I never got to know this guy very well when I was at college, but he was a well-loved figure on campus, even for those of us who weren't religious. Now he's gone we're all poorer for his passing. Would that everyone in various churches was as tolerant and giving.

Here's a lovely interview from a few years back. One of Stephen Colbert's finer moments, and that's saying something.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/18493...

well, i was rather stupid. I have been fighting tooth pain the last couple of days, and i had the chance to go to see a dentist today, and didn't take it. It would have meant waiting most of the day at the ER, and i felt better by the time i might have considered it. Now, i dont know when i might have another shot, and i wishing i had gone.

To state 'the bleeding obvious', I am not going to discuss my employment in detail here, so please think before you reply to this. I have an issue at work regarding what is called an equality assessment. Under UK law, changes in working practices or conditions require an equality impact assessment. This is ostensibly a way of seeing whether a change adversely affects a particular group, such as the disabled, married folk, or TLGB (MY turn to choose the order of the initials)

She lies alone, imprisoned by fate,

her face hidden, her nature denied.

Well, with my laptop in the pit, I have been thinking about alternatives, and then today I saw Steve Jobes speaking about the new Ipad. $499 opened my ears a little. It'll have Wifi and Cell Network internet available. So, completely ignoring the fact that the release date is the 11th I went looking for one to ask questions. Did you know that Verizon is selling the Ipad? Well, I went into the store and started asking all sorts of laptop questions, and then the people there said, "Let's talk about the XOOM?"

I just read an article about how more and more companies are offering SRS and Breast Augmentation for Transsexual employees in their Health Insurance plans. It talked about Wells Fargo Bank, Coca Cola,AT&T, New York Life, and others are offering SRS as a means to promote tolerance and diversity. I left a comment on the article, but I can tell you that it definitely brought out the bigots in full force on the comments page. Most of them, had absolutely no experience with the issue and spouted off from their own point of view.

So, I was looking at rings on the internet, trying to find the perfect one for Madam Zeela to make for Gretchen.

It's not exactly what I was envisioning (which was something closer to http://tinyurl.com/4g98447) but I fell in love with the following one, and want to get everyone's opinion.

http://tinyurl.com/45gytys.

Or, do you have a preference of your own?

Zeela does not want to go with a traditional diamond setting, and has a "large stone" that she wants to use.

Anyway, as always, your input is appreciated :)

Well, I had my interview, and I think it went well. I should find out by the end of next week if I got the job, but they seemed okay with me being me, and I think i showed my telephone skills. So we will have to wait and see.

The next chapter of 12-String is done, and it has been submitted for editing. Last time I posted about this, I think my editor felt a little rushed. That was not my intent. Take your time, as I would prefer a complete product to a fast one :)

Just letting you all know where we are in the process.

With the advent of the first BC V-1 a thought occurs. Recently, I have been working with an author on a re-write and an issue arose regarding comma use.

I had recommended the grammatical use of the comma in a specific application. The author used the comma as a pause indicator in dialog. When I responded to the author, I brought out the issue, but left the final decision on usage to him.

See you there, we're going to talk about how to narrow the field of selections for the book, even though we are still accepting nominations. Also discussed will be naming some "captains" for the editing, that is people besides me to take problems to. :) Probably other subjects will come up.

Hugs,
Erin

I am troubled.

I am trying to sell my Novel Transitioning Home to an Agent and it is problematic. I am getting positive sounding responses but that basically that the Agent is too busy. I just want to sell my damn Novel, is it really that fracking difficult?

Here's a link to the latest update of the nominations list: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/25855/bc-v1-nominations-t...

While on a fruitless search to figure out what I've done with my digital audio recorder, I started to run across stuff I've been holding onto for absolutely no reason. Most of it was just useless junk not even worth mentioning, but it eventually turned into spring cleaning. And then I noticed my old "I'm just a crossdresser, really!" stash.

Wishes...

I've just finished episode 9 of 12-String. . .but you may notice I haven't posted it yet. I now have a proofreader who has already helped me improve the content of episode 9 and so we will have to see how it progresses from here.

I had a second offer of proofing come in today, so I'm going to be starting on a couple of 12-String related side projects.

The first will be a complete revision of the existing episodes for continuity and general clarity. As soon as that's done, Ill be starting on Dichotomy, which will star Ethan before she became Gretchen.

I got the bloody job - Start Monday.

I can't believe it.

It's going to put a severe dent in the amount of time I can spend writing - like possibly leaving nil for the first few months and I'm sorry, but I don't care. It's the first job I've had in nearly three years.

In light of the fact that I was pretty much offered the job on Friday, Pen and I have been looking at houses and are possibly going to be buying ourselves a house in France over the Easter break as well. Of course, that was all banking on the job coming off and now it has, it's all systems go.

although, i don't cross dress, and have not done so in my adult life, there was a period of time when i did. my mother used to think it was cute to dress me when i was younger, especially as a twin to my aunt, who was only a few months older than myself. that stopped after my dad threw a fit about it. i was a latch key kid before there was a name for it. i dressed often and even found a set of breast forms. this was something i did from about age nine to age thirteen. it felt very erotic to me, but i was terrified of being found out.

So, things are still going in the story and what I am posting is catching up to what I haven't written yet. We still have a ways to go and I am hoping that I am able to stay ahead of the game. It does help that I do occasionally realize that there is a gap in the narrative and create a new chapter, like for this week. There were some issues I had not addressed yet and had to throw them in. Not sure yet if this is going to get pulled yet for submission, but it just might. I like the story and the characters.

Today we talked about editing standards and decided on Word/OpenOffice/LibreOffice as our editing platform.

The workflow will be nomination, choices and priorities, permission, conference with author, editing revisions, approval from author, final edit, proofing, layout, final approvals.

