What to Wear?

When in doubt on what to write, which happens quite a bit when you write a daily blog, my mind normally turns to what I am going to wear.

As I think "back to the day", I remember Liz asking me what kind of woman I would become. Meaning, would I be more of a "girly-girl" needing makeup to even go out the door. Or, more of a "tom-boy"

Moving forward to today, I am a little of both. Even though I hesitate about not wearing makeup on my daily walk, I normally don't see anyone anyhow, so it is OK. Of course, anytime we are going out and will see the public, I always try to look my best...with makeup. Many times it doesn't matter on  these hot summer days, when makeup seems to disappear as fast as I put it on. Thank goodness for my smoother HRT induced skin!

Then, there are the clothes I wear. During the summer, I have several "softy" tank tops I wear around the house with an old pair of culottes. I have enough breast growth to tell but not enough to appear overly promiscuous. After all, we have a 20 year old man/boy running around here.

When I go out, I am still fond of my jeans and jeggings but seemingly am moving the bar upward with more feminine tops and my maxi dress. I also have have an embroidered long black skirt I plan on wearing to a picnic we are going to in early August along with the black and cream tank top I wore to Pride this year.

Over all, I guess I am starting to move the bar higher in the girly-girl department and out of the tom-boy scene.

It feels fun!

Monday, Monday

Not much interesting happening for me today. Tonight one of the cross dresser- transgender support groups I belong to is having a meeting discussing attempting to secure insurance as a transgender person. Since I am a trans vet and have all my health care through the Veteran's Administration, I have no need to go to the meeting.

Tomorrow could be be interesting because my other LGBTQ support group meets. One never knows what sort of interesting cast of characters could be attending.

I will let you know what happens.

I found this old picture I thought I would pass along. I didn't know ii even existed. It includes two of my oldest friends who accepted me...as me and helped me in my MTF gender transition more than I could ever say.

The woman on the right is the one we visited for the Fourth of July party.

Birthday Party

Last night was my youngest grandson's birthday party, which at his age (sixth grade) mattered to everyone else more than him.

We all met at an upscale Japanese Steak House for dinner, then went to the nearby in laws for after dinner relaxation and chats.

I wore the pre-mentioned maxi dress and was very comfortable all night long in my black flats. It's nice when I am not subjected to stupid stares. I wasn't.

More importantly though, I felt comfortable with the other attendees. As I have mentioned often here in Cyrsti's Condo, the side of the family who came last night is totally comfortable with a transgender member of the family.

I can't say enough, how much I appreciate them!

Female vs Woman

In all the posts recently when we have "skirted" the issue on compliments from all people including cross dressers, transgender women and even cis women.

Along the way, it occurred to me, I had forgotten one of the oldest concepts I used to write about here in Cyrsti's Condo. The fact being born female does not make you a woman. The same as being born male does not make you a man. Both are socialized positions, so to speak.

Class? All Low?

Unfortunately, as trans women and/or cross dressers, some of our most strenuous ridicule comes from females...not women.

I always figure they think they are superior to us because they were born with a vagina. Most likely though, they are a little jealous when we happen to outdo them in the looks department.

It is also one of the reasons we have to make our look appear effortless. Which any woman will tell you takes a lot of work.

I just figured it was important again to make sure we all know the difference between a female and a woman. There is a huge divide.

Party Animal?

All of a sudden, weekends are the place to be for Liz and I. In fact, this Saturday, we had to turn down one event with friends to go to a family birthday party. The family that accepts me totally. One part doesn't. Naturally, the friends do too. I am so fortunate.

As luck would (or wouldn't) have it, Saturday is supposed to return to heat in the mid nineties...the bad news. The good news is, the birthday party is going to be held at another upscale food venue, perfect again for my "maxi-dress." 

No one there will have seen me since I got my hair done, lost a bit of weight or have seen me in the dress in person. So I am looking forward to the get together.

Then on Sunday we have another Witches Ball Meeting to go to. It is not till October but it is now only one hundred days away. So there is planning to do.

I am not sure what I will do when all this social activity begins to subside. I guess, go back to being bored! Except Liz and I have already decided to take a couple days off in August to take another mini-vacation.

You Look Great!

Just what everyone wants to hear, right? Especially after seemingly spending hours finding the perfect dress and then adding the perfect makeup to go with it. Plus, how about the extra ten pounds you have just dieted away to make the "perfect dress" look even better. It turns out though, even compliments seem to be gender directed on occasions.

