A weekend without RQS

 

No, this is not bad news.  RQS is going to fly South to see a friend.  As for me, I'll be able to take care of things that I normally wouldn't do because we'd be keeping each other company over the weekend.

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I've been putting off shopping for a car for a while.  This will be a good weekend to go to several dealers and take some test drives.  With over 180,000 miles on my car, I need to make sure that I have reliable transportation - especially when I drive all over the place in my feminine presentation, but carry ID in my male name.  The last time I had a problem, it was midnight and I was able to change into male clothes before AAA came to tow my car.  I don't ever want that experience again.

There are people I've wanted to see for a long while. And now that I have a girlfriend plus a job that sucks the life out of me, I have even less time to see these people.  So, I might just try to see one or two of them over the next few days.  Since I may be in Mario mode, it will likely be with people who know me in both modes, unless I change into Marian mode after car shopping.

Even with this, the 20 at 20 deal is on this weekend.  I want to get in to NYC to see one of these off-Broadway shows.  So what do I do?  I may need a weekend to rest from the activities I schedule for this weekend....

Planning Trips

 

Today's post will be a short one.  I don't have too much to say, and not enough time for a thought piece.

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Lately, I've been prioritizing my future travels. Given that I will be going to Hawaii later this year, I am thinking of the trips I will take next year and the years after that.  One of the trips I want to take is a Panama Canal cruise.  I'm making a lot of effort to insure that the Canal cruise goes through the old locks, as it will be much more interesting.  If the canal IS the destination, then I want maximum value from a trip through the canal.  It is important that I take this trip next year, as I want to visit my (now) 88 year old uncle in California.

One of the issues I will have on future travels is going through an airport and flying on a plane.  I hate going through security, and have lined everything up to get a trusted traveler number via Global Entry.  But this doesn't do much for sitting on a plane with my large size, nor does it deal with the issues of baggage.  I still fear the headaches of flying later this year, and will avoid airports and flying as much as possible in the future.

All things considered, it is better for me to be thinking of the future than of my most recent past....

Leftovers

 

The above salad is NOT what was left over from dinner the other day.  It tasted fresh, and left no aftertaste on the tongue or in the mouth.  Instead, it was the gyro meat (not pictured here) that left a bad taste in my mouth for several hours after dinner, and after having the rest of the meat as next day's leftovers.

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One thing that can be said about me in either Mario or Marian mode is that I travel on my stomach.  Most of the time, my friends can trust that I have an instinct for places that have good food.  Is it because I subconsciously analyze everything going on in and around a restaurant before entering?  Who knows?  But I usually find places which have at least one good dish on the menu.  In the case of Saturday's dinner with RQS, the best thing about it was the desserts - in my case, the Bougatsa at Piato.   

Several months ago, Vicki and I ate at Piato, and were underwhelmed with the food.  Neither of us could put a handle on why the food was underwhelming, but the Bougatsa was fantastic.  Vicki would gladly go back to that restaurant, if the only thing she would eat from there was this dessert.  However, Lefteris still remains our Greek restaurant of choice.  Neither of us have had a bad meal there, and its high quality has become "boring" - at least, until we try a place like Piato.

Now, I'm not knocking Piato.  But I am noting that after eating their food, I had a strange taste in my mouth.  Could it be that I'm allergic to a spice they use?  I doubt it, as I am allergic to very few things.  Instead, I think the food was likely to have been excessively salted.  That could be the logical explanation why I felt very thirsty after eating there.  When I had their leftover gyro meat the next day, I had that strange "taste" in my mouth for several hours.

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There are so many places from where I look forward to eating leftovers the next day.  Many of them serve food in sizes large enough that I can cut the portion in half, and eat it for lunch at work.  (Most of these places are Italian restaurants which serve giant plates of pasta and huge portions of meat.)  Even though I'm not eating out as much as I did before the pandemic, I still eat out more often than the average person.  Hopefully, I'll figure out how to do this in a healthy way which my doctor would approve of....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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An interesting weekend - Two people for the price of one

 

This weekend was very interesting for me.  I had RQS up to my place for the first time, and next day, had the opportunity to visit my brother for the first time in months.  It was a high mileage weekend, and worth it for every mile I had to drive....

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I've been stalling RQS in having her come up for a while.  Although she was in no rush to visit, she understood how my depression of 2020-2021 would affect how I took care of the apartment, and my need to make it "presentable" before asking her to visit.  She finally made it here, and didn't not get repulsed by the state of the apartment.  Instead, she understood what I want through for the past two years, and saw the positive side in me getting things back in order.

RQS arrived in Croton at 12:30 pm, and then we went to my apartment for a bio break.  Once that pressing need was taken care of, it was off to do a Mid-Hudson valley loop.  Although it was a little dreary outside, we enjoyed a country ride with several stops along the way to New Paltz, and then back home via Poughkeepsie.  

Although Vicki wanted to meet RQS, her Mother's Day planning got in the way.  So we ended up having dinner at a local joint before going home for the evening.  Once home, I showed her some more of my wardrobe, as well as a sew swimsuit pictures like the one above.  RQS said that she wouldn't have recognized me in this photo if she didn't know me as well as she does now.

