I just heard that Charlie Watts, the drummer of The Rolling Stones, died.
I met him back in 1963, when The Stones were just getting started, and he was a lovely guy, the only one of them who wasn't either so far up himself or high on something, who gave a fan a little facetime and some conversation, without being in any way condescending.
Apart from that, he was one of those mostly unsung brilliant drummers who anchored the group for over fifty years. It makes me feel very sad and very much mortal to hear of his death as he was only a few months older than me.
In all the hoo-hah about transgender individuals playing sports in their chosen gender the focus has only been on male-to-female. Nobody has ever mentioned female-to-male. There is evidently no perception of a problem if a born female athlete (for instance) plays American football or runs in male races.
Here is a very brief list of sports where size and strength make no difference. Please feel free to add any sport you like to this very brief list. Or challenge this list.
I just watched a movie named Predestination (on Netflix). I won't give too much away or I will be spoiling.
It is a time travel story but its interest to many of us is that one of the central characters is born and grows up female and then becomes male. The part is played by the same actress, who received an award for her performance and, in my opinion, deservedly so.
It may not be to everybody's taste but I found it intriguing.
There seems to be a misconception that some Dr. Seuss books have been banned and that the US Government is responsible.
THIS IS NOT TRUE.
The books are not banned and it has nothing to do with the US Government despite attempts to make it appear so by some so-called conservative politicians.
The books in question are still available but the family company that controls the publishing has decided that in today's society some of the characterisations may appear racist and so they have decided not to sell any more of those particular books.
Most of you will not have known Alison Mary, although she had several dear friends here. She was an 87-year-old who passed away today. Although she was not an author here she would post many supportive comments to stories in days past.
I suppose I am what you can categorise as a frustrated transsexual. I am not a crossdresser although I dress in women's clothes as often as I can. I don't regard this as crossdressing. All I am doing is dressing in the clothes in which I should have been dressing all my life. Circumstances have prevented me from assuming my true sex throughout my life, so that I have had to masquerade as a man for more than sixty years.
The site seems to have been infected by an (Unpublished) Visitor which has taken over Home and Blogs and which denies further access. Is this general or peculiar to me?
I don't know if this will help anyone except as a cautionary tale and maybe a warning to frequently check your bank accounts.
I came back from holiday a little more than a week ago and went to the ATM to withdraw some pocket money, only to be told that my account was now invalid, so I went into the branch and asked what was going on. The nice lady at the Help desk took my card and called up my details on the computer. She turned the screen towards me and I immediately saw that I had been hacked and robbed.
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born
Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile
and ...
Since the latest site upgrade my Thumbs Up button has disappeared. Obviously it hasn't for others, as the stories I've been reading have been accumulating Kudoses like crazy.
If you ever doubted the quality of the stories on this site (which you shouldn't have anyway) then read Randalynn's "Firefly" series. She says they're fan fiction, but in fact Joss Whedon should be reading these and basing an extension of the TV series on this saga, which captures the absolute essence of his Serenity/Firefly tales. They are magic.
To wish our lovely space puppy, Laika, an Extra-Special Very Happy Brthday. Inter-National Date Lines mess up my timing a little, but she was born on the Ides Of March, which is tomorrow by my calendar.
It is fantastic to see her gracing our site again, with suitably appropriate mermaids.
Well, We're a little ahead of most of you, so I'll throw another prawn on the barbie for you.
A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all at Big Closet and thanks to all the Elves who do Santa's hard work all the year round for keeping everything running smoothly.
I saw today that someone had left a new comment on Episode 173 of EAFOAB, so, out of curiosity, I called up the whole string of comments and found a very lively, witty, and erudite exchange about discussions and quotations from such luminaries as Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, et al... and even Elvis.
Would you believe, in The Australian Financial Review of all places, there is a full-page article about a manga comic called Wandering Son, which tells the story of two teenage kids....Shuichi, "a boy who wants to be a girl" and Yoshino, "a girl who wants to be a boy".
The article says that the story was originally published in a magazine called Comic Beam, ran from 2002 to 2013 and was adapted into a TV series in 2011, which was apparently very popular. They claim over a million readers and viewers.
For personal real life issues, like not being allowed access to my grandchildren, I cannot live full-time as a woman. However, I find relief in going for regular make-overs to a very professional lady on the Gold Coast of Queensland (isn't that an ironic name?) who does a great job of transforming me into a somewhat realistic semblance of a female. I have to say that I love myself after she has performed her magic upon me, even though I can only maintain the illusion for a relatively short time.
Andreja (formerly Andrej) has just scored a major gig as the "face" of a high-profile cosmetics company, becoming the first transgender person to achieve such a position. At only 23 she comes across in interviews as an intelligent and thoughtful young woman on the subject of transgender issues. She also happens to be ravishingly beautiful (which makes me totally jealous or would if I were 50 years younger).
The story was not exactly to my taste but I have read previous episodes and I am extremely sorry to see the author has pulled it from BC. I think that there should be room for stories of all kinds of TG genres at this site.
A couple of months ago I noticed a massive uptick in the number of hits on my stories and couldn't figure out why, since I hadn't written anything for ages. It was only later that I found that I had just been included in the "12 Random Authors" list at the time so I can confirm that it really works.
One strange thing was that while I got literally hundreds of extra hits I didn't get a single additional comment or "thumbs up". I don't know what that signifies. Perhaps people just dip in and decide they don't like the story and move on.
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.
