Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

You can't get much more to the point than this:

This was labeled - a cross dresser and a bed.

Seeing In Color

I'm sure many of you regulars here in Cyrsti's Condo don't remember your first look at color television back in the day.  If you do, perhaps you recall the NBC Peacock spreading it's color wings before an episode of Bonanza.  For me at least, it was my first color television show.

The reason I bring it up is, all of the sudden I'm seeing much of the world in color- as my HRT- MtF transition continues to subtly and not so subtly change me.  It's no secret, men see emotions and relationships more or less in black and white and women in color.

It's been interesting to me, it's another of the facets of my transition I can't really talk to a genetic woman about. Why? Because they have lived with the colors their whole life and just don't understand being emotionally color blind.  Increasingly, it's easier to not bring it up at all, than to hear the worn out "welcome to our world."

They need to adjust the colors on their sets! (Yes, you used to had to.)  In the meantime, it's a new and interesting world to me in color!

Will You Take Half a Man?

With the recent health family crisis behind me (and yet another laid to rest),  it's time to backtrack with all of you here in Cyrsti's Condo about how I fared during a recent coming out with a long time female family member.

To start with she is the "double nickle", 55 years old and was a former "wild child" well into her 30's,  married for a short time but for the most part, shopping around.  I always had a real respect for her sense of style and femininity. She was a woman who would always make sure she looked her best in case she met a new man at the store.

It's curious now how the tables have changed, and while I don't think they have to for her, that's her call not mine.  I believe she has more "charge" remaining in the batteries than she thinks.

Coming out to her was simply a matter of being in the right time at the right place-even though for the wrong reason. (The health crisis with her Mom.)  I have written how she took it rather matter of factly, with healthy doses of curiosity.

I am sort of like the dog who has rarely been beat, when it comes to my "Coming Out" experiences. I simply haven't experienced much negativity but then again, I haven't needed to come out to a large group...another story.

So when I came out to her, I just wasn't expecting the shock and awe I have so rarely seen. (Didn't get it again.)  So, being the cynical bitch I can be, when she said yesterday she needed a man to come along with her as she worked on tying up the loose ends of her Mom's final expenses, etc. I said, "will a half a man do?" She laughed with me and started back in on the biggest question she has with me being transgender - why am I with a female partner?  Don't all transgender women want a man and isn't that one of the reasons we transition? Why would I want to be a woman and not want a man? Another story.

I told her while that is true in the majority of the MtF trans cases it seems, as always, I'm destined to walk a slightly different path which we will discuss here later in Cyrsti's Condo.

Vintage- Classic- Androgyny

I couldn't resist passing along this androgynous classic here in Cyrsti's Condo:

 

Cyrsti's Condo "Power Scope"

This week's "scope" does sort of fit in with my life again this week as I was finally able to slow it down enough and go with Liz on a one day "recharge" session at the Great Serpent Mound (shown left).  It's credited with being one of the worlds largest prehistoric effigy mounds and is located on a plateau of the Serpent Mound crater,  in  Adams County, Ohio. (Not far from my home.)

Without going into too much detail, the mound is credited with being a very early Native American worship site as well as a site with great astronomical meanings.  I had never been there and was amazed at the power I felt as a twin or dual spirited gender person.

Not unlike I felt, when I looked at this week's "scope" containing masculine and feminine forces::

Libra (September 23-October 22): You can push and shove, but a wall will appear suddenly. If you want the outcome to work for you, don’t give up or go about trying to knock it down with aggression and anger. To seize victory, you’ll need the precision of a surgeon’s knife in breaking through this obstacle, so you can crawl your way through. With paradise on the other side, it’d be foolish to sit back now.

Of course the aggression and anger speaks to the old side of me and the "precision" of the surgeon's knife to my increasingly aware feminine side.

For your weekly "scope" go here to theFrisky.

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

"Kerplunk!" It's time again for another Sunday Edition here in the "Condo".

Page 1.- Healthy HRT?  As more and more transgender women and men embark on hormone replacement treatment to feminize or masculinize their bodies, studies are beginning to emerge on the results. What I liked about the news I read was it came from a medical site and had big words I couldn't understand. The title jumped out to me:  "Largest Study to Date: Transgender Hormone Treatment Safe". Even better news to me, since back in the day,  one of my biggest concerns was what would be the deeper effect on my health-at my age. The article came from Medscape.com.

Page 2.- Lets Be Careful Out There!  Last week here in the "Condo" I, brought the subject up again of personal security as we begin navigating the world as feminine persons.  I brought it up primarily when a transgender woman was found slain in nearby Cincinnati- and Jen commented:

"My girlfriend is very aware of staying safe at all times in general, more so than I am. I know she pays attention to who may notice me if I were out and I'm in a bra with straps that might be showing under my boy clothes. While she does get a real kick out of people noticing my straps, she doesn't want the 'wrong people' to notice (those that don't accept others freedom to be who they are.)

Her concerns went much higher last month when a local transgender woman was found dead behind a fast food restaurant (cause unknown)."

And, Pat followed with :  "Please be careful when out and about because there are dangers that need to be perceived to be avoided."

