Self-indulgent post-date post
Comments (10) Yay date! She brought me a flower and told me I’m cute. (A shameless liar, but I’ll allow it.) We both said we’d like to see each other again, and called it a night. Here’s a photo of what I wore:
Tada!
Comments (10) Bad Sex Jokes
By Rebecca, May 18, 2010 5:12 pm
I’m going on a date tonight (oooh) and a coworker was joking with me about it. “Don’t put out! By which I mean do put out. Or hopefully she’ll put out.”
I laughed, and shot back, “You suck!”
Which of course made her respond, “I don’t, but hopefully she will! Wait, that doesn’t work…”
I almost reminded her that, no, the parts I have does let that joke work. But just kept my mouth shut and smiled.
(And don’t worry, I’ll do a post on how the date went.)
Asserting identity in the hospital
By Rebecca, May 18, 2010 10:03 am
I’ll be performing this Friday at Queertopia at 8PM at Winston’s Cafe, 5001 N Clark, in Chicago. Tickets are $5 for students, $7 for everyone else, and the event is 21+. Below is the script I’m working on for the show.
Pantomime of a morning routine: Brushing teeth, washing face, plucking eyebrows, putting on foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush, lipstick. Clothing. Earrings. Then pantomime undoing everything, disrobing, and makeup wipes to remove everything (‘rinse and repeat’) and begin again.
While going through the routine the second (and subsequent) times: I’ve been in the hospital twice in as many months, after having stayed gloriously out of the hospital for years. Both times, I was admitted to the ER with severe abdominal pain, something that has been plaguing me every 6-8 weeks for the last year or so. The pain usually went away after a few hours, so though I’d almost gone to the ER a number of times, I’d always felt better before actually making the trip.
The first time I went to the ER , in early April, I was admitted at about 3AM. My roommate drove me to Swedish Covenant, on Foster, and they quickly admitted me – the waiting room was pretty empty. I stress about going to the hospital for all the usual reasons, but also because I’m trans: Any nurse or doctor or administrator could make my life very difficult because what’s between my legs doesn’t match most people’s concept of what “should” be there.
Within the first 30 minutes of my visit, I’d had to out myself multiple times, to multiple nurses and doctors: “I’m on Allegra. For allergies. And 100mg daily Sprionolactone, 100mg daily Prometrem, and 10mg daily Estrodial. Because I’m transgender – I’m on hormone replacement therapy.”
Backlog of Bookmarks
By Rebecca, May 17, 2010 12:20 am
Enjoy some links!
Beating Heart Stress Relief Pillow – I’m embarrassed that I kinda want one of these… “Happy Gallbladder Removal” gift, anyone?
How To Accept A Compliment – I’m really bad at accepting compliments (self-esteem issues) so I appreciated this little list of tips.
Mighty Ms. – New feminist blog I stumbled upon.
Growing Up Skipper – A toy where lifting her arm caused her breasts to ‘develop.’ If only it were that easy…
Pixels and Spinning – Two awesome videos on YouTube
Self-censorship, or picking your battles – How presentation at work can be a political act
I hate MTF and FTM – These labels being used to reassert assigned gender, rather than identified. Good point, Lisa!
What have you been reading/writing recently?
Indie Games Bundle!
By Rebecca, May 15, 2010 1:43 pm
Aquaria
Like computer games? Like indie computer games? (Like the previously-mentioned World of Goo?) Than you’ll love The Humble Indie Bundle. It’s a pay-what-you-can system where, for whatever you decide to send toward the project, you’ll get five great indie games, and some of your money will go toward two amazing charities: Child’s Play and The Electronic Frontier Foundation. The games also all run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I feel like I’m using too many italics in this post, but I’m crazy excited at projects like this.
Penumbra
They’ve already raised over one million dollars (prompting an extension of the Humble Bundle) with more than $100,000 going to each of these developers and each charity. I paid $20 (slightly more than the average) but feel like I got more than my money’s worth.
So go! What are you waiting for?!
review, toys
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reviews, toys, video games
Call and Response
By Rebecca, May 14, 2010 10:06 pm
As I mentioned, my stay at the hospital was gender-affirming. For the most part. One of the big problems, though, was my dad. I think it was because he was so nervous and worried about me (which is a good thing) but he just could not use the proper pronouns. It got to the point where I felt like we were involved in some sort of odd call and response activity:
“Well, his pain hasn’t been that bad…”
“Her.”
“He’s finally on solid food.”
“She’s.”
“I was talking with him earlier, and he said…”
“Her. She.”
