A Small Victory

My thanks to one of our intrepid Cyrsti's Condo "reporters" Bobbie for alerting me to the small story about the military/prison Chelsea Manning is in:
Manning challenged the military's ongoing refusal to refer to her as a woman, and won. A court order from the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals instructs the military to refer to the soldier in all future official correspondence either using the gender neutral "Private First Class Manning" or employing the feminine pronoun.
As a result, the military is henceforth forbidden from referring to Manning as a man and if you recall, Chelsea has been allowed to begin HRT.

Cha-Changes In the Condo

This morning I got brave and did a little more in depth "shuffling" of rooms here in Cyrsti's Condo.

The biggest change is you all can access "Frock Magazine" anytime you want by going to the upper right hand of the blog.  When you move the small tool bar to the right at the bottom, you will get access to a full screen view of Frock.

Then, you can go to page 48 (of course) and see my article! YAY!

I also have tried to remove some links I believed to be underused...especially with a few of the blogs I was linked to.  Similar to so many other things and people in the transgender/cross dresser community-things come and go!!!

I guess you could say, I'm trying to put the blog on a Spring cleaning diet.

A Life In Backfill

I know, "backfill" is a rather stark word.  For me it brings up memories of playing with other boys when I was a kid. I never really wanted to play in the sand with construction toy trucks-or even getting my hands dirty. 

Backfill today to me means merging my feminine life with all the years living in guy drag.  Any of you who have gender transitioned will probably vouch for the fact, the longer you live as the gender NOT of your choice, the more back fill you need. My example is fielding innocent questions about my past.  The greatest majority of them are very innocent in nature. After all, if they want to pry into the fact I am transgender, I am not shy now in asking why do they ask? Times have changed.

When I first began to experiment in the world as a girl, for any number of reasons, I made up a whole new past for myself.  As entertaining as that was for awhile, the more I saw the same people, I had to backfill in touches of the real me. After all, I had a life I was proud of in many ways.

So, as I began to merge my past with my future, I had tons of backfill to chose from.  Actually, it was easier than I thought.  The closer I looked, either the old feminine stereotypes were fading - or were gone. All of the sudden, I didn't have to drink some fruity "fu-fu" drink to prove my girlhood when down the bar there were groups of women drinking draft beer and watching sports.

At this point in my Mtf transition, I am using less and less "back fill."  I don't out myself but then again I don't shy away from questions because in turn I can make conversation.  I was a curious social (if somewhat cynical)  person as a guy and I have backfilled myself to that point as a woman.

Looking back, not having the desire to play road construction with the boys, doesn't look like a bad choice after all!

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Hart"

Recently my Sister in Law walked by with a pizza she ordered about an hour or so after she got done whining about how she was gaining weight while I was losing it. I said:

A Look is Worth a Thousand Words?

 I happened across this picture of an unidentified cross dresser and wondered what the eyes were saying.

You Go Girl!!

Recently I wrote a post here in Cyrsti's Condo about how just a simple "thanks girls" (directed at Liz and I) was a nice stroke of sunshine on yet another snowy afternoon.  And I received two comments to pass along:

1. Mandy ShermanMarch 3, 2015 at 4:24 PM

   When it happens to me, I have the same thoughts....
   
   Mandy
2. 
   Teresa Perri FellMarch 4, 2015 at 10:47 AM

   Friends, therapists and loved ones can always understand (to varying degrees) when you write, "I thought, no, Thank you!", but those of us in any state of transition can *sympathize* with your comment. Every "Yes, ma'am?" and one clerk asking another "Can you help her with..." is pure gold. You go, girl!
3. What's that old phrase? You had to have been there to appreciate it? Well, I believe a ton of you have been there! Any transgender person most certainly has worked hard enough and has gone through enough pain to deserve a little verbal "Smootch!"

A Visionary?

As I have written here in Cyrsti's Condo before, my first initial explorations into Mom's makeup and clothes seem like a lifetime ago.  That is because it is true. Plus, every time I think one stage of my transition will not lead to another-it does.

It's happening again. All of the sudden, a very clear picture of whom I am to become in  the next stage of my transition is coming into focus .Huh?? Can't tell you exactly why, but everyonce in awhile my noggin kicks in with concrete "oh that makes sense" ideas. As it did when I decided to start HRT. 

Here's a look...kind of.  First of all, I wear glasses but only have a male pair.  I need a new pair so I "see/need" girl glasses in my future-so I can see...better...duh! Never had to worry about it when I was "part time." So,  barring plague, or pestilence, glasses are the number one priority. Secondly, in an order only my mind may comprehend, I'm thinking about a new off the shoulder hair style to complement the glasses. Plus, I have lost close to 25 pounds on my diet.

Finally, there is the TATOO.  Finally, I boxed myself in about subjecting my body to un-needed pain and suffering.  I slipped up in a moment of insanity and told Liz -years ago I would get a tattoo when Ohio State won another National Championship in football.  (Thinking they wouldn't) Well of course, this year they did and guess what?

For once, I do have a plan and it involves a pink and blue butterfly design (like the one on the left) over my right breast.


One way or another, I can't do my usual procrastination with any of this because yet again I'm meeting a whole set of new peeps.  I don't necessarily want to do any extra transitioning in front of them!

Bring the Popcorn!

We are still receiving great comments about Eddie Redmayne landing a transgender woman's role in an upcoming movie "The Danish Girl". Plus, increasingly, indepth posts are beginning to appear around the web.  For one of my faves, go here.

Back to our Condo Comments... The first is from Pat:

"If the movie is faithful to the story and to the book then we can expect a fair, sympathetic, emphathetic and feature film quality production. THe odds are greater for more people to feel safe and comfortable going to see the film if the lead is held by an Academy Award caliber actor than a relatively unknown T person."
Pat

And from Paula:

Paula GoodwinMarch 3, 2015 at 8:33 AM

"I wonder if Eddie was box office when hired? I suspect that producers should try to select the best actor for the job ~ regardless."

Good call Paula! First of all, it turns out Redmayne did have a history with the director in another  production. (The rest of you get your mind out of the gutter!)

 

Any more though, there are increasingly more transgender woman actresses capable of a role such as this so the rhetoric for not casting them is unfounded.
I do however think another of the most important casting factors of-a box office drawing card is showing a popular male actor transformed into a "woman."

Another "idea" I have read is-it would be too difficult to "un-transition" a gorgeous trans actress such as Jamie Clayton (left) to play the role.

 

Thanks Girls

It still is amazing to me when such a simple word, such as "girl" means so much.  Yesterday when Liz and I were running errands, when we were leaving one place-the clerk just said oft handlely "thanks girls."  I thought, no, Thank You!