No Love for Santa

Poor Nicole!  All those years as a young boy waiting and hoping for the jolly "St. Nick" to bring him his own Barbie. All he got were guns and trucks.
One day though, he just knew he would show the world and own his own Barbie doll.

Well, the transsexual youth spent 200,000 pounds and 12 years transforming himself from a boy into a real life Barbie doll. Proof positive dreams can come true-with enough cash.

Jason Torres,  now Nicole Sanders, (above) has had surgeries from nose jobs to breast implants and brow lifts in a quest to be like the iconic blonde. Nicole even had controversial silicone injections in her buttocks, thighs and hips to create the feminine curves of Barbie and hide the boyish frame of her previous life. Since the age of 18, Nicole has had five boob jobs, four nose jobs, a brow lift, cheek implants, jaw surgery, chin implants, calf implants, filler injections in her lips, botox jabs and sexual reassignment surgery. There is more here.

Proof positive Nicole didn't need no stinkin Santa for her Barbie and all those cookies left under the tree for the "jolly one" didn't go to waste.
Most importantly, I can go to bed tonight knowing my Christmas spirit is intact!

Don't Ask Don't Tell ...Her Age

The great majority of transgender transition videos I pass along on the Cyrsti's Condo Big Screen are from the "millennium" 20 something generation. I'm not so sure there are proportionately more  trans women and men in the age group but they have a working knowledge of the social medias to appear they do.

This YouTube video is from a transgender woman who was 38 when this was done in 2012 which makes her more towards the "cougar" end of the spectrum and not the "dinosaur" like me!

I think it's a good find

The "Passive Aggressive" Compliment

A passive aggressive compliment sounds like a contradiction in terms-right? Very much not so in the world of feminine communication and interaction.

I used to write about the feminine socialization process more here in Cysti's Condo than I do now. Of course the more you do it, the easier the process becomes. Plus, as an added bit of spice, when you throw my transgender status into the mix-everything gets more interesting! Women just don't know exactly how to take me.

First of all the "passive aggressive" feminine dynamic is well understood. A man's power system is based on an internal sense of power.  Can he out muscle, out spend or in some other direct way "win" over another guy-easy to comprehend or I will smack you.

But as with most all human existence women have a much more complex approach.  As I have written here, I'm much more likely to have problems with other women in the world but rarely face to face. When a face to face does occur though many times the process is the other woman sizing me up. Years ago,  these were my first experiences with a "passive aggressive" compliment.

Ironically, the whole process laid dormant in my noggin full of old stuff area until a couple of television shows reawakened my interest. Specifically, Comedy Central has a show with comedian Amy Schumer. She has a very funny but true compliment clip and you can go here to see it. The other show is called Girl Code on MTV and many times their whole show is an indirect lesson on feminine communication.

Both shows reinforced my earliest communication lessons. I learned to not listen to the words as much as how they are spoken- and more importantly what was not said.  Here's an example. I could be wearing the ugliest scarf ever but that very scarf could have been the conversation starter with a woman I didn't know.  Indeed she may have been using the passive aggressive compliment on my scarf to do a little research on me.

Regardless of what you regular readers may think, sometimes I am a quick learner. Rapidly I too played the compliment card and I began to really enjoy the mental jousting.

If I am going to joust, I figure I need all the information I can find and recently Girl Code on television and theFrisky on line keep me really up to date on how younger women view their own communication-with each other-with no men in the way. The process works for me since of course I missed so much feminine interaction in my life and I'm trying to learn and catch up.

Oh, by the way- you look great and I know you knew all of this and I really do like that new scarf you just bought and.....

The Artistry of Cross Dressing

Every once in a while I run across yet another video I just have to pass along on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen. This one illustrates the true power of drag illusion:

Top Ten Transgender Woman

From TransGriot:

"The White House will honor ten TBLG officials on Harvey Milk Day and one of them will be a girl like us. Kim Coco Iwamoto, who is serving her first term on the state of Hawaii's Civil Rights Commission and previously served the state as an elected member of the Hawaii State Board of Education, is one of the people being honored on Wednesday, Harvey Milk's birthday as a Harvey Milk Champion of Change"

For more, go here.

Horror Scope

Again boys and girls it's time to part the mists here in Cyrsti's Condo and view the stars with this weeks "HorrorScope!


"Libra: (September 23-October 22): You need to be five steps ahead of the competition — including your self-sabotaging side that can get lost in the fury, rather than bathing in the fire. Yes, action and words need to sync up, so work it from your gut. Being fast on your feet is your ticket to being heard rather than trampled on, so make sure you don’t get caught with your pants down."


The stars nailed it this week!  I have always had a self-destructive side that at one point in time I tried to blame my transgender spirit for. Syncing my words up with what I really mean has always been an adventure too.  As far as getting caught with my pants down-is that similar to seeing more of the moon than the stars?


As always, "Horrorscope" is my term and you can go to theFrisky for your own "scope"!

SMOOCH!

Everyonce in a while Mother Karma comes along and lays a big fat gooey Smooch on me. The latest one was this morning and I am still trying to dry off.

This morning I made the half hour trip to my daughter's to pick up most of my meds  the VA sent me.Because of school winding down, none my grand kids (approximately 12, 8 and 5) were home at the time. This morning  we had a rare one on one moment to just chat.

Along the way, the conversation centered on my 8 year old grandson who of course managed to do something totally dumb to keep himself out the final days of school activities.  Since he did, my daughter followed up with an equal amount of home punishment-including maybe missing a boy scout meeting.

At that point she asked me if I had been following the LGBT drama with the scouts. Well of course I have and have made a point to sign the on line petitions for a pro open scouting organization.

