The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #70: Brrrrrrr!!! To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

Ma just called. It's past noon back home, but I guess she doesn't realize it's about 1:30 in the morning here. Sassafrassa...

She called to say we should postpone our delayed visit yet again as Winter Storm Ion is gonna be bringing extremely cold (dangerously cold, in fact) arctic air to most of the U.S. Northwest for the coming week.

Ma says the East Coast will not be too affected yet but it's best to stay put here in Manila.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #68: Chagrined To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

I feel a bit chagrined. Moe and I postponed our trips home for the holidays (Kyoto and DC) on worry about the weather.

Lots of places in the States DID have really bad weather last week, so we thought that our decision was a good one, but Ma said that it was warm enough in DC the day before Christmas that Dad called it shirt-sleeves weather, and flights to and out of Raegan/National, Baltimore and Dulles weren't in danger of being canceled anytime soon..

Well, color me chagrined.

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.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #49: Sandy Come A-Knocking To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

I am from DC, as many know, and I cannot help but be worried about the superstorm coming to hit the east coast. My ma and dad have buttoned down their house and are ready to ride out the hurricane.   Dad also secured my house in Maryland, so it's as safe as it can be. I hope all of you have prepared in like manner.

Moe and I are safe all the way here in Manila, but the reason I am posting this blog is so that we can wish all of our friends there in the east coast to be safe, and to weather the hurricane (pun intended) and come out on the other side safe n sound. Good luck, be safe, follow the warnings, and don't do anything stupid.

Why I Write What I Write...

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #46:  The Upside to Mental Problems, or At Least I'm Still a Size Zero To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

I spent Friday evening and the whole day Saturday in the hospital for a checkup. Just a checkup, no big deal.   My therapist thought it a good idea for me to have the checkup, and I did.   And since the set of tests to be done was just a hop, skip and a jump from those required for a full-blown complete physical, I agreed to the extra tests, x-rays and whatnot and made it a full physical - at least the kind of tests that my company's insurance carrier requires for a "full physical."   That means I doan pay nuthin'!   :-)   It's all on the company's bill, and it satisfies the yearly checkup requirement.

The results came Monday (the hospital apparently doesn't process test results on weekends), and then the squad of doctors that my therapist required did their thing and interpreted the results and typed up their findings, and we got everything Tuesday, which we brought to my therapist for her further perusal.

Anyways, my less-than-perfect bod was mostly okay.

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs") Blog #44: Flying Around To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

To anyone who's read my random conglomerations of words here before, they probably know I've been shuttling back and forth on planes between work assignments for some time now.   Used to be there was novelty in flying. Now, its pretty much like going on a long trip in a bus.   And the airport inspections in DC? Grrr...  

Anyway, Moe n I are flying home tomorrow morning for our scheduled two weeks.   It'll be good to go home of course, but I all I can think about right now is the hassle of it all.   I've done this so often now, I sometimes think I can do this without the airplane anymore...

Once more I have been asked about the list of characters in my stories, so for my small but select and appreciated band of readers I have put together a list of most of the characters in my stories set around the Surrey-Sussex border. I will do my best to top it up, and it is not in alphabetical order, more in clusters of associated people. I have also added a reading order as per one request. Note that most of the books except 'The Job' are available on Kindle via Amazon. Follow the link on the BCTS home page and search for "Sussex Border Stories"

The Family Girl Blogs (aka "The New Working Girl Blogs")   Blog #26: Moe's Back! To see all of Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click on this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs

MoeMoe is Back!