Game Night - with a little celebration

 

 

OK - I'll explain about the celebration in a few....

But first, I'll describe the day.

Since I'll need to present as Mario on Monday and Tuesday, I held off on doing my own nails to prepare for the coming weekend.  Instead, I decided to sleep late, and then fold 2 loads of laundry from last night.  By the time I was done with things in the apartment, it was getting close to 5 pm, and I had to get ready to go to game night.

By now, I have my routine down pat to prepare myself to present as Marian.  First, I shower, making sure to shave as much of my body as possible.  Then, I prepare for my makeup routine and let my undercoat dry.  After I shave my face, it's time to put on my underwear, bra and falsies and start applying makeup.  I'm usually done in 15 minutes at this point, but sometimes I take more care to get everything right. Once done with my makeup, I spritz on some perfume, put on a dress, and am ready to put my wig on just before leaving the house.

I left the house around 6:50. and headed to Yonkers for game night.  There is a Mickey D's along the way that I'll often stop at.  But there's one problem I have to deal with - there is no left turn into Mickey D's driveway.  So, I usually make the left turn into a skating rink's parking lot so I can make a right turn into Mickey D's.  Well, there was some police activity at the skating rink, as there were 4 police cars in front of the door.  There was no way I was going to hang out here - even if I wanted to.  I drove through Mickey D's, picked up "dinner" and finished my drive to game night.

Game night was fun, even though I lost both games.  There were the 3 of us girls at our table (me the only TG), and we had a chance to chat.  One game selected the starting player by birth date - and this made me the starting player.  When the games wound down, we chatted loosely on current events, all of us having had fun watching Iran's Lego Block propaganda videos.  

Around 10, I left game night and drove home talking to RQS.  She has booked her trip to see her sister.  So, I can now book my cruise to Bermuda.  (Now to find some extra cash to pay for the cruise.)  My big question: Will I take the chance on traveling as Marian this time? 

I had to go home today

 

After a long weekend with RQS, I had to go home.  It's just as well I did so, as I needed to start getting things done at home. So, it was with regret (and a little relief) that I got on my way.  (As they say: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.)

- - - - - -

Both of us got moving late in the morning today.  But that didn't mean that either of us were ready to go out.  I knew that I had to get ready to leave around 1:30, so that I could drive home by 3.  One problem - I should have started earlier, as afternoon traffic jams would be starting early.

The reason I started to get ready later than I planned was RQS's TV.  We wanted to move a large screen TV into the living room, and move the smaller one into the sitting room.  Well, we had to move furniture, storage boxes, and other stuff out of the way to get at all the wires (power cords being the most important), and disconnect them so that we could carry the TV into the living room.  We did this before I showered, and we had working TV in the living room before I left.

One of the problems I have at RQS's place is that the lighting is terrible.  There is only one place in her apartment where I can get enough light to do my makeup, and it's her bathroom.  The lighted makeup mirror I brought to her place doesn't do enough good.  But I can make do with it if I'm careful.  If I could find a solution that works, I'd have a much easier time of applying my makeup at her place.

I left RQS around 3:15, and it took forever to make it from her neck of the woods to the other side of the East River.  But once across, I had no problem making it to Stew Leonard's to do some food shopping.  But again, I hit some traffic on the way home, as I was traveling in the middle of rush hour.

Eventually, I made it home for the night - and finally had a chance to relax.

A tip into NYC for the Billy Preston documentary

 

I wanted to see the documentary on Billy Preston's life (Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It) but it wasn't showing at the local art-house.  So, I had put it on the list of films I'd look for when searching for documentaries to watch on the various streaming services.  Yesterday, RQS and I went to see this film.

But first...

This weekend, I drove down to RQS's place en-femme. She's comfortable with me this way, and I didn't feel like switching my id from wallet to wallet to travel as Mario.  

I got up moving slowly, and started my preparations to dress as Marian. By 2:00 pm, I was out the door, making my stops on the way to RQS's place.  First, it was to the bank to get some cash.  And then off to the gas station to buy some overpriced gas.  (We have the Orange Monster and Israel to thank for this.) Once my local area tasks were done, I was on my way to Queens.

