We (Amy and Liam and I) have spent a wonderful week with a friend. A friend who came down to help just in case Amy was "laid up" after her surgery.

Amy's surgery went fine, recovery has been excellent and as a result we've manage to be out and about doing things most days.

We've been to flea markets, friends houses, the condo pool, and even had friends over for hot dogs and conversation, twice in fact.

It's been a wonderful week, a great Memorial Day weekend, even if we didn't really plan it that way.

Although I've managed to get the preceding chapters of What Milsy Did out in a reasonably prompt fashion, it looks like I won't be able to keep that pace up.

Various Real Life issues including but not limited to health, family and house need my attention and so there will be less time for writing.

Sorry, folks.

Penny

As a writer and a reader, I get frustrated when people excuse bad writing because the end product was marketed to a specific group.

Like saying "its just for kids" or "Its just for teen girls" isnt an excuse to not try and make a good story.

When it comes to trans fiction, the excuse is usually that its intended for the small number of guys who have a trans fetish.

I made it across the border. no problems, no issues. border guards were friendly and helpful and not at all intimidating or rude. I'm home to stay ^^

Hi Everyone,

Yes, I agree HTML is easy to use. It is wonderful if all I wish to present is text.

That is the reason you find very few images in the stories I post here (and very few stories).

OK, I really loved Angela's little challenge and decided to create my own just for the heck of it. I failed at her challenge because my generation is dependent on Google. I would hope that the majority of people here at BC/TS will have no problem cranking up their brains and solving this mystery.

Here is the big question.

Your thoughts and prayers greatly helped.

My last blog I stated I was going into the hospital for a triple bypass open heart surgery.

However, I never do things half way. When they opened me up they discovered I needed 6 bypasses.

Needless to say my surgery was bit more complicated than anticipated. I spent 8 days hospitalized before being discharged.

My youngest sister took a week away from work to assist me at home. Her assistance was greatly appreciated and made my return easier. Sis returned home yesterday and my daughter arrived today to help'

My wife had this pop up on her Facebook page.

How Should Christians Respond to Target’s Bathroom Policy?

While the lady isn't in favor of Target's policy, she is very reasonable about her feelings on it and speaks with a clear head, leaving out the knee-jerk response that the other vocal Christians scream with.

I encourage you to read this. If all Christians had this attitude then there would be a lot less angst regarding bathroom use.

Is the search really down, or is it just me? I keep getting the error message of "Search is temporarily unavailable. If the problem persists, please contact the site administrator."

Trans Pride is on again this July in Brighton.

http://www.brighton-pride.org/transpride-brighton/

I should be working there this year, on a stall for my staff support network Spectrum. Anyone about, drop by and say hello. I have booked a room for the Friday and Saturday nights so that I can be bright and early!

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #78: Aaargh!!! or Thank God for Backup Files. To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

In my previous post, I said that I would be posting my Transformers Revisited story at 5PM.

So, I did post it. Seven hours late…

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/utah-dad-attacked-taking...

Utah Dad Attacked for Taking 5-Year-Old Daughter to Wal-Mart Men's Bathroom

A Utah father taking his young children to the bathroom at a Wal-Mart ended in violence after he was punched in the face by another customer allegedly over taking his 5-year-old daughter with him to the men's room.

Someone hose me down! I ran across an article by a selfish ungrateful bitch promoting her myopic views on the world. She has a few letters surrounding her name to give credence to her pathetic self centered opinion. Poor little girl lost her daddy because he decided he was transgendered. As she grew into a woman it becomes clear she never really accepted nor forgave him for finding his own life and not sacrificing it for her any more than he already had.

In the midst of a very dark tale in the making, I saw that a contest with the theme of 'Rebirth' was in progress. I never cared much for the word 'transition'. Although clinically correct, it never was an appellation for what I felt or experienced. I recalled a quote attributed to Michelangelo regarding the piece 'David'. But there was no basis that the quote was his. So I aptly chose a quote that was more suitable to my circumstance.

and my head feels like a metal bucket stuffed full of cotton wool - in short, I feel like poo warmed up and only then because I had to put the heating on I felt so cold. I didn't sleep very well last night for the stupid tickly cough which kept waking me up, so an early night with a good book and an even better cat, is called for. Florence Whizzingale will be pressed into service.

I hope I shall feel a bit better tomorrow and I can add extra episodes of the story that Waif hates so much or is it just the author?

Progress!

