Getting back to "Normal" - some thoughts about normal

 

In less than 2 weeks, I'll be on the first cruise to Bermuda for the year.  So, one of the things I have to do is pack for the cruise.  Since this cruise is being taken as Mario 😒, I won't be able to dress up nice to have a good photo taken of RQS and I together.  At least, I have almost 2 weeks' of clothes for my male presentation that I can pack in advance, as I don't wear them that often anymore.

Given that the first of the two cruises will be taken on MSC, RQS will get a chance to see why I'm ambivalent about taking cruises on this line after the treatment we've gotten used to on Princess and NCL. Do I think RQS will enjoy the cruise?  Yes.  Or, I wouldn't have decided on taking this trip.  However, I think that she, like myself, will use MSC only for inexpensive getaways.  There will be one benefit of us taking this first trip to Bermuda, followed by another one several weeks later - I can ask the pier personnel whether my "sister" would have problems getting back on the ship, showing her male, legal ID.

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Recently, my brother has prodded me to take care of paperwork required to get our dad's birth certificate.  When I went down to NYC to get dad's birth certificate, I found that I had to mail in the application, and not pick it up in person.  AARGH!  One of the tasks I'll be taking care of today is filling out the paperwork, sending in a copy of my birth certificate, dad's death certificate, and a check for $45 to cover NYC's paperwork charges.  Hopefully, we will get a quick response on this, as I'd like to get this over and done with soon.

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The other day, I started to notice a small gap forming between the caulking on the tub and the tiles on the bathroom wall nearest the bathtub's hot and cold faucets.  Today, I applied new caulk to fill in the gap, and hopefully keep things from getting worse for a while.  If in the future I need to do more about this, I may call in Bath Fitter to take care of all plumbing related issues.  At that time, I'll put in a liner over the bathtub area to make it look new, a new toilet, and a new vanity/sink combination.  After this, I'll take care of installing a new medicine cabinet and I will have an up-to-date bathroom.  (There goes another bucket list vacation!)

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Next week, I will have to park my car on the street outside my apartment complex, as we are getting our driveway resealed and restriped.  I have to make sure that I am home early enough one night, so that I don't have to walk far to my car the next morning.

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If there is one thing I can say to my trans friends out there it would be: Being able to be your true self doesn't eliminate the day to day problems from your life. Instead, it allows you to focus on the solution to those problems with one less distraction.