Perhaps you remember the stir which was created when the young transgender girl tried to join a girl scout troop not so long ago? Well, my daughter used the example to open a discussion door with my grand daughter about the transgender community and how close it was to her- really close!  As with most kids her age she really could care less except for a little natural curiosity and the subject was pretty much closed for awhile.

When the first debates and protests began to stir within the Boy Scout organization of the course the topic of the kids transgender grandparent came around front and center-again. Mom and Dad gave grandson his choice of staying or going if the Boy Scouts continued to ban LGBT peeps. He said, he had a good time and would prefer to stay. Understandable. But now he has changed his tune.  Recently the group had a big open meeting in Dayton on the subject. Of course the usual group of unreasoning bigots were there spouting who knows what. Well it worked with my grandson. After the meeting he announced he wanted nothing to do with the Boy Scouts if they excluded people like his transgender grandparent!

I'm rarely speechless and luckily my hormone level was down because of VA screw ups so I didn't talk and cry with pride at the same time!. I could only blurt out I was so damned proud of the kid and his parents!

Now, can't we do something about cutting back on that punishment?

Dayton Ohio Area Girls!

Ok girls, do you remember my post about the new Mary Kay makeup person who wanted to "borrow my face" to work on?
This is what grew out of it:

First, I'm not naive enough to think I know all there is about basic skin care and I believe totally in the clean canvas to work from but what I really need is for someone who knows what they are doing to work with me on colors and contouring. 

I was referred at this point  to "makeup guru" Alisha Manley. We covered a lot of ground quickly in our first conversation. Bless her heart, she mentioned her cousin was a drag queen and then said that probably meant very little to me. Cool, the last makeup style I'm looking for is a drag queen's.  I do need to look like an everyday woman who is not wearing much makeup but does a quality job of working with what she does wear. Plus, I do recognize the challenge of working with my male based features.To get there I do need to know the background skill needed to make it happen.

AND! Alisha is holding a makeup workshop this coming Saturday for a couple hours at her studio. Here's the deal:
10 available spots by RSVP. It will be $25/person, $20 may be redeemed as a product credit. It will be from 2 to 4pm in her studio on 5/25/13 (Saturday).
I'm leaving it to you to follow the link below for the studio location.

AND! Here is her Bio:

Raised in a nontraditional environment, Alisha began studying the "illusion of beauty" at a very young age watching her mother work in the Night Life as a bar owner. Her favorite past time growing up was planning "Showtime" with her cousin, who later debuted as the ever popular drag queen, Blair Saunders.

 She began her makeup training at age 12 while enrolled in Barbizon, modeling school where she later became one of their most popular instructors while teaching there during her college years. Since she never grew physically as tall as her personality, she began doing pageants at age 12 instead of modeling. She was a fierce pageant competitor for 20 years earning the title of Mrs. Ohio 2001 and winning costume at the Mrs. United States pageant along with top 20.

 Alisha earned an Engineering Degree from the University of Dayton and trained in Makeup Artistry under the legendary, Hollywood Makeup Artist, Tony Caine before his passing. Presently, she teaches her "Illusion of Beauty" through her Magic Makers Unit as a Director in Qualification through Mary Kay Cosmetics. She has honed her teaching style also as a part time Faculty member at the University of Dayton in Human Factors Engineering and she is a full time Executive with Hobart Service, working as the National Safety Manager.

 Beauty is an Illusion...Let me show you how to create your best image.

AND! Here is where you can contact her for more info.

Alisha Manley, Independent Beauty Consultant Future Sales Director www.marykay.com/alishamanley

Finally, for all you shy girls (me included) this is a chance to go into an understanding environment and improve your image to the world.

Bra Ban Bucket List

Have you read the Milwaukee bra ban has been lifted and now the city is busting out? Or were they just a bunch of boobs anyhow?
OK, enough already! First, here is part of the story from Yahoo News:

"The Milwaukee bra ban has been lifted, which means these articles of underwear can hang from the rafters once again at a local bar. Bras were banned in Milwaukee, but this didn't mean the town was full of women bouncing along the sidewalk, the bra ban only pertained to a bar. This unique drinking establishment is a place where bras dangle off the ceiling as a tradition that has gone on for about a half of a century, according to the Inquistr on May 18, 2013. The Holler House, an establishment that's been in operation for about 100 years, began a tradition about 45 years ago, where women started filling up the ceiling with bras."

I can now rest easier! The bra ban was certainly one of my top topics to worry about along with the North Koreans and global warming.

Actually, I have been to a couple taverns where bra "tossing" was not banned. (Is that some sort of Constitutional Amendment in Ohio?) Women had the right to vote and to wear a bra in a bar? Wow! My take on it always was "damn, I wish I was the one tossing my bra". Or I really would love a set of breasts like hers for my own! Plus, I was checking out the collection of bras hanging from the ceiling to get an idea of what style I wanted to own. The guys I was drinking with were trying to figure out how to get a woman out of some of the bras and I was trying to figure out how to get into the bra.

Well, of course I didn't and had two problems-the first was having natural boobs and the know how to get the bra off under my top- which women seem to learn as a rite of adolescence. The effect would have definitely lessened if my silicone breast forms had hit the floor in the Holler House! OOPS! Then there would have been some "hollering"!

Well, years later HRT is beginning to solve problem #1 and problem #2 turned to be one of those feminine mystic issues which wasn't so difficult to master. Some would argue all the time I should have spent in a straight jacket would have prepared me for a Harry Houdini style escape from a bra.

Congratulations to all you transgender and transsexual women in Milwaukee. The right to wear or not wear your bra in a bar must be truly intoxicating (or is that the beer?). I just have to think though some of you girls can't wait to show off those breasts of yours under that tight T-shirt!

You know what the girls say "if you got it...flaunt it!" Someday I want to get to a point where I can take my frilly bra off at the bar somewhere and add it to the collection!