Fall Festival Time

Years ago, I used to view fall as the bittersweet season of the year which symbolized the possible end of my male existence and the beginning of a feminine one in the spring. I used used to sit for hours and watch strong winds strip the trees of their leaves and imagine what my future could be.

These days as I continue to transition, I can actually enjoy the fall season for what it is. Today especially, (Saturday) as Liz, Missy and I head out to set up at a near by fall festival to sell her handmade items and a few of my vintage ones.

Interestingly, I will be more than a "pretty face" in that we have set up my Android phone to accept debit or credit card payments at our booth. It will be interesting how much the process will be used and how my " up close and personal time" with potential buyers will work.

I'm not real worried since the festival we are going to is in a close proximity to several upscale suburbs of Columbus.  Quite the change from when I spent a day this week at a Cincinnati hospital with Liz (for tests) then a couple hours in her Dad's doctor's office that afternoon.

I have mentioned here in Cyrsti's Condo that Cincinnati is quite the different animal than Columbus here in Ohio.  "The Nati" has come a long way with the TGLBQ community but the potential is still there to run into those who worship snakes or speak in tongues. After all, It's not so far away from a Southern Ohio "holler" or  the hills of Kentucky.

Fortunately, we are in for a fine cool, Ohio fall day and I will let you all know how it goes! My plans are to post Sunday a more in depth look at the week and even the rare picture-if I can remember!

Cyrsti's Condo Conspiracy Theory?

Or- "Why I think cis-gay men hate genetics?"  Take all the "Housewives of Wherever" Shows.  Each one of those has at least one of the housewives which send my trans-dar off the screen!

First of all I'm not talking about James Davis aka Elaine from the Housewives of Miami Show: (left) Although, Elaine fit right in with the rest of the cast...

Kelly

Compare Elaine to Kelly (right) from the Housewives of New York.  This is a good picture of her (of course) but when I heard her voice and saw her for the first time, I thought "Damn that's a drag queen!" Or how about Kim Zokiack?  Birthing twins or not....well you know the rest.

Kim Z

I know when older women subject themselves to a ton of plastic surgery, wigs/extensions and sky high heels- the thin line between them and drag queens begins to narrow.

It just seems the gayest network except Logo- maybe might have a possible subliminal motive to their "Housewives" Shows.  Then again, gay men love drama as much or more than the next genetic and drag too. So why not make a buck or two out of it?

How I REALLY Met Your Momma?

Neal Patrick Harris, star of the long running "How I Met Your Mother" Sitcom.  In his role in Hedwig and the Angry Itch On stage-USA 2014

"Mo Dot's

Aww right, I was cleaning Cyrsti's Condo and found a few more of those damn dots I was looking for.

In the "of all places" department:

Not that I'm behind the times but I had never seen this from the "Huffington Post"   Beau Bridges' upcoming guest spot on 'The Closer,' airing Mon., Dec. 14, 9PM on TNT, will fascinate fans of the longtime actor. He plays Det. George Andrews, former partner of G.W. Bailey's crusty and hard-edged Lt. Provenza. About a decade has gone by since they last saw each other and much has changed -- including Det. Andrews' sex change. 

Oh, by the way, it's from 2009?

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how the episode right away jumped into Bridges transgender sexuality (like my last Doctor visit) and the difference was explained.

I'm not going to ruin the show for you either, except to say it had a happy ending.

Next: First of all,  this is all of ours dirty little secret- I watch Dr. Phil and then blame it on my dog!  At any rate, the "Philster"  was doing some sort of show about keeping relationships together. Truthfully, I wasn't watching closely, but it seemed this one couple's major malfunction was he was still living in his past - style wise.  It bugged her. 

What really got my attention was when the woman said "Well, I put all this time and effort into looking nice. Nails, hair, clothes etc and then look at him?"  I'm thinking at that point "Well DUH! lady!" Then she paused and said "The way I look is not all about him, it's the way I live my life." 

I have been literally waiting for years to hear such a profound statement.  All of the sudden the ancient arguments about women dressing for men or women dressing for women were out the door. It's the way we choose to live our lives from genetics to cross dressers to trans gender women.  

We probably learned more from our Momma's than anyone knew!

I'm seeing dots!

WassssUp?

Been out of town for a couple days and even away from Cyrsti's Condo too, although my mind is always churning out "stuff."  Even though I don't think I am particularly good at it, I'm going to try to connect a few dots for you all on a couple thoughts.

