We Got Mail!

Mandy commented on my "not so pleasant" recent experience with three guys who called me a she male as well as making general obscene fools of themselves:

Sorry to hear of the issue you experienced... Yes, there are a bunch of nasty folks out there...and we all hope that their paths never cross ours. But the more we live our lives the way we want to, the greater that chance... I know my best efforts at presenting as a woman are still way "short of the mark" and anyhoo, I spend most of my time in androgynous mode. So I make an effort to steer clear of any venues where idle groups of inebriated males could exhibit "juvenile behavior" because of group courage. (Translation - bars and taverns.) Yes, I know - I miss a lot of fun times that way. But the benefit is, it sort of shields me from the less pleasant aspect of being transgender, which unfortunately is harassment. You absolutely did the right thing by leaving. I'd have done the same... But now, as you said, move on. Better days will come. Mandy

Thanks Mandy!  You are absolutely correct about  not putting yourself in the wrong spot at the wrong time as a transgender woman.  Genetic women are well versed in the potential problems! On the other hand, this situation surprised me because I had done my homework. I was with my girlfriend, in a place we were familiar with.  The clientele was older and mellow and the food in the place was good "pub food".  The mistake was we were there a little later than we had ever been there before.  The bottom line is though, we as transgender women can never be sure of possible public situations and have to be aware at all times.

For the sake of discussion, here are my rules of thumb in a possible confrontation:

1.-Size it up.  Is there a chance of a physical confrontation?
2.-Embarrassment? Am I at risk of embarrassing friends that are with me or a place that I have been welcomed in the past? The absolute last thing I want to happen is for them to be brought into a problem I caused. I'm a big girl in more ways than one.
3.-Education. Is it possible to educate my harassers and let them know what I'm doing is not just a "hobby"? I just don't go and throw on a dress as a lark.
4.-Leave with dignity and never let them know how badly they have hurt me.

The problem with these situations are, they are similar to quicksand. You can get in over your head before you know it and have to be so careful!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl of the Day"

In honor of the "Victoria Secret" Fashion Show, here are a couple of future possibilities of the first transgender women models:
First,   Amelia Maltepe, a transsexual model from Toronto by way of Bangladesh.


And of course, Carmen Carrera, who is reportedly already set for an audition next year.

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl of the Day"

Kostantin Minarev, male androgynous model, stops by "the Condo"

                                      

Cyrsti's Gondo "Horror Scope"

Here we go kids! Your weekly scopes, or should I say "weakly?"


Libra, (September 23-October 22): Not everything has to be art. If your fairy tale isn’t rolling out the way you like, don’t get manic. There are going to be a few bumps in the road, but nothing you can’t handle. The good news: Once you get into the groove of rewriting the plot, you’ll find there is much more material to make something real out of.

I'm not going to even touch the fairy tale comment except to say, maybe getting called a  She Male the other night does constitute one of the "bumps in the road". I do like the "rewrite" angle because I essentially feel I have "hit the wall" as far as my transition goes!

As always you can go to theFrisky for your scope.

Monday, Monday

Paulo Ballesteros on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

This week's edition will be definitely be a different one due the week's activity around here in the "Condo".

In the travel section I already touched on the fact I have been a traveling girl for most of the week and one of the spots you don't really want to drive all over in a ice/sleet/snow storm is hilly Cincinnati, Ohio.  But we all survived, including my car.

In a "Sports Section" update,  my Bengals helped sooth the pain of my Buckeyes tanking the BigTen Championship game last night by winning big today.  As I have written continually, the Buckeye's have provided many good memories and the Bengals, tons of bad during my life.

In the Fashion Section, today turned out to be an early Christmas treat for me.  My girlfriend has mentioned a number of times of how she used to be an Avon consultant.  Today, I just happened to notice two nice aluminum fold out cases.  I asked what they were for and was told they were makeup training cases.  I said Really? and asked if they were both empty.  Turns out, one wasn't and one was and the fun started.

Yesterday she colored my hair into more of a golden brown from the highlighted red it was...so...of course we had to play with new makeup shades from the case to match my hair. The bad news was my small makeup bag I brought with me was too full for everything. The good news was, I had a bigger bag with me. Most certainly I will do quite a bit of experimentation this week with the new shades before next weekend's company Christmas where she works.

That's it for our Sunday Edition! Thanks for browsing.

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl of the Day"

Kristian Ruscitti lives in Portland OR and does modeling work around the world. She is a transgender Italian/American model/make up artist and has been in the fashion/beauty industry for nearly 20 years, beginning at the age of 19 as a designer fashion runway and print model in Milan, Italy.

Not Fun

It was bound to happen, as we all know, life is not all kicks and giggles.

The weekend began innocently enough. I packed up my dog and we made the two hour trip to Cincinnati to spend and extended weekend with Liz.  Of course Thursday, I was running slightly ahead of yet another super storm spreading across the country.  All I had to deal with was rain.  Friday we had a mix of every winter moisture Mother Nature could come with...UGLY.

Saturday, we relaxed and worked around the house until it was game time and we headed out to her nearby neighborhood tavern to watch my Buckeyes LOSE.  It has always been an idea I could never wrap my mind around...but last night, they simply got out played.  However, we were enjoying each other until  drunk guy #1 shows up at our end of the bar and begins to stare...at me.  Of course I knew he wasn't placing me at the top of the most desirable women he had ever seen list.  Then, it got worse. Drunk guy #2 appeared and drunk guy #3.

I suppose these guys were 30 somethings going on  junior high.  They were whispering to each other  and pretty much making obscene jerks of themselves and of course making both of us very uncomfortable.  I even think for the first time I can remember I was called "she male" for the first time.  Of course, by this time we had it with their juvenile trashy behavior, collected our things and left.

Wow, reality struck home and today I am forced to lick my wounds, reassess reality and get back into this transgender game.

Reality is, I'm not at the point {and may never be} that I present to the world as a genetic woman.  But that is OK, I have faced that reality forever. I have found though, I can navigate the world as a transgender woman if I work at it.  I'm not so sure anything I could have done would have tossed the idiots off their game. On the other hand, I do think I went too casual with dress and makeup.  Then again, the law of percentages simply caught up with me since the two couples before the idiots were perfectly delightful.

Lesson?  Do what I always have.  Hitch up my big girl panties and move on.  I hope the juveniles have major hangovers this morning though. I don't!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl of the Day"

Yasmin Lee was born on June 3, 1983. She is an American transsexual film actress and model. She is of Thai, Cambodian, Chinese, and Brazilian heritage. Her family moved from Thailand to the Philippines before finally settling down in Orange County, California.

Most recently you may remember from her role in the 2011 hit comedy The Hangover Part II.