Seasonal Maintenance

Years ago,  one of my women customers at a venue I ran provided me a quote I never forgot. One day she said to another girl at the bar,  "Women are the high maintenance gender."   As I'm pulling out my wardrobe from last spring and summer, I'm learning yet again what high maintenance really means and yes it's time for that four letter word I never had to pay attention to- diet. 

As far as size goes, the best quote I can come up with comes from the transgender character in the movie Better than Chocolate.  In one scene she (the trans woman) tells a friend, she is not big-she is enormous.  I know the definition of enormous is tough because women are getting bigger and in fact I have one friend who is every bit as big as me.  None of that matters though, since I feel this way.  What does matter is what I plan on doing about it.

First of all, I had to take a serious look at where I'm gaining the weight.  The good news is the gain is not excessive and is where I wanted it- around my hips. The bad news is I'm still carrying too much weight in my belly area.  My problem is too, I have never been a fan of body shapers, preferring the feel of the fabrics on my skin. (Except panty hose in the summer.)

Another bit of good news is my lower back is feeling better along with her cousin Art (arthritis), so lots of outside yard work will be a positive for my belly.

So you see kids, I have all sorts of maintenance issues coming up and what I have told you so far doesn't cover them all. I have a very fair HRT effected skin which burns very easily, so I have to be very careful with what lotions I wear.  I found that out the hard and painful way last summer. Plus I have to watch what I wear to make sure I don't develop unsightly tan lines but I DON'T think I will be out in the back yard mowing the grass in a bikini any time soon!

Well, it's lunch time and I'm staring at a salad that even the dog doesn't want.   Who needs that stinkin ol burger and fries?

Better Than Chocolate?

Have you seen the Better Than Chocolate movie?

I really never had, until last night, since it was billed as a lesbian love affair film. But, early in the movie I spotted a character with my "trans dar" and decided to follow along for a few minutes.  "A few minutes" turned into a half hour and I heard a song which really caught my attention, which is featured on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen. (Cover the kids ears! The lyrics contain the "F" bomb.)

This 1999 Canadian movie covers a lot of ground with it's main lesbian love plot but also includes a superb transgender sub plot. Amazingly, way back then the transgender character was a very positive one and not played by a cis woman   In fact, Peter Outerbridge's performance as transgender character Judy Squires was incredible.

As the film rolled on, I could see even more and more of Judy's everyday life scenes reflected in my life...good and bad. The worst was a very negative scene in a woman's restroom rest room and was similar to one that happened to me.  Very simply, a lesbian from the club refused to acknowledge "Judy's" right to use the room as a woman and started to physically abuse her.  In my case, I didn't have to go through the physical abuse but took intense verbal abuse and I wasn't in a lesbian bar. But "back in the day" when I did frequent lesbian venues, I did think they had the lowest "tolerance" of any venue for allowing trans women access to the women's rest room.

If you have a chance, this is a film worth watching! In the meantime, on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen, Judy Squires: