Did Anyone See?

What I mean is the truck I got hit by yesterday. It was a long day. We started decorating for the witches ball about noon and we finished up the day around 3 am. I have decided to "retire" from working it next year, for several reasons not important to get into now.

The event itself was great fun and it brought back memories of past Halloween parties. I seemed to pass the litmus test of looking like a woman in a costume. Ironically, there was another trans woman I know (but see couldn't remember me) who set up a vendors table next to the table I was "manning". She used my excuse of short term memory loss. There was a possibility of another cross dresser - transgender woman there too. My partner Liz and I agreed "she" possibly suffered from testosterone poisoning at some point during life.

Of more importance, my costume actually fit and I thoroughly enjoyed wearing it except for when we came home and had to walk a block with a chilly wind on my legs and making the drive home in an unheated car.

Finally, I think since I felt good concerning my appearance, I felt good about my voice too. My cold has taken a brief respite, so I wasn't horse. I made an effort to throw my voice forward and not talk from the back of my throat.  Plus, I mostly talked in short sentences, so I didn't have a chance to strain it.

There are a couple pictures floating around. If I can get one, I will pass it along!

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!