...see http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog/26737/longest-lasting-apr...

It's another contest! The 2012 April Fools and Other Wise Contest will be open for submissions from 1 April, 2012, 12:01 A.M. until 5 May, 2012, 11:59 P.M. PDT.

Submissions should be original stories or stand alone chapters in a series or serial, not posted elsewhere before or during the contest and voting, and should have some transgender content. Length is arbitrary but should probably not be much over 10,000 words because we want people to have enough time to read all the entries if they want to.

I have two primary computers, both desaktops, a fairly new E-machine and a custom built unit. For some reason they both simply shut down, and will not restart. I'm no computer expert, but fortunately I recently bought an older Gateway laptop on e-bay.

It's no super machine, but at least I'm online. Unfortunately, all my story notes are on my desktop. I'm still working on it-Luckily I was working on an outline for the next chapter while I waited for my kids, so that's on paper. I'll have a chapter up soon.

Today? Uhhhh...maybe?

Wren

I transitioned when I was in college, nine years ago. At that time, as is traditional in the culture of my country, I still lived with my parents in a big, extended family. My father did not like my transition, to the point that when we argued he would lose his temper and kick or punch me. My mother defended me and asked me not to runaway, so I didn't, despite my depression and anger. I had to tone done the way I dressed, wear a jacket or sneak out and not let him see me.

Not a lot of enthusiasm for this here at BC, so the consensus among our admins is also no. At least, not for BC. We have two other sites we are attempting to bring up within the next six months that reader tags might be just the thing.

However, this discussion gave us some parameters for this:

1. It would be opt-in for authors whether they allowed any of their stories to use user tags. Default, no user tags. And a switch where authors could turn off user tags for one or all of their stories.

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/30/10925380-her...

Germany's 80,000 citizens seek their legal place in society.

Just wondering if the hit counter is acurate at the moment.

Total hits on Football Girl~Season 2~Chapter 21 is standing at 360 and the number of kudos is 89; that is 24.7% of the hits. That is wildly out of proportion ot my previous chapters.

Any thoughts

Hugs
Sue

Well if those of us here in the USA keep Buying Mega-Lotto Tickets as they have the last two days the Jackpot could be over $600 Million by Fridays Draw Time. WOW! Well gotta go get some more HA!HA!

There are times when I question this strange thing I am, because in all honesty, it doesnt seem to make a lot of sense to me. I mean, intersex people, that kinda makes sense, and you can get tests done and know you belong to that category. But me, my fem side is literally only in my head, and short of an autopsy when I die, there isnt any way to be 100 % sure I 'm not just crazy.,

Ah, well.

Transgender Birth Certificate Case: Judge Says NYC Health Department Invaded Man's Privacy

Interesting article about a NYC Court Decision relating to changing a Birth Certificate. A win for the person claiming unfair treatment by the NYC Health Department.
See the link below.

RAMI

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/transgender-birth-c...

Just wanted to apologize. The last part of "Here comes the troubleshooter" is being delayed by real life. I need to be in a good mind-set to write, and I don't have it right now. I'm tired, worried, depressed, and would very much like all this crap to subside long enough for me to catch my breath.

Ah, well.

I know, it's been a while since I blogged last... Honestly, my life's gotten pretty boring of late. It's the same story day after day, I go to work, eat, play some games, read some stuff on BCTS, occasionally try to write my stories that I'm really horrible about updating... And I'm getting absolutely no where with my transition goals. I'm not getting any closer to being able to afford health insurance (that covers transition), and my family and close associates still insist this is just some "phase" at best. At worst, they're like my mom and are refusing to believe it's happening at all.

South Bend, IN passes LGBT anti-discrimination legislation! Heck, I might even move back down there with the rest of the family! I'm really surprised in such a Catholic town!

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/wsbt-south-bend-antidis...

Wren

We all have them. Lately I've been getting lag. I usually do a scan about once a month, more if I need it.

Having had a sex starved teen I have had the chance to get lots of experience fixing various problems. After a while I made him fix his various problems, and kept him off my machine. Anyone who has a kid knows how well that works, they usually do what they want to, and deal with the consequences later.

