We've had some truly excellent writing posted here lately. Great, adventurous stories packed with powerful emotions and levels of deeper meaning. Humorous stories with reader misdirection and Aesop-like morals. Simple stories, yet with a powerful grip on the heart-strings that profoundly affect the readers. I love all of these!

This year for Christmas, my kids are going with the ex to her parents' place in Vail. They left this morning. My parents and my sister can't afford to fly here this year, and I can't afford to even take the time off, let alone travel. I don't have any close relatives within a thousand miles. I don't even have any pets at the moment, a highly unusual circumstance for me. So, for the first time in my entire life, I will be spending Christmas completely alone, at least in the sense of not having any family around.

I'm not sure, but I'm thinking of writing a dark story. I don't mean a story where 'evil reins supreme'. That's just the opposite side of the mirror as I see it, and not satisfactory to me. Its all to easy to ignore your characters dignity and abuse them, they can't protest can they?

I was digging around in the archives this afternoon and stumbled upon a discussion of Andy Warhol by SLM. That caused me to think about another artist I have been searching for. I don't know if anyone will admit to it but I was reading "Playboy" in the late 60's and early 70's and distinctly remember an artist from that publication that I really loved, so much so that I think that the character represented there most closely reveals my own personality, or what I would like to present to the public. I know, fantasy, fantasy.

Google Chrome Beta has a bug in it, apparently, that considers the javascript that syndicates the Skin Horse comic from WebComicsNation to be malware. This produces a warning when you visit the blogs here.

Unfortunately, the warning also goes out to Google's automated reporting system which has put WebComicsNation on several blacklists. Depending on how you have your settings set in other browsersi, you may not be seeing Skin Horse when you visit the blogs here.

This a story running to two book equivalents posted in 2003/4 on Crystal's storysite, which is one I feel deserves more attention and because Sarah Bayen doesn't post any more - she seems to have left the scene altogether - you might not come across it unless you know it's there. It could do with a proper edit but it's still a very readable tale of adolescence and self discovery. I attach a link.

Part 1 The Contest Beginings

Part 2 Contest and Consequence.

Sarah Bayen at Crystal's.

Would anyone be interested in a follow up to Roni's Party? If there is sufficient demand i'll try to put together a follow on tale for you to read over the festive season.

Mads

Dear All,

My heart is fine - it's just the rest of me that got complications!!!! In sinus rhythm now but suffered an aneurysm that kept me in hospital for two weeks and laid low at home for four.... Gradually getting stronger. Only just allowed back to the laptop! Love Ginger xx

This is heart breaking. I feel so sorry for them.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/17/gaza.gender.id/ind...

Khadijah

Anyone seen it?

Ah, thought I had it but the darned thing just slipped through my fingers.

If you find it, please return it.
It was a gleaming glittering thing, looking quite nice.

Anyway, I hope you all will have a nice Christmas.

Cheers.
Yor.

....
Ps:

If you find chapter thirteen a little weak I'm afraid that I have to agree.
It's like Churchill once said. "Sometimes blood sweat and tears just ain't enough."
Or something to that matter?

Ds: I've tried to 'edit' it a little to make it readable now, well, as i see it :)

Not sure if I should label this as NSFW ("Not Safe For Work"). Maybe someone else can offer their opinion on that. I'd call it tame, except for the fetishy aspect of it, at least by lingerie standards.

It's a picture of a group of 9 scantily-clad lingerie models, outside of a London department store, with a passing bus in the foreground and the driver clearly gawking. The women, in formation, are viewed from the rear and wearing indentical outfits, something which could best be described as storm-trooper-inspired lingerie with hats and boots to match.

I am feeling really left out lately. You see most of my friends are from the transgendered community or the geek community , and lately I feel left out in most situations.

With my friends from the geek community I feel OK , they seem to accept me and while I can't speak with them on everything ( the all transition thing for example ) it seems like they are there for me .

With my friends from the trans community I feel left out ( and sometime judged ) because of sexual orientation.

Study: Looking young may mean living longer
Buzz up!34 votes Send

LONDON — Those baby-faced people now have another reason to be smug: a new Danish study says looking young apparently means a longer life.

Research published online Monday in the British medical journal BMJ suggests that people who look younger than their years also live longer.

A huge part of marketing food is obtaining shelf space. Big corporations have been known to actually pay to have their products displayed by grocers at the right height and in a large enough amount to suggest huge consumer demand. Coke and Pepsi have gone to the mattresses several times over shelf space wars.

What I'm going to suggest is only logical since we are talking about a limited resource. (I have an economic degree and will use it to justify my premise if needed. You are warned.)

We have posted over twenty stories in the last twenty four hours.

