I know we have a number of sci-fi and space-flight geeks here. If you are one of them, you might enjoy this 45-minute NASA-produced video of shuttle launch footage previously unseen by the general public:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2VygftZSCs&feature=player_em...

I was reading my favorite sex-advice columnist this morning and his "letter of the day." One commenter posted a reply that some might find a "bit" pretentious. I liked it. I might do a needle-point of that last sentence. I'd have to learn how to do needle-point first, but...

Apparently a few days ago, the Gawker network of sites was hacked and the perpetrators managed to get hold of the password database of contributors. In amongst the stuff they've republished is an anonymised list of over 188,000 entries from the password database.

I remembered a few minutes ago that it had been a while since we had a new chapter for Goddess' Tears, so sauntered over to Persephone's author page to find out more...

...only to find that only the title pages for her stories (Frozen Balance, Goddess' Tears, Healing Dagger) remain, and all the story content appears to have been pulled. I don't recall reading any blog entries announcing her departure, so does anyone know what happened?

Lilith has created a Wiki for the Center universe unfortunately neither she nor I are really versed on how to put it together so right now all we have is a main page with a picture and nothing more. I've gotten her permission to write this in hopes that you...our wonderful fans...can tell us what you'd like to see on the Wiki. I know there's already a list of Center characters at http://thecenter.x10.mx/ but this Wiki will help us put down timelines and things like that...helping those lost in the Universe...kinda like me.

Hi all,

After a terrible few months in which I hit bottom and tried to end my life, I discovered the difference between a positive or negative outcome is indeed based upon your attitude.

I hear various people saying that kudos or kudoses or kudi or whatever they are in the plural, are no signifier of a good writer or anything else, which might question why we have them.

So, the last two weeks the respiratory junk has slowly been overtaking me. The sum of it is, I have a bad cold on top of a dry hacking cough, and I'm pretty miserable.

As a result, my mate and I stayed inside yesterday, concentrating of making Christmas presents (quilts, decorative pillows, etc). She sews, I cut, and I do the machine embroidery. All day long I'd been smelling something hot but I just thought it was the steam iron, or the adhesive spray I use when doing embroidery.

I have a question I'm hoping for some answers too. Coming up in the story very soon, there's a moment where the story has a possibility of branching off into a
side story. What I want to know is if I should branch off into the side story at that moment, taking the narrative away from the story for a few chapters or if I should continue the narrative as it is and post the side story chapters afterwards.

Well, I guess I blew it. I "came out" to some of my friends, and I thought it was cool-but none of them will talk to me now. I guess I could have seen that coming. I just feel so down, now. Somedays life just sucks. And people wonder why I'm depressed.

Wren

You know, this story started out as an exercise in just seeing what if? I thought it would be fun to give the evil side of things it's turn instead of doing all that nicey, nicey good guy stuff.

It turns out that I have two good, decent people (Sam and Dylan/Dahlia) stuck with being creatures who are inherently evil in spite of their own personal inclinations. And everyone who sees them in this new world are going to just assume that they are evil because of what they are.

So I have been working on 300 Rains a lot and reading more books on cultural anthropology. I am trying to incorporate plenty of that into the story without overwhelming it. That can be rather tough sometimes, especially when you are in a section where a lot of the dialogue is technical and you have to figure that most readers are not well versed in the specific disciplines speech. That has led to a lot of work trying to make sure things read smoothly.

Well, it was a big one. I have, like so many people, a long list of old e-mals on my system, from years ago in many cases, where I have swapped with people I met on training courses, or at college, and so on. Yesterday, one of them came up as 'on line' on my instant message system,and there was a rather surprising change of name, from a clearly masculine one to an absolutely female one.

I have e-mailed the person concerned, but if by any chance they are on here, and what I think is going on is actually happening, welcome and best wishes.

My gender journey has reached an interesting point. Sometimes, I am in such pain i dont know how to function. But then, there are days like now. the pain level is less, but more steady, like Chinese water torture. I am not sure exactly what I can do about it. I have done all i can right now, or at least thats what it feels like.

Something that may be of interest to Whateley-ites and Retconners - an infographic about Marvel ®, courtesy of an outfit called "Online Schools".

They normally expect it to be embedded in pages, but since it's about 4,700 pixels tall, I thought it more prudent to link to an embedded copy elsewhere - i.e. the site where I found it.

So, if you're interested, click on this link to view.

Just saw Scotty's blog posting on dressing up as Lolita. I hope he finds the bits and pieces of outfit he needs to pull it off, and I'll be looking forward to pictures.

Let me turn the topic now to... me, because like a lot of people I either like talking about me, or am so completely insecure that I need to, always with the hope that people will somehow offer me some support and acceptance, and if not love, then at least "like." Self-esteem... some day I should get me some.

