JayM

Female hairdressing salons are scary places when you know you don't belong there.  

Thanks, Stephanie. I hope everything is going well for you. xx Enjoy yourself at whichever Pride events you go to. Manchester Pride is next month, over the Bank Holiday weekend in August. I'll be there.

That's so good to read this Friday morning when everyone around me is talking doom and gloom. It's funny but I read this and thought to myself 'You want what I have and vice versa - can't we just swap bodies?' then I read the comment you had left for me - and I can see you were thinking the same kind of thing

I wish you well in your continued journey and am so pleased that you have this to look forward to. It's great news.

I'm looking forward to getting fed up of shaving  

Thank you, Emma. You're right, of course. I need to play the game and get over myself

I got wet in the rain, but it helped and I'm now calm and relatively rational again. It's good to hear from you. Stay safe xx

Thanks for the encouragement, Emma. I'll take your advice regarding using pen and paper. It's kind of reassuring to know I'm not the only one who tires themselves out on purpose  

Thanks for the advice  

Interesting article, but all I could think was, "Each to his own." Thanks for the link, though. 

The only other person I know of who celebrates two birthdays per year, off the top of my head, is our queen. So does that make you Royalty now?

Your mandalas are truly beautiful. Works of art in every sense of the phrase.  

I enjoy reading your posts, not only because you always have something interesting to say, but because of the poetry inherent in the words you choose to express yourself.

I received a letter from Barclaycard addressed to the dead name last week, despite me telling them in December of the new name and receiving all the confirmation from them that they'd changed their records within a week, so I know what that feels like   

The one good thing that came out of the name change for me (so far) is that the tax office got in touch, having gone through all my records back to 2006, it seems, and they told me I overpaid in 2006-7 and 2014-15 and they enclosed a cheque for the several hundred £s that I hadn't known was owed to me

So that was sitting in the bank, burning a hole in my virtual pocket, until I spotted something yesterday that I'm going to treat myself to  

And your post has basically made my week finish with a smile. Good on you for complaining like that - we shouldn't have to put up with this stuff!

You have a very poetic style of writing and I enjoyed reading your first post. I hope it won't be the last. In your initial post, you seem to have managed to do two things rather well: explain your circumstances, and grab my attention. I look forward to reading more. Oh, and the choice of font and colour was very kind to my eyes.

Black Forest Gateau... mmm... my favourite too. Along with Bakewell tart and cheesecake. Any kind of cheesecake - I'm not fussy

All the Best, Eve. Have a great New Year.

And the same to you, Eve! Have a great time and I hope you get some time to relax and let your hair down

Best Wishes for 2016  xx

I'll take on board all your comments - thanks guys. It's just a little irritating because I work for the same IT department, but not for the end user service desk. I know what it all boils down to is that they do this so infrequently that they don't have a procedure to follow. I'm hoping to help put one in place for the future.

Thanks guys  I wasn't really thinking about crying yet. But I do want to punch a wall. They're just being lazy. They've done it before - I personally know two people who have already done this, albeit a few years ago, and no doubt there are other people I don't know in person who also work for the same company and who have done this before me. Basically, the IT guys are just doing the bare minimum that they think they can get away with but I won't let them get away with it. So they're annoyed with me.

I'm going to escalate the issue tomorrow. My manager is on holiday for Christmas so he can't help but his manager is still around, and so is his manager, so it will be fixed. I just hope it doesn't drag on all the way into January.

It's a publishing site. People can upload their books and other people can either read them on the site (because there's a reading app on there) or download copies in various formats to other devices. There's hundreds of thousands of books on there, in all genres, fiction and non-fiction. Some you buy, others are available for free.

From my point of view, it's where I publish my finished stories. Smashwords formats them for distribution to multiple resellers. I used to publish directly on Amazon but Smashwords is easier, I think. I use another site to upload stories that are unfinished, posting them a chapter at a time. But Smashwords is where I get a lot of my reading material too - there are many brilliant authors on there. Some of my favourite authors use the site. I'm always downloading books from there.

I agree the progress is amazing and very welcome. And I'm going to close that PayPal account.

Hi Veronica,

He's younger by four years. But he's far more grown up than I am 

Cheers,

Jay

You're probably as happy about guys calling you "luv" as I was the other day when a bloke called me "mate". He bumped into me and said, "Sorry mate". A couple of months ago that would probably have been "Sorry luv".  

Oh, you're all wonderful people with your comments and wise words. The chat with the team went really well. They seem genuinely happy for me and very supportive.

I had a chat with my mentor and she's having a word with HR bosses for me. She helped write the policies and procedures so I trust her to make the situation better. She also helped me with the wording of an email I've started to send to selected people. Next week that email will be going out to many more people. I'm feeling really good today. 

#TGIF 

Happy anniversary 

(I did my deed poll a couple of days ago so my anniversary will be near yours).

Thank you for your words, Stephanie. I understand what you're saying but I'm saddened by reading your comments. You're right about friends being our choice and family not. I chose my husband a long time ago and it seems I chose well. I hope your friends are supporting you properly. Take care of yourself.

Thanks for the support, guys - every little bit of it helps <3

Thank you, Emma

I have to say that it's such a comfort to find people on this site who get it.

D'oh! Of course you get it - that's why I'm here ffs!

This site, and especially the people on it, have helped me so much lately. A lot. It really does reinforce that I'm not alone - that I'm treading a path that people have trod before me, that there are plenty of people who understand what I'm saying, understand what I'm doing and why I have to do it, that I'm not weird or perverted or a freak. I can't believe, sometimes, just how far the world has moved on. Twenty, thirty years ago, there is no way I would have been able to connect with people who understood. No way.

I have so much gratitude for this place and everyone who has taken the time to read my words and respond.

You're beautiful and I thank you. <3