A while ago I talked about an older man at my church who decided what I needed was someone to flirt with me, and today, he took that flirting to another level.

Things are a little stressed around here. My mom is sick, my dog is sick, and I had a tough moment with Sharon. See, the other night I took my daughter and her mother out for groceries and mentioned I had just written a story and was pretty happy with it. My daughter, who loves stories, wanted to know what I named it, and Sharon butted in and told her "You don't want to know that stuff. It isnt for kids."

So apparently, I cant share the one part of my life I'm actually proud of with my daughter, and it hurts ...

My dear sister Jaci is feeling sick, so if you're so inclined, send her some good wishes.

Well, my adventures in dog-sitting is over, and I'm glad to be home. I was happy to find out I would have Wi-Fi there, so I was able to peek in on you guys to see if you were behaving, and most of you were ...

Now, I would take a moment to be serious, and talk about putting yourself down.

I have been very guilty of it over the years, but finally, someone managed to make me see that in calling myself down I make it true. Every time I call myself stupid, or ugly, or whatever, I help make that the reality.

Well, my friend Jaci is gonna laugh about this one: I was having a conversation with my next-door neighbor yesterday, and she said I was "more girly " than she was ...

I was reading an excellent science fiction book a while back and it got me thinking about the process of creating a society for a story.

a while back Bailey Summers did a bit where he used the analogy of using spoons to represent a portion of one's physical, emotional, and psychological strength to deal with life.

There was an interesting article in a local paper yesterday about a woman who had lost her hair due to an autoimmune disease, and for the last 3 years refused to be seen in public without a wig, until she finally decided to "come out of the hair closet" by letting herself be photographed without it.

In some ways, my transition has been like her story - years of hiding and self-hate, then coming out and discovering just a big a relief it is to be honest, and then finding out that most people ignore me, some accept me, and some love me regardless.

Well, I found out the source of my panic attack before going into a shower.

I've been thinking a lot about puberty.

I mean, that's the closest I can probably come to describing what I'm going through - the high estrogen levels, the growing breasts, the mood swings ...

Well, I had one of those moments at group therapy that reminded me of why I go there.

Well, with Jaci seemingly done with writing, I think the Jaci-Dottie stories is going to come to a halt. I had an idea for a half-story of Dottie's view of her 14th birthday with Jaci doing the other half, but without her, the story (and the universe) have just no snap to them. Not that I'm done writing, I've submitted a piece for the next "TG Mix tapes" collection, and I'm working on a couple of ideas, but I'll miss visiting my younger alter-ego.

Ah, well.

I was reading an article about "motion-capture" in regards to the newest Planet of the Apes movie, and as a throw-away comment, they mentioned that an actor could play "any creature, any race, and either sex".

That got me thinking, what would happen if an actor played a female role via motion capture?

It sure sounds like the sort of thing our writers here could have some fun with, so lets make it a challenge - can you make a story where a guy plays a girl using this tech?

I'll be interested to see if anybody tries this challenge ...

Well, I had a good day yesterday. One of the ladies from my church gave me some clothes for my birthday (late, but hey). Then in the afternoon a friend who has a birthday a couple of days after mine invited me to a buffet, and gave me a set of earrings, and then in the evening I joined my neighbors in a barbecue, and one of my neighbors had a little boy about 3 years old who took a bit of a shine to me, and we sat together while his mother got a break.

Well, as my birthday wound down yesterday, my mother surprised me with a beautiful card for a daughter's birthday.