A new chapter and things change yet again. Poor Geoff can't catch a break can he. Man, I hate it when that happens.

Well something certainly seems to have broke free at some point.

I took a story idea, made a few changes, and have written about 800 words tonight.

It's not a lot, and I don't know how far till it's gonna be ready, but this probably won't be a short story, although it might have short chapters.

Last night several things all came together. I was looking over the first couple of parts of my story 'Catwalk Confidence'. The first thing I noticed while looking it over was boy do I need to go back and clean this up a bit. The second thing I noticed was that within the storyline, it has been almost a year since young Alex started writing in his, excuse me, her journal.

I had planned to publish "Lt Katia in Afghanistan, Ch 2, on Tuesday, but suddenly suffered some insufferable, slothful behaviour from my computer! GAH ! Good old Murphy for you. Well, it all seems to be working once again after marathon sessions with Microsoft, Norton, and AMI. It was all a bit much for a mild mannered, compliant, obedient, woman to handle, though we did avoid actual tears over it all. I did, snark snark, allow the hot sounding, Punjabi man in India to think that I might be in danger of a serious tear storm.

Hey guys,

I just wanted to post a quick update on what's going on with me, and my lack of presence lately. Things have just kind of snowballed on me with what happened to my dog (he's doing a LOT better, by the way. He's almost completely healed, and getting back to his old self), holiday drama, and about a hundred other things that I'd rather just put out of my mind for now.

On top of that, I've been sick this week, which has really drained me, but I'm sitting here with a big bowl of chicken noodle soup as I type this, and I'm starting to feel a bit better.

I've been struggling these last few days.

I've been doing quite a bit of reading, and got in my head that I wanted to work on my writing.

So I got out my laptop, and I installed word, and I downloaded the several most promising "works in progress" that fit the mood of what I was wanting to write, and nothing.

I seem to be stuck in a rut for several years now. I have MANY MANY great story ideas, and can usually come up with half of a first post for a serial, but that seems to be about it.

Sorry ladies, I have been SO busy with work, RL and in the past week, being sick, that I haven't been able to write anything. Once the Holidays are over, I hope to get back to posting more Rock,paper,scissors, and Healing a Princess. HaP 35 is nearly complete, but again, Lack of quality writting time ...

Everyone have a happy holiday season.

A.A.

Well, we have lost our insurance as of November 30th. No more hormones. Can't afford them. Now have to buy them off the web.

After being on them for 5 months, now I'll be off them and all the progress lost. SUX.

The following is Bigatry of a State Worker but, this could happen in any State or even with a Federal Worker! Richard

Calif. transgender woman says DMV worker sent letter calling her gender change 'evil'
12-09-2010 03:28 PM PST |By LISA LEFF, Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (Associated Press)

A transgender woman says a California Department of Motor Vehicles clerk used a state database to find her address and then mailed her a personal letter condemning her sex change.

I have been asked or prodded to put up something to give an idea of who's who in the story, as it drags on and on, so I have composed a little list of main people. I have attempted to add it as a comment to the 'outline', but as a technophobe have probably done it incorrectly, so here is the list in an accessible place.

About 7:00 PM tonight, I started upgrading (?) my computer from Vista to Win 7. It is now almost 1:00 AM and I am asking myself just what in the hell I was thinking? They changed things that I liked just fine, now I gotta figure out how to do them now. I was so happy being able to fun two screens and now none of that works. Norton doesn't even look right any more.

Now I am even thinking of going out and buying a refurbished Apple. YUKKKK!!! I hate Apple computer company. Like I would rather swallow a fence post.

I saw this the other day but have only now had a chance to post this. One could hope to see more clinics like this, or at the very least more health care people a bit more sympathetic.

Transgender health clinic

Hugs,

Connie

A few days ago, I had causally mentioned to my mom that next time i had some cash, I wanted to look for a ladies coat. To my surprise and delight, today she took me shopping. Even though i went in male clothes, it felt like a genuine mother-daughter shopping trip. We found a nice coat that fit me, and I feel much better for it. Do I have the best mom, or what?

The site was out for about an hour due to an attack or just a clumsy bot hanging the site by trying to use the search. Search is off while we keep trying to figure out what was going on.

Hugs,
Erin

I'm sorry for the delay in putting up the next Tropical Twist, but it will be along later today (UK time).

I recently had a letter asking me to go along to the local Jobcentre Plus for a "Work Focused Interview" (eek!), at 11:15 today. Cue complete shambles...

Looking at the responses I got from my last entry, I feel I need to explain a bit about my faith. When I first became a Christian, I had no real teachers in the faith. I got a bible, and read it from cover to cover several times. Some things I understood, some I did not, but I had no one to ask. Since I was a "Christ"-ian, I figured I should read what Christ said and use that as my guide. Unfortunately, there was nothing that really covered the area of my tg, at least in the new testament.