I agreed the rent with the new landlord yesterday, all bar £2 is covered by the local council housing department so that just leaves utilities. I also now have a moving in date - 1st June. My daughter is going to spend a few days with my mother and I'll remain in the hotel (we'll need the room Mon/Tues next week so don't want to give it up yet!)

No word on the clothes etc, so I'm chasing that today. I'm also chasing why the UK TV licensing lot have taken my money twice (television not trans!).

Shiraz

The oriechtomy went well, but the spinal anesthetic wearing off is as painful as local from getting a filling in your teeth.

5:45 check-in for 7:45 surgery time. Was out before 11:30

gonna go lie down after I finish eating.

So for all you authors out there, I have a question for you. If you have a story that you've been working on for a while but are not sure whether or not it'll be worth releasing, would you release it and hope it sticks? Or would you just can the story and maybe come back to it? I'm asking this because I kinda wrote a story that was inspired by a few different stories that I've read, but I don't think I did it in the right manner to warrant releasing it. Reading back on it myself It seems like I screwed something up in one way or another but I'm not sure.

Trudeau: Canada will enact legislation to guarantee transgender rights

Canada's government will introduce on Tuesday legislation that will... more »

Photo

The link to the programme, if you can use it is worth the half hour it takes to listen.

Several phrases were coined by one source. They include:

1.) Pursuit of the almighty dollar.
2.) The great unwashed.
3.) The pen is mightier than the sword

What (or who) is the source?

a.) The Bible
b.) Charles Dickens
c.) Ambrose Bierce
d.) Edward Bulwer-Lytton
e.) Mark Twain
f.) Ben Franklin
g.) William Shakespeare

Please make your guess and give your reasons for that choice.

From the Guardian, the tale of how Ambrosia Starling caused suspension of Alabama's chief (and bigoted) judge over his refusal to allow gay marriage in the state.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/22/alabama-gay-m...

I love the way Melanie blends pop culture references into her stories. They are always entertaining and well thought out. They reference Gilligan's Island, The Love Boat, Here Comes Mr. Jordan to name but a few.

Some of my fave locations are Timothy Leary High School, Leonard McCoy Middle School, and Jonas Grumby High School.

Her stories are always entertaining and these little pop references are very much a signature trademark, like a Hitchcock cameo.

Right now, today, Sunday 21 of May, we have hit our goal for the month. Your support is much appreciated and I will update the sidebar tomorrow to show today's numbers.

Continuing gifts in any amount will be applied to next months goal and much appreciated.

Here's the usual info:

While re-reading Frills, the attempted kidnapping reminded me of another story. But I can only remember a few details.

The t-girl in the story got grabbed from her front yard at night, just short of crossing over into her next door neighbor's yard. I recall something about a dumpster. Either she was dumped in one after being raped, etc or som e evidence that led to her was dumped in one.

And at some later point she plants a tree/bush on the spot in the yard where she was grabbed.

Anyway, that's all I can recall, and it's driving me nuts.

lgbthelp.jimdo.com

Not much there, but it's a middle-school project done in Texas (!), of all places, and in 50 years, this is the generation that will be in charge.

I wasn't sure if this survey was going to take place because the forecast was so awful, cool and rather damp - as in heavy rain. However, when we met in the car park for Thorncombe Wood, just up from Hardy's Cottage (Thomas Hardy's birthplace), the rain had eased off to virtually nothing. The decision was we'd give it a go. A bit of a walk later we went on to the survey site, which was new to me and checked the boxes and tubes for dormice.

Does following an author alert you when that author publishes a new story or chapter? If not then what does the follow do for the author or the person following that author? Just curious on my end and wondering if it is worth following any authors.

I've been waiting for some good news and it looked at one point today that my waiting was in vain.

I had hoped that my prospective landlord would have made his mind up by now but that hadn't happened. While I was with him, however, my daughter turned up and then a man with a van arrived. I asked about renting the van for Monday morning when I need to empty the flat and he asked where it needed to go so I suggested the large ground floor living room at the vacant property. That finally prompted the decision - the place is ours!

Two disturbing reports, about which I have been unable to check the veracity ...

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/bill_le...

and

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/christi...

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #76: Pimping My Story - My Upcoming Entry for the May Contest To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

I decided to get on the "advertising" bandwagon, too, and advertise my story here in BCTS' blogs - it’s my entry to the "May Story Contest: Rebirth" contest sponsored by Asche, this May, 2016. Click on the Autobot graphic, and enjoy the trailer!

