Out and About?

As Halloween rapidly approaches, it's time again for closeted cross dressers and trans women everywhere to step out of the closet and strut their stuff. Sometimes, I feel sad Halloween has lost much of it's "buzz" with me. Every year here in Cyrsti's Condo it seems, I have written about a few of my more memorable Halloween adventures. Of course the pressure was on when I knew it may be another year before I could get all dolled up and go out again. Along the way, I think I secretly hoped my friends would grow suspicious if I looked too much like a woman. As you may remember, I first came out to a few close friends after a Halloween party in Germany when I was in the Army.

Those of you who have any military experience wonder just how it happened, here is how:

First of all, I worked as a disc jockey for American Forces Radio and Television (AFRTS) which as you can probably guess was one of the more non-military jobs in the Army. Essentially, I landed my spot because I worked for my congressman on his radio station during college and seven slots opened up quite unexpectedly when a battle damaged F-4 hit the radio/tv station in Udorn Thailand.  Killing all in the station.

I put in a year and a couple days in Thailand and against impossible odds landed up with a try out for AFN in Germany. They told me they were going to send me to Stuttgart and "hoped I would improve." What it really meant, was they needed a morning DJ who could get up in the morning on a regular basis to do the show. I could.

We were housed in a school complex which included a large commissary, medical facility and other units such as signal corps. So, when these groups got together, the parties were pretty legendary. That was how I was able to find a Halloween party to dress as a woman for while I was in the Army.

However, there were several gaps in time before and after the party which I couldn't even think about Halloween, let alone dressing up.

Now I will go to the Cincinnati "Witches Ball" dressed as a gun moll of sorts because I have to.

I just don't want to be mistaken for a man in a woman's costume. 

Up the Down Staircase

Last night marked the end of my week long birthday fun. I don't believe I have ever cared enough about my birthday to even think much about it. This year though, my partner Liz has "engineered" quite the fun.

Back to last night. We went to a roof top steak house over looking the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati. It rotates 360 degrees in approximately one hour.

I wore my embroidered long flowing black skirt with lace tank top and even had to break out my black leather jacket for a cool evening.

As we arrived, we naturally had to take one of the elevators up to the eighteenth floor where the restaurant was. For years, I have suffered my own personal transgender PTSD for being trapped in a relatively small box with people I don't know. For some reason I think one of them is going to whisper, isn't that a guy?

This time though, one guy proceeded to introduce his party of four to Liz and I, so I survived the short journey. As it turned out, we had to climb a short set of steps before we could get to our table. Dinner was enjoyable and the waiter called us "ladies" several times. Then the fun started.

As we approached the stairwell which went down to the elevators, there were probably at least twenty people and/or families waiting for their tables. I suffer from a small case of vertigo on steps, so I had to be very careful as I felt every eye was on me. Fortunately, I didn't stumble and every person I glanced at was just giving me an empty stare.

Finally, to cap the evening, one of my worst fears was realized...riding down in the elevator with five wet rowdy kids, trying to get back to the swimming pool. Not escorted by any adults. They were pretty much just interested in themselves, so once again everything turned out fine. It wasn't all about me.

It was another fun evening and I can't wait to do it again!

National Coming Out Day

Per norm, I am a little late, but yesterday was "National Coming Out Day" for LGBT women and men.

Also "per norm" my coming out was basically backwards. The first time I told anyone I was a "transvestite" came when I was in the Army in Germany. I had a very close knit group of three friends, one of which included my future first wife.

My disclosure came circa 1974 after a Halloween party when I came dressed as a slutty prostitute. Looking back, it's hard for me to remember how I was able to acquire the shoes, clothes, makeup and wig to even attempt to pull it off.

Seeing as how this was way before "Don't ask, don't tell" time in the military, I'm lucky I didn't get reported to the higher-ups. Maybe it did, but I only had less than six months to go before discharge and hassling me may have led to more problems than worth. Of course too, this was way before the transgender term had been invented.

At any rate, later on in life, one of the guys I came out to ended up coming on to me, the other remained a friend for years and as I said the woman involved ended up marrying me.

Ironically, outside of an ill fated attempt to come out to my Mom when I was discharged, coming out to anyone else didn't happen until I came out for good.