New Classic Video's

I have been working diligently (love the word) to post another couple classic and recent transsexual and classic female impersonator video's here at Cyrsti's Condo and "Trannsnation".
I also have been able to begin putting together a couple more posts on "Trannsnation" which follow certain themes here over the years!
It is like cleaning out and organizing an old file cabinet!

Transgendered Kids on the Rise?

This article was passed along from a friend. It comes from "Yahoo News". I'm sure all of us in the transgendered community follow with interest the stories concerning very young transgender kids.
The medical journal Pediatrics has reported a small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are getting support from parents and from doctors who give them sex-changing treatments.

"Pediatricians need to know these kids exist and deserve treatment, said Dr. Norman Spack, author of one of three reports published Monday and director of one of the nation's first gender identity medical clinics, at Children's Hospital Boston.

"If you open the doors, these are the kids who come. They're out there. They're in your practices," Spack said in an interview.

Switching gender roles and occasionally pretending to be the opposite sex is common in young children. But these kids are different. They feel certain they were born with the wrong bodies.

Some are labeled with "gender identity disorder," a psychiatric diagnosis. But Spack is among doctors who think that's a misnomer. Emerging research suggests they may have brain differences more similar to the opposite sex.

Spack said by some estimates, 1 in 10,000 children have the condition."

 

Of course there are many ethical  and non ethical opinions concerning treatment of young transsexual kids but I wonder how many of us would have taken the path so very early in life if it was offered to us?

Chances are many of us would have made the one in ten thousand cut!

Cyrsti'c Condo "Home Entertainment Center" Up and Running!

Check out the "center" for three classic transgender videos!

Dealing With Discovery

I have passed along several of the amazing insights of "Sherri Lynne" who is a rarity in our transgendered world. Sherri is an actual transgender therapist who counsels other trans women and I assume men.
Recently her life was upended when her Mom found out about her new life.
As always, the post she wrote about the experience speaks volumes to all of us.
You can read it here.
I'm sure you will all join with me in wishing Sherri the best!

A Preview of "Trannsnation.Com".

I have finally launched a much anticipated (in my mind) companion website to the "Cyrsti's Condo" called "Trannsnation.com".
Initially I plan on keeping nearly all original content here and using the website primarily as a place where I can sort and compile many of the common threads we have discussed over the years. With over 815 published posts it was time to spread out a bit!
Admittedly I haven't done much with the "Trannsnation.com" web platform yet, but I'm loving the new bells and whistles.
I'm not exactly "Techno or Web Design Girl" so it will take me awhile to put it all together.
In the meantime my initial compilation post is called "Hormone Dreams". You can follow the link here
The post begins on Labor Day 2011 and finishes the middle of this February.
I began with this topic because it's the one that seems to create the most interest.
As always Thanks! to all of you for being along for the ride!
Cyrsti.

Another Transgender Pioneer

Have you ever heard of "Dani Bunten"?

From the "Kotaku" Gaming site comes this salute to "Dani" who was born Daniel and was a pioneer in the gaming world.
"There are plenty of legends in the world of video games whose names will fly off the tongues of casual fans. Nolan Bushnell. Trip Hawkins. Shigeru Miyamoto. Will Wright. Sid Meier.

It's a shame, then, that so few can name another of the all-time greats, Danielle Bunten Berry.
Or, as she was known before 1992, Dan Bunten.
The designer born as Daniel Paul Bunten in 1949 is important to video games for any number of reasons, some trivial, some vital to the progression of the entire medium.
Her first game (yes, her first game, we'll get to that), 1978's Wheeler Dealers, was the first ever PC game to be sold in a printed box instead of a sleeve or plastic bag, a necessity born of the game's inclusion of a custom controller."
Sadly, she passed away in 1998 from lung cancer. For more on the story, follow the link above.

Walking Into A Room With Yourself.

The other evening I happened upon a group of four couples I knew years ago as my male self. One of the guys I actually graduated with a hundred years ago and was a friend.
There aren't many of us around here as the town I'm from is one of the stereotypical "rust belt" towns sold out to foreign industry over the years.  Many of my acquaintances went to greener pastures and left or under greener pastures and died. So it was strange to see so many of them in one place and so close to me.
It didn't really matter as none of them even gave me a second glance. On the other hand, I was sitting at an angle where I could watch all of them.
How strange it was to be looking in on my old life.
The first thing that struck me was how the group was separated into the four men and four women at two adjoining tables and they never looked at each other.
Well knowing them as well as I did, I could see that coming 20 years ago.
Of course I had no problems imagining what the men were talking about but of course I did wonder what the women were saying.
After a few minutes, I tired of the game and reentered my own little world and marveled at how they saw nothing of the old me!
Didn't stay long that night. Got up and closed yet another door of my old life and smiled to myself!

