I can’t believe the year is almost over! It’s been an interesting one, to state the obvious, and for me it’s ending on a pretty good note. I’ll admit I did get into a bad place emotionally at the end of the summer, feeling down and anxious about the future. I wasn’t doing very well but I got over it. I’m much better now, and the holiday season has always been my favorite time of year. As I’ve mentioned before, rumination and worry are one of my main bad habits, and they can really bring me down. So lately I haven’t been thinking as much and it’s been really helping! And I’m only half joking. I’ve been reading some things about worry, rumination and mental health, and something just clicked for me. So I’ve been doing less brooding and less negative self-reflection, which I hope to keep up into the new year. Eeyore has always been my spirit animal but his more carefree friends have always seemed much happier.

On a much sadder note, one of the more shocking things this year was the death of Nicci Tristan last summer. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t know Nicci that well but obviously she was amazingly talented and almost everyone in the CD and fetish scenes knew of her. One odd thing for me is that there were never any details released as to how she died, at least as far as I know. I hope I don’t sound morbid wondering what happened to her and it’s really none of my business. But for me her passing just hit close to home, and in a way I find it hard to wrap my head around it when the circumstances seem mysterious. There has been some talk and speculation that I’ve heard online, but it’s all hearsay. I don’t like to use the word “closure,” as I think it gets used way too often, but I do hope that eventually we may know more, just to be able to put her death in more perspective.

On a lighter note, as for Trannies In Trouble I’m thrilled that the site is still humming along. At the same time I can’t deny that the tube sites such as Pornhub, and the vast amount of free pics and videos out there have had an impact on the naughty website business. I get by but there are days when I wonder if running a paysite is really a smart thing to do as a business nowadays. But hey, I’m still making new pics and videos and have had some really fun shoots this fall, including the recent pics with the hood and bow neck blouse shot by Michael Keye, whom it was great to see again. Besides, I’m a stubborn sort so I intend to keep doing the site as long as I can. As I say every year, thanks so much to everyone who’s a member and supports the site, or has supported it in the past, even if you’ve just joined for a month or two. You’re the ones who make it happen. And if you’ve ever wanted to join and check it out in more detail there’s a join link on the What’s New? page where I post the weekly updates.

One thing that blows me away is that Trannies In Trouble is closing in on its fifteen year anniversary early next year. I’m hoping I can make it to twenty years and beyond. But along with all the new photo shoots this year I do have to admit there are things I didn’t make much progress on. I still would love to put together a special CD / trans bondage magazine, like the one that XDresser Magazine just put out in the UK, where I was honored to be featured, along with Nina Jay and Jessica Dee. And as for those explicit galleries that I talked about shooting earlier, well, again, not much progress at this point. There are some explicit pics that I have in the vault, so to speak, private things I’ve shot but nothing for online publishing. So that’s just where I’m at.

So it’s been a mixed year for me, but like I say it’s ending on a high note. The TEASE Parties are always fun, four times a year, and we just had a really fun one a couple days after Thanksgiving. If you’re in the L.A. area be sure to check the site and see if one’s going on. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a nice time over the holidays. I’ll be spending a few days in Denver with my family over New Year’s Eve. All the best to everyone in 2018, and I hope everyone has more of the good variety of trouble in the year ahead! Hugs, Sandra

photos by Delilah Knotty