Thanks ladies.  Jen,  it's obvious, genetic women from the earliest age are "socialized" to be in tune with a different world than men.  A man's power system is simple and is built on physical prowess, financial prowess etc. Early transitioners such as Elizabeth, can probably attest to the fact that the sooner you are "allowed" to play in the women's sandbox, the easier it is to learn from other women hints on how to co-exist with a man's power system. On the negative side, it's proven time and time again,serious problems can occur-such as violence. I'm sure there is no "fool proof" method of avoiding a bad situation, excepting don't be a fool like I was years ago when I got myself into them.

Page 3.- The Back Page.  The Fourth of July has come and gone, which around here at least, we have a good two more months of summer before Fall gets here.I know it's coming though because I'm hearing the first fall fashion ad's.  Although the "Polar Vortex" almost froze me to death last winter, the changes of the seasons and the resultant "need" to change my wardrobe and fashion has always been a fun feminine time for me!

Well that's it for another "Sunday Edition" as always, thanks for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo and I hope we can meet again next Sunday!

Walking Tall -Two

Thanks to all of you for the comments concerning the "personal security" post I wrote a couple days ago which happened to involve -more precisely a transgender woman's murder (suspect arrested) and my partner Liz and I's night at the Northern Kentucky Pride event pub crawl.

As far as Cincinnati goes, the downtown area along the Ohio River is positively booming and will soon be home to a huge GE (General Electric) headquarters but as with any other place, there are places you don't want to be as a guy and especially as a woman and even more so as a transgender woman.

I'm fortunate for all the wrong reasons when my personal security is involved.  To quote a term from the trans woman (left) in the movie "Better than Chocolate", she is not just a big woman-she is enormous. 

This body I received through no choice of my own has kept me healthy over 65 years, big enough to not be bullied, etc...but...of course it does not MtF easily. Like so many others, I wasn't lucky enough to be born into a time and a family where I could have considered a choice of not having my body do what it was born to do...masculinize.


So now, this curious gender critter I have become has a chance of keeping unwanted advances away. The usual good news/bad news story.

None of it mattered though if and when I found myself  in potentially violent situations.  You all know the drill.  Know your surroundings and if you can carry some sort of deterrent such as pepper spray.  I have read comments here and there cross dressers and or transgender women saying they are "packing heat" (a gun) and are ready to fire away.  To be certain, if I did that, I would be in danger of shooting myself first and yes I did go through Army infantry training.

The most important lesson I pass along every now and then here in Cyrsti's Condo is how fast you can find yourself in a bad situation.  Years ago, I was cornered by a much bigger guy than I and would have been put in a possible very bad situation if I wasn't "recused". 

Before that experience, I had a very smug idea about women being sexually assaulted.  I always wondered why some of them didn't see it coming.  Two out of three of the potentially bad spots I found myself in, I didn't see it coming,  and one in fact, was in a friend's decidedly upscale home.

In the past, I have had as many comments around here concerning personal security as I have had about rest room issues.  All you have to do is look at the stats to see how big of a problem violence is to the TG/CD community and the problem is even worse if you are a transperson of color.

All of us just have to be extra careful out there!

Conspiracy Theory

I'm the first to admit I have been a little distant around here in Cyrsti's Condo and most of it does start with my friend who still is in an induced coma.  Even though she is decidedly older than me, she is yet another person I always assumed I would not outlive.

But there are other "follow the bouncing transgender" issues which of course come and go with regularity, along with various stages of intensity, which I won't bore you with now.

Fortunately, My active noggin does have a self defense mechanism which manufactures fun games for me to play with during these times. On this occasion it tossed at me,  two old conspiracy theories concerning famous women.

The first has to do with my trans-dar and Ann Coulter shown on the left.  Regardless of what she has always said and done to make a living, I simply have always looked hard for that operated on Adam's Apple. Her latest deal was slamming the soccer wave which is sweeping the country.  Who ever was reporting the story said she wondered if Ann played soccer when she was a little girl...my mind thought (before I knew it) was Ann ever a psychical little girl?  Please don't send me comments...it was just a rhetorical thought.

The second is a little more vague.  Perhaps many of you remember actress Mae West  She went back to the vaudeville days and was one of the more controversial movie stars of her day and encountered many problems, including censorship.  To many though, she was one of the great feminine caricatures of all time and so good-only a man could do it.  I thought no, certainly at death someone would have advanced the theory further! But then I thought, could Mae simply be our American version of the UK's Queen Elizabeth being a man theory?  Hey Paula, Vicki and all you other Brit ladies who stop by Cyrsti's Condo, we are just trying to keep up here in the colonies!

Well, that's it. Like I said, just a little fun to break things up when I get a little too serious about life!

Happy Fourth of July from Cyrsti's Condo

Justin Vivian Bond

Unbelievable! Here we are at the 4th of July already.

To paraphrase John Lennon, the country is another year older and what have we done?

Actually from his Happy Christmas: "So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun" I'm sure you get the point.

 I have decided to not pull  my soapbox out and go political on this occasion. Except to say even though our system does have it flaws, we still are maybe the world's best chance to lead by example.

On this 4th of July, let's raise a toast  and look at the strides our country could be on the verge of making if we keep up the fight!  When we do, our trans cup will indeed be half full. - A tasty enjoyable adult beverage for you on our nation's birthday. 

Finally,  be careful not to burn a hole in your new summer blouse with a stray firecracker!!!

Here's hoping you have a safe and enjoyable fourth!