Showing posts with label You Tube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label You Tube. Show all posts

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Transgender Merry Go Round

 

Image from Kitae Kim on Unsplash

Every once in a while, I am fortunate enough to write a post which elicits several wonderful insightful comments. "Trans Reflections and Woman Illusion" posts were examples. First, through the Medium writing format Abbie wrote in and said:

"I've only just realized in the last couple years how far behind the 8 ball I am on this front. After 50+ years trying to fit in as a man I'm now trying to catch up with women and I barely know where to start. Obviously I'm going to miss out on some biological functions but all the relationships, ads directed at women, fabulous but too sexy for my age clothes, even the misogynist/glass ceilings and other garbage. How do us older girls make up for all that lost time?"

The comment started my thought processes which took me back to my early days of coming out in the world as a transgender woman and come up with an answer.

First of all, I view coming out as an older woman is similar to trying to jump on a merry go round which is going too fast. One question I do have is how long did Abbie pursue being a cross dresser before she decided to come out of the gender closet. In my case I was a serious cross dresser for nearly half a century which gave me plenty of time to practice, practice, practice my feminine crafts such as wardrobe and makeup. By the time I was trying to jump on the women's merry go round I was fairly proficient in both crafts. So much so, my second wife was asking me tips on doing her makeup. If I was new to the world today as a woman, I would take advantage of "You Tube" tutorials or go to in person events at some of the big makeup stores such as "Sephora". I know going to a store takes a lot of courage but the benefits are worth it. You just have to be careful of how much money you have to spend. The process can be expensive if they try to sell you items you don't really need.

The next big move I would make is a repeat of a recent post I wrote detailing my early love of thrift stores. In certain thrift stores I was able to partially work my way out of my "teen" cross dressing years and discover a wardrobe which fit me and was much more flattering for a fraction of the money I would have spent in regular retail stores. Plus, once I had settled in on what sizes fit me, I could then begin to order on-line sale items.

Another huge move I made when I was trying my best to come out of my dark/lonely closet was when I went to a doctor and was checked to see if I could undergo feminine hormone replacement therapy at my age of sixty. I could and from then on there was no looking back. Somehow, someway, I had to slow that merry go round down to where I could jump on. When my facial features and skin began to soften and my hair really began to grow, I knew my changes were real and imminent.

Then there were the small things I did to improve my feminine image and present better in the world. Even with the hormones which were supposed to cause me to gain weight, I went on a diet of sorts and ended up losing nearly fifty pounds. I thought of the process this way, if I was going to be a woman, I had to give it my best shot by doing extra things such as taking better care of my skin.

Abbie, doing all of this slowly but surely should get you on the merry go round also. While you can never make up for lost time, you can still build a gender future and enjoy who you have become. Thanks for the comment and I hope any advice I can add helps. Plus when you make your way to the gender of your choice there is always the chance to be able to communicate with the world as your new self. It's a terrifying but exciting journey very few are able to take.

There are other comments I will try to address later in the blog.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Transgender Influencer?

 Emma Ellingsen is a 19 year old Norwegian model and You Tuber. She is referred to as an "influencer" because people don't believe she is transgender because of her looks. She is currently going out of her way to tell people all transgender people don't have to look alike. 

FYI...Emma was able to get a head start on her feminine life by taking puberty blockers at the age of thirteen and HRT at sixteen. And of course, here is her picture:



Saturday, April 11, 2020

Southern Style

Susan Lee was kind enough to send in this You Tube video on Girl Code "Southern Style." Thanks!!!!

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Transgender Protection in Death

As you Cyrsti's Condo's regulars know, I am not getting any younger and my future in an assisted care facility is one of my re-occurring unpleasant fantasies. But what if I pass on before I have to worry about it? I shouldn't have to worry because my two closest next of kin people are firmly in my corner of acceptance. But...

Depending upon what your final wishes for a funereal might be, once again you can face the danger of being denied being viewed as your true transgender self in death. Seemingly, the final lack of gender dignity would be the worst indignity of all.

Here is a rather lengthy video from You Tube on the subject  I thought may interest you:


Thursday, January 16, 2020

Changing Closets

Yesterday's Cyrsti Condo's post concerning You Tube make up star Nikki de Jager as well as a couple of well read posts on my Facebook feed led me to think again how difficult the changing of one's gender can be. 

First of all, it needs to be pointed out Nikki de Jager was essentially forced out of her closet by a threatened blackmailer or blackmailers. How sad is it has to happen in this way. Here is a closer look at Nikki's background from Wikipedia:

"Nikkie de Jager, better known by her YouTube channel name NikkieTutorials, is a Dutch makeup artist and beauty vlogger. She gained online popularity in 2015 after her YouTube video, "The Power of Makeup", went viral and inspired many other videos of people showing their faces with and without makeup."

Her story led me to think about some acquaintances I have encountered on Facebook. It seems the more festive smiling party pictures they post, the sadder they become. In fact, one of them just said the exact same thing. Changing closets had become too brutal for her and she felt she had to go one way or the other.

I remember vividly how terrible it was for me when I was splitting my life down the middle between genders. Finally, when my wife passed away and I could actually look at beginning HRT, I could see which way I could go and live my life full time as a transgender woman. 

