From the Cyrsti's Condo Archives

Aussie Courtney Act.  If you don't remember her story, watch the video below!

Chick Flick

I have mentioned here in Cyrsti's Condo several of the key moments when I knew this transgender deal was the real thing. Here is one:

I was bored one night a couple of years ago and was innocently surfing through the 900 channels I have on satellite television and settled on one obscure movie for a reason I can't recall.

Turns out the movie was some sort of "chick flick" .  For reasons I truly can't explain I actually started to become interested and more amazingly I was watching it from a feminine perspective -  Subconsciously.  In no way did I set out to watch this movie thinking if I do this, I will be more of a girl.

Being the genius that I am, I learned from the experience and began to search the room so to speak when I watched a movie. Which female lead do I identify with, envious of or just admire.

In a recent post I told you I went to see the 2013 version of the The Great Gatsby.  Of course the period costumes and scenery were just fabulous but the woman I locked into was Jordan (above). I just loved her look and the ability to play the perimeter.  She was part of the inner plot and drama but was good enough to stay just out of reach of it and not get burned. Plus her non verbal eye communication was classic female.

It turns our this new toy of my transgender transition has proven to be more enlightening and enjoyable than I ever would have expected.

Now where is my movie critic show on Bravo TV?

Becoming Transgender Handy

Last night I went to the "movin' picture show" to escape my part of the country's turn to experience "hell on earth" temperatures.

I was a good citizen and paid for my ticket and headed to the concession stand to help the theatre pay for their air conditioning. As the teen aged girl put together my massive order of a buttered popcorn and a Coke I noticed how incredibly delicate she was. I mean over the top delicate. Her movements and the current incarnation of The Great Gatsby movie I watched started my thought process into the entire dynamic of hands and the transgender woman.

Early as I started to explore the feminine side of the world as a cross dresser,  I viewed my hands as a huge barrier to presenting as a woman.  There was the pesky problem of hair on my knuckles, nail care and the size of my paws. Just what was a trans girl to do?

Ironically, the hair problem was easy. At that time I worked in a very busy broiler driven restaurant. If you are ever around a really good broiler cook, they judge the doneness of their steaks by touch. They naturally burn the hair off their hands. So when I was looking for a new cook and he said he could broil, I would look for hair on his hands. if he had any-he wasn't that good. On occasion I had to get in the way and help on the broiler, so I had the easy answer for hairless hands.

My nails were easy too.  The temporary "stick on" nail products did a great job. If there was a problem, the wrong kind of nail drew extra attention to my hands. Later I began to learn the basics of nail length, shape and color. Many flatter, just as many don't.

Most importantly, my hands weren't huge. All of the sudden the problems I experienced in football or basketball due to "small hands" began to benefit. In no way do I have dainty hands but I'm told I have proportional hands. Who knows, maybe it's just another passive aggressive compliment but one way or another I had to move on with what I had.

The biggest problem I faced was nothing I just mentioned.  I was faced with the "operational" issue of talking with my hands. Again, a couple of hurdles to clear. The first of course was if  I talked with my hands, people would notice them and two I was completely unprepared to do it. The whole process very much falls into the feminine way of doing business. When men do it, the process is very directional or even violent. I don't like you so Boom! here is my fist communicating with your face.

My answer was to compromise.  At the time I was already being indoctrinated into the feminine non verbal communication world which included a series of taps or touches for effect on occasions.  I learned to try to keep my hands close to my body to gesture or touch and to not use my hands as paws to grab something. I didn't have to go over the top like the concession girl but I did want to gently find something in the black hole known as my purse.

Becoming transgender handy is never an easy process.   As with anything else in the transgender process though, almost anything is possible if you handle it right.

Coming Out Transgender in the Workplace

It's encouraging to see sites such as xoJane  put together thought provoking insights into the issues transgender women and transgender men face in the world. Follow the link above to take a look.

A Tribute to the Late Michael Andrews

On the Crysti's Condo,  big screen classics from the beautiful female impersonator:

The "Trans Rock" Returns!

All right kids, this trans girl has been known to try one or two crazy things, but a friend of mine has me topped.

She too is a transgender woman by the name of "R". I have decided to invoke my Cyrsti's Condo non disclosure clause and shorten her two syllable  name to the "Rock".

It seems 'the Rock" has signed up for a mini hot dog eating contest at the pub where the two of us plus a trans guy make up the Three Transgender Amigo's or Amiga's in two of our cases. The contest is not how many of the health food delights you can eat. It's how fast you can eat them and yes the competition comes complete with a release form that if you choke to death-it's your fault.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm for transgender competition at all levels. I will be slowly enjoying an adult beverage during our 6000 degree heatwave while she does this. If she doesn't back out and let the entire transgender world down.

I just hope she wins, doesn't choke and upchucks on the floor! How disgustingly unfeminine! In which case I will do the natural thing and say "I don't know her!"...give me another beer.

Hopefully though I hope I will be able to see the slow motion replay on ESPN's Sports Center! But I doubt it.

Another possibility when she wins, I can get her to sign me up as her manager. I could set up a tour and start marketing the "Trans Rock Rules" T-Shirts everywhere!

Look at Rude Paul...that clown got away with it.

Transgender Success in the Workplace!

From the Washington Blade:

"Mia Macy"

"Transgender victims of workplace discrimination are for the first time finding restitution in a pair of decisions handed down from the federal government finding anti-trans job bias at two institutions — one a federal contractor, the other an arm of the U.S. government.

 The two decisions — first reported by Buzzfeed — are the result of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is charged with enforcing laws against workplace discrimination, finding last year in a historic, unanimous decision transgender workplace discrimination amounts to gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. One of the decisions is the culmination of litigation in that very case, known as Macy v. Holder, was initiated by the Transgender Law Center after the plaintiff was told she wouldn’t receive a job at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’s crime laboratory in Walnut Creek, Calif., after she announced she would transition from male to female.

 On July 8, the Department of Justice — to which the case was remanded after the EEOC made its decision last year — issued a final decision finding Macy indeed faced discrimination when she applied for the position and awarding her relief."

Go here for more.

Day Old Sushi and Zombies for Breakfast

I'm glad Pat and others have questioned my use of the "Zombie" term in a recent Cyrsti's Condo post. Since I just might have a tendency to veer off the beaten path on occasion, I can understand! To clarify my position I went to Dictionary.com:
"A zombie is a person whose behavior or responses are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton. b. an eccentric or peculiar person.
I was disappointed! No where could I find a "c" definition which said "a leering face or faces in a crowd with  unmoving inhuman smirks on their faces".

So I guess that's the direction my pea brain was moving kids!

On a brighter note, my public life as a transgender woman went back to it's basic normal the next day. I saw no zombies peering from behind trees and cars as I went about my everyday life. I was relieved because I gladly would have given up my on sale- grocery store sushi for safe passage!

And on a serious note, zombie night was a wake up call. I have the tendency to forget my transgender journey is far from over and on occasion I slip up and flip too far back into my dark side or very simply don't pay enough attention to my appearance.

We all know if we show those pesky zombies any weakness, they don't hesitate to respond.

Now if you will excuse me, my sushi will be extra good with plenty of soy sauce!

All The Makeup Mistakes I Have Made!

I picked this video for the Cyrsti's Condo big screen because this person someone captured all the make up mistakes I have made in two minutes!