Percy

I tremendously enjoy reading these entries. The movie you described reminded me of "au revoir, les enfants" which seems to have had a similar storyline. So many of the European films I saw growing up (which would have been those subtitled in English), dealt with WWII in some way or another. It always struck me that the war must have affected later generations in Europe much more directly than later generations in the U.S. For me, WWII was something that happened only to my grandfather but for Europeans the war happened to everyone in their family.

Wayne, Good to hear that you had a good day, especially with the writing. We miss seeing you around here. Hope treatment options for your father and sister-in-law work out for both of them. -Percy

Oh, that was hilarious. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Mark, Pranks do have a way of not going as planned. I don’t think it’s too unusual for a prankster to re-consider their actions after the fact and realize they’d make a different decision if they had it to do over again. Friends are usually pretty forgiving when they get pranked, even when the whole thing goes badly. As far as your photo, I’ve only been active on GA for a few weeks so I’ve only seen the picture you have up now, the one you had up for a couple days and the one before that. The quality common to all three is the beauty. So really, whichever you choose to keep up, all three are accurate representations of who you are. Your character comes through in your writing and in your forum responses. That leaves a longer lasting impression than any photo. I hope you continue to be active here on GA. -Percy

That was a good "secret admirer" story. Even though all the clues pointed to Kevin, I was never completely sure it would turn out to be him. I liked the entire cast of characters here. :-)

Some very sweet, tender moments. I like the supporting characters too.

I enjoyed reading this. The details added a lot of texture to the story and the pacing was just perfect.

I like the story. You captured the school age scenes vividly...I was transported back to my own school days.

Very interesting subject matter, the difference between first love and love after heartbreak. The emotions of the main character came through strongly. A lot to reflect on in this piece.

Raw and a real treasure to read. Thanks for sharing.

That was fun and original. Dark, yes, but not depressing. Would be interesting to learn more about what they got out of the experiment and why they are ending it.

Two tales in one and I liked them both. Light hearted and a little mischievous. Thanks for sharing them.

You've given us two, strong leading men here and a great romance. The details in the settings and the realistic internal dialogue of the main character really drew me into the story. I like the way the fantasy aspect sort of crept up in this chapter. I hope there's more to follow.

Nicely drawn characters and just the right tone/emotions. I liked it.

What about going as some well known gays? Oscar Wilde, for example...did he have a paramour? Or, a rock'n roll theme as Elton John and David Bowie from Bowie's Ziggy Stardust days. I do like Zombie's body painting idea...and the linked elf.

1. Portugal, particularly the Azores 2. Spain 3. Kenya 4. Australia 5. New Zealand

This is one of the best things I have read on GA and one of the best things I've read anywhere recently. Fascinating. I'm captivated.

It sounds like you’ve got a good understanding, and like Cia and Nephylim confirmed, transpeople go by the gender to which they transitioned. If you’re not sure how to refer to someone, just ask “What pronouns do you prefer?” or something along those lines. For myself, I think of the word transgender as a fact about myself more than as my gender. Think of it this way - if you were to meet a guy who was unattached, you would initially think of him as single. At some point, you may learn that he’s actually divorced. This doesn’t change his single status, it simply adds context to it. It’s a fact about him. Naturally, you might have a lot of follow up questions for him. How long ago was he married? For how long? Increasingly…was he married to a woman or a man? What caused the divorce? Does he have kids? If so, how is his relationship with them? Do they live with him? Is he friendly with his ex? Was the divorce agreeable or bitter? How much of the story is shared is going to depend on your relationship with the person. Casual acquaintances aren’t likely to get the lowdown on all the details of what caused the divorce or the nuances of his relationship with his kids, and a casual acquaintance probably wouldn't even ask. But, that conversation should happen if a long-term, intimate relationship is on the table. Everyone’s story of divorce is going to be a little different. Likewise with the trans population. Everyone’s story is going to be a little different, but the word itself is useful for giving a general fact about someone. There’s more to the story than just ‘male’ or ‘female’ just like with our guy above, there was more to the story than just ‘single’. Again, like above, it’s natural to be curious about the details but the level of information shared about the experience or the person’s thoughts about their trans experience is going to depend entirely on the relationship you have with them.

This is rather fascinating. Very original. I had a little trouble following the transitions from scene to scene but am interested to see where this all goes. I don't completely dislike the protagonist. Hope you're not disappointed.

Enjoyed this a lot. The details, realism make for a richly written piece.

For the trans part, I was 9 years old, living in a small town in eastern Tennessee, when I began to fully understand how different I was. I was a total tomboy and my best friend was also a tomboy. I was at her house for a sleepover and her older sister started telling us about Renée Richards, who must have been in the news at the time. It was the most exciting, most revelatory thing I'd ever heard. I remember telling my friend, "When we grow up, the doctors can fix us." My friend and her sister were horrified. That's when I started to understand that my friend wasn't a tomboy in the same way I was. She never thought to herself "I should have been born a boy." Still, I remember laying on my back on the bottom bunk unable sleep, I was so happy. I was so excited thinking that everything would be OK when I got older. I could just go to a doctor and have an operation and that would be it. I'd be fixed. I'd be a boy, just like I should have been when I was born. For the gay part, I was around 13. By then my family had moved to an even smaller town in South Carolina. I was very sheltered. John Ritter's character on Three's Company was the first time I was exposed to the concept of what it meant to be gay. So then I started thinking. "This is weird. I should have been born a guy, but if I had been, I'd be gay." That scared me. I thought I was looking for ways to hate myself. Why couldn't I just be what I appeared to be - a straight girl? It would be my late 20s before I got my head around it all and basically came out to everyone I knew. A sex change is pretty obvious so you come out whether you want to or not.

Really good set up for the story. I like both the main characters so far - you have me rooting for both of them.

Interesting snippet of the narrator's life as he approaches middle age. Good details and internal dialogue.

Pats fan though I've been having bad luck with my teams in the post-season. Niners lost last week and the Broncos lost the week before.

This was a very enjoyable story. As others have stated, the descriptions are amazing. I felt like I was there. It reminded me of a time my brother and I got stuck at night while climbing with all the switchbacks and trying to get to the truck before night. Totally brought that experience back...without the alligators. I hope you write some more.