It was quite the slippery slope and until Liz came along and we found each other, I couldn't see another solid relationship in my future. I viewed myself as slipping down on long hard road towards a cliff. At the bottom of the cliff I changed my male closet for a feminine closet. 

It all worked for me although I needed to lose almost everything in my life when I did it. Fortunately, I was able to sneak back into my male closet and bring former interests with me (like sports) and family members such as my daughter came with me.

Leaving all the male clutter behind though never really bothered me. After all, how many humans really get the chance to start over?


Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Jazz Jennings

I picked this up from my Yahoo News Feed this morning:


Nearly a year after reality TV and YouTube star Jazz Jennings revealed that she plans to undergo “bottom surgery,” the transgender activist has a big announcement to share with fans: She’s going to have the surgery later this month.
Jennings, 17, shared the news on her YouTube vlog on Monday. “I’m so looking forward to it. I’ve been looking forward to this my entire life,” she said. Jennings said that it’s important for her to share her journey with the public to help educate others about the process. “If I put out this information for people to see, they won’t need to ask any more questions.” She continued, “And also, it’s educational within the community as well. A lot of parents who have transgender kids are like, ‘What do I do? I don’t know much about this process.’ And seeing our show kind of helps them figure out what steps they could take to help their kids and what the journey might look like in the future.”
While it's great Jazz is getting to achieve her goal of going through the surgery, it is also worth noting most transgender youth don't enjoy the amount of parental, financial and passing privilege Jazz has.

Monday, April 30, 2018

Vocal Feminization Ideas

During the Trans Ohio Symposium I was able to hear the workshop presented by the lead transgender veteran liaison  person for the Veterans Administration Hospital I go to in Dayton, Ohio.

What did I learn? The VA in some situations will provide one wig and one set of breast forms a year. And more importantly, I should have no problems being referred to a qualified vocal feminiization coach in the near future.

I also sat in on another informative workshop called "Finding Your Feminine Voice."

During the workshop, the presenter mentioned a couple options she used to dramatically improve her voice. She mentioned You Tube videos as a possibility but couldn't remember who she used. So, as with most things on You Tube, usage comes with a built in warning but could be worth exploring. Other options included various tonal apps on your phone. Plus, someone mentioned access to your local educational institutions. Many of them have student intern programs which can be relatively inexpensive.

With any improvement worth working on, practice is very important with voice training. Options mentioned included leaving yourself messages on your email, or answering machine and/or practicing on your laptop so you can see your self as you talk.

Without getting too technical, the presenter said your new voice should originate somewhere in your upper neck area. Using the chest area is what men use and getting too far up into the nasal area will result in a falsetto tone. She (the presenter) also said though, since women vary their vocal patterns more than men, an occasional falsetto type tone isn't all that bad.

Hopefully, a few of these ideas may help you down your own vocal path. When I finally get a vocal therapist appointment, I will keep passing along more ideas.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Memories.

Tg cartoon"Back in the ancient" dark ages before the internet and YouTube, all I had to occasionally find a connection to anything close to what I was feeling were in Dad's extensive collection of old Playboy magazines.  Of course, unlike my friends, I really wasn't into the pictures, I was looking for "cartoons" such as this:


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Attitude and the Passing Lane

This is one of videos Julian sent me to show on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen. This young transgender woman has excellent ideas! :Thanks Julian for sharing!


Monday, July 1, 2013

Transitioning Later in Life

At my more "mature" age I enjoyed this video and thought I should pass it along on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen.


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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Classic CrossDressing

This video on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen is a rather lengthy look at a classic cross dresser episode on the old television show "Boy Meet's World". The nice thing about this show was it had a real meaning:



 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Drag Queen Transformation

If you think you have seen one and you may have seen all the cross dressing male to female transformations on You Tube, here is another on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:


"Dream Scene"

An excellent chance to get out of the cross dressing closet and let your girl flags fly:

Monday, May 6, 2013

Trans Girl Collection

Just in case you haven't seen enough cross dresser pictures-here you go... on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:


Sunday, May 5, 2013

Rude Paul Goes to the Fish

Oh NO She Diddnt she take any of those pesky female hormones Rude and destroy your idea of a "pure" gay male drag queen!
Check this video on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Anthony Berry

I have always loved Anthony Berry as Shania in this Coronation Street video from YouTube! Found it again and thought I would pass it along on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:


Thursday, May 2, 2013

I LOVE this Video

I respect quite a few video's on YouTube for the amazing transgender changes. Others I respect for the creative ways they are produced and presented. I love this for both.  Pull up a chair and enjoy my latest "discovery" on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:





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Monday, April 29, 2013

It's Prom Time!

Enjoy this seasonal post from a self professed Teen Drag Queen on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen. I love how things have changed since my prom days...before electric lights!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

So Sweet!

Almost had to refill the tissue box in the Cyrsti's Condo screening room today. Earlier I finally came to the conclusion I would have loved to have Humphrey Bogart's baby- then I saw this:

The Double Edged Gender Sword

Image from JJ Hart. Wife Liz on left. The longer we live as transgender women and trans men, often we find many aspects which represent a do...