Thank you to those who mailed me asking me when I would continue to story. I'm sorry that it took me so long to continue. I just had a tiny bit of problem. Still has, but I think I'll try to ignore it and just start writing again.

However, when I reread the story earlier, I was horrified at the lack of imagery in the story. I mean, I know how it goes, how the characters look like because I can see them all in my head. The readers can't see what I see, so I decided to do a rewrite. Nothing major, but I will try to address the problem with giving more life to the characters.

From today's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/us/politics/09hate.html

This is step towards expanding "the definition of violent federal hate crimes to those committed because of a victim’s sexual orientation, a step that would extend new protection to lesbian, gay and transgender people."

Kris

Is anyone else having issues opening Fictioneer? This is actually a bit worrisome because I don't have everything there backed up.

I'm possibly tempting providence, but I hope that thanks to a new modem/router and finally getting around to using a new computer I've had in the box for about three years, my internet problems are over (touch wood). It's Vista, so I might yet be swearing - but so far so good, as I learn my way round this different set up.

It's very late so I'm off to bed.

Angharad.

I have decided I don't care much for hospitals and emergency rooms at the moment. You go in and they want to poke, prod and otherwise torture you, when all you wanted in the first place was one simple little shot adenosine to stop the tachycardia. Finally escaped after 4 hours, with the last 2 sitting and waiting for someone to say I could leave...

And to top it off, my head is throbbing now. Time for Ibuprofen annd a nice warm bed

Diana

I just wanted to apologize for my slowness, and occasional missed updates lately. And yes, today's going to be more of the same. I haven't had any time to write yet, and I'll be leaving in ten minutes. I won't get a chance to do anything until I get back around eleven. I can make no promises!

I am looking for information on terran made celestial objects, intra- and inter-system, including location, trajectory and purpose. A story just popped into my head and won't let me be. Thanks :)
Diana

The Zombie Apocalypse, here's today's PVP apropos of this site and everything. :)

Hugs,
Erin

Hello my friends at BC!!

Well, I was given a big shock today. This coming Friday will be my last day at a company where I have worked for 14 years. Basically, it is the economy. Being single. Less money coming into the company, etc, etc. I was told I will receive a full month's pay check at the end of the month. Then another week into November.

…did you ever–?

I never cease to be amazed about the mind-boggling things I learn from BBC Radio 4. About 5 minutes ago I learned that King Edward VII had a golf bag made out of an elephant's penis. Evidently it was presented to him by an Indian Maharajah. The same programme informed me that "Snow Golf" was invented by Rudyard Kipling when he painted his balls red.

As I said before, the mind boggles.

So what mind-boggling facts have you learned from the radio/tv?

Gabi

Browsing through the BBC News pages, as is my daily wont, I came across this little item concerning number (licence) plates being withdrawn from an auction because they might cause offence to gay people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/8290413.stm

I have been wracking my meagre brain to think of any number plates that might be offensive to the TG community.

Gabi

Hi. When I come to this site, or go to another chapter or something after being on the same page for a while, I am redirected to amazon. It is actually two seprate amazon pages. One is the main page as you go to amazon, then right away it goes to another page where there is only a small box at the top of the page that has amazon's tg library in it.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to stop it?

Thanks
Jessica Marie

A teacher who is transitioning F to M was fired by a school board because "his gender change from woman to man is not aligned with the teachings of the Catholic church or its values." And he's fighting back, using Alberta's human rights act. Going to be interesting seeing how this case ends, because he's fighting the Catholic church.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/10/02/11258766-cp.html

Well, it's that time of year -- time for teachers to demand a report on summer activities, at least, it's traditional in North America to do so. So, here's the deal, a contest that isn't a contest.

Last Day To Get Your Assignment In!

A big thank you to Sephrena for reposting Tiffany's book. I think Sephrena must feel pretty much as I do, that it is simply a must read! If, when you finish the first book, you don't just continue on to the second one, I would be very surprised.

Congratulations again, Tiffany for such a great piece!

Hugs,
Carla Ann

I would like to know if I am doing something wrong, or doing something right with my story.

I am getting concerned that maybe others are loosing interest in it, and am thinking of possibly pulling the plug on it seems how, The comments on my story, is getting rarer and rarer, and sometimes none at all. examples (13 and 16)

I enjoy writting the story, in fact I was hopeing to contiinue it for a rather long time, its hardly just begun, even where it is now, as I planned to continue wtritting it for many more monthes or even years, like an episode as each instalment.

