondered if he was like me.... It would be wonderful if we could get someone from our community who does something wonderful, that we can show as positive role models. Ah well.

South Carolina’s first car-free Bicycle City is about to become a reality. The new Bicycle City will be located in South Carolina’s central midlands region near downtown Columbia, home to eight colleges and universities and the convergence of three rivers. We have begun building miles of hiking and biking trails and will hold an exciting ground breaking event on December 11. Bicycle City has been covered by Bicycling magazine and Next American City magazine and will be featured in Outside magazine’s December issue.

From the company that once advised people asking for driving directions between Europe and the US to "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean", try entering these searches into Google Maps and watch out for some rather suspicious looking directions...

From: Japan To: China (Step 43)
From: Seattle To: Sydney (the suspicious direction appears thrice!)
From: Seattle To: Beijing (both modes of water transport)

Apparently it works for a lot of trans-Pacific routes - but sadly they haven't reimplemented the very long swim on the other side of the globe :(

Well should i post more Rising Dawn chapters

My muse is on overdrive at the moment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11639505

I tried posting this up when it happened, but something went wrong in the process. I am surprised I have not seen it here already. I was rather angry with the initial press coverage, which seemed to put the death of a fellow human behind such things as "MAN IN A DRESS!!!!!" and "Delays for Passengers"

I thought I might give a sneak peek at an upcoming story I am working on. It takes place in the "Wild Cards" universe. For those who may not know what that is, it is a "Shared universe" series, created and edited by George R.R. Martin. The idea of the series is that a virus comes to earth, turning people into either superheroes or monsters. I am just getting started, so its going to take a bit.