A True Transgender Winner?

The "label babble" normally always hits a fever pitch when a highly visible trans person does something really public.

"Jenna"

Take Jenna Talackova for instance. I believe if you are going to get "nit-picky" about a label, you have to call her a transsexual.
Now along comes the beautiful "Miss International" winner Kevin Balot from the Philippines. Reportedly Kevin prefers to be called "she" while keeping her male name.
Transgender-right? Does it matter? No.
Truth is labels are just something humans need to get by and Kevin's goal is a very realistic hope that father accepts the changes in his only "son".
I would think pictures are worth a thousand words in this case!
At least the one of Kevin below.

She was a He?

Did he know those little blue pills were really estrogen????
I know...have to heal!
Here's the real point I was getting to:


"Kayo Sato is a famous model in Japan who confessed that “she” was a “he” on a TV show in 2010. She has been pretty popular since then among not only men but also girls due to her femininity and cuteness. Ms. Sato revealed her unbelievably pinched-in small waist as a cosplay character recently and the picture knocked out her fans. She posted pictures to her blog of herself dressed up as “Crimson Viper”, a character from the famous video game series “Street Fighter.” She poses in a costume that looks like a formal dress suit and the vest emphasizes her bust and waist. Her flat belly and curvy waist indeed make her look much more ’2D’ than ’3D.’ The picture KO’d fans, who raved over her beautiful face and sexy body."

From Rocket24

Japan's Cross Dressing Double?

This story comes from Rocket News24. 
These days, even "more mature" girls such as myself have some knowledge of the world of anime and  it's resultant attraction to cosplayers which translates to crossplayers in English.
Ironically in Japan many cosplay regulations at many conventions include no cross dressers? Really?

It's true:

Male to Female Cosplayer Komo

The Rocket News article says female to male cosplay is incredibly popular in Japan and questions the double standard:

"Presumably, this is because organizers fear the event hall will be flooded with middle-aged men in schoolgirl uniforms and other oddities most people don’t want to see, but Naoko argues that this concern is misplaced and
that these days, male-to-female crossplayers are a visual force to be reckoned with."

Mio Ogura

I'm far from an expert on Japanese culture but with the cross dressing television shows and the like I have seen from there I'm relatively surprised.
Follow this link for more!

Merry Vet's Day

I have beat you all over the head with the fact that I'm a transgender veteran.
I totally believe the military is still a vast wasteland of transgender rights but at least now groups are forming to fight it.
My veteran service (like most everything else in my life) has turned out to be quite different from the norm.
I didn't join the military to reinforce my struggling masculinity- I was drafted into the second of two non-wars  Korea and Vietnam.
I'm not sure about Korea but there was no hero's welcome in my non war.  I wasn't one-but there were those that were.
But you know, I'm glad things have changed. War is war and serving is serving and it's great returning vets are getting some of their due.
I know there are many other trans-vets who stop by here in Cyrsti's Condo.  I just want to thank all of you!

Quote of the Day

Cyrsti's Condo quote of the day:

"Sex is between the legs, Gender is between the ears, Normal is neither."

A Little Too Late

I always think of these wonderful comments after the fact.
When the pharmacist asked me if I knew the prescription I was picking up was for Estrogen, I should looked at her and say WAIT you mean my little blue pills weren't Viagra? No wonder I was having trouble with my sex drive!

Did I know I was Taking Estrogen?

My question of the day came from a pharmacist in what I call my "back up pharmacy".
The majority of my prescriptions I get filled through the mail from the VA.  I pay a co-pay with the VA and my generic estrogen is the same price either place but I get bonus points at my back up place I can use for discounted gas.
This is not the first time I had a prescription for Estro filled at this place so I was surprised when the pharmacist went out of her way to tell me I was ordering estrogen. She quickly added that was OK they had women who come in and order testosterone. (Nothing about transgender.)
By this time I really didn't care about the extra info and I understood a pharmacist's obligation to follow up on what they are prescribing. I did wonder about her having some sort of discretion of bringing it up to me. Fortunately there was no one around me at all except the girl who was ringing me out...but there could have been.
Seemingly, nothing is ever easy and yes I could lodge a complaint with the company but I get so tired of complaining every step of the way.
From the endocrinologist questioning the VA paying for my treatment at all to the pharmacist asking me if I knew I was taking estrogen; I'm fairly certain this is a look at how my life just will be at times. Better hitch up my big girl panties and get used to it.

Fave Trans Pix

Every once in a while I love to go through a few of the archive pictures here in Cyrsti's Condo.
Here are a couple classics!

"Sial"

My Fave Before and After

Pretty in Pink

Singing in the Shower

Well, I'm not really singing here or in the shower and yes you are lucky!
Tonight I had a chance to consider the difference between the basic shower process in my transition.
Of course the male shower process is akin to a dog. In- out some soap and shampoo- shake dry and get moving. Obviously I'm way past that.
I had a busy day today so I decided I would jump in the shower before I cooked dinner. "Jumping" now "ain't what it used to be." To start with, I'm fortunate to not really worry much about my declining body hair. Tonight I wasn't going out anyway, so no worry about shaving at all. On the other hand, I needed to shampoo my hair.
The moment I got it colored, a whole new world of shampoos became a reality. I began with a conditioner and a shampoo before the saloon appointment and walked out with instructions to buy a special shampoo for treated hair as well as a conditioner. Fortunately, my stylist realized I was a beginner in the process.
I also had to learn how to wash my longer fuller hair. It's naturally a longer process and a pleasant one I was to discover.
Finally, once you wash your hair, you have to figure out what to do with it. I have to tell you I'm still very clueless about the bewildering array of different brushes and their uses. But I'm told my hair is relatively thick and wavy so I can get by until I learn more "girl stuff".
Again I had an easy night and wasn't going anywhere so I simply brushed my hair out thoroughly.
Finally,  colder dryer weather is setting in and my hormone levels are on the rise again.  Again, a  good coating of cocoa butter body oil is more than fun-it's necessary.
So by the time tonight's showering was complete, I was so hungry and thin I had to run around in the shower to get wet.
I know this is just another part of the reality process of crossing gender lines.  There was a time I thought this process would be flat out wonderful. At this point , "wonder" has left the building and has been replaced as a very satisfying part of my transgender transition process.
Time to eat!