You need a large pot, preferably one with a metal rack for the inside or one that will fit a metal rack you have inside it. I've done this without the metal rack but it's more controllable with one.

Ingredients: one can of sweetened condensed milk, unopened. Eagle is a common US brand name. Don't open the can, just remove the label.

Put the unopened, labelless can on the rack inside the large pot. Fill with water to a level two inches or more above the level of the top of the can. Add a pinch of salt to the water.

Perhaps it's not surprising that we employ euphemisms for things that embarrass us.

How many different terms can you think of for ‘vagina’?

The following article has nearly 50, including a few that would surprise Peter Mark Roget.

The final taboo

Pussy Synonyms

This is rather confused, but that's because I'm thoroughly confused and trying to understand what's going on.

So i haven't wrote a iota about anything those last days. At least not on my stories here, and very little on those other story's I, stupidly enough, promised to finish elsewhere. A promise made?

But those story are becoming sooo big (It's definitely the stories fault, not mine. They just don't want to finish. Yep, I think they are 'fighting back'?). And as I only use two fingers writing I'm expecting them to soon enough just be stubs of their former existence, the fingers that is, well maybe the stories too? If I don't continue writing them that is.

Edwardian ITC

Georgia

For those of you who don't know, Sephrena went home for the Christmas holidays.

I'm fairly technically minded myself, but I can't work out what's causing this niggling font problem - does anyone have any ideas?

First, (after the break if you're looking at the preview!) an image to illustrate:

The furnace in my mobile home has failed. I'm using electric space heaters to keep warm and they work well enough but they keep tripping the breakers since this is a very old mobile with only 50 amps service. Three space heaters adds up to 36-45 amps. Add computers, lights and refrigerator and I can't run the washing machine without turning something off.

I'm checking into getting the furnace repaired but my handyman is of the opinion that it may cost enough to be worth just replacing it, which would be $1000 to $2000 dollars, a pretty big hit on my budget. More word soon.

Hugs,
Erin

For a while, I was not here, reading, nor commenting, here is why. Tuesday, I lost the internet, cable and phone, Service was restored to the cable Wednesday afternoon, but it tok until recently to restore the internet and phone, but I have to wait until later today to get my old number.

Stanman May Your Light Forever Shine

Two of my siblings have been supportive to me to the extent that they tolerate me and don't call me a faggot. Still, neither of them ever get the pronouns right, though my younger brother is trying. I think that both of them just see me as stark raving bongers mad.

So, my older brother lives alone about 100 miles from me. He is an irascable old fart, but he does not do his temper bit with me because he knows that I would cry and leave. I did spend some time with him at thanksgiving for his benefit, not mine and almost got up and left a couple times because of his pronoun problem.

You might find this interesting, enlightening, and a glimmer of hope.

http://noticias.aol.com/articulos/latino-news/_a/transsexual...

Portia

I received the following message to day from Goldie's sister. I thought I would pass it on to you all.
Jerrie

Jerrie,
It took a while to find the story you mentioned. Goldie's filing system was really weird and it took forever to find it. I've attached it to this message. While I was trying to take care of everything in her computer, I came across a letter she had written to you a week and a half before she died. I thought I would add it to this message and let you get it that way.

Sue

Nov. 15, 2009

Dear Jerrie,

I’ve been thinking of some comments written in my ‘comment section’, and, yes I was less than thrilled. Oh, I’m a big boy now, I can take it, but? To my eyes they are just stories and you neither have to hate nor love them. I mean, it’s not as you’re going to bed them, are you? Most of my stories spring from experiences, either directly or ‘second handed’ through others experiences and life’s, but as for the truth of them? Well, somewhere I expect they have happened, or possibly will, probability alone almost guarantees it. More than that I won't offer..

I need opinions here.

I have a few short story ideas I'd like to throw about. They are transformational gender-bent stories that have, admittedly, taken a little time away from Accidental Magic. though some are just random ideas made into small vignettes and mostly unfinished...

...Would anyone be interested in reading them?

Hey Everyone! As most folks who've read any of my stories knows I write mostly Sci-Fi or Fantasy based stories. While at the Sci-Fi writers site today I spotted this article and since it's about writing decided that is would be okay to post here. It is of course "Why Fantasy Matters" and in my own humble opinion rocks!

One of the stories to have circulated through the site in the last year or so, included the use of Tea Tree oil but it did nto seem effective. Well, the real science is even stranger. Enjoy http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/145763/tea_tree_oil...

Gwen

A few days ago we had a discussion on this board about GLBT and its in-fighting.

Thanks are due to Erin for allowing this discussion to continue, even though it was frought with peril. Thanks are also due to all those who took part in a civil discourse regarding an important issue.

