Thorn Wilde

Saying that homosexuality and bisexuality didn't exist as identities before we had words for them feels a bit off to me... Things can exist even if we don't have words for them. Just because the identity didn't exist in the public mind, that doesn't mean it didn't exist to the people who held it. The idea of sexual orientation and sexual identity may not have existed, but the people who 'practiced buggery' must have felt like they belonged to a group once they discovered others who practiced the same. It's when you get into trans identities that history becomes really interesting, though. Such as, for instance, did you know that all through the middle ages and into the renaissance, a man could marry a eunuch? Not being a 'full man', as it were, a eunuch would have been an attractive companion for a man who preferred other men, as he could enjoy an open relationship that way. He might have been viewed as a bit weird, but it was perfectly legal, at least. In India, there's a tradition of men who dress and live as women, and in the past they were revered and taken care of by society, but since colonial times (when the British brought homophobia to India) they have fallen on hard times and are often forced to live as prostitutes. Many of them these days are on hormone replacement therapy and get gender reassignment surgery. And then, of course, there's the example of the native American 'two-spirit' people; people born in the wrong body who take on the gender role of the opposite sex, and marry people of the same sex. It is also a historical truth that religious leaders often turned a blind eye to same-sex relationships within convents. It's not unlikely that many gay people, both men and women, would have chosen that life over being forced to marry someone they couldn't imagine a sexual relationship with (just as many young Catholic men today choose priesthood for the same reason; it doesn't always go so well), and as such the percentage of homosexually identifying people would have been greater in convents than elsewhere.

Welcome, alfredfranco! Hope you'll enjoy the conversations here. It's a nice place!

A simple recipe today. Guacamole is my favourite dip, and it's so easy to make. No taco night is complete without it. You can do it in a food processor if you like, but if the avocado is ripe enough and you don't mind it a bit chunky, you can literally just mash it with a fork. Ingredients: 2 ripe avocados 1 tomato lemon juice paprika powder chilli powder OR hot chilli sauce (sriracha or the like) 1. Slice the avocados in half and remove the pits. Use a spoon to dig the avocado out of its skin and into a bowl. 2. Chop the tomato as finely as you can be bothered. Add to bowl. 3. Use a fork to make a mush out of the avocado and the tomato. 4. Add the juice of half a lemon, or a tablespoon or two of lemon juice from a bottle. 5. Add a couple of tablespoons of paprika powder and half a teaspoon of chilli powder or a splash of chilli sauce. If you like spicy food, add more to taste. If you don’t, use less. You can also substitute for minced chilli or sambal oelek. Any of these will do. 6. Stir it all together and serve with tacos, burritos or other tex mex, or use as dip.

An idea that I've seen around the Internet, and which makes sense to me, is that sexual orientation and romantic orientation can be separate. So a person can be equally attracted to both men and women, but form romantic attachments only to one gender, and as such might identify as gay or straight based on that. Likewise, people who identify as asexual can still be romantically attracted to people, and often to one gender over another, even though they're not sexually attracted to either. I find myself speaking in binaries here, which isn't really something I agree with as I don't believe in a gender binary. I think we default to expressing our thoughts along those lines because it's easier for others to grasp, though. I could picture a sort of compass rather than a line, to take into account different gender expressions. For instance you could have male/female on one axis and cis/trans on the other. In the centre would fall those who are pansexual in the word's truest sense, who really couldn't care less what gender or sex their partner is. Personally, I don't care whether a potential partner was born as their gender identity or not, to me you're a man if you identify as a man and a woman if you identify as a woman, though I find myself slightly more attracted to people who identify as male, so I would fall pretty much at zero on the cis/trans axis, though closer to male on the male/female axis. I dunno, I'm thinking out loud (out loud? more like in writing), this is just my brain at 2 am.

Mine was when I was ten, and I had only just learnt to cycle and we were on a bicycle trip with my class. We got to this hill I was really uncertain about cause it looked quite steep, but my teacher made me go down it anyway and then my wheel caught on a rock and I went flying. I didn't break anything, but I got pretty bruised and it hurt a lot. I've tried cycling since, but I just never feel safe. Ironically, I really want a motorcycle license, though. Feels a lot safer, much more solid.

My opinion on this topic was pretty much summed up in this blog post I wrote a while back. As I can't be arsed to write it all up again, I refer anyone who's interested there.

Well, not all cities are as good to be a pedestrian in... I'm quite lucky with mine.

It's a good decision. I very much wish I hadn't read it myself...

