Monica, Where Art Thou?

I love this idea/story from Halloween:

Unknown Lewinsky Impersonator

"My first Halloween outing, in fact one of my first ever outings, was in the late 1990s when the cosmos came together and I was by myself and able to dress and get out. I had a favorite blue chiffon dress with its own nylon inner slip. I wore it with black pumps and hose, a black wig, a black beret and I brought a box of cigars and went to a Halloween event at a straight bar/restaurant as Monica Lewinsky. I had a great night and there were a lot of girls there that were interested in chatting me up."  submitted by Pat.

Perhaps just mentioning Bill Clinton does bring up the idea, when you wear a themed unique female costume to a straight bar, it is a great way to meet women!
Also, if the idea was still current, have the woman in your life dress up as Clinton!

Halloween is like a Box of Chocolates

Halloween is like candy on Trick or Treat Night, you do never know what you are going to get.

This Halloween experience goes way back to the early 80's when needless to say I was much younger, slimmer and prettier. I had just married my second wife and talked her into moving to the New York City area sight unseen from Ohio to start a new job with another restaurant chain.

We were settled in and unsettled at the same time when Halloween rolled around.  Our relationship at the time was real rocky due to the fact I was still riding the "ego coaster" from basically having to prove I wasn't a genetic female to get into a "transvestite mixer" weeks before. I literally was torn in half by gender issues which made me an absolute bastard to live with. So, by the time Halloween rolled around, she basically kicked me out for the evening, slutted out and all.

As it turned out I was invited to go out with an assistant manager of mine and her friends. So why not? Mini dress, shaved legs, long blond wig and all, I showed up at the house where we were all supposed to meet. As I made my "grand entrance" of course the room got quiet. Who knows what they really thought until I said "Hi" in my very male voice. Then, it was my turn to be quiet as the three other women just happened to be dressed like me (and almost as tall) got up to leave.  Just for a second I thought I had died and went to cross dresser heaven and all this time it was in Yonkers, New York? Yay!

The place we were going was only about a block away so we walked it.  I remember the clicking of all of our heels on the pavement as we crossed in front of cars in an intersection in front of the bar like it was yesterday.  Quickly I lost any apprehension of how I was dressed and did my best to throw my shoulders back and blend with the other three. The Aerosmith song "Walk this way" comes to mind! Looking back on it now though,  the evening was one of the first ones where the rush of the clothes, wig and shaved legs faded quickly. I think I knew but didn't really want to acknowledge how natural I felt.

Once we got in the bar, the other three were quickly the hit of the evening and I tried to quietly grab a spot at the table, order a drink and enjoy the situation I unknowingly found myself in. I didn't labor under any ideas no one knew I was a guy but I did turn down two requests to dance.

All too soon, the "bewitching hour" was upon me and it was time to leave. The good news was the evening was incredible beyond all expectations. The bad news was once again I didn't do my relationship any favors. For you long term "Cyrsti's Condo" visitors you may remember the comment "be man enough to be a woman" from my wife which finally taught me a lesson. Did I want to move past looking like a woman to experiencing life as one?

As you have probably guessed then I had no easy answer to my gender questions and there were many lessons to come.  The story has a happy ending though as my wife and I were married for 25 years after that evening, until she passed away some time ago. She became more of a feminine role model to me than probably she ever knew.

Life is nothing if not just moments in time. Some better than others and the Halloween party that night exceeded all my expectations-even when my boss came up to me the next week and smiled slyly when he asked about my costume!

If You Don't Succeed...

If you don't succeed, switch teams?

From theFrisky

:


"You might recognize Elliott Sailors from her days of modeling bikinis and evening gowns. At age 31, practically ancient in the world of fashion, Sailors’ gigs started to become more few and far between. So, she made a bold decision to save her career: to start modeling as a man. Sailors’ buzzed off her long, blonde hair and started showing up to castings with her breasts bound, wearing flannel shirts, ripped jeans, boots and biker jackets. And, as you might guess from this photo, it worked. “I’m starting over to have a longer career. Men don’t need to look as young as possible, so I have a lot of time,” Sailors told The New York Post.

