A Day Off?

Well, not really a day off because today is the annual Cincinnati Witches Ball, which (since Liz and I are on a very small committee) will make for a very long day.

We have to be at the venue around noon to help set up, come home and put our costumes on and then go back for the event and the clean up. Which typically lasts till after 3 am.

I am tired already!

Maybe my acquaintance from last year will be here today. He is the one who came up to me and said something to the effect he couldn't tell I wasn't a "real" woman. I just told him I was a real woman...a transgender one.

Originality

It is difficult being original at Halloween if you are transgender or a cross dresser. Unless you are very good, trying to out "sexy" the cis- women is difficult, especially if you are going to someplace where "sexy" isn't in vogue...like to work.

Then there is the problem I have already written about, looking like a man in a woman's costume when you desperately don't want to. In my past, I have had that happen too many times at Halloween parties. A couple times I was mistaken for a "well dressed woman." But again, just trying to be original was nearly an impossible problem for me. So I always relied upon being the sexiest or best dressed woman I could. On occasion I did get the occasional compliment but never won any prizes.

Halloween though, presents as many different ideas there are for costumes and, as always, I can count on Connie to come up with another take:

FABULOUSCONNIEDEEOctober 15, 2018 at 12:35 PM

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

This is exactly why I never "dressed as a woman" for Halloween. Although doing so makes for a good excuse to go out in public and show one's stuff, so to speak, it always seemed to me to be just that - an excuse. Now that I am secure in who I am, I know I need not make excuses or explanations for myself, and I think I always knew that, deep down. However, those are just my feelings about myself; I know it works well for others.

Although I've not done it yet, I think a good way of avoiding being mistaken for a man in a woman's costume would be to wear a gender-less costume - like a pumpkin or a tube of toothpaste.

Another thing I've been tempted to try is to cross dress as a man. I would still wear a bit of makeup and a shorter wig, though. I have but one hanger of menswear in the back of my closet, which is the suit, shirt and tie that I wore as I cross dressed for my sister-in-law's funeral service four years ago. I remember that wearing those clothes felt so foreign to me, even though I had been only about six months into my transition. Exposing my bald head, along with the suit, was enough to fool those who knew nothing of my transition, but I felt like more of a fraud than I ever did cross dressing as a woman. My sister-in-law had fully accepted my transition before her death, but there were still many family members and friends who knew nothing of it. The funeral was not an event for which I could come out to all, though. Now that the whole world has been exposed to the "authentic me" I think I could pull off being a woman in a man's costume. I'm still hesitant about looking at myself in a mirror with that suit on, though. It could be the scariest costume of all!"

Severl years ago, my partner Liz dressed essentially like her late father with a mustache and all and ended looking so much like him, she never tried it again. The resemblance was uncanny!

The Bewitching Hour?

As Halloween draws ever closer, transgender women and cross dressers everywhere are scrambling to put their final touches on what costume they are planning to wear this year and where they are going to wear it.

I know many of you regulars here in Cyrsti's Condo also follow Stana's Femulate blog and have seen a few of her outstanding efforts around Halloween.

This year for the first time in several years, I am faced with the opportunity of having to put together two costumes for two separate events. The first, The Witches Ball I have written about extensively about but the second I haven't. Liz and I are considering going to a bar where the community of crossdressers I know goes too. The Witches Ball is this weekend, the other event is on the 27th.

I am not enamored anymore about wedging ourselves into a jam packed room but it might be fun to see a bunch of cross dressers tottering around on their impossibly high heels, or just see who really has an original costume idea.

Like I said, it remains to be seen if we go at all.

This afternoon, I have to see if I have have taken enough weight off to fit into my witches ball themed costume. This years' theme is "Mobsters and Monsters". As I have written before, the costume is a three piece black pin striped female mobster outfit. So, I hope it fits!