Back in April I had the chance to spend a week at my friends' condo at the beach. They had planned on going for Spring Break as usual, but something came up and they had to change their plans, so they told me to go and enjoy myself, which I did. Then the Monday after I got back I went out for a jog, and woke up the next day in the hospital.
I have a friend who is an English teacher, and she gets these little gems from time to time. This one is from a few years back but I recently found it and thought I post it here for giggles. This is a collection of analogies and metaphors submitted by high school English teachers from around the US and taken from essays turned in by actual students.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
Thanks to the recent refreshing of The Prodigal, the story received many new hits and comments, and that has caused me to consider writing a prequel. Keeping in mind that this is likely to be a rather dark and violent tale, would anyone be interested in such a thing? I will probably go through with it anyway, but I'm interested in knowing the interest level.
Also, look for something featuring Bree in the next few hours. I've just finished a short piece for the Transgender Day of Remembrance and I'll be posting it soon.
As I'm sure everyone is aware, Friday, November 20th is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The TSSD Chat room is open and if you want to drop by between the hours of 6PM and Midnight Eastern Time, I can promise you there will be someone there. There's no format planned, but please if you can drop in and say hello. The link to the chat room can be found at the top of the front page here and at Stardust.
Last year I was very proud when the city of Gainesville approved an ordinance that allows transgender persons to use the public restroom of the gender they identify with. Of course this measure was immediately and quite vehemently attacked, and a petition drive was launched to amend it, ostensibly to prevent men from entering a ladies room and then claim they were transgender if they got caught, despite the fact that the law already has a provision to deal with this.
Sometimes I do get carried away; I get involved in something and I focus on it and just zone everything else out. It can be a good thing, especially when you have something that needs to get done.
So I've been writing, a lot, and as I sit here at 6:30 AM on Wednesday I realize I have been up since about 4:00 PM ...
Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary, passed away on Wednesday after a long battle with leukemia. Bob Dylan wrote 'Blowin' in the Wind', but it was Mary's powerful voice accompanied by the harmonies of Peter and Paul that made it an anthem for a generation. She will be missed.
It seems a day for sad news. Farrah Fawcett has died of cancer at the age of 62. How I loved her in my teen years; of course I didn't want to be with her, I wanted to be her -- but I'm sure there are others here who can sympathize with that. I think Charlie might say something like this; "Spread your wings and fly, Angel, fly! You soar in the heavens now, forever young and beautiful."
I've posted a snippet of my latest project, Forged In Fire, at my TGLibrary site. This is a military sci fi story very heavily influenced by the works of David Weber, so if you like that kind of thing please give it a peek. Be aware that this genre includes violence, explosions and even harsh language!
Oh, and this is a totally raw draft, so please, there is no need to point out the typos. I will get to the proofing in time, but right now I'm primarily interested in overall impressions. On my site you can also find some background material about the story setting.
Well, all the hoopla about Amazon has accomplished something positive for me, at least. I found a great book that I'd like to recommend (I didn't buy it from Amazon - I downloaded it as an ebook from Fictionwise). It's entitled Luna, by Julie Anne Peters, and it was simply outstanding.
Thank you so much to everyone who came out for the Day of Remembrance gathering at the Nova Party Line. I can only speak for myself, but I found the evening very poignant; there was sadness to be sure, but there was also inspiration and hope. We had a good turnout and some very good discussions, and even though we were 'preaching to the choir', I think we all gained something from it.
As I said to everyone as the night drew to a close, here's hoping for the day when no one will come out for an event like this, because we won't have any names to add to the list.
I would like to invite everyone to drop by the Nova Party Line on Thursday, November 20th, 2008, between the hours of 5PM and 11PM PST (8PM and 2AM EST) for an online gathering in honor of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
I just noticed that in five weeks I'll have been a part of BCTS for three years. Since I'll probably totally miss the anniversary I thought I'd go ahead and reflect on it now.
So, I ordered some books from Lulu, one of which was 'Headlights Girl'. I got the order yesterday, and everything was fine except for Cathy's book. The cover looked great, but when I opened the book the title page read, 'Baseball Pitchers: The Most Overrated and Underrated in the Last 20 Years' by KP Wee.
I am enjoying another vacation, of sorts. I haven't gone anywhere, but my friends are away for the entire month of June, leaving me free to indulge in some long overdue ... experimentation. I've been making some online purchases over the last few weeks in preparation, and I'm prepared to make a few preliminary observations:
No, I'm not going into labor. One of the great things about a site like this is the opportunity for writers to share knowledge and help each other improve. That's my intention with this blog about contractions.
After our time in the champagne room, Fallon and I returned to the couch where I ordered us another round. I should point out here that the waitresses don't get tipped out by the dancers; they get their own tips, so I made an effort to be generous. The service was quite excellent and I have always believed in tipping well.
Before I get to that, I wanted to explain a bit more about the friction rooms. First, they aren't really rooms as such, more like cubicles, with a little couch and a TV. I'm not sure why the TV is there, I vaguely remember that there were naked women on it, but why watch them when I had one 'in the flesh' right in front of me?
So there I was, sitting in a gentlemen's club called Scarlett's, sipping my second drink. I was aproached by another girl, a very pretty blonde, but I still wasn't quite ready to take the plunge. A short time after she moved on, the DJ called all the girls to the back, and I saw my first walk-around.
I got back from vacation yesterday evening, I had a really wonderful, relaxing time, but I would have to say that Wednesday night was the best part of the whole trip. I did something then I'd never even contemplated doing before; I told someone I'd just met about myself.
First let me say thank you to all who have commented on my entry from last night. I didn't really intend to bare my soul so much, it just sort of happened, but the response was very encouraging. I might need to consider a No BUI (Blogging Under the Influence) rule, however.
I'm only slightly tipsy this afternoon, so I should be safe. Hey, like Jimmy Buffet says, it's 5 o'clock somewhere.
I was at the Outback this evening and saw a story on ESPN that intrigued me, so I looked it up when I got home. Last Saturday the Western Oregon girl's softball team was playing Central Washington, when senior Sarah Tucholsky, for the first time in her life, knocked one over the fence with two girls on base.
Sad news for all the gamers here. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has passed away at age 69. Despite his declining health, Gary was still hosting weekly games at his home as recently as January. He touched a lot of lives through his creation, and he will be missed.
Solari over on the FM hyperboard posted a link to a site called TStories (http://www.tstories.com/index.php) that is hosting works from a lot of authors here. After a quick scan I found stories by Julie O, Morpheus, Angela Rasch, and many others, including myself. I know I didn't give them permission to post the stories and I'm sure none of the others did either.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
