Transgender Due Diligence

I'm biased but it's hard to imagine many tougher journeys through life than changing ones gender.
If you are lucky enough to know for sure you were born into the wrong body and you are fortunate to be born into a loving accepting family-then you have society to face.
If you aren't, at the least- you have the genders ripping and tearing you apart internally. At the worst you become a tragic suicide statistic.

A few alternatives of course are therapy or due diligence. My definition of transgender due diligence is exploring the world the best you can.  In other words you are stuck patching together bits and pieces of a life in your planned gender.  I liken it to to playing golf, the more you play the better you are. In my own case I normally averaged perhaps one day a week to get out in the public and test the feminine waters it was tough to learn the girl basics.
Plus, like many of you I understand completely the dynamics of tearing loved ones, friends and jobs and possibly losing them all.  I am not one of those in the transgender community who rate you on time served or operations you have had or how you look.

I have heard from more than a couple trans folks who have taken me to task for being an intruder of sorts into the so called higher echelon ranks of those who are fortunate to live a quality life in my chosen gender. But more importantly I hear from more of you asking how I served my due diligence to arrive here.

For any number of reasons, I buried my true feelings deep into my own mental closet believing cross dressing was enough. On occasion I think by the time my life is over, it will be shortened by the extra gender stress I suffered. But, it's way too late to cry over lost dresses.

So if we survive the Mayan debacle, a stray asteroid  or even a giant solar flare- think about your due diligence in the new year. Consider your biggest warning could be  not jumping from the frying pan into the fire.Don't get burnt and  run out and buy a store bought vagina before you have any chance to socialize yourself as a woman and start taking it out on the world.
What happened to the days when you had to live a year or so as a woman before a clinic would accept you for surgery? What a concept! How many have found that even a store bought vagina does not guarantee acceptance in society- or that you would even like it?

Just remember the "DD" experience (not that one!) Do the best you can to serve your due diligence as a girl and plan your life from there.  Doing your best is all anyone can ask.

Pejic Fronts Again

Andrej Pejic, an androgynous model who made headlines throughout the year of 2012, made another history by becoming the first male model to be featured on the cover of Elle Serbia.

Beautiful Transgender Changes

Yet another YouTube video to pass along here in Cyrsti's Condo of a young transgender woman's journey:

HRT Month Twelve

December 31st 2011 I took my first "little blue pill" which to the consternation of one pharmacist was estrogen and did I know I was taking it?
Quite the year in review though-regardless of her invading my privacy.

Changes in the breast area came quickly. Changes to my psyche took a couple extra months and as the six month point rolled around I was noticing full scale changes in my face and skin.In addition,  emotional issues began to gain importance as I increasingly was becoming more socialized as a woman.
The summer months were similar to a furnace for me but for the first time I could actually wear sleeveless feminine fashions. Later in the summer, more than the weather heated up when I started my battle with the VA for my second phase of HRT with a real live endoctrinologist .  During a three month period I had to decrease my dosages while the bureaucracy took it's slow time. I hit the wall during that time and didn't really gain momentum again until later in the fall.
I finally made it to an appointment with the "Endo Doc" and he signed off on my status quo until the first of next year.

So here we are.  Changes are occurring now in my hips and rear area, body hair has thinned greatly and the hair on my head has thickened. All were predicted by my first Doc. Of course my facial hair has not been effected.
Emotionally, I think I worry more and I burst into tears when I first saw the elementary school tragedy yesterday plus I think I smell more.  All of these (I know) are highly subjective facts.
All in all it's been a wonderful year which exceeded all my expectations. Luckily,  the fun part of the year was my life outside of the pharmaceuticals.

In the spirit of 2013 coming soon, I will being passing along those experiences too! Thanks for being along for the ride!

Putting Out the Fire

Another picture of transgender model Claudia Charriez who recently won her assault case against NYC fire fighter Taylor Murphy.

Sports and the Trans Girl

Last night was sports night with two of my **girlfriends.
Unbelievably the NFL season is winding down and the much maligned Thursday night games are over. Just so happened the final involved a team two of us follow closely and the rival of our other friend. So the scene was set for her to root against us.
The fun part about this is both of them is  neither are quiet people and they know their sports. Plus the rebellious inner me says "Ha! It is possible to express my feminine side in jeans with other friends."  290 years ago the "sisters of the cloth" who turned their cross dressing noses up at me were wrong. But hey, I don't hold a grudge much past 250 years!
Truly, I didn't sit down to say who was right or wrong. After all it's an individual's choice. One girl's coffee and chat (transgender or not) is another girl's big draft beer and wings. Isn't that the fun part of being humans?
Back to the game. We won!  What happened next though was what struck me as the feminine spin on the whole night. Both of them wanted to know what would happen to our night of course sports was just an excuse to get together for some fun. Not to add too much drama to all of this but maybe we were no different than the cave women from different caves watching the men bringing home the "beast" of the day for dinner. After dinner and the huge bones were tossed to the dogs maybe the women made plans to socialize again. ( No I am not that old!)
Only the technology has changed.

**All my posts in Cyrsti's Condo will tell you when I'm dealing with a transgender woman. If I say "woman" I am referring to a genetic female.

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.