There were the usual slow spots on my way to RQS's place.  So, I ended up driving through Forest Hills to bypass the traffic snarl in Kew Gardens, where the Grand Central Parkway, the Jackie Robinson (aka Interboro) Parkway, and Van Wyck Expressway all meet.  Even though NYC/NYS did a lot of work to improve traffic flow at this confluence of roads, they were constrained by the local roads also having to flow through this area - there was no way to widen/lengthen the merge points to accommodate the traffic that needs to flow through the area.  So, 90% of the time, I'm forced to drive through local streets because the Van Wyck Expressway is at a stand still for over a mile before the exit for the Jackie Robinson Parkway (JRP), and the entrance to the JRP being blocked as 5 lanes merge into 2.

What surprised me was that I made it to RQS's place in 2 hours (an acceptable time), and that we were able to relax for the evening before 6:00 pm. 

- - - - - -

Saturday came, and we had a movie to go to.  Around 3 pm, we both started getting ready to go out, and I spread my makeup all over "my" side of the dining table.  By 4 :30, we were out the door and headed to the city.  Reaching the Hudson Square area of Manhattan, we could only find one place to eat - Shake Shack.  Although the burgers were good, we could have spent half as much at Mickey D's and enjoyed it just as much.  Yet, I can't say that Shake Shack wasn't worth the money they charged for their burgers.  They were good!

We were in walking distance of the theater, and were able to find a seat with ease.  However, we had issues with sitting down, as we both wanted to take off our coats, and had a big bag of popcorn to manage.  Once seated, we found that the movie focused on Billy's growth as a musician, followed by the pain the Billy had to deal with.  His abuse (both what was done to him when young and the substances he "enjoyed" to survive) was the focus of the latter part of the film.  It wasn't until the end of his life that he could even start to share his pain.  What a sad life balanced with joyous music.  Too bad for him that he couldn't have had a "normal" life.  Too good for us that he didn't.

I suggested to RQS that we take the long way home to avoid stairs, and we did that.  But it took us twice as long to get home from Manhattan.  First, it was a local to South Ferry, where we changed to another subway line to take us to Union Square.  From there, it was a trip back to 8th avenue to preserve our ability to sit down on the outbound ride, and then a transfer of trains in Ridgewood to that we could make it to a deli for a quart of OJ.  

We were home around 10:15, and ready to sleep.  And both of us needed it....

It was a busy day and evening

 

Today would be a busy day.  I didn't have the time or energy to clean up my apartment before RQS came up today So, all I could do is get some little things out of the way, so that she could feel more comfortable while here.

- - - - - -

I woke up early, but had little energy to move.  My back was bothering me a little, and I didn't want to spend what little energy I had cleaning up my place.  So, I moved things out of the way and got ready to go out as Marian for the first time since before my last cruise. 

Getting ready as Marian involves several things.  First, I have to shave very close.  Then, I have to apply my makeup.  And that has a routine that I try to follow: (1) Clean my face, (2) Apply beard concealer, (3) Apply dark makeup to disguise my chin bones, (4) Apply foundation, (5) Apply brow makeup, (6) Apply setting powder, (7) Apply blush, and finally (8) Apply lipstick.  There are times that I am in a rush and skip a step - but that's usually when I'm in a rush.  It's a production, but worth it to go out as Marian.

- - - - - -

My friend from the imaging firm and I had a lunch appointment scheduled for noon at Panera Bread in White Plains.  So I wouldn't have much time in the morning to putz around and all I could do would be to get up, get ready to go out, and drive to White Plains.  By 11 am, I was running late, and was about to call my friend.  Then I read a test on my phone - my friend would be late.  She "got credit" for asking for a delay, and this suited me just fine.

We met at Panera at 12:30, and had a nice chat.  I talked about my recent cruise, and she talked about her Thanksgiving day dinner disaster.  All too soon, lunch had to end.  Part of me couldn't wait - this place was much too loud in which to hold a good conversation.  So I went home for a while, waiting for RQS to come in.

At 4:30, I picked up RQS at the station, and we went to a local "Red Sauce" joint for dinner.  But neither of our dishes were covered by red sauce: she had shrimp scampi, while I had chicken scarpiello.  Yum!  The food was tasty, plentiful, and filling. We lingered a bit at the restaurant, and then it was off to the Westchester Woman's Chorus perform at a nearby church.

- - - - - -

A friend of ours performs with the chorus, and we were there to hear her (and others) sing.  It was a nice performance, and  we were glad to have gone.  We met DS there from game night, but she didn't have a lot to say.  Soon, it was time to leave, and we were home for the night.