Karen wanted everyone to know she's been sprung from the hospital and is on her way back to the sanctanty of her home. She also wanted me to convey her thanks for all the well wishes from her friends, here.

PB

Karen_J appears on the mend though the doctors are keeping her for observation.

I quote from a message I received today:

>>
Karen is still in the hospital, the doctor wants to keep her another day ...

She says hi and why the hell did I send the first email out? I passed on everybody's comments and a few select ones from Big Closet, some of which amused her. She will likely be out of touch another day or there abouts.
>>

I hope everyone else here is well.

Come back soon, Karen.

John in Wauwatosa

Some people are misunderstanding something here. The Retro Classics are being brought back so you can see what our writers were like in the past and what we have hidden in the author lists. This is not some game about trying to have everything complete - because not everything here can be completed. Some of our authors have died, others... in more trouble than most of us can know. Others decided to stop writing. But what they left behind is a treasure for us to gaze upon. We can learn from what they did and write new things.

Our fellow BC commentor, proofer and writer Karen_J collapsed at work and was taken to a hospital.

From what I was told it sounds similar to a problem she had last year. She is stable and appears to be recovering but will be on the mend for a while.

Like many here she has had more than her share of pain and turmoil in her life but has managed to survive and thrive inspite of the odds.

When I arrived in Atlanta for Southern Comfort, I was as nervous as the long tailed cat in the room full of rocking chairs. I wasn't sure what to expect or how I should act. What I didn't expect, was the love, compassion, understanding, and support I received, even being just a first timer.

I received and gave more hugs in one week, than in my entire lifetime. NO one had a bad word to say about ANYONE, and everyone was amazingly open and caring. I talked to more girls in the space of the week, than I ever thought possible, and we had a BALL!!!

I just wanted to extend my thanks to those who have taken Grover and myself under their wings....(You know who you are). I especially want to thank the girls who went to the Southern Comfort conference for taking such good care of my hubby, and making sure he had a great time.

Oh, thank you Ariel, for the book. I am enjoying it immensely. :-)

I'm glad everyone had a wonderful time, and I'm relieved y'all are home safe and sound!

Smooches,
Paula

There are recurring stories about plagues or diseases decimating (I use the word in its modern sense, not the Roman one of one in ten) humanity. There has not yet been a disease that took more than one in three of the population, which is not to say that a more virulent disease could not arise in the future.

However, if we experienced now a plague which took one in three, the problems are that first our medical resources would be overburdened to breaking point, and so would all our infrastructure.

Our civilization is now so complex that it could not survive a plague of this magnitude.

It's almost too late in the season here but some of the heirloom varieties ripen late. These are really good and so simple.

Clean and slice several green tomatoes, about 1/3 inch (8 mm) thick, more or less. Salt and pepper them liberally and leave on a cutting board to dry out very slightly while you get everything else ready.

Gwen Brown heard that you were hunting for her. If you are still suffering from the need to meet me at SCC I am at...............

Hugs

Gwen

My sweet counselor is such a dear. With everything going on, she's been such an encouragement, and today proved to me just how much God loves me through her, through you, my dear sisters and brothers and through my new dear friends whom I treasure just as much as my characters love and accept each other. She is Jewish, which gives us a commonality with somewhat but wonderfully different perspectives while still trusting God.

John of course I know what TGIFridays means: Transgendered Influenced Fridays. At my school it was like Mixed up Mondays, which was a little hard to swallow in the Bible thumping deep south. It was started after the cheerleaders kicked the Butt of the school football team at flag football 31-12 (our football team won three games in six years. Unfortunately this is true.). The coach actually tried to recruit the cheerleaders, they refused to play for such a sorry team. Anyways for the rest of the year the football team had to wear dresses to school on Friday.

http://arkansasvarsity.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=992976

This was on Yahoo news and when I read it, I could only praise this student. Yes, we should play to win, but at times, being a nice guy is a whole lot better.

I wanted to thank everyone who has been praying for me and loving me and encouraging me. I found out that my doctor's practice is going to accept my insurance coverage without expecting my share of the cost of my testing. I will also be blessed with my counselor's sage advice and encouragement next week, as well as EEG Biofeedback, which is expected to significantly reduce my tremors and brand new speech problem...I do an excellent imitation of Jeff Goldbloom in Jurassic Park. I "came out" in a manner of speaking to my counselor yesterday.

