Jeeeze, it's been a while...

Let's see. I've gotten sort of lazy and haven't updated this thing of mine in....yipes. TWO MONTHS!

Well, in the last two months,

There were a couple of holidays - Memorial Day on May 30 (For which I took a little weekend road trip to Virginia Beach along with my mom, grandmother, brother and uncle) and Independence Day on July 4.

Somewhere around New Jersey we mistakenly took the fork for the highway that goes from New York to Chicago, instead of the highway that takes you in the direction of Washington DC (Virginia Beach is sort of south of Washington DC).

My mom and I didn't realize we had made a wrong turn until we were somewhere halfway through Pennsylvania (this was at about 1 a.m.). By then it was too late to turn back to head to New Jersey and get on the right highway, so we did the next best thing.

We turned south at the next town we reached and commenced a LONG sojourn that would take us through south Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, bypassing Baltimore and going around Washington DC.

A trip that would have taken normally six hours of driving turned into a whole day excursion where we didn't get into Newport News (where our hotel was) until 5 p.m. on SATURDAY! Nothing much to do at that hour so we all just grabbed dinner, showered (oh god was that a blessing!) and then turned in for the night, where we all slept like logs.

On Sunday, we got to check out Colonial Williamsburg. While C-W was interesting, I think I had picked a bad weekend for going there. A lot of the buildings were closed and so were a few stores, so that made me feel like we had gotten robbed. Maybe next time it won't suck as much. Luckily a couple of museums were open and we got to spend time checking them out.

That Sunday evening, after we came back from C-W, my mom and I drove around to pick up a spare pair of slacks for me (I had forgotten to pack a spare pair) and also some fixin's for sandwiches for dinner.

We got to talking about the whole trans thing. She seems to be slowly getting used to the idea, even though I know she's not happy about it. I got to tell her a little bit more about the stuff I had running through my head when I was a litle kid about wishing I were born female, etc.

Both of us agreed not to tell anything to my grandmother for the time being. She's not in good health and my mom is afraid the shock may kill her. Besides, I'd rather not draw excessive attention to myself. How am I going to explain the breast-growth to her? That's gonna be a problem. :-/

Monday, we headed out to Virginia Beach which is the popular tourist and beach-bum destination. We drove around the town for a bit and then decided on a lark to rent a four-wheel bike and ride it around the boardwalk for an hour.
That was a real trip, save for the couple of times we almost ran into some people (all in good fun though, and my kid brother who was at the tiller managed to jam the handbrake quickly).

The drive home was uneventful. I took us out of Virg. Beach and got my chance to drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel; probably one of the longest spans in the world. My mom and uncle then took over after I started getting tired and took it all the way home (after stopping for dinner at an Applebees somewhere in Delaware).

Independence Day (July 4) was quiet. Not much to celebrate these days, even though I had bought a little stash of fireworks in Virginia. Didn't bother burning them, instead figuring I'd burn them for July 14 (Bastille Day in France). That came and went and I was too tired and wrapped up in AIM conversations that I never went out to set the worx off. Oh well....one of these days.

On more tran news (yeah yeah, bla bla bla), my boss and his assitant know about it. Figured I might as well bite the bullet and tell 'em, since I'm going to have to be taking a day off once a month to head up to Boston for laser hair removal on my face.

My boss didn't give a shit; he was fine with it and reiterated that I had no reason to fear losing my job because of transitioning or whatever. His assistant was also pretty supportive (she was the one who broke the news to him after I told her -- in a rambling E-mail message -- what was going on.).

Why Boston? Well, bottom line is price. In New York I got a quote from one such laser place and they wanted $300 for chin, $300 for cheeks and I believe $100 for the jawline? I don't remember exactly. The guy I'm going to (a REAL doctor, by the way -- a dermatologist) only charges $400 for a full face job.

My first session was on Tuesday, July 12; so I took a night bus from New York to Boston after work, which got me into Boston at around 11 and change in the evening.

Gwynne (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=kishou42) had offered me crash space at her house (she was also the one who had told me about this doctor. I got to meet Gwynne's dad, who looks pretty much like what I imagined except that I pictured him with a bit more cranial hair. *grin*

I ended up staying in Taryn's room (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=scattermew) and we stayed up till almost 4 a.m. talking about random stuff. It was pretty fun, conversations with the 'Ryn tend to be pretty free-wheeling, so you never know where you end up with things. Around 4 we both just winked out and that was the end of it until next morning.

My zappage appointment was at 3-ish, so we eventually ambled over there and I filled out the requisite forms. The zapping itself isn't painful as it is....annoying. Imagine someone pricking your face with a needle every time that laser gun goes off. Yup, that's pretty much it.

It went quick though, got my lack of facial hair to thank for that ^__^ . The doctor was surprised to find out that what he was shooting at was just a two-day growth. I hadn't shaved since Sunday night. He only wound up charging me $350 instead of the full $400.

Hair-burning done, we rolled back to Gwynne's house ordered in some food and then Ryn and I headed into Boston (Gwynne had work to finish up). We wandered in and out of some record stores and then it was time to catch the bus back home.

I was scheduled for a 9 o'clock bus, but when I got to the terminal, I find that the bus company had cancelled that bus. Mechanical problems with the vehicle, they said. So I had to sit around and wait until the 10 o'clock bus came around.

Thankfully my mom had offered to pick me up at the drop-off point in New York at 1 a.m. so I didn't have to walk across Chinatown district in the dark and then catch a train back up to Washington Heights district. Yeah, I really gotta give major props to that woman. She sure is a supportive one.

[ASIDE: I've started getting weird looks on the train and in the street from passers-by. Don't know what's going on, since I'm still pretty much presenting as male, except for the fact that most of the time I wear girl's teeshirts. My grandmother thinks I'm getting chubby, go figure. I'm not.]

Since the week after that has been pretty much all weird and I haven't been getting much sleep (partly due to my own stupidity of staying up late), I think I've come down with a slight cold. Probably something I caught on the bus ride. Throat all scratchy and I'm sneezing like crazy. Ahhhh tea with lemon and honey....that's the ticket. And major sleep. Should be humming along in no time.