It was kind of infuriating. My dad said, with some legitimacy, that my mom has had more time with me than he has. But, in my frustration, I could only respond, “I’ve been out to you for ten years. I’ve been transitioning for three years. You’ve had time.”
Maybe not the most tactful response, but just as true.
Guest posts and reader questions
By Rebecca, May 13, 2010 10:50 am
Hey gang! I’m still recuperating, slowly but surely. So even though I’m feeling noticeably better each day, I’m still a long ways away from 100%. As such, I don’t know when I’ll be able to get back to posting here as frequently or as verbosely as I like to, so I wanted to open up two questions to You, The Readers.
First, I’d love to provide an opportunity for guest posts, if anyone is interested. If you have a topic you’d like to write on, let me know. If you have an older post from your own blog you’d like to expose to a wider audience (meager as that ‘wider audience’ may be!) let me know that, too. Shoot me an email at blog [at] fridaythang.com; I’d love to hear from you.
Likewise, if anyone has any questions for me they’re dying to have answered, or topics they would like to see me write on, I’m open to that, too. (Shamelessly stealing a page from Bond’s book.) Leave a question or a topic in the comments, or shoot me an email.
I hope to hear from you!
Movie reviews from a hospital bed
By Rebecca, May 12, 2010 12:58 am
I’m out of the hospital (thank goodness!) and slowly recovering, but thought it’d be fun to do mini-reviews of the many movies I’ve watched this past week. Enjoy!
Star Trek (the new one) – I’m ashamed, as a geek, to admit that I’d never seen a Star Trek movie or TV episode before watching this. But, having seen it, I want to go back and watch some of the older ones. I really enjoyed it! I wasn’t totally expecting to (and the morphine may have helped) but I thought it was a good mix of action, intrigue (at least enough intrigue for an action movie), and character development. I also thought they did a good job offering nods to past Star Trek characters, and I’m sure I would have gotten tons more references if I hadn’t just been relying on the bits and pieces of Star Trek lore I’ve accumulated over my years. Verdict: Definitely worth watching
Sunshine Cleaning – I started this movie expecting a dark comedy with some drama, and ended up watching a dark drama with some comedy. Which, fortunately, was worth it. But I did not see the movie I was expecting, so be warned if you’re looking for something lighthearted. I was really pleasantly surprised, though, at the lesbian character who shows up midway through the film. She very easily could have been cast as a man, without making any major plot changes, but she just happens to be a woman. Her sexuality was never the focus of a huge, dramatic scene, but simply wove into the rest of the plot. I also really liked the casting of this movie, from the young son up through the grandfather. Verdict: Worth seeing
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – I originally had no interest in seeing this movie (considering it revisionist blasphemy) but a good write-up on io9 made me want to check it out. It certainly wasn’t amazing – even at their worst, Pixar makes better movies – but it was more enjoyable than I expected. The plot was pretty weak, even for a kids movie, but it was pretty and the cute little romance between the main characters was fun to see. It had some good gags, or at least I thought so while on morphine, but you wouldn’t miss anything amazing if you gave it a pass. Verdict: Worth watching with kids, or on morphine
I live!
By Rebecca, May 10, 2010 3:57 pm
So I’m out of the hospital, finally. (Truth be told, I got out on Friday.) I have a few posts in the pipeline, but wanted to send out a quick “Hello” to reassure my adoring fan(s) that I haven’t totally forgotten about you.
Recovery is slow, and tiring, and boring. Mostly been laying around, though I did go to work for a few hours today. It was exhausting (not in a bad way, just in a “I haven’t recovered my strength” way) but it made me feel like I’m a real person and not just a TV-movie-watching couch potato.
I’m going to take a nap, but I do have an open question: What exciting story should I use to explain my surgical scars? I have four nickel-sized holes on my tummy, and need a good explanation. 
Hospitals and Hair
By Rebecca, May 6, 2010 7:48 pm
Tonight is my last night at the hospital. (Fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc.) The gallbladder was removed last night, along with the bazillion more gallstones it contained. My parents actually claim the doctor said my gallbladder had 100 more gallstones, which is disgusting if it’s true.
This morning, after lugging myself to the bathroom, I looked in the mirror to see something of a stranger. First, because one of my roommates had put my hair into two braided pigtails last night, before I went into surgery. I’ve been way to lazy to remove ‘em, so they’ve stayed the last 24 hours. Second, because the IV fluids, coupled with little food, have given me a simultaneously gaunt and water-bloated look. On top of that, I haven’t really bathed all week, so my color is way off and I’m all blotchy.
Most obnoxious, though, was the little soul-patch beneath my lower lip, a remnant of my facial hair that the laser removal hasn’t been able extinguish.
Themocracy