Mine learned quite early I could access the cache through the house network. It saved me a lot of issues, though I don't think he was impressed.

My research paper for my English class has me making a 1800 word paper arguing for something, and I've chosen to write about Gender Dysphoria. I say this because I seem to recall there being a blog on here with a link to an article about GD and I'd like to include that article and their sources, but I can't find it anymore.

Does anyone remember who's blog it was?

I've been thinking about what the counselor said to me about having some kind of mourning ritual for the things of my past. Obviously, I couldnt do all of them in one go, so the first thing I would need to do is try and separate them out so I can tackle them one at at time. With that in mind, I've created a little grief list, and here it is, in chronological order:

1: my father's death. How do I say goodbye to someone I knew more by their absence than their presence ?

At my counseling session today, my counselor suggested I find a way to process all the grief I went through as a kid by having some kind of mourning ritual. The death of my father, the loss of my innocence, the "burying" of my girl self, all need to be grieved over. I'm not sure what form this should take, but it sounds like a good idea.

I recall as a kid (70's and 80's), when my Mom would go to Letterman Army hospital in San Francisco, we would go one of two ways to get to the city. First was to go to Livermore and stay with the people who are the inspiration for Shelly and Frank in my Through the years books, which put us on I580 to the Bay Bridge. But the other way was to get to I80 in Sacramento and take that to the Bay Bridge. What I want to know is did any of you ever go that way an recall seeing little wooden cutout sitting on sticks in the bay near Berkeley? I want to say it was near Berkeley, but it was in that area.

Dear wife cleaned out the room her mother lived in till she died in October 2010. While doing so she found a plug in floppy disc drive. I had a laptop over a decade ago without a floppy drive and I used the contraption. Until Sunday I thought the thing had been thrown out but it wasn't. Now I'll throw it out.

The other hidden treasure Dear Wife found was almost twenty three dollars in small change.

see ..... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/miss-universe-canada-finalis...

Hello BCTS,

Hi

As some of you know for a long time I've been suffering difficulties with my health, most of the issues have centered around my hands but most recently I suffered a stroke that I'm still recovering from, during my time in hospital I was informed that evidence had been found of a previous stroke (I had no idea).

The Police Were Here for Two Hours!!
`
It's amazing how serendipity works. You do something, and immediately it leads to something else totally unexpected.
`
Last Night I was doing research on BWS (Battered Women Syndrome). Today DJ (my long suffering spouse) and I picked up my mom. We were taking her to our house to fix a B-Day dinner for her 77th year. We drove along, DJ called out, "did you see that??" I'd been fiddling with something and only caught a glimpse of a woman being shoved and hit.
`

Hey Everyone. Here is fair warning I'm going to be out of contact for a while. Understanding Spouse has scored some Disney World tickets so we're off to the Magic Kingdom. While there I hope to corner that fairy godmother of mine. She has some s'plaining to do! :) Just a Swhish and flick and everything will be right as rain! ;) Look for next weekend or so. The recovery might take awhile.

Hugs
Grover

I think I’ve found my TG writing niche after all this time. Realistic cross-dressing stories! I’m having so much fun creating episodes for my Crossdressing Charlie series and I am literally bursting with ideas for future episodes! I like writing CD tales because I can constantly reinvent it and develop the character realistically. Not only with the main but the supporting characters too!

A Canadian Miss Universe contestant has been banned from the competition after organisers found out that she had been born male.

The 23 year-old girl said she had known that she was a female at age four, had commenced hormone therapy at fourteen and finally transitioned at nineteen.

I've always wondered about everyone's view on transexuality as it involves the behaviors of the transgendered individual. When I normally write my stories, I tend to not focus so much on the physical change of the individual as I do the mental change, for example. How much does your femininity (or masculinity) affect how you behave in your life.

I was reading a story that mentioned some things that girls apparently do instinctively, and it set off a round of "TG PMS" where I found myself wondering - do I do those things? Did I do them as a child? And what if I didnt, what does that make me? I'll be okay, it will pass, but it sucks.

do you say pop or soda?