My first post here. I have been a lurker on this site for YEARS. I have really enjoyed reading the stories over the years, but for reasons unknown to me I never joined or posted. However, for some reasons I finally feel the winds of change blowing. I'm not sure where they are going to take me, I'm hoping for fair winds. But I finally decided that I needed to start saying how much I've enjoyed the stories over the years and how much joy they have brought me.

HUGS

Kelly

I went to an online chat (IMVU, if you care to know the name) and decided to visit a christian room and get some prayer support. Unfortunately, one of the people there noticed my avatar was wearing a TG symbol, and asked me about it. I tried to explain my history, how I felt. Her response was to tell me i needed deliverance from a demon. I told her how i had prayed about this since i became a christian, prayed, begged, cried. How i even tried to kill myself, and even asked God to kill me rather than let me offend Him. How i finally reached the point where i had to accept what I am.

Well, I was talking to one of my UK friends the other night and when we hung up, my computer froze. It took me several tries to restart it before I could get it running again, and along the way I figured out that either SKYPE or one of the messingers was causing the problem. In my trying to figure it out, I see that SKYPE downloaded a new version on 12/2, and after that is when the problem started.

I am hoping that this is a safe place to say this ?

In a few weeks, a dear friend of mine is coming from Saudi Arabia to attend College in Portland. He is a very good man, and we get along so well that if things were different, I would marry him with no hesitation. (We all know what differences they might be) He and I just have so much to talk about. There is a heart connection there that I can not explain.

Be warned this post contains spoilers.

I'm posting this now even though Best Served Cold is only about half way over.

I wanted to give people a good idea of what they can expect next from me. So after this story, I'm going to either move on to my Red Lantern Retcon on Laira or the side story to Best Served Cold, starring Mattie and Clara.

In the future I've got both the sequels to Green Arrow and Blue Beetle plus a Retcon on Black Panther. I've also got another Syndicate story I'm developing too.

EOF

Hi everyone. I am happy to say that I've begun doing some work on revising the Naruto story I've written. The original story started out with Naruto and I kept having problems because (as many fan fics do) I couldn't adequately explain who Naruto and Jiraiya were. It made some very big assumptions on the part of the reader that they were fanatical devotees to the Naruto manga or series. I've decided about a year ago to fix that so that anyone could pick up the story and read it without confusion...

My wife and I saw the Arrogant Worms last night, a very funny group from Canada. One of the songs, My Boy is a scream for us crossdressers. Fortunately, they have it on line so you can hear it too.

My Boy

By the way, their Christmas CD is the perfect present for those of us with a very warped sense of humor. Enjoy!

When I first started this journal, the only real rule I set for myself was that I was going to be as honest as I possibly could, and I think i am succeeding.

Mostly, it really hasnt been much of a struggle, other than the difficulty of finding the best words.

I have talked about good times, bad times, and all the times in between, and most of the time, I have felt no hesitation.
Indeed, most of the time, i have been anxious to share.

But today, I find myself struggling to write this.

I want to just babble on about my writing, or whatever.

I have been reading the latest 'year's best SF' and quite enjoying it. I then look up stories here, see 'SF' or fantasy in the header, and switch off. One story, "The Island", intrigues me,and I will continue reading it, but those stories with miraculous devices/transformatons do not speak to me. Clearly, this is a personal thing, and I mean no criticism of others, but while I love SF I can only connect with TG stories that are close to real life. Perhaps this is personal identification, maybe I am inflexible, but I offer now my apologies to those who write that sort of story.

Fantastic news.

I learned tonight, 1726 British Daylight saving time UST +1 that the bitch who abused me as a child died a month ago of Pneumonia and kidney failure. My oldest sister was 76.

I've had some requests to consider using Mr. Gabriel in more stories, and I think it will happen. The funny thing is, I didn't know about his "surprise" until I wrote the end of the story. He was created after a very special friend who has now passed, and named after my new nephew, Gabriel. He was just a nice teacher, originally.
Just goes to show what happens when you write from things that happen in a dream and throw in some memories to fill it in.

I found these on YouTube last night and thought they weren't even half bad... "Beautiful Boxer", a true story of Nong Toom, a transsexual Thai kickboxer who fought as a means of survival and rose to fame, quite an amazing story. Part one is here, and if you're familiar with YouTube at all (is there anyone who isn't?) you know you'll find the other parts shown to the right of the screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TxdRlg3Llw&feature=related

"Just Like A Woman" is a fictional story of a crossdresser who loses his wife and family and other tribulations etc. Part one is here: