Janie B

Somehow over the years, Janie B and I lost track. Number one she is younger and gorgeous but more importantly is going through what the rest of us have - or will- go through as we MtF transition. 

Janie B

Recently she added a fiction post to her blog called "Smile for the Camera" 

If you like a little well written transgender fiction, follow the link above!

How Many Words IS a Picture Worth?

I have been meaning to write a post "focusing" on pictures here in Cyrsti's Condo for a minute now. Finally, I'm going to try to make some sense of a complicated concept.

If you are like me, pictures don't really represent what I think I look like.  So, either I try to play with them or just don't put much emphasis on them.  Years ago, I think I could take a better picture than what I really looked like. As an example,  I have used a picture on the left which is actually 10 years old and quite possibly the most commented picture I ever put on line...but...presenting to the public in this outfit was quite a different story for several reasons.  The picture itself as you can see, is essentially what I call- a picture of a picture-taken from a mirror reflection. It wasn't a "fake", but an adjustment designed to garner all the false adulation one can get on line-which does us NO good in the public eye.

Now, lets take my "red" picture below for an example.  I was getting a little better with my "poor person's" photo manipulation.  It's a blurred mirror shot too...without showing the camera. Nothing new about the process, just check out the close ups of the famous movie actress's of the 1930's and 40's.

Bottom line though, although I did feel as if these pictures made me look better than I actually did, they were only moments in time.  My feminine life was maturing and I was moving on.

Now, let's get back to pix and one I originally saw on Femulate from Paula Goodwin (left).  I positively love this!  I see a proud transgender woman in her musical element and the strength in her eyes! I could go on and on about Stana's and Janie Black's photo's and not even scratch the surface of trans women who also are able to present themselves wonderfully with a picture!

As far as I go, I can only say, I'm kind of working on pix,  and was pushing my very talented and creative partner Liz to help. She took the easy way out and just underwent major shoulder surgery. So, she will be "one arm short" for a couple months.  Excuses-excuses!!!

Perhaps for the first time in my life, I want the special picture or to which represents my spirituality with nature, writing, inner self etc.  I actually thought about sending in a picture to Femulate-but decided I don't have one which fairly represents where I am in life. To hell with looks.  Sadly, the subject was send in your fave photo and I don't have one-yet!

Finally, here is Mandy! Rightly or wrongly, I always look for a transgender person's picture who is not in the same room all time or a motel room- like Mandy!   OK, I'm a photo snob!!!

Day to Day

I just read a post from Janie Black 's blog called  "Just Living Life." Essentially, what I got from her post was, just because she isn't writing-that doesn't mean something is wrong. Plus, (regardless of what some want to think) life goes on, for the most part unremarkable.


Good for Janie, a great thoughtful idea to pass along to the blogosphere. I totally agree, then again I don't. 


Like her, my day is very mundane, even though in a very different sense from my past.  I put on a pot o joe and am munching a piece of toast in my sweats, bundled in a soft blanket. It's 4 am in Cincinnati, Ohio and it's snowing heavily.  Tuesday and Wednesday our wind chills are expected down around zero degrees. My life is not so mundane though because, I'm freezing and it's not even really cold yet.  Mundane for me is knowing and expecting my reaction to the cold-primarily because of my HRT changes. (SO different.)


Then, however I don't want to sugar coat it, looking ahead at today, presenting my girl self to the world is a much bigger deal than my guy self ever was.  Years ago, my partner Liz asked me what kind of a girl did I think I would end up as?  Would I be a full makeup, perfect hair woman or a light foundation, lip gloss and eye make up woman? Or more or less? I did find out, and I am very mundane low maintenance girl.


Janie is right in this sense, my life is more mundane. I know what I will wear today and approximately how I will make myself up to do it.  I heard a generic say once, "It's just how she lives her life." My mundane now just takes a little more time, expense and planning. 


Being retired (kind of) also puts a different "spin" on my mundane.  If you read Femulate, Stana recently wrote about a new boss and a transgender coming out session with her. (Successful!) I'm guessing when she does it, Stana's "mundane" will be work/professional while mine today is running errands mundane.  I will do my writing, work on my on-line shops, head to the post office and grocery.  The only "excitement" will be tonight, when we are going to a woman's political "rally" of sorts tonight


So, my mundane today is boots, jeans, jacket scarf etc. 


Finally, I totally agree Janie's idea that if you all don't hear from us, the quick and easy assumption is something is wrong.  Ironically, I feel the same about many of you.  Through out the years, I have literally seen thousands "burst" upon the scene as cross dressers, transgender women or whatever and just as quickly disappear. (My Facebook account has to be the best example of this.)


Even more so, I love Janie when she comes up with a great idea I can write about, so I don't have to figure one out myself!

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

"Kerplunk!" another Sunday Edition from the Condo has hit your virtual front porch! Well, kids, another week has flown by and swept up October with it and brought in some chilly weather in Southwestern Ohio! My hot cup of "Joe" tastes good this morning!

Page 1.- The week that was - or wasn't.  Of course the week that was, included Halloween-otherwise known as "All Halla's Eve" (Holla back) for cross dressers everywhere.  Three of the blogs I follow on a regular basis; Femulate, From "me" to Mandy, and Janie Black all featured some sort of Halloween experiences. I enjoyed the differing perspectives!

We also had a wide range of other "happenings" to reflect upon, such as the first Condo complete guest post ever from Pat, Helen Boyd's post on Trans Partners and our look at "Bob Seger" .

All in all, a busy week!

Page 2.- The Battle goes on.  The tragic discrimination faced by active duty transgender U.S. military members goes on and was brought to the public's eye this week yet again by Army Captain Sage Fox  shown left. Captain Fox essentially was told to go away after she was told she could transition and come back.

This continues to happen to trans military members and I think will, until these very key and vicious mid term elections are out of the way in our country.  Obama could do away with the injustice with a stroke of his pen, but continues not too and the Pentagon says it would be up for a study which is a fate worse than death for any issue.  What a "study" means is: We will sweep it under the rug and spend unneeded money until it goes away and we are working in some sort of other fat cat bureaucratic job.

Let's remember though, Veterans Day is coming up November 11th and it will; be a time to revisit the sacrifices of all veterans -transgender or not!

Page Three.-Positive success stories. 

Lynn Conway

MichellewhoisNovember 2, 2014 at 8:36 AM

There used to be a site that showed so many others that came out a while back. It listed the doctors, scientists, teachers and business leaders that had successfully transitioned. Many on that site were originally in stealth but came out to show the world who they were. I remember Gwen Smith and Melanie Phillips sites that showed us so much information and helped us weed through all the BS sites. Lynn Conway's site Allowed us to see others that were successful. It was these women that helped pave the way for so many to follow.

Absolutely Michelle and thanks!!!  I remember quite early in the game, I too found Lynn's extensive site and was positively dazzled and depressed at the same time.  Dazzled at the amount of transgender women who were so successful and living what I perceived to be the impossible dream. Which led to my depression. At the least though, she showed me what could be possible! 

Page Four.- The back page.  Well kids it's time to get to the store before the Sunday football games start.  I'm sending good vibes out to all of you along with continued thanks for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo!

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Good morning "Condo-ites" or at least it is here in Southwestern Ohio U.S.A. All too often I forget to say "Hi!" to all of you reading around the world and on all the ships at sea.  I'm humbled-and thanks! Around here at least,   our too "sexy" for Ohio beautiful weather is till hanging around!  The coffee (Joe) is on and we have plenty to cover!

Page one.- Dressing in Layers.  Last week in a couple different posts we covered the lengths most of us had gone through to hide our feminine "collection" of items which we have worked so hard to find.  So far, one of the best I have read comes from our "Purging Revisited" post, from Mandy Sherman.  I have added the link for you to follow back and read her "hide and seek" story.  Speaking of Mandy, she like Paula has mentioned her blog in comments so I am now linked to both here in the Condo.  In addition to the natural "reciprocation" of linking though, I think it's useful to provide a look at the different layers of our community we reach out to here. From what I can read, Mandy may be at a different level of her transition than say Paula or I and an all together other place than Stana.  Then throw a Pat in from one angle and a Janie Black from another and that is why I find the layers of our community so fascinating!

Page 2.- Trans-Terfs.  Once again last week, I couldn't keep my over opinionated arse out of the time consuming, often crazy hate mongers tossing cheap shots over the web.  Always safely tucked away from behind their computers.  The best of the worst actually came from a person from the transgender side of the fence who basically laid out her case for a person not being "allowed" to be a transgender activist or speak about being trans until they have been living trans for five years.  I did get a chuckle when, with her best male ego,  she said she had this incredible amount of experience living on the gender frontier, so bow down to the all knowing her.  And, oh by the way, listen to her radio show...somewhere. I forever will be amazed at how much the trans terf's try to eat their own young.  The fortunate thing is, the person I am talking about is probably around my age-which means we are on our way out anyway!

Page 3.- We Had Fun!  Too much serious stuff just kills me around here. To combat it, I try to toss in a few of my "smart arse" ideas of what I think could be going through the person's mind in the photo.  In reality of course, all are un-named cross dressers from my Pinterest site.  So, also in reality, I don't know for sure any of them aren't genetic.  But as they say on gambling sites around here "for amusement purposes only!"

Speaking of Pinterest, it has become yet another "guilty pleasure" I didn't need.  What I do like like about it is though, it gives me a chance to express what fashions, style and other interests in my life are all about.  To put it in perspective I have about 2500 pins (pictures) on 52 boards. If you are interested, just Google it and search Cyrsti.

Page 4.- The Back Page.  Such a week!  I tried to get to all of you one way or another who sent in your fabulous comments!  I can't tell you how much they mean to me because believe it or not, writing a blog for an extended period of time takes on a life of it's own and not often an easy one!  I wish you all the best!!!

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Morning Edition"

Hello, all! Hope the "Joe" is brewing and you have a bit of time to sit down and enjoy our "Sunday Edition."

Page 1.-  "Terf Balls"  The never ending battle between the radical feminists or woymn and the radical transgender seemed to come full circle and out again this week.  Perhaps, it all coincided with the time of the year "Michfest" happens in Michigan. It's the festival famously known for it's exclusion of trans women by woymn born woymn.  If you read the never ending war of words between both sides, the discussion ranges from the ridiculous to the pathetic - sadly.  In my simplistic ways of thought, the woymn can stay in their little corner of the girls sandbox and use some sort of "original equipment" genitalia requirement to be there.  Flip the coin, it's the same idea as the males who think they are men because of how many kids they have with how many different women.  The females Terf's have just come up with a fancier name for their little clique in the sandbox.

Page 2.- "Feminism and the Trans Girl."  Ironically this subject "bounced back" to me here in the states, Canada, from a Janie Black post, and from the U.K and Paula.  To me, feminism can be defined as human rights-pure and simple.  To exclude transgender women from the battles other women have been fighting for years is totally ludicrous to me.  First of all, we trans girls bring a unique aspect to the fight which is needed and we bring numbers.  Perhaps it goes back to the basic gender theory that women form cliques and men form teams.  All that really matters is, from the Hobby Lobby supreme court case to the upcoming same sex marriage case (in the supreme court) - the big court is seemingly listening to the public will.  Which, unfortunately is tied into who will scream loudest.  Also, what is swept under the carpet around the country is the amount of violence against domestic women.  Somehow you would think the Terf's and Trans Nazi's alike would get their minds off of original equipment genitalia and help scream in unison.

Page 3.- "Top 5 Things Trans Girls Wish Guys Knew"  We did a fun post recently which was a spin off from a college woman's site.  To which Michellewhois commented:  I loved this! You hit the proverbial nail squarely on the head.  If you haven't read it, just follow the link above-back to it.

"Kelly"

Page 4.- "Coming Out-Everywhere."  From Paula's Place :"The big breaking news here in the UK this morning is the transition of Boxing Promoter Frank Maloney, now known as Kelly."  Should I say "News from the World Wide Transgender News Network? Thanks Paula!!! News like this brings up an ancient Cyrsti Proverb (sorry Confucius!) "If you can't beat us, understand us or join us, we certainly aren't going away!"

Where's that Damn Potty?

As we all know, no matter how far you are in the closet - or not- we are all in a battle to be pushed back into our closets and having the door slammed on us.

The more of us who speak up and out when ever we can (even in your own small way) helps our cause-no matter if you identify cross dresser, transgender or whatever.

Those of you who do navigate the world femininely, know first hand the trepidation of the simple matter of using the rest room.  Sure it's simple to say, the more you do it the easier it becomes but that is just not true. It only takes one redneck woman to spot you and scream bloody murder and get you in more trouble than you bargained for.  Then we are stuck.  How incredibly ignorant to call us perverts and think it is some sort of walk in the park to constantly worry about what restroom we are going to use?  Plus what about those who seriously think we should use the men's room-really?

Taking the subject one step further, when my partner Liz and I were at The Ohio State Student Union a couple weeks ago, the building does have gender neutral restrooms. After one of the sessions, Liz and I headed for the potty and I followed her right into the women's room (as I always do) and we proceeded to chat about the last workshop as we were peeing in adjacent stalls.  Even there-even in a transgender conference, a genetic woman who is married to a trans man was glaring at me through the mirror.  So we have a long way to go.

This morning I read a well thought out and written post on the same subject from Janie Black.  I have followed her blog for a number of years now and this could be one of her best posts I have read.

Be sure to follow the link above to check it out!

Tasi & Company

I feel some sort of a "kinship" to Tassi Zuriak.  She another of the "blogging sisters" I have corresponded with who are dedicated to many hours of time and effort to produce quality blogs. Here in Cyrsti's Condo, I've added links where you can check out Tasi's Fashionable TG Woman blog and now, here is another of Tasi's efforts called Sister House for you all to check out.

Over the years, I have found it interesting how different paths certain blogs take.  For example,  Stana of the Femulate blog and I share age and a few similar experiences but her gold standard blog takes her visitors into more of her daily life and fashion.  I have a tendency to be more into transgender news, events and of course my own opinions.

Then, if you take Janie Black for example, she is younger and really questions the basis of gender and sexuality in the world.

Toss in Shelle, Paula Gee and Pat (who should have her own blog) and all the various diverse layers of our culture come to life.

It's all so fun and difficult to stay up with because the younger gen transgender women and men are busy writing their own future too! The future is bright! Now, where the hell are my bifocals?

The Hormones and the Hair

Back in the day here in Crysti's Condo, you may have recalled my first prescribing HRT doctor telling me to expect a fuller, longer head of hair.  Being similar to most (I assume), I just thought, "Yeah, that's cool, but let's get on to the real priority - breast development."  Now that my hair is reaching the middle point of my back, I'm not so sure my priorities were reversed.

To begin with, I believe as sensitive and feminine as my "girls" are, my hair has become a true treasure for me.  As big as a pain in the rear it is for me to color it and try to style it, my hair gives me a huge step forward in my feminine presentation process. As one of my initial "admirers" (another pain) told me on one of the first nights I went out with no wig, "Look at you, sitting over here looking all natural."  He was one of those who delighted in calling me "Chris" and saying things like "hey man."  From that point forward, he left me alone.

I know there are many very realistic wigs on the market but for me I could never afford them, or had very poor judgment in which wig I purchased.  So when I did go "natural", three doors opened for me, which were hoped for but not necessarily expected.

The first I mentioned.  I just navigate the world as a transgender woman easier.  I need every tool I can get and a full head of hair is an effective one. The second and third are intertwined to a degree.  The so called straight admirer (or whatever he was) jumped off my boat immediately as do gay men and drag queens.  All of them realized I wasn't a cross dresser.  Before you want to rip my hair out, I'm not in any way being derogatory.  We all know there is a difference between being a cross dresser and being transgender and the public all of the sudden read it in me.

Perhaps the whole theory of why goes back to the Janie Black question on defining gender.  One of the responses was (I'm paraphrasing), "Gender is more in the eyes of the beholder, than in the person themself."

Very simply, what's going on in my noggin hasn't changed as much as the world which is viewing me.

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

Credit for this quote goes to Janie Black and my shower.  Janie asked on her blog today what gender means her readers and/or how they would define it.  I came up with a short version in the shower, where I do some of my best thinking.  (can't sing)

"Gender is simply what is between your ears and how you decide to present it to the world."