Originally posted February 13, 2000 on Original BigCloset

"Sparky Is My Hero"
by Joyce E. Melton

February 13, 2000

Eric Bogle - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born
Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile
and ...

I've read some blogs on Bigcloset lately about selling your book on Amazon and Kindle. My question, does it actually work? As in does it actually make money? I'm not talking about a payment of 100-200USD once in a blue moon, I'm asking if it's enough for someone to live in conditions that can be described as middle class in a city like, say, Boston for half a year.

What are the pros and cons or special considerations for selling in such a place?

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #69: Fireworks! To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

Lots of fireworks over here!

Happy New Year!

I understand that my body is changing. I did not ask for it to change, it is happening anyways. My testosterone levels have been dropping for about ten years now (I'll be 57 in 2 months) and that is normal. But since my wife died 7 years ago I have not slept well. I usually get 3-5 hrs of sleep, in the past few months it's more like 3-6 hrs. Rarely do I sleep more than 6 hrs. I recently investigated the causes of low testosterone in men and found that age 40+ the levels decrease, this is natural.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #66: Sleepy Girl To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

It's about one AM, Saturday here. Moe and I landed in Manila International an hour ago. We got through customs super-fast (compared to DC), and are staying in the passenger lounge until our ride arrives. Manny is extremely late. I called him and he explained that no one told him we were arriving tonight much less the time of our flight's arrival. Hmmm. Someone dropped the ball there. Will investigate on Monday.

Ah well. Manny said he's at least an hour away. That's okay - gives me time to post this.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #64: Just going away for a couple of months. Peace! To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

Hi, everyone. Will be away for a couple of months, so don't get mad, or worry if you don't see me logging on or posting for a bit. Peace! Sweetie and I are just taking some time off from everything, to recover from the loss of the baby. Just need some alone time. I'm sure you understand.

I saw this today and the information leaves me confused.

Cosmetic:

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #63: Happy 4th of July To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

It's too bad that the 4th of July's just a regular workday around here, except at my office, of course - only essential people or on-duty call agents were required to report for work.

Unfortunately, per the office's operations guide, my position is considered "essential," hence I had to work today... darn...

But, nevertheless, A hearty Happy 4th of July to everyone! Enjoy the day, and keep safe!

And a special shoutout to our brave fighting men and women! This is your day as much as it is anyone's.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #61: It's Too Obvious Now To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

It was actually confirmed February 22, but Sweetie and I haven't been telling anyone. We weren't really keeping it a secret, but we would only tell people if they asked. So we've been able to keep it quiet for a while. Which was something we thought was important. I being a post-op TG girl wasn't the issue (as very, very few here know), but the fact that we were in a same-sex relationship was. Especially in a very conservative, predominantly-catholic country like the Philippines. (Guess that's the advantage of Washington DC - people are more blasé about such things back home.) And adding this to the mix will just make us doubly... controversial... So we though keeping this quiet was important.

But that's impossible now.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #59: Identity Theft! To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

A little while ago (June 5, 10:58pm eastern) I got an e-mail from Laika. From out of the blue, actually.

Her e-mail was a little funny - it didn't have a subject-title, it was also sent to four other people that I didn't know (who is DALENEK1 anyway), and the e-mail's content was just a hotlink to an ad about a raspberry diet supplement.

And a few minutes after that, my iPad started asking me to re-confirm/re-enter the passowords for my other e-mail profiles. Hmmm... that's funny. Anyway, I didn't, and nothing bad happened when I didn't re-enter the passwords... Hmmm...

I cannot therefore help but think that Laika and I were being spoofed.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #57: It's Half Full! To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

It is disheartening at times (lately it's almost all the time), to be reading tales of woe and hardship, of depression and sadness, here in my favorite site. I suppose our community has more than its share of hardship stories. More than other equivalent communities, I'm sure. I can understand that. I've been there, too, after all. But, even so, I wish there were more positive posts. Goodness knows I try to be positive in my blogs as often as I can, if just to provide a contrast to what is apparently the norm now here in the Blogs section of BCTS.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #55: A Reminder On My Calendar To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

I had a... drama-filled discussion with a BCTS friend about twelve hours ago via Yahoo Messenger. Seems those are the only kinds of discussions we've had lately. Anyway, she has finally given me a date for when she will be taking the first concrete step towards arresting the "steady decline" (her words) in her life.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #53: A Summer Girl's Four Epiphanies To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

Ma said during our last skype call a few days ago that it's forty-five degrees back home. Living in Manila for a while now, I am now more used to using Centigrade when measuring temperature, as opposed to Fahrenheit, and using kilometers instead of miles when measuring distance. So when she said forty-five degrees, I used my iPad and came up with 7.2 Centigrade. I told her it was 95 degrees here (which is 35 in centigrade-speak). It's so friggin' hot here! What I wouldn't give for a forty-five degree day.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #51: Contacting Me Via SMS, or am now AOC starting 2DAY, K? To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

Hello, everyone. I have been having problems with Yahoo Messenger, and I gather that a lot of the people I keep in touch with with via YM are having the same problems as well.

So, to supplement YM, and hopefully reduce the comm problems, I just got a prepaid, pay-as-you-go cellular plan here in Manila specifically for my friends here, so, if you want, you guys can contact me via SMS later, starting 8PM Eastern (which is 8AM Manila time).

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #50: Makeup 101, Ala-Bobbie To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

There was a blog-question relating to makeup recently, and I wanted to respond, but as I was writing it, I noticed how long my comment was turning out to be, and how involved I got, so I decided to write a new blog altogether.

Ebooks 7, 8, and 9 are now in the same Public Folder on SkyDrive. And some info on 125 - 144.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #48: Saying goodbye: Life lessons from a dead friend To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

I knew someone - someone from work who I thought of as a friend, but she probably didn't.   She was a pretty brunette, very popular, super smart, outgoing, lots of friends and very ambitious (but in the good sense of the word).  I didn't know her too well, really, and despite having met her face-to-face just a few times, I liked her a lot, and I thought of her as a friend, like I said.   I just hope that she remembered me in the same way, although I think that was a futile hope, given how many people she knew.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #45:  Reunited with my Sweater, or Whatinheck's Wrong with the Weather!?! To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

Moe and I are back home and found our house to have been meticulously cleaned as only my ma is capable of.   Kitchen, living room, bathrooms all spic n span, and bed clothes nice n crisp n clean (I know ma did the wash coz the sheets smell faintly of Huggies), front n back yards clean and well raked (probably Dad) and a note on the living room table saying that two of the microwavable "Friends" mugs got broken (Aha! That's my sister!).

Anyway, the at-home feeling came back slowly and we settled in.   But what didn't come back was how the weather felt.   Egads, it's cold!!

So Moe n I broke out a couple of our long-unused sweaters, and made plans to pick a nice n wooly sweater ensemble for work the following day.   But why was it so friggin cold all of a sudden?   I checked the thermometer. It was a nice eighty degrees. Eh?

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #43: Me? Jealous? Nahhh... To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

We had a late business lunch with this movie/TV personality & print model yesterday, at a very, very upscale (not to mention expensive) out-of-the-way little restaurant in one of the five-star hotels in the main business district.   She was a very sweet and friendly girl, and had a big fund of funny stories to tell and had most of us giggling and laughing, much to the consternation of her personal assistant, since we were starting to bother the nearby tables.

But what really got us to pay attention was that she was drop-dead gorgeous. As in REALLY drop-dead gorgeous.

Was I jealous? Nahhh...