I hate to break it to you, buddy, but it's not really up to you to define someone's sexual identity; that's something they do for themselves. If a person has been in only straight relationships their entire life and never had a gay experience at all, that makes them no less bisexual if they're attracted to both sexes. Our sexual identity isn't based on our experiences but our attractions, and most importantly it's up to us how we choose to define ourselves.

Click on this link if you want another one. No dolls, just ghosts. It's a Korean comic that made the rounds on the Internet a couple of years ago, I think, and it's the single scariest thing you will ever see, I guarantee it. So, you know, not for the faint of heart.

Ubuntu is the most user friendly Linux version in my experience. Friendly UI, you can get around without being a programmer, and it's pretty, too. One of the library computers at the school I went to last year ran Ubuntu, and I would always choose that one if I needed to use the internet or print something and didn't have my laptop with me. The other two were running, yes, you guessed it, XP.

I mostly walk, if it's not too far, in which case I take a bus or tram or the underground. Living in a city is pretty useful that way. I don't cycle. I had a traumatic experience with bicycles when I was 10.

Welcome back and pleased to make your acquaintance, Phantom! Lot's of changes going on at the moment, hope you won't be too confused after your hiatus.

None of this really matters to me as I have been using Mac since I was 16 and bought my first laptop, and got rid of my old Windows desktop a couple of years later. I do sometimes use Magpie's Windows computer to play games on, though. I remember XP, and I liked it well enough. I never really had to deal with Vista, thank God. Magpie's computers are on Windows 7 and I think it's the best Windows system yet, purely from the user-friendliness perspective. I've tried Windows 8 and it's really confusing.

I don't drive. I keep thinking I should get my license, but it's expensive, and I live in the city so it's not like I actually need to drive anyway...

Glad you enjoyed the new chapter. I love reading about people's thoughts about Stuart... It's so much fun to see how people feel about him. Thank you so much for reviewing, and a big hug back to you!

I am feeling somewhat better at the moment, thank you. Means a lot that people care. Also means a lot that you're still reading, in spite of the hiatus, and that you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks so much for reviewing!

Disparition is really awesome. We used them as a soundtrack for our dinner party last Thursday.

Wow! Thank you so much for this! It means the world to get a review like this. I started writing this story before I finished Nemesis, because I wanted to know Craig better and see if I could understand him. Really, it's thanks to this story that I managed to insert some moments of humanity for him into the original story, such as the scene at the hospital. Craig is broken. He has so many unresolved issues and no way of knowing how to fix them. I think he will get out of prison, and I don't think he has the courage to off himself. I think he'll spend a lot of time in therapy, probably at the very least twice-weekly sessions as an outpatient of a psychiatric care facility. He may be put on medication, and then he'll throw himself into his work. He'll move up north or down south, stay far away from the area in which these horrible things happened, and try to find some kind of way to live wit himself, if only just. Again, thank you for this review! It means a lot.

It feels good to be back at the writing desk. I feel like I'm gonna get a lot more done in the coming weeks on my works in progress than I have in a while. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review! I always enjoy them. Yours tend to have such lovely observations. Feels like you're good at reading between my lines.

Wheee! Glad you like! Alan and Matt are always cuties. They would almost deserve their own full length novel, but I think there are limits to which I can milk this world before people get sick of it... A trilogy and a short story collection will have to do... Thanks for reviewing!

CHAPTER TWELVE Twentieth Century Boy ‘I have some really excellent news for you guys!’ Stuart was beaming like Father Christmas, rubbing his hands together in true super villain style. ‘Go on, then,’ said Matt and stopped plucking his bass. Both he and Nick looked up at Stuart expectantly. ‘So, there’s this place here in town called Café Underworld. It sounds cheesy, I know, but it’s just a sort of youth café place, booze free, non-profit, for teenagers to hang out and stuf

Welcome Astro, and welcome back Eli! I'm looking forward to getting to know you both. Have fun!

Yeah, I'm really putting poor Mark through a lot of shit... Though, since we are seeing it through Ben's eyes rather than Mark's, his mental state might arguably be somewhat better than Ben imagines it to be. I too have experience with depression and anxiety. Still, I wouldn't trade that for lack of creativity, as my recent experiences with my medication has taught me. Mark has a lot in common with me. I wouldn't call him a blatant self insert, but we certainly share both interests and behavioural patterns. That might be why I love writing him so much. Thank you for reading and reviewing! This story has been on a bit of a hiatus for a while, due first to depression, then to other work and then medication management, but I've become interested in it again, so hopefully I'll update before too long.

I don't think MDMAs are the dugs that Ben is most experienced with...