The next day, I dropped RQS off at the gym, and then went to see my brother.  We haven't seen each other in months, and this was the first time we've gotten together since last year.  (Without checking this blog, I wouldn't even remember when I last saw him.)  Things in his personal life aren't going that well, and he had the chance to share things with me that he hadn't had the chance to talk about in a while.

When I picked my brother up, I had no idea that we'd be driving out past Smithtown for a late lunch. Normally, when I lived on Long Island, I never went that far out except for a couple of drives to Orient Point.  Now, in the past 2 years, I've been out in the Riverhead area (and beyond) several times.  And I'm glad that I still remember my way around the island after living elsewhere for almost 40 years.

All too early, it was time to drop my brother off at home, and then go home myself.  I'm not looking forward to go to work in the morning, but I'll be glad I'm able to do so these days....

Settled Decisions?

 

Looking at the picture above, many of you can guess what today's topic is all about.  The symbolism is important, as Roe v. Wade was considered a "settled decision" until now.  With the leak from the Supreme Court, it looks like the radical right is about to go on the offensive against civil rights - and that includes rights previously recognized as also belonging to the LGBTIQ community.

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Although I am pro choice, it is not because I like abortion.  Instead, I believe that people who do not have skin in the game of carrying a fetus to term should not be telling women what to do with their bodies.  There are many good reasons why a woman might choose to abort a fetus, such as Rape and Incest.  Why should a woman carry a fetus to term when she had no authority in the process of getting pregnant?

There are better ways of reducing the number of abortions in the Red States than an outright ban.  Some European nations have lower rates of abortion than we have, as they have better sex education than we have, and reliable birth control is cheap and easy to access - something which has not always been the case in the USA.  The only thing a ban will do is cause middle class women to take "weekend vacations" to "Blue States" for their abortions, while poor women get stuck with all the headaches of delivering unwanted fetuses to term.  Will these women keep the children or give them up for adoption?  I can see a future where White babies are adopted, while Black and Latino babies are left for foster parents to raise until the kids are 18.  Will these unwanted children get adequate love and parenting?  Given what we're seeing today, I think things will be much worse for these children yet to be born.

In the end, the argument about the legality of abortion will always be about when society considers the life potential of a fetus worth protecting.  Christendom once had the idea of the "Quickening".  Islam had the idea of "the Moment of Ensoulment."  Both took place well after conception.  The ancients understood that viable life had to be protected, but they also recognized that protection need not be given until that life (fetus) had proven itself viable.  I respect those women who would carry a fetus to term, even though it is inconvenient for them.  One of those women was a former girlfriend of mine in her childbearing years.  

Given that abortion had already been severely restricted (and otherwise made hard to get) in the Red States, I don't expect to see much change after the Supreme Court makes its decision official.  But what will happen to other "Settled Decisions"  Will Same-Sex Marriage be next?  What about Transgender Rights?  Our rights are relatively new, and easy to undo.  It is time for us to help Cisgender women preserve their rights to control their own bodies, lest the Radical Right gets the ability to aim at us next.

Sometimes, I skip a day or two of blogging

Unlike many people, I do have a life outside of blogging.  It may not be much of a life (as FCP would likely hector me now if we were talking to each other), but it is my life.

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Lately, RQS and I have been discussing taking a cruise together.  But before I book such a cruise, I have to know whether she can accept me in Marian Mode as well as in the Mario Mode which she is accustomed to seeing me present myself.  And this means that RQS will finally get to see, in person, me presenting myself as a female.

Yet, this isn't getting in the way of my blogging.  Instead, it's because I am exhausted at the end of my work day.  This is also the reason I haven't been able to clean up my apartment in the way I'd like to.  Luckily, I've had a little free time in which I had the energy to do something, and I did just that.  Yes, it's just a start.  But it is some meaningful movement in the right direction.

Tonight, I had planned to do a big of cleaning in the living room.  Did I do it?  Not much.  But I did accomplish something that made things look like I could get the mess cleaned in a big Friday night session.  And if I didn't have to look at my computer before going to sleep, I wouldn't have even written this much....

Back to work

 

Now that I've been to DC and back, it was time for me to go back to work.  AARGH! 

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Most of my readers know that I have one of the most boring jobs around.  Today, I started the day by almost forgetting my wallet at home.  When I reached the deli where I usually get my morning egg sandwich, I didn't find my wallet in my pocketbook.  It got to the point in my search that I was going to return home to search my bedroom, and I texted my boss.  One problem - my wallet fell out of my pocketbook and was sitting on the seat where I found it.  So I had to text an OOPS to him before going inside for my sandwich.

Getting into work was little better.  The configuration for one of the programs I depend on to do my job got screwed up in the week I was gone.  It took the better part of the day to get that issue fixed.  Luckily, I was able to begin work on other tasks while the computer technician did his job, and I started to wake up before lunch.

Yet, by the time I got home, I was tired.  I stopped by Walmart to pick up some bathroom furnishings needed before RQS comes here for the first time.  Hopefully, she won't be turned off by the place when she's here....