So a bit of an update on things. I've been trying to finish writing Ch. 5 of Just Keep Rolling and have come to one conclusion---I'm utterly bored with the story. I'm not saying I hate it or the characters, I just feel as if I REALLY want to be writing something else at the moment. This tends to happen to me all the time but lately its been happening more and more. I think half of my problem is that I love my stories and characters too much and just want to keep continuing in their worlds.

So I think I need to take a break from it.

Cissexist societies tend to classify all trans people as either our birth-assigned genders or some third gender. And these categories may work for some trans people, but not for others.

I was world-building for a couple s-f settings, and was thinking how they might classify trans people.

The Boston Medical Center Hospital just announced ( 5/18/16) that they will be joining a small group of US hospitals offering Gender Reassignment Surgery for both M to F and F to M. The hospital has long provided hormone therapy and mental health services, but due
to a growing demand,and slowly changing insurance coverage, it was decided to provide the surgical procedures. The BMC said it already
has a waiting list of over 100 patients to be evaluated for surgery.
This is good news for patients in the New England area.

Life likes giving me little ironies.

Like today is my 5th anniversary of working for Walmart, and so every time I swiped my badge I got a "Happy Anniversary" message.

So why is that ironic?

Because today I also got my official walking papers saying my last day with Walmart will be Friday.

Ah, well.

Mass General Hospital in Boston, Mass. has announced the first sucessful US transplant of a penis. The receipent had penile cancer and had his removed in 2012.
The lead surgeon saved my bladder in 2013 when I was diagonesed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer.
A team of 7 surgeons and over 30 support staff were involved in the surgical proceedure.
Doctor Feldman expects that in several weeks the patient will have full function of his penis. This also provides hope to servicemen who have received wounds to the genital region

I can't cope with 12 hour working days so well as I get older.

I'm taking the day off, going down to OC and maybe the beach or Downtown Disney.

Piper and Cat will be on and off and they can reach me on my phone. Have fun everyone!

Hugs,
Erin

I hope you enjoy it and there aren't too many typos.

Angharad

It really makes you wonder what we are coming to when this pops up in the news,
"Students at Oxford University in England are allowed to skip lectures about crimes they find 'Potentially Disturbing'.
Makes sense, except, they are criminal law students.
Nice to see this is happening in the UK as well as the USA. Unbelievable !

Karen

I don't agree with a lot of this. I also don't agree with all the different names they gave to respective parts of the saddle. Maybe my part of the world was ignorant and didn't know what all it took to toss a saddle and bridle on a horse? Maybe our horses were too tame and didn't need the tactical learning skills necessary to toss a leg over a horse? We always mounted a strange horse from the left side except our own horses. Ours we climbed on which ever side we were on. The horses and me were just too dumb to realize we needed a college course in how to saddle and ride horses.

Today is the annual Belgian Pride ( or 'Roze Zaterdag' ( 'Pink Saterday" ) for my generation and older > few namechanges for the event over the years). The focus this year is / was (day is almost over) transgender rights. Sadly enough I wasn't able to go. Especially since I used to volunteer year in / year out for it.

There is a rally for trans rights today in Edmonton.

I wish I could go, but there is this whole "I need to work so i need to sleep" thing.

As authors, if we are going to be any good, perhaps we learn to sort of "be" other people since we must develop characters as we write a story and most often our stories have more than one person in them. As I have been thinking about this, perhaps lots or even most T folk learn to be more than one person in our real lives and each of them are very real. Then I thought about a police officer who must be an authoritarian figure at work, and when he gets home he is dad, hey you, or some such.

An interesting article on BBC news app. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36275877

I did not wish to completely derail Julia's thread so decided to start my own.

Another aspect of languages, dialects and such is our ability to adapt to, even adopt the speech patterns of those around us. I am from Oklahoma Dust Bowl stock and when I get around them quickly begin to sound like them.

Well the next part of Vantier is up! and you guys seem to like that one!

the next part of Shadowsblade is being wrote and edited.....but this part takes time to write. As she has so many things piling on her.
Ahh to torture a character---pain must be planed well to make sense!

have fun reading guys

back to beating the muse for ideas! Whack whack!

send cookies it helps!

I've reached a point where pain is a constant factor in my life.

Worse, regular pain medications are no longer nearly effective enough for me.

As soon as I can, I'm going to book a visit to my doctor, to see what other options are available, but in the meantime, prayers and hugs appreciated.

Oh, I am kinda blocked on Mercy right now, so I dont know when more is coming.

Sorry.

So folks, the next Gaby chapter is now available.

Just a heads up for Maddybell.com - we are having some technical issues which are beyond our control, hopefully it will be sorted next week.

Mads