The day of the dead is coming up, and it gave me the inspiration to use this picture taken at a recent meetup to start the post. Next time I'm in the place, I'll get a better shot of the painting....
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Tuesday was a busy day for me. Not only did I have a LGBT Career Fair in NYC that I planned to attend, but I also had dinner with the Beacon Dining Meetup group. I'd be putting in a lot of miles on the car by the time I was home for the night.
My alarm woke me up around 8:00, but I didn't bother getting up quickly. Yet, I was catching up with things on my computer when the second alarm rang 30 minutes later. So when I turned off this alarm, I dismissed all waiting alarms for the day, went back to the computer, and sat at my desk until 10:00. Then and only then did I relax for about 45 minutes before I started to get ready to go into NYC.
I wasted a lot of time preparing for the career fair, and didn't have that many dresses available to me that I'd want to wear on an interview. And I settled on a black dress that, accessorized correctly, could be worn formally or casually depending on the nature of the occasion. So, shortly after 11:00, I started in to NYC, and arrived at the LGBT Center a little after 1:00.
This year's career fair was more crowded than in years before. This time, it was even more focused for the needs of young adults (which is what I'd want if I were running things) and not old ladies trying to reenter the workforce. My old employer was there, and I was tempted to stop by and chat. But, given that if I were to end up getting a job with them (an extremely unlikely event), I'd lose my pension benefits. And that's not going to happen if I can help it. Unfortunately, this visit to NYC was a waste of time, save for something unrelated to job searches....
If I decide to take the subway into NYC, I usually try to park near Ex-GF-M's place. The neighborhood is safe (as far as I can tell), and nearby parking is usually available. When I returned from Manhattan, I decided to look inside the windows of her old place. Inside, I saw that the old oak floors had been torn up (3 dogs not walked enough did a lot of damage), and plywood was laid where solid oak floors once were. Ex-GF-M's brother was right when he said that the entire building had to be gutted - the place was a disaster with I last saw Ex-GF-M alive, and I can only imagine the problems that he and his sister are having dealing with the estates of Ex-GF-M's mother in law and Ex-GF-M. I'm glad that this is not my headache!
Next, it was home to get comfortable for an hour, and then to make it to the Meetup. I was lucky enough to be seated near two new members, and had an opportunity to speak a bit with one of them. This lady (who I'll call R for now) is a divorcee and attends a few meetups, one of them being GFJ's dining meetup. I'll have to be very careful about what I say when with her, as I don't want to relate GFJ's story in any way - for her privacy and mine. The second lady (who I'll call D for now) and I chatted on our way to our cars. Hopefully, both ladies will be back soon.
All too soon, it was time to leave. I tried to reach GFJ again, but her phone must have been in use. If my former friend and I didn't have our blowout, I'd have given her a call. But I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'll remove her number from my car's speed dial, and then find a way to block her calls if she tries to call me. I don't need her drama, and she doesn't really want my friendship on reasonable terms.
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Wednesday came, and I didn't bother going to the bank in the morning as I planned. Instead, I didn't wake up until 11:00, and dillydallied until 2:00. Then I got dressed and went to the LGBT center to do my volunteer stint. This week, it was checking out the prices of books, so that the center could sell the "valuable" ones via Amazon. I've done this before, and it's a time consuming, mindless task. But it does help, as they make a few dollars each time they sell a book. Every dollar helps....
When I was done at the center, I went home and took care of some long neglected laundry. By the time I was done, it was a little after 9:00, and I laid down to rest. GFJ called me around 10:00, and we chatted for a while. I mention this, as she will be going away tomorrow morning, and it'll be much harder for us to chat while she's away attending a wedding in North Carolina.
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I was already awake for a couple of hours when GFJ called me on Thursday morning. She called at the wrong time - just as Perry Mason was about to reveal "who did it." But I was not annoyed. Instead, I was glad that she thought of me before spending another 6-7 hours on the road with her sister.
Eventually, I started getting ready to go out. Around 12:30, I got moving and took my shower for the day and started getting dressed. However, I had to start the day out as Mario, as I had to visit a bank branch to take care of a matter that required face to face contact with a service representative.
I was dressed and out the door by 1:15 or so. Since the bank is down the hill from me, I figured that I'd be back home with more than enough time to change into Marian mode and make it to speech therapy - and I was right. I met with the platform officer, and the bank paperwork took me about 15 minutes. I had everything ready to go, and all I had to do was answer the usual KYC (Know Your Customer) questions used to make sure I'm on the up and up (no money laundering allowed) AND to get marketing information so that they can sell me new products.
After a quick change, I was out the door as Marian around 2:30, and down at Mercy at 3:00. No matter how much I mark 3:00 in my schedule, I'm likely thin that the session starts at 3:30, as that was the original schedule for the start of the weekly session. This week, the session used a computer, a microphone, and some software to help show me where my voice was going. I was well into the androgynous pitch range, reaching some tones that typical cisgender males don't reach. So I have gotten much better since I first started down the path to have a feminine voice.
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Once done at Mercy, I decided to drive over to Central Avenue to see if the Yonkers Avenue store was still in business - it was not. So I went over to the bookstore to get a cup of coffee and to kill time. While there, I got into a conversation with a lady at a neighboring table, and our chat was going very well until her son called. That was my cue to leave for game night. So I bid her a fond adieu, and trekked over to Stew Leonard's to pick up something for the gang to nibble on. And then, it was over to play games.
As usual, I did poorly with the games. But, I enjoyed myself. Once done playing games, I chatted with the hostess about my recent interview and about my low-key job search. She gave me some ideas of what to say in a cover letter, so that my resume would be seriously examined, in order to get me an interview. If I could get that, I'd have a shot at getting the job. After telling the hostess that I'm now interviewing as Marian, she noted that in many non-profits, that my transgender status would not be a problem. Hopefully, she's right. It'd be nice to get a job working as Marian on a regular schedule.