With a similar take on compliments, let's check in with Connie:

FABULOUSCONNIEDEEJuly 11, 2018 at 12:55 PM

"How about the fact that trans women are often apt to be comparing their own "feminine look" to other trans women's, and some may be just plain jealous. Of course, there are the cross dressers who post pics of themselves endlessly, and most of them are, at least informally, members of a mutual admiration society. This goes toward your recent post about how some cross dressers think transitioning women to be bitches, so why would they bother to give you a compliment? They would think that a bitchy, HRT-sucking trans woman would not offer them one in return?

When I lived outwardly as a man, I would almost always compliment women on a new hairdo. I found that they appreciated hearing it from a man, even if it was the woman in me who was expressing herself - unbeknownst to them, of course.

I remember that my mother was often fishing for a compliment from me when I was young. I'm sure she did so because my father had died when I was very young, and she just needed to receive that attention at home. It did not seem natural for me, as her son, to be handing out compliments to her freely, so it was awkward when she was making it clear that she was hoping for one. The girl in me was quite willing, and I always took note of her style from that perspective. But, then, I expended a lot of energy trying to cover that up. When my mom was attending an etiquette and modeling school, she would always show me what she had learned in class each week. I was very attentive, but made sure that I didn't show my enthusiasm. Just as I learned makeup skills by pretending to need to talk with her, as I stood in the doorway to her bathroom while she was getting herself ready, I learned early-on how to make myself feminine through my mother. If only I had given her the chance to see what she had taught me; the way I turned out might have been the biggest compliment I could have given to her.

I would add that being gracious in accepting a compliment can be just as important as giving one - and often harder to do. "

Great points as always! Thanks for sharing.

Vocalizing?

Recently, we received a couple comments to a Cyrsti's Condo post called "Voice Police" which I have been meaning to pass along and just couldn't find the time (sorry!)

Here they are:

1. 
   MarianJuly 9, 2018 at 5:37 PM

   "Cyrsti -
   
   I found that one of the local colleges near where I live helps Trans folk learn to speak in the Androgynous vocal range with appropriate speech mannerisms. Maybe something like this can be found where you live. Hearing and Speech labs in many colleges like to use TGs as their guinea pigs in exchange for low cost therapy.
   
   In the NYC area where I live, each session from one professional costs $150. At the local college, the same basic therapy (under the supervision of a board certified supervisor) costs $60. Yes, it may not be as good as the $150 sessions, but you get 80-90% of what you're looking for for about 40% of the cost.
   
   M"
2. 
   Michelle HartJuly 10, 2018 at 8:13 AM

   "You may find that after you find your female voice, it will be hard to use the vocal patterns that youve been using for years."
3. Marian, thanks for the reminder! I have heard the educational voice connection idea a couple times. Since I can go through the Veteran's Administration for free, I forget on occasion to mention other options!
4. Michelle, I can't wait for that to happen! :)

Too Much Information?

My transgender - cross dresser support group meeting the other night, turned out to be less than exciting.

We had two new attendees, who, unlike most new people in a group weren't shy about letting us all in on their life stories. I guess I am the bitch in this situation, because I am fairly sure the so called moderators of the group should have called time out on both of them. Then again, one of the moderators should call time out on herself after telling the same stories every two weeks.

She is fond of telling everyone of her new found success in the world as a woman, which is fine, except for two people in the group who have been fired from their jobs for being trans in the last year.

I did get to see the person known as the "ultimate cross dresser" in guy dress and he is right that he is very gender fluid.

I suppose too, the people who talk the most, don't normally have anyone to talk to. I am fortunate to have a partner who encourages me to talk when I get quiet.

So, I should be more understanding and I am working on it.

Maybe, just maybe, the moderators could bring an egg timer, to pass along a gentle hint when another abusive father story goes a little long?

And oh...by the way, I can get very agitated when someone calls me a "gurl." I just don't want to know what that means.

Therapist Revisited

Often, my therapist visits are mainly very vanilla in nature, with the occasional "aha" moment sneaking in.

We had one of those yesterday when I brought up the relative lack of response to me getting about half my hair cut off. I wondered why out loud and she brought up a couple points.

First and foremost, she said maybe it's because men normally don't mention, or notice things like hair on women. So, perhaps these cross dressers or transgender women haven't advanced that far into womanhood. I am sure you have noticed it is a far different world than the male one. When dealing with another woman, any sort of compliment is a nice way to open communication on a good level.

She also said, to be fair, many novice cross dressers and/or trans woman are still too wrapped up in how they look to notice others. Naturally they suffer from extreme insecurities.

One way or another, I left with a better understanding of the gender world.