Stories that get hung up in the process will probably be allowed to slip to the next volume. We now have about 150 stories nominated, though some of them are too long. At any rate, we have no dearth of stories to go into Volume 1. :)

I just thought I would pass on the link to the Daily Telegraph obituary for Chris Dale.
He was a 6ft 6in mountaineer, with a passion for solo climbs. He was also a cross-dresser who went by the name of Crystal.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/sport-obituaries/...

Now there is someone who led an extraordinary life. It’s a shame he died at only 49.
Love to All

Anne G.

Flippin heck!
I've only just Noticed Catherine's blog offering me a happy birthday and all the following comments'

I just can't get my head around this. The site is just Soooo- sooooo friendly.

I offer everybody a tearful and heartfelt thankyou!

I hadn't even considered posting a blog cos I hardly ever expect nice stuff like this.

Thankyou everybody. Thank you, thankyou, thank you!

Well, i apparently had a large part of the middle that didnt post. dont know why. i fixed it, I hope.

and many, many more. Cheers luv. Carpe Cakum.

Cathy

It can't make up its mind. First it rains hard enough to scare the dog with the rattle of big drops against the windows and roof then we have ten minutes of big wet flakes falling in stillness, then the sky whistles and chuffs and it rains again, drops as big cashews, twisted by the wind.

Hi all. Just a note here. I added a bit to the story so you all would know that it wasn't an identity death story.

Maggie

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/02/white-house-anno...

The White House made history in two ways Friday, when it announced Jeremy Bernard as its new social secretary -- the first man and the first openly gay person to fill that role.

Bernard, who is currently the Senior Advisor to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, will replace Julianna Smoot, the White House announced.

I play this game called Runescape, here is the link.

http://www.runescape.com/title.ws

The graphics are extremely well done and I was wondering if anyone else on this site plays this game as well.

If you don't but are interested in trying it out and I could help you. It is an MMORPG or a massively multi-player online role playing game. However it is relatively simple and the user interface is not complex.

If either of the above are true PM me on this site will guarantee that I see your message and get back to you.

A Letter From the Author:

Hi everyone,

I'm going to start by saying that Book Three is by no means finished. I have the first six chapters pretty much 'ready' after two months of hard work. As I move forward, I'm going to be taking greater care in my writing than I have in the past.

The universe seems to be dropping great piles of poo on me from a great height. First, work has been a bitch, then I get the cold which leaves me with the cough for weeks.

Last weekend I had trouble with the gears on my bike and it might ultimately mean new gear/brake levers - they're not cheap.

Hiya! To help people keep up with where the Year of Challenges is at, here's an update of what's going to be due in March:

redman

Well, I had an MRI a couple weeks ago, and now I know why things are the way they are. As far as I am concerned, I function pretty well, have no physical disabilities, and have been pretty successful in life. One thing that has always bothered me is that in certain social situations, I just mess up. I just don't understand what is going on.

I just about have Ch 3 ready, finally, and this afternoon was looking at the other two chapters to see how they matched up with Ch 3 and at the heading of one of the chapters, it said the word count was about 40,000 words. Well I already knew that from my having done most of my writing in MS Word; though I am now using Works until I work out some issues with using Word. That works out to about 25 pages and for me that seems like a comfortable amount of work to do per chapter.

My humble apologies to my several fans, but Second Sight's Chapter Four will be delayed due to having to attend a job interview tomorrow.

Please bear with me as I'm almost done and will try and get it out as soon as possible.

Yours regretfully,

Nick B

I don't just look it, I'm totally in need of a job right now...

Last night we were fortunate enough to view The King's Speech. What performances by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush! Even though I live across the pond, I was familiar with some of the acrimony between Elizabeth II's mother, and Edward and Wallis Simpson. I know that it carried over to the Queen. Neither of the brother's wanted to be king. Many say that The Queen Mother blamed Edward for George's early death. The fact that he was addicted to cigarettes certainly contributed to that. I don't think I was aware of George VI's speech impediment.

Well, I had a doozy of a nightmare last night. I was behind a person, who had his back to me. I tried to get his attention, and his head snapped around without his body turning, while a deep note played like from a soundtrack. It was very frightening.

Does anyone know the cost of HRT.

i experienced profound abuse from parents and peers and as a 4ft 6in 80 lb 8th grader was an easy target, not to mention my less than macho mannerisms and attitudes. i repeated the 8th grade and experienced a growth spurt in the summer between the two eighths, ending up at five six and about 115 lbs. by the time i was a sophomore i was 5'11" and a 120 lbs. i never did really fill out. at 28 i was five eleven and a half inches and 135 lbs and starting my first year of recovery from alcoholism and addiction.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12550221

Penmarris in an uproar, protest meeting to be held in the church hall (tea and biscuits provided).Samantha wonders how she can get pasties from over the border. David will pray for deliverance. Dotty to lobby her mate the Queen. Soothsayer says I told you so. Katie gets her knickers off for her Captain - oops wrong storyline.

I am trying to make sure I hold on to hope. I have been struggling with bouts of hopelessness, and I have to keep fighting, even when I don't want to. Ah, well.

I have combined Galactic Marshal I & II into a single book and published it on Lulu. It is available as a 6x9 paperback for $14.95 or a download for $4.99. I have published it under the name Michael Coleman. Thank you.

Referenced here. Ordinarily I avoid these things because, in the past they've all been the same awful depictions (I'm not kidding when I say one featured a TG prostitute/possible drug addict in Vegas), but this one is different.

I wouldn't be ashamed to be one of the people on this show

Wisconsin has done it. In the past they needed Urban Asalt Vehicles in Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. Now, in the historic but contentious times of this week, the major urban areas in Wisconsin had to employ fleets of Urban Asalt Vehicles. We can all wish that these will not be needed again.