Book Review

I finished reading "Two Spirit Ranch" by Jaime Stryker yesterday.
If you are not familiar, it's a real live transgendered romance novel aimed at a main stream audience and you can read more about it in my previous post here
Here is my disclaimer about NOT being a professional book reviewer. You will not read about me in the New York Times.
But! I thought the book was a well done nice good read. Why?
Jaime painted a very effective picture of the pains and successes of living a transgendered life.
The book took me just enough into the life of a transsexual woman to know and empathize with her but not get mired in too much detail. Plus the book has just a touch of sensuality to give it some spice!
Of course I won't go into much more than that and ruin the book for you if you decide to purchase it.
I will say, I can't wait to see how "Terri" does in the sequel!

Was It Worth It? Just Another Guy?

I had a response to a post which started something like "Here we go again, another guy who started hormones late in life".
Of course first of all I took the comment as a personal cheap shot and shot back some babble.
But you know, if I put myself out here on this blog that is going to happen. Get over it Cyrsti.
(I need to add I do so much enjoy your comments pro or con.)
As I said, I took this comment personally until I started to think-"well it's true, I am just another guy who started hormones late in life and decided to write about it". Somehow  the fact I quit thinking of myself as a   guy years ago was  lost in the shuffle.
Whatever, I  then took my thoughts a step further and wondered how I got here and was it worth it?
No matter if you are a fully changed transsexual woman or man or a weekend crossdresser at the Holiday Inn Express (which I was accused of) we all have our own very heavy crosses to bear.
Here's how mine was heavy. (I know some of you long time readers will recognize some of this but I'm compelled  to repeat it.)
I started the way many of you did. I knew at a very early age I had something  wrong with my perception of gender. Unlike many of you I grew up in a pre Internet era to WWII/Depression Generation parents.
Yes I did try to come out to my Mom and she recommended electro shock therapy. (Really).
So I tried my best to be the best male I could. Played football, got good grades, went to college and got drafted in the Vietnam War. You know the war that never happened.
 I lived on with the torment of two genders pulling at me but I survived and tried to drink it away.
Then the pieces of the future I could never see began to fall into place. 
When I was discharged from the Army, I really thought about a full time life as a woman. Then crazy things started to happen like a daughter with my first wife who knew all about my gender problems. So I chose not to go the female route and I was the weekend crossdresser for years. It got me by. Sure it was a bandage
on a huge wound.
I can use the years all of this was occurring in the late 70's-early 80's as an excuse. I can't tell you for sure how available hormones and the like were then-still no Internet to buy bootleg drugs from who knows where?
At the age of 30, I lost a business, a wife a couple rental properties and moved to the NYC area with my second wife who also knew of my gender problems. Do you remember how much fun the "recession" was in the early 80's?
The torment went on, but this time I found a new way to get through it. I moved and started to work very hard with my second wife.
She was by my side for 27 years putting up with my sometimes "nasty" temperament when the gender war inside became too great. Through it all she became more than a wife. She became my best friend.
She passed four years ago so I can't ask her "was it worth it" that I didn't go the distance as a girl? All I do know is she had a pretty good idea her husband and best friend would be just another guy taking hormones later in life because I would finally find some inner piece.
Now re-enter daughter. The choice I made not to live a female life before she was conceived proved to be such a blessing today. She totally accepts my decision.
Looking back, karma or destiny or what ever you want to call it gave me the daughter and two wonderful wives as a reward for the gender torment that became so much a part of my life. So being able to be just another guy who is starting hormones later in life was worth it.
My way of repayment is attempting to tell my story for others to see.  No one has to agree or follow in my footsteps, there is  no right or wrong way to live a trans life.
I'm 62 and just retired to write and sell collectibles and yes feminize my body.   Ironically I was 31 when my life changed so radically years ago. To make the whole situation even more spooky is again I lost a wife and a business at this part of my life- and once again I have discovered another person who accepts me for the person I am.
So yes, it's me "just another guy who is starting hormones late in life". Just another guy who spent  a life longing to be the other gender. I worked long and hard to express my inner female long before hormones even came into the picture. If  that makes me less of a trans woman somehow- so be it. I'm thanking  God or karma or whatever to have the chance to be where I'm at today.
Was it worth it? Hell yes.  Could I have been selfish and sacrificed the ones I loved to do this earlier? Hell yes. Am I happy I didn't? Hell yes.
Does the inner girl who has always been with me like it? Hell Yes!!!!