Every Picture Tells a Story

Many of us would be thrilled with her reaction!

Plus, he has a ready-made wardrobe.

I hope she has good taste! :)

And, if not, he can buy "her" gifts in his style.

Now, if only her shoes fit too....

Hm... I wonder how he feels about her telling her friends.

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Lucky Boy

I've never tried this before. This should embed a flash video.  Hopefully it doesn't play all by itself.  I won't know until it posts.  If it refuses to be polite and starts making noise without being asked, I'll delete it!



If it doesn't work in your browser, try here.

How many of you wanted a sister like her?  And mom seems OK with this too. 

This is a Trident gum ad I saw a couple of days ago.

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Comments on Comments

First, Louise wrote, in part "I have just come out to my wife."  Well, those are the kinds of stories I find irresistible.  Read Louise's at her blog, LouiseMostly.

Maria Victoria wrote:

Please don't pay so much attention to P's comments...you know, we know and probably he knows you were fantastic as Christine...you looked beautiful...probably he is impressed and avoid say it.

I'm posting that in full for context, not for the flattery (which I do appreciate!).  OK, maybe just a little teeny bit for the flattery. :)

I've been thinking about why straight males are, shall I say, less accepting of crossdressers than they are of gays.  I might have said "more hostile towards crossdressers" or "find us ickier."  I'll be kind and stick with "less accepting."

I see three things.  In order of least to most important:

There's the time factor.  Gays have been in the public eye (or in your face) longer than we have.  We're still mostly very closeted.  So we're kind of stuck in a cycle here.  We're not out because we're not accepted; we're not accepted because we're not out.

Second, there's history.  Gays, before Stonewall, have rarely been portrayed in the popular media.  In the book The Maltese Falcon, Wilmer (slyly referred to as a gunsel) was clearly a gay character.  In the movie, that was pretty much hidden.  Crossdressing was never treated as a lifestyle; it was always treated with humour.  Until Psycho (where it was instead treated as part of a homicidal disorder) crossdressing was always a joke.  Man puts on dress.  Hilarity ensues.

But the biggest issue is, we pose a threat to male self-identity that gays do not.

Here's my take: a straight male looks at a gay male and says "eww...  but at least he's not competing with me for the babes, so that's cool."  Admittedly, some stop at "eww" and try to eliminate the "threat" to his "way of life" ~ he's afraid it might be contagious, or he might be the next "romantic subject" because he's so irresistible.  But most make the two-part connection.  Personally, I've always been confused that being gay is a "disorder" but hating gays is considered normal.  I'd reverse that.

A straight guy looks at a crossdresser and says "cute.  I wonder what it'll take to get her into my bed?" and then finds out she's not at all what he thought she was and he's back to "eww"... but now it's personal.  "How DARE he get me aroused?"  Without doing anything, just by being herself, the crossdresser has tried to make him her next "romantic subject."  In his mind.  He may even question his own masculinity ~ maybe not consciously, but it's there.  "I thought a guy was cute!  I must be gay!"

This is why I went to the Transgender Day of Remembrance service.

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More Mini-Heart Attacks

I received an e-mail from P with the subject:

What does this mean..

I thought "Oh.  Sh!t.  It went through after all.  Dam Dam Dam Dam Dam."

I opened the message.

It had to do with some files on his computer that he wasn't familiar with.

*phew*

Then I looked further down my list of messages.

He did get the message I meant to send to myself.

He wrote "I guess this was meant for J?"

I think I'll go with that.  But how did he ignore that subject ("More fun with civilians")?  And if he's still talking to J....

I may still be in trouble.

Game Over Man, Game Over!

I've been corresponding with my wife's friend J.  J, you may recall, came down for the rally.  She's looking for advice on a new computer, and, well, I never pass by an opportunity for some "girl talk."

She wanted to chat about the list of good computer values I had sent her.  She got home late, and e-mailed, asking if we could talk earlier the following night.  I said sure, but at the time she wanted to call "I might be enjoying my Chanukah presents....  I'm hoping to get some new outfits.:)"

When we spoke, she started by asking if I "got any new outfits" and before I could answer said that she wasn't sure what I meant at first and then figured out that I meant "Christine outfits" and that that was pretty funny.

Throughout the conversation, my wife was sitting five feet away, so I couldn't say "I really need some dresses now that the holidays are here."  Instead I said "one can never have enough."

You know how in a tv show or a movie, a character is on the phone and doesn't want the other person in the room to know that the call is from a certain party or about a certain topic and he dances around the subject so as not to give it away?

"Oh hi... 'mother.'"
"Mother?  What are you talking about?  Is she there?"
"Yes, uh, 'mother.'  It was quite unexpected."
"Did you get the package?"
"Yes, it was exactly what I wanted."

And so on.  That was how I felt.  I really wanted to start an outfit conversation, and I'm sure she would have enjoyed it (she brought it up later), but my wife wouldn't have and so after a bit of innocuous small talk, we talked computers.

At the end of the conversation she asked what I did get.  I told her and she said "maybe tomorrow you'll get a new outfit."  I said "that would be nice.  You never know."  She said "or at least some nice heels.  You can always go to DSW."  I said "I'll write that down" and she laughed.

What I wanted to say was "you didn't like my shoes?" and maybe get into a conversation about how I didn't want to wear spiked heels on the grass and had considered boots but they were EXPENSIVE and besides most guys like the skirt-and-boots combination and I didn't want to get P too excited.

I suspect my little guardian angel ~ the one that's kept me from doing something fatally stupid all these years ~ was keeping my wife in the room so I wouldn't say something fatally stupid.

If we follow up via e-mail (about computers) I might thank her for the lead at DSW and say they don't have a lot in my size.  The problem is, I'd rather TALK than WRITE.  Talk is much more dynamic and fun, and I can see if she's enjoying it and end it if she's not.  it also does not leave a record she can forward to my wife!

Now, why that Alien quote as the subject for this post?

I wanted to remember the e-mail exchange between J and me, for a new post (this one).  So I snipped a portion and sent it to my work address:

I'm not expecting sudden laryngitis, so yes, I should be able to talk
tomorrow evening.  I might be enjoying my Chanukah presents though, and
not want to be interrupted.  I'm hoping to get some new outfits.:)


>  Thanks for working on this today! I have been sick since Thursday of
>  Last week and although I am beginning to feel better, I still have
>  Some kind of bug so am not sure if I will be up to talking with you
>  About this tonight(I won't be back home till close to 9:30 from the
>  office)
>
>  Are you able to talk tomorrow evening between 8 and 9?
>
>  J : )

Yes, she always signs with a smiley.

I copied-and-pasted this into a new message.  In Thunderbird, if you start to type the address it fills in the rest.  I typed the first letter, hit tab and added a subject ("More fun with civilians").  Then I hit send.

The "sending" window appeared.  It should have taken no time at all, but it lingered for a second or so.  I glanced at the message and saw that the address I had approved wasn't mine.  It was P's.  I hit cancel as quickly as I could

It did indeed cancel.  It said "send failed" and it wasn't in my outbox.

After I recovered from the mini-heart attack and thanked the angel for working late, I sent it to myself.

It's not horrible, but it would not have been easy to explain.

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I Have the Perfect Response for P!

But I will defer to the good sense of my readers and only open my mouth to touch up my lipstick.

I picked up a Nine West dress at Macy's today.  I can't find it online; not surprising ~ it was on clearance.  $50 for a $128 dress, and I had a coupon for an additional 25% off so it was about $38 with tax.  Not bad.  You too can have 25% off at Macy's!  If you order on-line for the next few days (through Monday), use code MACYSFF and you'll get 25% off (some restrictions apply).  Don't tell them where you got the code.  It's our secret. ;)

...or Get Off the Pot

In yesterday's post, I summarised an e-mail exchange with P:

...I wrote "I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the correct size. :)" to which he replied "I would say that all of DC saw that you paid close attention to detail.  ;-)"

So I think that thread's done.  I don't really have an answer to his last comment.  I do reserve the right to think up a comment.

I thought up a comment.

I should let it lie, but I have a tendency to beat things to death.  In this case, I'm letting it die, bringing it back to life, and beating it to death again.  I wrote:

Hey ~ I didn't want to look stupid.  I was O'Donnell, so I had free rein to act stupid, but not look stupid.  I do wonder how many people thought I was a girl.  Probably not many.

I'm not sure I understand his response, but I am absolutely definitely positively going to not respond.

Any comments I make are certainly in jest.  I would say that everyone not only got the joke, I am sure they were impressed with how you put "her" all together.  It was a *great* costume, and you should proud - I guess ;-)

I'm not sure.  Does he think my comments are not in jest?  Does he know and not want to step over the line and insult me, but also not want to encourage me?  "I guess ?"  If everyone "got the joke" then he's saying everyone knew I was a guy.  Right?  Or is he saying everyone knew I was Christine.

Maybe I should reply.

I'm just afraid that the next response has to be "it's something I do, sometimes" and, well, I'm just afraid.  Enough readers have expressed the same do-not-do-this that I will not do this.

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