please join me in wishing the girly girl Jaci (AKA Tels) a very happy birthday!

So last night, my mom and I were talking about when she was a kid, and it occurred to me we had something in common. See, she's left-handed, and in those days, they tried to "fix" left-handed people by belittling them and physically punishing them. My mom was assumed to stubborn, stupid, mentally ill, or even just evil just because she was different from the norm. Gee, that sounds a LOT like what trans people go through ...

I cant remember if I've mentioned it here, but I have been struggling for a while with needed new glasses, but its been a bear to get any traction on the issues. well, I finally managed to get things straightened out, and I should be getting a pair in the mail in about 2 weeks. Despite the fact that my errors made this take longer and be much more complicated than it had to be, I still want a adulting sticker, cause I persevered until it was done.

I was reading the other day that a lot of places including the U.K. and Canada are looking into dress codes that force women to wear heels at work, as well as overly sexual outfits like short skirts. While this is a good thing, it sucks for those of us who are used to trans stories that feature a guy following the girl's dress code ...

Well, my weekend did not go as planned, as I spent it bent over the toilet instead of being able to do stuff.

As a result, my attempts to publish my short story collection have been delayed, as have been my writing in general.

I'll post another update on the status of the story collection and when you guys might be able to expect more chapters of Mercy from me when I have more info to share, promise.

I think I have an idea for the Kindle book. It would be called "Dorothy Colleen: From A to Z" and have one story whose title begins with a different letter in the alphabet.

What do you guys think? would you buy something like that?

f you guys don't mind, I wanna talk about dysphoria for a bit.

Now, it's not a subject I tackle often, partially because I'm not sure how to convey the feeling to someone who has never had it, and partially because I'm not an expert on the subject in any sense other than my own experiences.

That said, as I had a really bad day with dysphoria yesterday, it is worth attempting to give some ideas on it.

My dysphoria tends to come in cycles. Not surprising, since everything else in my life seems to come in cycles too.
Sometimes, it's only a mild irritation.

You guys may recall a while ago I challenged our authors to come up with a story starring a "mature" trans person.

Well, I decided to take myself up on my challenge, and I'm working on the story right now.

No idea when it will be done, as I am splitting my writing time between this story, Mercy, and another new piece called "Help! My girlfriend is a unicorn!"

So all I can say for now is, stay tuned ...

I had a couple of good moments with Sharon today. She talked about her church possibly being too judgmental, and I'm petty sure she was talking about my situation in particular.

Plus she talked about meeting a trans woman working in a store in the mall, and how nice a person they were.

Despite her using the wrong pronouns, its the most positive steps forward I've seen from her.

I just wanted all my friends and fans here (and everybody else too) to send some encouragement to Jaci. She's been fiddling with a very funny Jaci and Dottie story, but I think she doesn't think she's a good enough writer, or something.

So send her some love, if you please.

Just letting everybody know that someone is posing as me on Facebook and trying to get my friends there to accept a friend request. Please report to Facebook if this happens to you.

Just wanted to apologize to anybody hoping for more Mercy any time soon. Since losing my job I have been fighting a serious depression, as well as a flu, and worrying about Jaci, my mom, and others as well.

So as a result, I haven't been doing much writing.

I'll try and get something going, but no promises on when you'll see more from me.

Well, I had planned to be able to give myself a ribbon for adulting yesterday.

It started off well, despite my cold, I shoveled the walk, and went and got the form for my marriage licence (I need a copy so I can do the name change thing), and then topped it off by getting a hold of the bank that has my car loan to find how much I still owe.

I had a dream last night of having the girliest of girl birthdays. Every present was super feminine.

The one that made me happiest was some very feminine outfit, but before I could wear it, water leaked out from under my bed and got it wet.

I was devastated, and then I woke up.

I'm blaming Jaci for this dream ...

I may have gained a reader. I mentioned at work about having a book on Kindle and one of my co-workers looked it up, and i think he's reading it. Be interesting to find out what he thinks of it.

I am very lucky to live in a house with animals.

Like last night, I was having troubles emotionally, and laying in bed and unable to sleep when my brother and sister-in-law's cat came into my room, jumped up on my bed, and basically demanded I pet her. After a while of stroking her soft fur and hearing her purr, I could feel my blood pressure drop and my heart rate slow. When I stopped petting her, the cat sat at the end of my bed facing my door, as if guarding me from any intruders, until I fell asleep.

Like I said, I'm very lucky.

Had a nice service at church today. Not only did we talk about Jesus as a young boy at the temple, but after the service, we had a lecture/discussion on the subject of "repairative therapy" - sometimes called 'conversion therapy" or "pray away the gay".

As it consists of little more than physical or psychological torture to try and "fix" people like me, and does much more harm than good, we are trying to start the process to get the Alberta government declare it illegal for people under 18 at the very least.

Why am I so weak? I read stories of people who went through stuff that makes my life look like a Sunday picnic and I wonder why is it that I feel like I am hanging on by my fingernails? Why can't I be stronger?

I am always reluctant to give a shout out to a particular story here. Not because there aren't fantastic stories being made, but the reverse - pointing to one story feels like not being fair to all the others being offered here.

That said, I hope you don't mind if I say I am really enjoying a story called "Prom changed Everything." Mostly because I can really identify with the main character who is struggling with her feminine side at the same time as she tries to recover from PTSD.