"Jender Jump"

Just when I say I'm against new terms, here's one I've used recently with friends in conversations: "Jender Jump".
Relax , excuse the spelling and all. Also,  I know that some of you question my transgender card for living out what is left of my male life. That's OK, it's your life and that's cool. But:
The use of the term came as we were discussing how we made the journey to where we are today.
"Back in the day" more than once I spent time in both of my genders in one night. I would start as one and visit the remaining friends from my male life, go home and visually change my appearance to match my female self and visit my new female friends. The "Jender Jump" I called it.
She said "wasn't that difficult?". Of course it was and I hated it until it dawned on me "jender jumping" for me was the ultimate determination of how I was to chose how I wanted to live my life.
Regardless of all the endless banter about trans this and trans that the only person I needed to answer to was me. I was lucky to be have the opportunity to do so.
Turns out the "Jender Jump" had some real meaning after all! It's fairly obvious where the "Jump" ended up.

Gender Confirmation Surgery and Memorial Day

I recently received a really nice comment from Josie (Thanks!) In it she mentioned a newer term a doctor has been using for SRS- Gender Confirmation Surgery. I know we don't need more labels but this one seems to hit the nail on the head!
As we are into the week before Memorial Day in my part of the world, the suddenly unpredictable weather this winter and spring has become predicable.  It's going to be near 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the 3 day weekend. It's been warm this week and I've had a chance for the first time in my life to really feel the air and breeze on my arms and back.  Of course I've been able to remove and keep the hair off my body which has been surprisingly easy. My own hair is still not up to my length standards yet so I'm still wearing the longer hair pieces which still feel so good! The whole deal gives me wonderful  glimpses into what the future will hold!
Interestingly enough, I've found that timing is everything with this Memorial Day. For those of you from other parts of the world, if you don't know Memorial Day in the USA commemorates our military veterans fallen and alive.
As my own personal celebration, it will be time to send my appeal to the Veterans Administration (VA).  As expected they turned down paying for my private doctors consultation which I had to have. It's the only way they would fill my hormone prescriptions.
To put it simply, my VA caregivers said I qualified but they had no one qualified to prescribe. The way I see it-that's their problem not mine.
It's not a lot of money but then again, I don't have a lot of money and the principal is important here!
I will pass along more later this week!

Real World Beauty

Every now and then I run across a site which I have to put everything down and look at as far as taking care of my appearance.
Being the busy trans woman that I am becoming today, this site grabbed my attention for the multiple features it had currently going on skin care, makeup and yes- even plus size clothing.
It's called the Thread.
The current featured video made me feel vindicated in a way when the "expert" zeroed in on the problems plus sized women have with finding the right size of pants. Then of course, once you find them do they flatter you?
Adapting my male hips and rear is getting easier with the hormone induced addition of "padding" to the area (away with the damn foam pads!) but I have always have had a problem with my proportions. By proportions I mean the areas roughly between my waist, crotch and leg length. Early in my fashion explorations I found women's pants had a  dizzying array of styles and sizes.
Also, earlier in my life, my circle of friends were mainly cross dressers who felt wearing any kind of pants at all was heresy! I was always attracted to the "pant" side of fashion, even to the point of loving the "man tailored"clothes.
An example is recently I was communicating with a friend who I have known for years who said that night she was hanging out with her girl friends with her hair in a pony tail and ball hat, old jean shorts, tank top and one of her old men's oversize dress shirts over the outfit. Of course she has the benefit of years of hormone therapy to pull it off. I was envious!
Some of us would not see that as any kind of a fashion statement. I see them as missing a basic idea of a woman understanding her style and making it work.
Making it work comes from following sites such as the Thread and "borrowing" ideas from experts.
Another feature on the site compared "trashy" to sexy- a problem loads of us face as we go down a cross dressing or transgender road.
Then there was a story on make up shelf life.  How many of us face budget constraints and have that eyeshadow hidden for years? (Let me raise my hand again.)
Finally, for the sake of simplicity in this post, I'm not even going to go into the skin care tips.
Every once in a while I'm dazzled by a person who thinks somehow all of this is easy or natural. Indeed the art form with any woman, transgendered, transsexual or genetic is making the whole style piece look as if it was natural.
Most certainly, operations and hormones make the whole appearance and style agendas easier. I am really shocked though when I see any woman trans or not whose style is not having one.
At that very point I see sites such as the Thread or Fabulous after 40 not being a luxury. They are a necessity!