Vampires

I guess I didn't go into the specifics enough when I wrote a couple days ago here in Cyrsti's Condo about my latest trip to the Dayton, Ohio Veteran's Administration Medical Center. Callie wrote in and commented:

"I'm glad all is well Cyrsti. I'm in Dayton as I write this and it appears to be a pretty conservative community. It sounds like you were treated well however. Sorry you had to go for a second pint. I suppose you just can't go to the local pub to get it replaced :)"

I was lucky Callie and only had three vials of blood drawn for my laboratory  tests.  Had I had two pints taken, I may have had to find the nearest pub! :)

As far as Dayton being conservative, the town has come a long way in it's acceptance of the LGBTQ community.  In fact, both Dayton and Toledo, Ohio were recently named as LGBTQ friendly medium sized citiies in the country. 

I hope you were treated well too in Dayton!

Transgender School

On the Road Again

Yesterday was what I call "Blood Day" at the Dayton, Ohio Veterans Administration Medical Center. It was my three month visit to hematology to check the iron levels in my blood. If the iron goes too high, they have to take a pint out. Which is not my favorite time.

Normally, I am mostly upbeat about my treatment from the VA. Yesterday turned out to be the exception though. Of course, most of you know, or have guessed by now I am a transgender veteran.

Before I go to hematology, I have to have blood labs taken, so without fail I did that and stopped at the cafeteria afterwards to eat. I was starving since I had to fast before the labs and I had no breakfast. Plus I had to wait an hour for the results of the blood work to come back. By this time, I was feeling good about myself. I was dressed nice in my red sweater, red patterned paisley leggings and black flats. Even my back felt fairly good after all the walking.

Surprisingly, breakfast was good (or I was just that hungry) and I headed up to hematology. Little did I know, I would soon be reliving a part of my Army days. Hematology told me the lab vampires had taken the wrong samples and I would have to go back and do the whole process again. Fortunately, the line to get my labs taken again was not very long. I repeated the process and headed back to hematology to wait, and wait and wait.

At least the two hours came out with a good ending. My iron was at an acceptable level again. Plus after a little research, we found I have not had to have any blood taken since last November. So, after my next appointment in three months with the Doc, hopefully I will be able to do away with the three month scheduling all together and just come every six months.

So maybe the old Army "hurry up and wait" theory was worth it after all. It's just another two hours of my life I will never get back.

Victory!

Hard fought victories are so hard to come by these days but yet, they keep on coming.

First, a little background on our featured transgender actress Nicole Maines from Cyrsti's Condo reader Leann:

Nicole Maines

"IF one does not know her story, it is an interesting one. She and her twin brother lived in Maine when her school refused to let her use the ladies room. She (her parents) sued and eventually won the right to do so. Her family had to move during the litigation due to harassment. Her case was the first successful case of its type in the USA. One interesting story I heard her father tell was that one night he was having dinner with a group of Generals and Admirals. They started asking about families and Wayne said: "I have a set of IDENTICAL twins, one boy and one girl." Apparently, the big wigs took a moment to think about that one. Rumor has it that there may have been smoke coming off of their heads :).

Please...see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Mainesor https://bangordailynews.com/2014/12/01/news/bangor/nicole-maines-transgender-student-maine-lawsuit-ends-with-order-telling-school-to-allow-bathroom-access-based-on-gender-identification/"

And , from Indiana: A Dad's campaign forces school to drop policy humiliating transgender son. "Brian Thomas" launched a petition on May 7th when his son's school in Ft. Wayne was refusing to use his new name at graduation.  The petition tallied more than 14,000 signatures and forced the school administration to reverse it policy and not "dead name" Wyatt at graduation. Great!

Wyatt

When I see successes of young transgender women and men such as these, the future becomes brighter!

  

Indya Moore

Indya Moore becomes the first transgender person on the cover of "Elle."

