I've just posted the 15th chapter of "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves." In this episode, our plucky heroine finds herself on the other side of the globe, Berlin, Germany to be precise, planning to spend three days shooting a music video with Trent Foster while he's on the first leg of his European concert tour. There's bound to be much singing, cavorting, sight-seeing, and moments of self-reflection. The cavorting might come as a bit of a surprise though. IJBOL. No, really. And spilled my coffee all over the table.
I'm posting this as a courtesy to my wonderful, loyal readers. I felt the need to explain the rather inconsistent publication of my two current stories, "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" and "Out of the Past."
So...if my issues with my ambitious editor Maxine weren't enough...
I'd just returned from the airport where, much to Maxine's chagrin, they wouldn't permit me to board the plane as her comfort human. Something about her papers not being in order. I calmed her down by telling her they're showing "Halloween Ends" on her flight. That didn't calm her down. Now I know why they call it "caterwauling."
My editor has been working on her own projects (as long as it's on her own time, I don't mind). The latest one she showed me piqued my interest. She's always trying to come up with money-making ideas, that feline.
She thinks the time is right for a radical reboot of Star Trek. When I told her that - fat chance - Paramount owns the rights, she spit up a fur ball and told me she has a distant cousin who is Chat du Maison in Bob Bakish's household (the President & CEO). They use a lot her programming tips, my editor tells me.
I hope everyone's New Year has gotten off to a good start.
Amidst the disturbing signs of political and cultural antagonism against transgender persons, the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" made me recall my reassuring feeling upon first listening to this song by everyone's favorite alt-rock band, The Replacements:
Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Festivus for the rest of us!
Spending Christmas Eve with my sister Erica at her home on the north shore of Long Island (yes, she calls it Long Guyland). She owns the biggest firickin' cat I've ever seen. It's a Maine Coon cat...the only domestic cat breed native to the U.S. Melissa had thirds of the sweet potato casserole. Darn that cat!
Found this Ikea commercial on Beverly Simmons' Youtube channel (she curates short video clips of gender transformations in movies, TV, and other media).
As far as I can tell, the channel has only been active for several days. She's been posting multiple clips each day. Magical transformations aren't my particular thing but I know there are lots of besties on this site who would enjoy these little video snippets.
The end of supermarket copycat items could be in sight after a bombshell decision by a Swiss court over Lidl's knock-off chocolate bunnies.
The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland ruled that Lidl's chocolate bunnies wrapped in aluminium foil, whether 'golden or of another colour', were too similar to Lindt's.
It banned the chain's Swiss branches Lidl Schweiz and Lidl Schweiz DL from selling similar bunnies and ordered the destruction of any still in stock.
I've been having thoughts about my existential relationship with writing TG fiction. Yes, I feel blocked of late, unable to progress on the projects I have on deck. Illness, depression, what have you intermittently plague me. It's even disturbed my normal sleep pattern. Now, these are signs of problems that extend further than my writing. I'm aware of that. But, still I ponder the need to write. Not that I would stop writing for my own sake. I guess I would continue to drabble about to amuse myself as I've done off and on for most of my adult life.
Tomorrow is Sophie Auster's 35th birthday and there are two reactions this elicits from me. The first is that I feel really old since I remember when her parents showed her off to me just weeks after birth in their Brooklyn apartment. The second is how proud I am of her success as a singer-model-actress and her fearless championing of LGBTQ+ rights. She is certainly her mother's daughter, in beauty, talent and intelligence.
You try so hard to make proper ladies out of them. So hard. And this is what you find when you wander in from a long day of sweating over a hot laptop.
There are days when it's just not worth the aggravation. It's Netflix, I tell you. Such a bad influence.
Things are moving slowly on my entry in the Christmas Story Contest. But it's not my fault! My editor is taking her sweet time going over the text as I write this blog. I'd be really upset but she's told me the story is just purr-fect. She'll say anything to get more Temptations cat treats.
One of the most devastating things that happened to me as a child was the sudden loss of my pet dog, a loveable, spunky mutt named Brownie. He broke away from my mother's grip on his leash and got hit by a passing car. It happened while I was in school, 4th grade, so I was 8 going on 9.
If you're familiar with the jazz singer Ute Lemper, you might have heard her interpretation of the Danny O'Keefe song, "You Look Just Like A Girl Again." Although written about a cis woman from the viewpoint of an admirer, to those of us of a certain age who may have missed out on that stage of our lives, it elicits an emotional frisson. Because in the mirror we hold within us, we can see the girl we might have been...again.
This will be of interest to the readers of Bike but hopefully Angharad will especially appreciate it.
Between my brief bouts of depression, I listen to as much music as I can access on the interwebs. Old favorites, new artists, new genres. Anything that touches me emotionally, intellectually, spiritually. And it was on one of my recent excursions on youtube that I came across a delightful little ditty entitled "Lullaby For A Sleepy Dormouse."
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.