I think I'm going to be forced to take a break from posting stories here for a while. No, I'm not leaving, but the list of things that need doing has gotten unmanageable.

I've just posted Part 2 of Changed Fortune to my site at: http://tanyastales.yolasite.com/wip-changed-fortune---part-2...
Tanya

HI folks,

I have to say that this conference has been a real eye opener for me. Coming from a relatively small town, the sheer numbers of girls here, from all walks of life, is mind boggling for me. I've had some wonderful conversations and met more girls from more places than I can remember right now.

The Top Shelf Girls, Jacqui(Grover), Ariel, Holly and I made our initial appearances this afternoon, after Holly did yeoman work getting the transfers ironed on. So far, the response seems to be very positive, with quite a few commenting on the matching shirts and the site.

I received my first Victoria's Secret bra today (38A - no not many to choose from)... And, it fit like a glove. :-) Far more comfortable than the playtex I'd gotten a few months ago. LOL And, nicer than the sports bras I normally wear (when my alter ego is off to the salt mines)...

The blouse I ordered with the bra will be on it's way back. Not what was pictured (color wise) it made me look very ill! Though it was very comfortable otherwise. *sighs* Back to the drawing board there.

Apologies to those waiting for their daily top up, but I still have no broadband connection which I find very frustrating. Then to top it all, my little netbook went and lost all of the tonight's episode---god knows how, but I don't. I'm very tired so I'm not doing one tonight, Bonzi also sends his a-purr-logies.

I hope normal service will be resumed tomorrow, although that might be the last one before my holiday.

Angharad.

For the War of Warcraft fans, I found this at Yahoo

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/world-of-warcr...

Hi

Just to let you know I've done some work on my site. I have a section on the HOME page whereby you can see any new postings with a direct link.
I have compacted some of the serialised stories into complete books, and posted WHEN FORTUNE SMILES to the site.
see http://tanyastales.yolasite.com/when-fortune-smiles---comple...
This story has already been posted here, but PART 1 of the sequel ... CHANGED FORTUNE is now up...
see http://tanyastales.yolasite.com/wip-changed-fortune-part-1.php

Tanya

If there is anyone ...

Modern browsers have lots of convenient features, like the ability to remember your passwords, and the ability to easily go to sites that you commonly visit. For instance, all I have to do is start typing "bi" in my browser, and it brings up a list of previously visited sites that contain "bi" -- Big Closet being at the top of the list. It will also auto-enter my user name and password when I want to log in.

If you were to believe the vocal minority who write most of the comments and probably do most of the voting for stories -- no one likes forced fem.

Their wailing and gnashing of teeth anytime a story ventures close to femdom asserts that such writing should be banned from this site as inappropriate.

Recently two very good authors suggested to me that they wanted my help to make sure their stories didn't cross the line into femdom. They were concerned about adverse reader reaction. Arrrgh!

Okay, there is this guy on YouTube that seems to have made it his mission to profile everyone in the Ranma ½ Universe, but most of them, really... are kinda crap. Little more than fanboy fap-bait. Some are good... but these four... these are EXCELLENT:

• The Elder Saotomes
  [ Saotome Nadoka ] - Ranma's Mom!
  [ Saotome Genma ] - Ranma's Dad!
• The Tendo Sisters
  [ Tendo Kasumi ] - Akane's Oldest Sister, older than she by 3 years.
  [ Tendo Nabiki ] - Akane's Older Sister, older than she by a year and a half.

There are some general info profiles if you want to look through this guy's other Ranma ½ Character Profiles, but really... he doesn't seem to get a lot of the characters. Of particular interest to the crowd here at TopShelf may be the (rather insultingly done) profiles of Kurenai Tsubasa and Kuonji Ukyou.

My apologies in advance for posting this here, but it was too good to pass up. I usually only send to a select few but.....
It's all how you look at it!

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,
'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'

I wanted to write a note of thanks to everyone here, whether writers, or readers, or kind and patient administrators and other lovely sisters (and brothers,too.) I go back to NYC on the 28th for more testing. My tremors have only abated somewhat, but my doctor assures me that much of it can be addressed with an adjustment in medication. That's the "bad" news. The GOOD news is that you have become such good friends and family to me over the past few months.

I can't access the internet via my broadband connection and am waiting for the techies to contact me in the next day or so. My posting of stuff may thus be delayed as I'm using my dongle and netbook computer. This is slow and it loses the signal when it feels like it, losing me whatever I was doing.

Angharad.