From "Pride" :
An earlier version of this article referred to Indya Moore using she/her pronouns based on the Elle article's note that Moore okayed the use of 'she/her' for their article. After further consideration, the pronouns have been switched to those Moore generally prefers, which are they/them.

Pose star Indya Moore broke barriers this month when they became the first transgender person to be featured on the cover of Elle.

Nicole Maines

Beautiful 21 year old transgender actress of Super Girl fame "Nicole Maines."

Happy Mother's Day

Or should I say, Happy Parent's Day?

For most of transgender people, it is a bittersweet day. A remembrance of un-accepting children. For others it is simply an uneasy adjustment to the new you. And, if you are very fortunate, it is time for you to be remembered as a parent. A role model for children to be themselves...no matter what.

As most of you already know, I list myself as a very fortunate transgender woman. My daughter is very accepting and I have made my peace with my un-accepting Mother.

For the rest of you, I will only say be patient with your loved ones. Hopefully, they will come around eventually.

Every year I hope this post finds more of you in the accepting category. For those of you still in the closet, the problem is trying to figure out ahead of time who will accept you and who won't. Most of the time, it is impossible to predict.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy "Parent's Day!"

Ladies

Today (Saturday) was typically martial arts day for Liz and an afternoon of running errands for both of us.

Something must have gone right for me today since the closeted cross dresser was even semi civil to me. The hour class went by in a hurry and I caught up on my busy work on my phone. I am trying to connect a guy working on LGBT history in Dayton, Ohio with Columbus, Ohio trans historian J.M. Ellison to see if they have anything in common. In addition the guy in Dayton was asking if I have anything to add. I really don't think I do because I didn't actually live in Dayton (just close to it) and so really didn't know much about the LGBT scene there.

The grocery store was predictably bland except for one possible other transgender woman I see there often. I was waiting at the bank for Liz to open a savings account and only was able to see her (the trans woman) at a distance.

Seemingly, it took forever for the banking transaction to be completed, so I spent my time reading a Cincinnati Magazine detailing the booming local/world food scene. About the time I was getting very restless, Liz and the bank manager emerged and the manager (also a woman) said "You ladies have a good afternoon."

Her statement was enough to erase any restlessness and propelled me on to the rest of my afternoon.

The day will continue on until tonight when we are invited again to dinner with a couple of our cross dresser acquaintances.It should be interesting, as always!

Man Speak?

If you have never been spoken down to as a woman by a man, you don't know what you are missing. I learned very quickly what I was missing...most of my intelligence. Both binary genders learn quickly how to communicate within themselves but normally aren't very good at dealing with the other gender.

I provided one example in my "Short and Sweet" post and Connie provides us with another:

"So, it's not just blondes, huh? At least you avoided the mansplaining.

I remember an episode of "Father Knows Best," wherein Jim was teaching his wife, Margaret, how to drive. While he thought it important that she have a working knowledge of the mechanics of the car before learning how to drive it, Margaret wanted to just turn the key and go. As I recall, they never got out of the driveway during that first lesson - which ended in a fight, leaving Jim bewildered at Margaret's incompetence and Margaret feeling down because of Jim's mansplaining. Of course, Father rarely knew best on that show, which aired in the 50's, but there are still many men who make the same mistake today.

Most of my working life was spent in the construction field. I knew my business, and I had (still have) a working knowledge of the building process. I learned something new every day, but not because it had been explained to me in a condescending manner. It was all man to man, and we spoke the same language. Since I began transitioning, though, I have found it best to not even let it be known that I am still fluent in manspeak. If I am working on a project around the house, and go to the supplier for parts (and maybe a bit of advice), I will allow for some mansplaining, but I just ask the right questions in order to get the needed information and materials.

Sometimes, the smart thing to do is to appear to be a bit dumb, even if there are other times when all I want to do is to turn the key and get on with it."

My best example still is the tow truck driver who wouldn't listen to my directions to my own house! At that point I was still very new to the feminine experience  and was aggravated for awhile until I learned this was going to be indicative of my new life.   FYI, I was a blond back in those days.