jfalkon

Be careful about taking things home from the cemetery. You might bring home more than you wanted. This was the case for a ten year old boy named Joe. A marble he found in an old cemetery opened the door to a ruined childhood. As an adult he though he had escaped his torment until he moved back to his home town.

It's getting more cloudy by the hour here (Los Angeles area). I'm hoping for a gap in the clouds.

One time I was recruited to help change a bed. Everything was fine until the other person handed me a pillow case and said, "Smell this. I assume its chocolate but my sense of smell is bad." The pillow case had brown streaks all over it! I froze for a moment. Then I detected the faint aroma of chocolate. The person who had slept there was apparently a sloppy eater but luckily that was all.

I saw them during their last tour. I thought they were great.

I'm glad it's not all bad news. As long as you can turn something off, I can deal with it.

I saw this on Tuesday and though asked myself if anything gross ever happened at my job. It took me until now to think of something. I must be really desensitized. Currently one of my duties at work is to run the occasional planetarium show. It's great fun. Many people discover their love of astronomy in a planetarium. Unfortunately many people discover that they are prone to motion sickness in a planetarium also. There is a system in place to minimize these accidents: The employee who induces the motion sickness gets to clean up.

I saw an interesting article on the subject…thought it was interesting. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/windows-10-microsofts-big-data-grabbing-spying-os-bernard-marr?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-recommended_articles-218-null&midToken=AQHVo9k1Yvefdg&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=2FJnZwaDH8c6U1

Thanks. I am always amazed at how nice people are here!

It was actually the transgender label that brought me back to this we site after a long busy few years. The label does make a person stand out. I always thought of the word as being similar to the word transcendent. Basically it indicates that a person is hard to classify. The choice to transition is another issue. There are may reasons why people would be unwilling to go through the change. I have a few reasons. One is the gross out factor. It would scare enough of my friends and relatives to make daily life quite uncomfortable for me. I don't think that anyone I know would resent me for changing. They just would have a hard time wrapping their minds around the concept. Couple that with all the hoops that a person has to jump through to get approval for treatments from a doctor and you have a very awkward five to ten years. The medical side of it is another issue. Doctors are very wary of making such dramatic changes to a person's body. As a result they start with the most reversible processes. Unfortunately changing the hormones first and then the physical structures can make the surgical procedures more difficult. There are significant delays between various steps in the procedure giving people time to change their minds (or as I see it giving people more time in a gender ambiguous twilight zone.) Some of this may improve as medical technology advances. There is also the expense. The cost of the medical procedures makes a four bedroom house look like a bargain. That is not to mention possible complications at work or difficulties in finding a job. Taking all of that into considerationI consider my self trangendered but the transition is not going to happen any time soon. I have to admit that it is not an entirely happy state. I tend to avoid being naked anywhere near a mirror and I have a lot of sympathy for neutered dogs.

Illusions of Fear It was Thursday night in a small bar on the edge of town. The summer heat was slowly subsiding. The bar was filled with blue-collar workers, a few young professionals, and college kids form the neighboring town. They melted into bar stools and cooled themselves with beer. Some just stared at the TV while others were already making plans for the weekend. A group of five friends sat at one end. Devon, the oldest, had barely graduated from high school and had gone to work for a

Five friends decide to spend the night in a haunted house. What starts out as a pleasant evening turns into a bloodbath. Before they realize what is happening they are trapped inside and at the mercy of an evil spirit. The survivors are forced to confront their worst fears before it is too late.

Paul sat on the edge of his bed holding two rings in his hand. They were pure gold formed into perfect circles. He ran his fingers along their cool smooth edges. They symbolized a pure, solid, continuous love that he had tried too hard to believe in. It was not real. It could never be real but they looked good together. He played the role of the strong handsome prince. His dear Julia was his beautiful princess. As the wedding day approached she naturally fell into the role of blushing bride. She

It was supposed to be Paul’s wedding night. Instead of enjoying his honeymoon he finds himself home alone with a storm brewing overhead. Neither he nor his girlfriend ever talked about what was wrong with their relationship. Now all by himself he wants to talk to someone. He pays a visit to a close friend who was to be his best man.

The Sin Pot We gathered in front of the old Gothic church. In a giant clay vessel, our leader lit the fire. With a prayer and a blessing, the sun set and the flames grew hire. We each wrote down our sins and gathered forming two lines. Two by two we walked down the unpaved isle. We looked at each other, friend at friend, child at mother, husband at wife, sister at brother, you at me, and I at you. We put our lists in the fire two by two. The white paper burned and the smoke floated awa

A religious community gathers for a cleansing ritual. They burn lists of their wrongdoings in a large clay pot. When it is their turn to burn their sins one couple realizes that they are not welcome.

Jumping Off Jason sat on a large boulder over a scene that could easily have graced the pages of a child's storybook. A few feet from where he sat, a small creak fed a waterfall. The water was perfectly clear. It cascaded down a wall of stone so tall and straight it look artificial. A thin mist perpetually hung around the bottom scattering the sunlight into a swirling rainbow of brilliant colors. The water poured into a small lake that despite the turbulence seemed deep and calm. For Jason the

When faced with discrimination at work, a young man must confront a bad childhood memory. He is quite literally driven to the edge by a small town society that seems to hate him. He makes every effort to be acceptable and normal, but in the end he must accept who he is.

The Patient and the Cure The fire crackled gently warming the room. A small group of friends sat in large comfortable chairs. They were the remnants of a retirement party for Dr. Smith. As they sipped drinks, the doctor reminisced about his career. He had told many inspiring stories that night but now his mind turned to the darker chapters of his life. He talked about his early days in medicine as if making a confession. He had always been quick to lean and had graduated from medical school ea

A retired doctor reminisces about his career. He recalls the abusive and sadistic practices he witnessed at a mental hospital. He tells the story of a hidden ward and the patient he helped save. The story is loosely based on actual medical practices and misunderstandings.

Painted Eggs Chris was drinking coffee in his little kitchen. The coffee was nearly black. The room was nearly white. The linoleum on the floor and the paint on the cinderblock walls were a continuous sheet of eggshell white. The whole tiny apartment was neutral and bland. It had no character. It spoke of the emptiness in his life that Chris was too aware of. Being there was almost surreal. A year ago he was celebrating Easter with his parents and siblings. That summer he had left his parent'

After leaving his family home and breaking up with his boyfriend a young man finds himself alone. On Easter morning he watches his neighbors celebrate and regrets his decisions. A neighbor comes to cheer him up.

Frozen It was bitterly cold outside. The temperatures that week had broken the records. It was spring. The world should have begun to thaw already. The weatherman reassured his viewers that it was only a short cold snap. It would pass. Mark watched the animated weather map and wondered what would happen if the cold did not pass. He shivered a little at the thought of his whole world eternally covered in ice. In his mind he could see his whole room filling up with sharp ice crystals. He would be

A man has to face his feelings after his roommate admits to being gay. He spends a cold restless night trying to understand his conflicting emotions. He was raised in a homophobic family and is afraid that he might be gay.

Sacrifice to the Gods It was a cool but sunny day and Austin was out window-shopping. He was not planning to buy anything. It was his excuse to get out of the house. He was the oldest child of a big family in an unremarkable conservative town. Looking into store windows he walked down the sidewalk and almost into the arms of a woman handing out flyers. She handed him one and invited him to a meeting at the local community center. He took the flyer and continued to walk towards home. Stopping

A boy in his late teens joins a strange religious cult. He meets a good looking young man and falls in love. As time passes the cult leader starts to go crazy and finaly takes his anger on the unfortunate teen.