John Luuu

John in his new party dress!

Trans-sistant

You probably have heard parts of the media circus or worse,  some of the ridiculous trans slurs surrounding the New York firefighter Taylor Murphy. He is accused of violently attacking Claudia Charriez (left) - a former "America's Next Top Model" semi-finalist - during an August 2011 breakup last August.

Of course I thought Murphy was just trying to over macho the fact he was spotted with a transgender woman.



Then I ran across this recent picture of the firefighter and his current girlfriend Wanda Batista  who said  Charriez made up fake claims against the hot-headed fireman, whose defense included mommy issues and being closeted amongst his macho smoke-eaters.
Oh, by the way Wanda is transgender too.  At least Murphy has good taste in women!

Murphy and Batista

Diet? What Diet?

Tuesday I was invited back to one of my girlfriend's house to what's becoming a weekly "coffee" gossip get together.  Just an informal afternoon of chat. Girl talk if you will.
We were joined yesterday by another girlfriend, a very bored husband and tons of freshly baked Christmas cookies.
So much for my diet! I decided I better start walking a little extra with my dog immediately to stay slim enough for my New Years Eve outfit.
I also learned what it was like to spend nearly four hours with other genetic women, have the time fly by and wonder how I could participate as completely as I did.  Much the same as I wondered all those years what really went on in those female sessions.
As you can guess, quite a bit of the conversation went into family, friends, houses and making ends meet. Yes, there was a touch of real live gossip but really no more than many of my male socializing. Gossip from the female gender just comes from a different angle. Men have a tendency to be more performance driven. Sports and work successes are examples. "Joe Blow sucks at whatever." Women? "Did you hear what Jane Blow did and what about her kids or husband"?
No real earth shattering philosophy I know. The real meaning to me was how pleasurable the afternoon was and how quickly it went!
Thanks Mindy.

All That Trans Jazz

Recently Barbra Walters and ABC revisited Jazz a young 12 year old transgender girl (below) who decided  to transition when she was seven. (above)

Among other things, Jazz talked about dating and that she is attracted to boys. When asked if she was worried about finding a boyfriend, she replied: 'I am a little bit. But if any of the boys decline me because of my situation then I just know they’re not right for me at all.'

For more on Jazz's update, go here.

Thai & Russian Trans Beauties

The Thai transgender contestant above's picture presents a striking contrast of innocence, beauty, youth and resolve.

To the left is a Russian - Stas Fedyanin - from the EnglishRussian web site:  "Yes, this is not a girl. He is 180 cm (5,9 ft) tall, his weight – 45 kg (99 pounds). Believe it or not, but he is straight, even has a girlfriend and doesn’t plan to change his sex. He is an androgyne (a transgender individual who does not cleanly fit into binary male or female)."

99 pounds? Really?
So much for the cold war!

Horror Scope

I just have to say I conjure up great fun for myself when I read my "Horror-Scopes"  here in Cyrsti's Condo. But when I look at the stars and see a word such as psycho- I really get excited!

Libra Peeps here you go:
September 23-October 22): Potential energy transforms to kinetic energy, so if this means going a little psycho, well, you’re human. The point is, win under any circumstances! Play for keeps and know your next moves well in advance, because to deserve this victory, you’ll need to know how to rule with consistency and be prepared for anything.

For the the rest of you boring critters, get yours here at theFrisky.  "Horror-Scope" is my term-not theirs!

Amanda Lepore

Amanda reads at "Sex & Macaroni", the Verbal Abuse Magazine launch at Sally's II, 1994. She was the issue's covergirl. Photo by Johnny Dynell

Trans Update from the UK.

In the past I had ran a post about a young transsexual woman in the UK who had reversed her professed desire for SRS. Her name is Ria and the story is one of the more revealing stories I have seen for awhile.  Many specials I feel are just a little too biased at showing how easy the transgender journey could be-not how it is for many.
None of the  heart wrenching torment many of us feel or have felt at the hands of a very non understanding public is shown. Here's a very different and realistic look:

 :

Only Two Things are Certain Part Two

As we left this post we already had determined birth and death were absolutes in life. Anything else can supposedly be changed or at least altered.  Which brings us back to the holiday season.
It's the easiest time of the year to feel alienated from former family, friends and the world as a whole. I'm the first to admit I am so fortunate to have found a whole new group of cherished friends to enjoy and usher in a new year.

More than a couple of people have asked my "secret". The only secret is that I don't have one. My keys were honesty, networking and persistence. None of this happened quickly for me. On a time scale I went  four years or so going to gay venues as a "basic training" of sort- before I knew my transition had to begin  in earnest. At that point I started to explore my femininity in straight venues. Sure it was hard but then again the stakes were high. But we all know none of this transgender journey was going to be easy. It wasn't.

As I branched out, obviously some places were more receptive to me than others. Naturally I began to frequent the ones who were nicer to me. It turns out a potential negative wasn't. I was hard to miss and I was remembered. Sure I was a trans woman but I was honest about it and it was up to me to make my experience a positive one with others.  So within a couple of visits  I went from "hey isn't that a?" to hello Cyrsti (a real person). 
What happened next was a direct result of all this effort and a lot of good beer.
One of the bartenders introduced me to her Mom (we have been friends now for nearly four years) and one night a woman down the bar slipped a note down to me saying Hi and we have been friends for three years.(both lesbians I met in a straight sports bar.) Now keep in mind this was over a period of three years or so. You can not approach any of this process just a few times and run and hide in your closet which leads me to a controversial approach to networking yourself- the Internet.

At one point in time I went nuts on quite few dating sites. No transgender rip off ones but all kinds of others. All of them were consistent in only having two profile categories Male & Female. I was very experimental and spent a little money to subscribe to a couple sites.  On some I said I was a female then was quick to point out in my profile I was a transgender woman.  Others vice versa. I even switched which gender I was looking for. The whole effort turned out to be a total learning experience with a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Of course I've heard the success stories of Internet dating these days and I know the percentages of people who have successful pairings on the web is on the rise. But then again there are bunches and bunches of worthless crazies out there. I encountered quite a few! However I met a person who is a dear friend and a couple others that I'm in contact with on a fairly regular basis I care about. The bottom line is that if you aren't really ready to sort through a lot of people and you fold your tent and run after a couple failures then the net search is not for you.

So that's my secret. None of it is quite difficult to understand but is very difficult to put in motion and of course it is my path. Who knows,  if you are facing a dark holiday period this post may help in some small way.

I'm living proof the unthinkable can happen and believe me I'm not that special. I hope it happens for you!