After thought, I felt a need to clear my remarks publicly.

I said, "No . . . Penny. Your anger shouldn't be aimed at those who lump you in with gays. Your anger should be at those who have saddled you with the prejudice that makes you feel upset that you are considered gay."

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to apologize for my sudden and extended absences over this past year, and hopefully try to shed a little light on things. This isn't an excuse, mind you. I know the internet is by its very nature very transitory, but I feel like if I'm ever going to get past this, I need to get it out in the open somewhere that I feel safe in doing so.

It's been a really interesting year for me. I feel like I've grown and learned so much about myself since that fateful first blog post nearly a year ago. But at the same time it's been quite rough.

Hi all,
I realize this is not really related to Big Closet/Top Shelf stories, but I had to write it out, just to clear my mind of the tragedy.
This is my first attempt at a blog ever, so I will be brief.
As I knew two of the officers very well; I was, to say the least, astonished and am totally in grief about it.
The woman officer and the Sgt were the two I knew, as they used to come to my jail to pick up prisoners we had for them. I wish many condolences to their families and I do know that they are in a much better and peaceful place now.

Hello again! That song was just playing a bit ago and should give you a clue as to how I've been feeling the last few days. I'm really getting tired of it (the feeling, not the song. I rather like it ;).

Anyway, I thought I'd drop in and let you lot know I'm still around, if not as active as I'd like to be. Seems like every time my muse makes an appearance and I start to get some writing done, I get all depressed again! What's with that, I ask you?!

According to this link on the Beeb, some of Audrey Hepburn's gowns and hats are up for auction, so if you fancy some new glad rags... Oh, I'd better warn you, the last two pieces of her stuff that were auctioned raised over a million pounds ...but then it's for a good cause. Breakfast at Tiffany's anyone?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8390749.stm

I'm not sure many of you have paid it any attention over the last few months but Goldie Hunter has not frequented the forum for months. The sad news is that Goldie has passed on and is no longer with us. She had been very busy in the last several months and had been unable to keep up with everything that she wanted to do and it finally caught up to her. She left us on Thanksgiving night, 2009. I just barely found out myself. She was a private person although her love for the Whateley universe allowed her to interact with others about it.

I was just wondering if anybody on this site ever leaves any comments or feed back on here. I would like to hear from someone on thier thoughts of anything that I have posted and what they might have to add, good or bad. I'm a big gurl and can take it either way. How else am I to know if my stuff is any good or not. thanks Domino

I was recently sent this P.M. and am asking for ideas for our new member.

IM new to this site, and im wondering if there are any sites for underage transgender persons to go

I've been informed that the BigCloset author, T.D. Aldoenetti passed away on October 30, 2009, the victim of a homicide. I don't know the details but this does not seem to have been related to her status as TG or connected to her posting stories on BC.

Today, 30th November, is St Andrew’s Day and I would like to send my best wishes to all fellow Scots and those of Scots ancestry here on BC/TS.

How many of us will be tucking into haggis, neeps and tatties at our evening meal tonight? Not forgetting the dram of whisky poured over the haggis as “gravy”.

Slainte mhath,

Gabi.

Much of the trouble has been influenced by US evangelists. God save us from zealots.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/29/uganda-death-sen...

There is line from one of my favorite Garth Brooks songs called "We Shall Be Free" It says "When we're free to love anyone we choose. When this world's big enough for all different views. When we're all free to worship from our own kind of pew. We shall be free". This idea should have been in evidence here before some people let nasty comments ruin the free expression of opinion. Getting to the point of offense is very sad for everyone involved . We live in a country where we are free to express opinions.

Okay, the next section of Sorority Boy is done but I am wondering about the reaction to it. Sadly a lot of this is taken from a number of different sources, much of which in anecdotal. Since I a working on making this as true as possible, I am worried if readers will even believe what I have.

Sometimes these issues make release dates fall backwards.

Hi,

I am a native French speaker, and so I never know if my guesses about English are correct or not, I wanted your enlightened opinion. I want to know what you think about a special buddhist text I'm studying currently.

So, it is the Guru Yoga of the Longchen Nyngtik Ngá¶ndro. One of the preliminaries to Vajrayana. And those verses comes from the empowerment part of the practice.

From the letter OM in the Guru's forehead, radiant and shimmering like the moonlight,
Rays of light stream out and enter my forehead.

I found this site interesting; though I could not join so I could comment.

http://jmcl.wordpress.com/category/gid/

Gwen

I've been a member for over a year now, and I have written very little. I do love reading many of the stories. However, lately, I haven't had much time to write, as I am in my first semester of nursing school.

I am 45 years old, born male. I have been married 20 years and have three sons.