Well, I just got a call from the endocrinologist, and my testosterone levels have gone back up to 19, so he's increased my estrogen dose to 3 mg twice a day, and he's also sent a prescription for progesterone to my pharmacy, and I'll hopefully be able to get it in a couple of days.

Neat, huh?

I generally enjoy the Mythbuster's TV show... And, I don't know about any of you, but I know I've wondered about some of the things I've read in stories about transitions, hormones and the like. Some of them are repeated over and over in story after story. Other things, I see only now and again.

Through the years has returned and yes, I am working on part ten, i got to straighten it up before I do much more, but for now Part 9 is out there

Here's another, very serious but somewhat witty, take on the subject:

Are Straight People Born That Way?

It's been a *lot* of years since high school, and I find myself needing a better idea of what sorts of things they have the kids doing in PE these days. Especially at the start of the year, and at the start of the second semester. Both boys and girls PE.

Heck, I'm not even sure what sports practices would be going on those times of year (Sept/Oct, and Jan/Feb)

So if you have recent experience (either yourself or your kids, let me know. It's for some of the story plotting I'm doing.

I’m not a girly girl. At least I don’t think I am, but then again I find it hard to go to work or pretty much go out of the house without some BB cream* and eyeliner. The problem is I have a hard time waking up early, so I’m always rushing to work. I end up putting my makeup in a cab and I’ve become quite good at it. I guess it’s a legacy from my mom who’s an expert at putting makeup in a moving vehicle, especially when she’s hurrying to a performance as a soprano singer, so she'll be putting on sophisticated stage makeup inside the car.

I was supposed to start my trip tomorrow on my trip to Provo, but with the snow here in Portland, I plan to leave a day early so I do not have such long days traveling. I plan to take my lap top, but do not know about wifi access. So just checking the roads, they seem to be snowy but open. The Columbia Gorge is known to be treacherous and it is open now so I though it good to get while the getting is good. So, those who check on me, nothing bad going on here, just going to a re-union. Planning to return home Monday or Tuesday, Inshallah.

Much peace

Gwendolyn

I do not want to alarm any one here but you may not of noticed that a large white wolf has been watching you ,from the cover of the shadows, all sitting around the camp fire the rest of you refer to as BC. This wolf watched for a couple of years before leaving the first foot prints about 1year 44weeks ago. Now the wolf has sat next to Bailey Summer and had the pleasure of her company. Yes the wolf is me and yes I come to be a comrade not looking for a cheep lunch.

Goodness, I just noticed that I've been a member here for five years. Originally, I just blogged a few times because I was posting elsewhere, although Erin was kind enough to give me author status based on my other efforts.

Vaccinated!

Now that I've finished The Madonna Of The Future, I finally feel free. It's the last of what I considered my backlog from 2008.

Discovered while leafing through a copy of Web User, a free website which analyses a chunk of text (ideally 200+ words) and reports back on various technical aspects of your writing:

another chapter of book 8 here somewhere!

Mads

Can you believe that Gaby first appeared over 9 years ago and that the first printed editions came out in 2005? Me neither.

Over the years, many people have contacted me about inconsistences, bad spelling and so on and finally I've done something about it! From today you can get Gaby - The Anime Days 2nd edition which has been reformatted, re-edited (with help from Angharad, thanks again A)and a new cover treatment produced. I hope that overall its a bit slicker and this version will become the definitive one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17453849

http://jalopnik.com/5895012/firefighters-in-drag-hitch-up-sk...

At a recent St. Patrick's Day parade a fire broke out, fortunately the volunteer fire department was on the scene, unfortunately they weren't dressed for the fire. That didn't stop them.

I am soooooo frustrated right now. On April 8th, 2011 my employer of 21 years decided to liquidate the company and me and about 30 other coworkers were basically shown the door. We knew it wouldn't be good when we got word they were 23 million in debt. I'm trying to do the right thing and have sent out countless resume's as well as fill out applications but no one...NO ONE...is calling back. I think in the entire year I have only had 2 interviews...just 2...ugh!