The Calm After the Storm

The calm after the storm. A rare double rainbow seen outside Liz's front door and dedicated to Orlando. She took the picture, I was busy crying...damn hormones!!!!

(Picture taken South over Ohio River East of Cincinnati.

Suck it Up Buttercup

Well, the much un-awaited moment of my first colonoscopy  is bearing down on me Monday. If you know anything about one, much of the difficult work is done the day before during a clean out period.

None of this is my first rodeo so to speak, after all I am a veteran of three former colonoscopies.

However this is my first procedure of any kind this far advanced into my MtF transition. As I have written, even though I know the nursing team has most likely seen it all before, perhaps, not so much with me. With my highly androgynous body.

I see Monday too, as an advanced look to at a medical future I am not sure I am ready for.

Not to be too crass here but it's time to bend over and get it started, I guess. The option of having colon cancer is much worse.

Courage, Perseverance, Pride

In the wake of the tragedy in Orlando, I am sure LGBTQ people across the country are questioning their security at upcoming Pride events. 

Here in Cincinnati, it is no different to be sure as I watch most of the Facebook action. 

Fortunately, most of the response seems to be for everyone to move cautiously forward and not let acts of hate take away our lives as we know them. To do so is no worse than getting shoved back into closets we have worked so hard to get out of.
As far as I am concerned, I am going forward with a couple of my planned volunteer activities for Pride.



Plus keep a sharp eye out for anything. I have come too far to go back now.

While My Blog Gently Weeps

This pretty much says it all:

Lindsey Muller

From the Military Times: Lindsey Muller spent most of her 16-year Army career as a man named Ryan. About two years ago, the UH-64 Apache Longbow pilot changed her name, started taking female hormones and underwent what the 34-year-old describes as “female puberty.”

The biggest step in her transition came in 2014, when she confronted her commanders with the fact she is a transgender soldier who, under current Pentagon rules, has a “psychosexual condition” that warrants medical separation. “When I walked into their offices I had the current policy in my hand,” Muller, a chief warrant officer 2, told Military Times. “I said ‘Hey, based on this regulation, I’m deemed unfit to serve. It was almost throwing myself at my commander’s mercy.”

The commanders' response was unexpected. “I was encouraged to stay and continue my career,” she said.

Follow the link above for more!

JJ's Sunday Edition

Ker Plunk! Another Sunday Edition is hitting your virtual front porch.
Weather wise we are expecting another sweltering 90 degree humid Ohio summer day, so iced everything will be the way to go today! So let's get started:

Page One: The Week that Was-or Wasn't: First of all, my condolences go out to all the victims of senseless crimes this week. Of course the latest was the twenty plus casualties in Orlando last night at the "Pulse" Night Club. While my blog gently weeps, I just hope for more love in the world. It's frustrating when it seems every week you read of a new story of a gunman opening fire with an "AK-47" on a group of innocent civilians.

Page Two: Yesterday's Coffee-Opinion: Well, the bonfire has come and gone and I had an excellent time even though for once the trans girl wasn't the most interesting woman there.

That honor went to the woman who after about 15 minutes, said it was too hot and there were no men and pulled her wig off and set it on the table. (Cancer survivor plus paranormal ghost buster.)


If you look closely in the picture, I am in the back left corner wearing a striped top. As I said, an excellent time!!!

Page Three: The Back Page: As hot and humid as yesterday was, at certain times I wished I could take my wig off too, except of course I don't wear wear one. Plus, as it turned out, what was left of any makeup I tried to wear was a waste of time too. Which leads me to Connie's comment: "The best paint jobs always start with proper preparation and a good primer. More paint won't make up for those things; in fact, it usually only makes it worse. So it goes, working through our transitions."

I love you all and thanks for taking your time to stop by JJ's!

Are the Knives Sharpened?

It's been a minute since I have written here about the differences I learned almost immediately in gender conflict. Or, the stamina it takes to be a transgender woman survivor.

Very quickly I found men would either head to the other side of the room, ignore me or lay down the occasional cheap shot. Women however were much different of course.

I learned many times a smiling feminine face was concealing a sharp knife behind her back. So I ended up being wounded more than once.

It will be interesting to see how many of the women tomorrow night (23) migrate at all towards me or away from me.

I have been to "girls only" events before and the big difference was family talk versus sports and job talk. Which I can still do equally as well.

The only thing I don't have is grandkid pics...a needed accessory.

The only woman I can see who would remotely find me offensive is a religious right winger and I don't want to be part of that! (She doesn't.)

So, my junior knife set is sharpened and I can't wait to have a good time.

It's All Just Paint

Back in the day, I always had an incredibly difficult time painting my model cars just right. Ironically that inadequacy carried on through to the present when I try to paint my own nails.

Last night though, I seemed to have a breakthrough of sorts as I gave myself a pedicure which is yet another girl thing I have to do before the Saturday "girl's only" bonfire invite.

While far from from perfect, I believe my work was serviceable and will be fine for my open toed footwear I plan for Saturday. Plus, once I started to try on clothes, not so surprisingly, I flew through option "A" and "B" and settled on "C". Which is by far the coolest most comfortable outfit I have for a 90 degree evening. Without having to go into too much detail. I' m wearing white culottes with a gray and blue striped top and macrame flip flops.

What is really nice these days is that I don't have to worry about wearing an overabundance of any makeup. Again making life much easier in the Ohio heat and humidity.

So maybe my problem was all the time, I was using too much paint! 

Ameila Gapin

My partner Liz is a runner, and me not so much, so imagine my surprise when she harrassed me for not even giving her latest "Women's Running" Magazine a second look. On the cover was a full length shot of Ameila Gapin runner first and transgender woman second.

The magazine itself did a wonderful job of taking on the task of the challenges trans women face when they compete as far as gender markers, testosterone levels etc.

I am not a runner, but I will gladly tell anyone who will listen, how estrogen and HRT will sap your body strength before you know it.

Ameila goes into it as only a dedicated runner can in this article. Plus, you can follow her SRS challenges on her blog link above.