As counter intuitive as the decision may seem, Sailors’ said it was an easy one for her to make because she always thought she looked manly.“Earlier on in my career, I would get frustrated because I thought I looked too masculine. I have a strong jaw, wide forehead, huge eyebrows. I thought I looked like a man wearing makeup,” she said.

Sailors’ husband, who is totally supportive of her male modeling career, says that the only thing he didn’t expect about his wife “passing” as man was how people would see him differently, as the pair often get mistaken for a gay couple."

Now we need to see a photo shoot with Elliot Sailors and Andrej Pejic! (left)

Being Gender Dysphoric in a One Gender World: Before and After Pics - Almost 12 months HRT

Check this link out. She is just another extremely proud and out transgender woman!



Being Gender Dysphoric in a One Gender World: Before and After Pics - Almost 12 months HRT: Before HRT.                                                                            12 months HRT.

I Have a High Sodium Level

I am flat out salty.

Just when I thought I had seen it all with the latest incomprehensible disgusting display of incompetence out of Washington, here comes yet another answer to Fox News... America.Aljazeera.com.

By their own description they are touting themselves as a "Fact-Based, in Depth News Source". Of course they are! And so is Fox!  I did tune in last week and  I was impressed by the wealth of information I didn't know such as:  Native American's not being Christopher Columbus biggest fans or that  transgender peeps get "profiled" by certain American police forces. Really? Earth shattering news to be sure and now I will be waiting for their coverage of progressive transgender movements in the Middle East.

I wonder just what the hell all of you Cyrsti's Condo foreign readers think about what is going on here in the USA.  It's actually very simple, get the government out of the way with stupid shutdowns and incredibly poor leadership and we will be fine.

In the meantime, tune into Aljazeera for a look at a fact based news story based on what you already knew.

I can say one thing.  I'm glad I joined the American Libertarian Party and my Spiro low "T" meds also help control blood pressure.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho It's off to Halloween We Go!

In the Cyrsti's Condo mail slot I found a couple neat Halloween stories including this one from Carol:

"Oh my god this takes me back. I remember the first Halloween I went out dressed. I just loved it! I have always had a joking way about me, so I was pretty sure I could pull it off without too much suspicion. I was looking quite nice, if I do say so myself and I had a couple of guys offer to buy me drinks.

I was in university so free drinks were a good thing haha... however some suspicion was raised when I went to a second party the next night and some of the girls there recognized I was in a different outfit... that was a bit harder to explain... Thanks for writing this Cyrsti, it really brought back some fun memories :)

My pleasure Carol!

I have a similar story which goes back 196 years ago to when I was training for a major restaurant company in Louisville, Ky. The situation was the company was putting me up in a hotel during training and my almost supportive wife wasn't there. I was left unattended and as luck would have it, I actually got Halloween party night off. So I decided what the hell, I would slut it up and hit some of the big straight club parties before I made my way to the big gay venue in town.

Unlike you Carol, no one offered to buy me drinks but I do believe I was felt up under my short skirt by more hands than I ever thought possible. Plus that year I had no worries about running into anyone I knew. I would have to say if I was to do it all over again I think I would have spent more time in the straight venues which turned out to be infinitely more interesting than the gay one. Plus, as you alluded to Carol, there is always the chance a number of people will not guess your true gender in a straight bar Halloween party. In a gay bar everyone knows you are a cross dresser, drag queen or transgender. If you are really creative though and chose a current very popular female star to dress as in a  gay bar, you can have great fun.  I myself have just have never been good enough to work with any of the strong female characters of the day and make a decent costume.  Amy Winehouse and Sarah Palin come to mind as recent examples.

But I do have a creative idea for you and a friend this year on Halloween:

One of you comes as "Honey Boo Boo" complete with tiara and beauty queen sash. Definitely a costume idea for a gay venue! The other can do the drag queen deal on the right and come as two queens or even as Boo Boo's Mom. Just give out samples of toilet paper all night long.

Vintage Revlon!

Most of us are still in the embryonic stage when it comes to makeup and lipstick but many of us "more mature" transgender or cross dressing girls certainly do remember a few of the women we admired from a distance. Just because we couldn't wear their lipstick, we certainly wanted to!

 It turns out that over the years, more and more genetic girls we admired are resenting the fact their fave brands have disappeared from the shelves never to be seen again...until now. Read on:

The Revlon company just announced that in spring 2014, they will relaunch five of their discontinued iconic vintage shades. Revlon customers were asked to vote for the shades that they would like to see come back, via a Facebook poll.

Here are the nominees and the year they were launched: -Daredevil Pink 1972 -Icy Violet 1946 -Revlon Red 1988 -Snow Peach 1956 -Sandstorm 1999 -Sphinx Pink 1962 -Baby Berry 1998 -Fifth Avenue Red 1958 -Persian Melon 1957 -Jungle Peach 1963 After several months of voting the results are in! Next spring, the following shades will be relaunched for a limited time only.

Just think, a chance to relive a dream!

In Step with Trans Vets

The Transgender Education Network of Texas is looking for trans veterans to serve on a panel at the 2013 Outserve -SLDN leadership conference. TENT needs those who can attend the Oct. 25–27 conference in San Antonio and are comfortable telling their stories but is also looking for people who are not comfortable speaking in public to privately share their stories to collect for a “public narrative.” Although “don’t ask, don’t tell” ended for gay and lesbian service members, trans personnel may still be thrown out of the military.

For more information go here.

Halloween Treats

Recently I was out running a few errands and decided to stop at one of my favorite thrift stores to check on warm fuzzy sweaters to go with my boots and leggings.  All of the sudden I noticed a man and a woman in the shoe section, then the dress section, then the purse section and I thought duh! I know who they are shopping for. The bewitching or bebitching Halloween weekend is coming quickly and the couple was shopping for him. How cool! I always have a romantic spot for couples having quality time together, especially when he is carrying a black sparkly dress.

Of course I have my own fond, fun stories of Halloween. Many I have shared here in Cyrsti's Condo and many I have meant too but simply ran out of time or memory.

If worked correctly Halloween can be the time when we directly come out to the world, or tentatively test the waters.  My first "coming out" experience was a complete result of a Halloween party.

Over the years I have put together my own set of Halloween parameters:

1.- The first time you "knock em dead" as a Halloween beauty can be passed off as a fun game. The second or third time? Folks are wondering.

2.-The biggest costume "give away" is when you shave your legs. Everyone in the room knows you may have gone a "little too far",

3.-If you do it, own it. The experience is a wonderful beginning look at how men and women will treat you. Unfortunately, I've seen those who hide in the corner and not have fun.

4.-Forget about "passing"!  Unless you are one of the rare minority of cross dressers who is a natural feminine type, everyone is looking for a costume and you are in one!

5.-Halloween is a great time to "sort of/kind of" come out of the closet. At the least many of us are hoping against hope someone we care about will ask the right questions and we can have the right answers. You are dying to tell the world all of this preparation to look feminine does go deeper than what they may think.

In my case, Halloween adventures were too much fun and ended way too early but set me back years in my thinking. At most of the parties I went to there were many people who knew me well as my male self. The biggest "good news/bad news comment was: "you make a good looking woman".  Good news? Of course my ego loved onto the comment! Bad news?   In reality I know now I wasn't making anything.  I was simply taking my first transgender public steps expressing who I am.

The actual  good news was I didn't try to over think any of the Halloween parties.  I somehow managed to create a good time! (Of course I did!)

I promise I will somehow try to remember more of the parties and pass the memories along!

Example. One of the best costumes I have seen was years ago. A guy was doing "Elvira" and he did her really well in the wrong venue.  He was in a gay venue, had he gone to a straight venue I'm sure he would have gotten a great amount of admiration from the men! The shame was he seemed to not be with any friends and not having the best of times. Who knows, maybe "he" wasn't a guy at all?