Monday, January 11, 2016

Freedom!!!!

I sincerely try every day for a brief moment or so to write in my journal (new age diary?) Light some incense (old hippie) and thank my **Goddess for a new day. Sure, you can accuse me of being a "rah-rah" type but health, life and so many other distractions come along, I have to be positive.

As life comes down to pushing and shoving me though, just being able to lead my life as I see fit is the ultimate freedom. 

Of course you all know where I'm going with this- if I can't live as a transgender woman-what's the point?

I did my 60 plus years of playing society's games to get here, so yes, I can be selfish and enjoy times like the last couple of days. As I have written about here in Cyrsti's Condo, Liz and I went out to a packed sports bar to watch football Saturday night, then Sunday afternoon we went to an art gallery to look at a mutual friends work.

My point is, I didn't have to worry about anything else in the world - but the world. No stares, no whispers etc. 

"Mama Freedom" is pretty fickle though, and I know that. She needs to be nourished and even fought for when needed. She is also good for giving you a gift - then taking it away. That's why I pause my life for a second everyday to add my appreciation.

**I believe deeply in a deity, I just don't believe for a second the deity has a specific gender, but I prefer mine to be feminine in nature. However, not a shy retiring femininity.

If you research the Hindu Goddess Kali  you will find her to be the black one and the force of time. Therefore Kali is called the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, Creation, Preservation, and Destruction.
Loosely based- I chose her because of my gender expressions-destroying the male and creating the female. 

For more radical images just Google "Kali Hindu Goddess"

R.I.P. David Bowie

As you have undoubtedly heard by now, David Bowie passed this Sunday. Many of us in and out of the LGBTQ community thought of him as a glam rocker-gender fluid music pioneer-which he was.

To others though, Bowie meant so much more. It was too easy to dismiss him as crossdressing glam rocker to explain my feelings.

For me though Bowie was soooo much more. He was a beacon of "gender fluid" hope for us (not unlike Andy Warhol.) in an age devoid of it.

And then, there was the music!



I will leave you with this: (My own take on Bowie's  Space Oddity Cut'  "Ground Control to Major David, take your place in the heavens and thanks!!!

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Hart"

"I've had 40 year old cars with less work than her!" 
After watching one of the "Real Housewives" shows.

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

KerPlunk!!! Another "fantabulous" Sunday edition is hitting your virtual front porch. Winter has finally arrived here in the Cincinnati, Ohio area with a snowy blast of snow. As always 'Momma Nature' rules, so lets grab a hot 'cup o joe' (coffee) and get started.

Page One-the Week that Was or Wasn't: On the personal front, strides were made on the gender marker front as well. I received my 'permission' (hate that) to change my drivers license from male to female permanently which is huge in Ohio. Why? There is such a thing as a temporary change if your therapist does not check the proper box. Enough of that, I am going early this week for my new license!  And, no you don't have to throw the "women's driver" stereotype at me. Maybe my noggin has known more about me than I did. I have been a crummy driver for years.
Otherwise, I was doing the "bureaucratic boogie" in getting my male name to fit my female gender marker (of course.) I guess a committee of someone (or ones) has to sit down and figure out I am not a terrorist. Actually, the biggest deal is getting called by my male name at the clinic/hospital. 

Page Two-Yesterday's Coffee-Opinion: It is not uncommon for Momma Karma to pile on similar life experiences on me. This time it was my lifetime of loving sports. Earlier this week I wrote of the long time woman friend I came out to who wanted to know if I was "still a sports person?" Then, last night was the completely UGLY NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Squeelers. Pittsburgh won, but the display of non sportsmanship in the stadium and on the field was past terrible. The whole game reinforced in my mind a new relationship with sports; a girl can like sports but just not as passionately.

Page Three- Ooopps! : Liz and I did go out to watch the game last night in a large/very popular sports bar down the street. Of course not long into the game I had to potty. The "toilet clientele" turned out to be a mainly  20 something crowd-some of which were gossiping about kids and jailed fathers.  (Truly more important than football) But, I still had to wait for my chance to pee and as I leaned on the wall, I hit the switch and accidentally turned off the rest room lights. THE easiest way to get everyone's attention to be sure. Being the center of attention, I just said "Last Call Girls!" It worked and I got out alive!

Page Four-The Back Page: Last week I also got together with my daughter to discuss life as a whole and my oldest Grandson's Bar Mtzfah which is coming up soon (I will have a separate post.)
My problem is an almost a complete lack of knowledge concerning the Jewish religion. My daughter converted.
All in all though, the Bar Mitzfah is a prime time example for me to give back to my Grandson what he has given to me - acceptance.

That's it kids!!!! Time to go out and play in the snow-or not!!!! Luv ya all thanks for stopping by and be safe.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

A "Coincidence? 'Me' thinks Not!

Of course those of us living in the "modern world" on the grid these days probably don't want to really know how many times our names are sold to whomever for what reason.

Changing your life as dramatically as one does when gender markers are concerned can provide a whole new look into how the legal "grid" works - good or bad.

This insight comes from Connie:

Its been less than a month since I got my license "corrected", and just yesterday I received a home refinance offer that was addressed to my new name and started with "Dear Ms ___". The offer had all of the information that is specific to my house and current mortgage, but I have, if by magic, become the owner in my new name.

I have not yet contacted my mortgage company, the IRS, or Social Security to officially change my name and gender, but the changes have obviously been made somewhere that would allow a mortgage company to access the information, as it is public record. I guess that I've opened the proverbial can of worms, though. I am no longer anonymous! By the way, I just today received the first real paycheck made out to me with my new name. I plan on opening up a brand new bank account in which to deposit it. Anyway, we deserve to have these happy surprises after all of the years of uncertainty - which often led to unhappy surprises (if not merely the worry of them happening)."

At this point my Mom's words echo in my noggin "you made your bed, now lie in it."

Memories or a Dream?

Image from Ian Dooley on UnSplash Too many times, when I went out into the world for the first time as a new transgender woman , I wondered ...