First of all, when I went "a surfing" this morning, Stana's post today on Femulate caught my eye, especially the part which said she (Stana)been mentioned  Cassie Powney who did a post about Jodie Lynn a London makeup artist "who has dedicated her career to helping men reveal the woman within..."   To see it all follow the link above over to Femulate and go from there. (Of particular interest is the "channeling" mention of a few of Stana's beauty hints.)

Jodie Lynn at "The Boudoir (before and after)

After I read it and looked at the pictures, certainly I was impressed by Jodie's work but I was equally "struck" by the words "some transvestites just come in every so often to be cross dressed as women and then go back to their lives as men.  

Of course I lived that same life for years in my own closet and I remembered vividly if everytime I did step out of the closet, would I lose my way and never get back.  More importantly, did I want to.  Well, you all know how that is working out for me!

One way another the post is informative and even more so when you read Stana's (femulating) Halloween ideas for her workplace!

Well, those dots were a little farther apart than I expected.  so we will pick up the dots in a future post!

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

Top 6 Reasons to Be Careful in the T-Girl Sandbox

It's fairly bad when I encounter others who know just a little about the transgender community but then ask why there are so many mean peeps who love to eat their young.

On one hand I think I know and on the other I'm just as clueless as they are.  I do know way back in the day, I experienced a form of it in the earliest transvestite "mixers" I attended. Those times of course were in the "social media dark ages." Now of course, anyone with the basic knowledge and the equipment can "spread their gospel" or "grind their axes" or just comment on others.  Including me of course.

Fortunately, I am mellowing in my old age and take most of what I see and read from the so called self anointed "experts" in our community with a grain of salt.  Then again, I do have a few old wounds which still haven't healed.

It's a pretty simple deal with me.  If someone lodges a personal attack "just another old guy on hormones" rather than "Cyrsti, I hate your stupid ideas", I react differently.  .Certainly the first person needs to just go away- but the second- sure, they could be right! I always have to be careful though that I attribute the ideas I just pass along and if you and I were chatting over an adult beverage in person, I may say some things I don't totally embrace just to see your reaction and a discussion.  Can't do that with the written word easily!

 "Cyrsti's Condo" may have started life as a rather one dimensional look at many of the crazy things I did as I searched for my identity.  But quickly though, it grew to opinion and news.  More so even, than my trials and errors with style, fashion, make up and hair.

Finally, after all these years, I'm pretty fearless when I do wade into the T-girls sandbox.  The only real reason is I am increasingly secure in my own body and skin. I attempt to constantly remind all of you I write about it as a process- not bragging and if you have read my "Stiletto's on Thin Ice" book, you know why I don't put myself on any pedestals. For most of my 65 years, the ice was damn thin!

But! For "kicks and giggles" here are some of my negative thoughts of why a trans terf (or Nazi) may not like you: 

1. You haven't lived as long as a transgender person as they have.
2. You don't have as many operations as they have, or have taken as many HRT meds.
3. You don't look as good as them.
4. You haven't carried your male ego with you transitioning like they have
5. You made the right decision and they didn't.
6. Finally, NEVER act like you are enjoying your life-they will be jealous.

The Most Dangerous Visitor to the "Girls' Sandbox!"

My candidate would be one of the most feminine trans women I have ever known who went through SRS. She was absolutely smart and nice and beautiful. I just can't imagine how a bitchy genetic could not be sliced and diced by this so called passive aggressive trans woman who experienced the male on male side of aggression for 30+ years of her life.  She would have never had an idea of what hit her!

But as a I think about it, another good bet would be a savvy trans girl who has played the gender game for a time. The genetic who picked the fight thought she knew what she was going up against but in the end (and she gets cornered) she knows she only has one real defense. She was born with a vagina. Now though, even that defense is going away with better SRS and even functional uterus transplants in Sweden. Could birthing as the ultimate domain of the genetics be disappearing too?

Rarely have I been ever verbally attacked in the sandbox, but it has happened and it was not pretty. I wore the scratch marks as learning experiences forever it seemed.  Certainly, there will always be a few girls in the sandbox who want to try to make sure we aren't allowed to play.  Sure, we may be a little different but maybe not as different as they want to think!

In a future post, if I'm feeling bitchy, we will take a look at the trans girls' side of the women s sandbox. Where often the real battle is!

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"