I'm afraid of being noticed for what I'm not.

 

RQS knows that I'm a little nervous about my future trip to Hawaii, as I will be flying as Marian for the first time.  This doesn't mean that I will travel as Mario.  Instead, it means that I will be aware that I may trigger alerts whenever I go through a security checkpoint and that I will need to figure out a way to keep my beard stubble under control whenever I interact with "civilians".

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Traveling as Marian to Hawaii doesn't mean that I'll be taking my first cruise with RQS as Marian.  For this cruise, I'll be traveling as Mario.  But, we haven't booked our cruise yet.  On Friday, I finally got up the nerve to talk to my boss about taking unpaid time off to take a trip. My boss said that this shouldn't be a problem - I should just give her the details and she should be able to take care of things.  I guess that I'm simply afraid of being seen as a troublemaker, and that's the root of my nervousness.

When I worked for the bank, I knew that I (once) had a high value to the organization and that I could usually name my terms regarding time off.  Now that I'm working as a grunt, it's hard to think about having much freedom until I retire.  Luckily, I will be forced to submit my resignation 2 weeks before my Hawaii cruise, and that I will feel good after having done so.

A slow Saturday with RQS and the mechanic

 

RQS and I had to get up early this Saturday - My car needed a brake job, and a NYS Inspection.  So off to Mavis we went.  2 1/2 hours (and almost $650) later, my car and us left the shop with time on our hands for the rest of the day.

Neither of us had much energy after leaving Mavis, so we went home to rest for a while before going to Pleasantville to see Mrs. Harris goes to Paris.  If you are in the mood for a date night movie with a happy ending, this is the movie for you. Around 6 pm, we went to see the movie and had a nice evening out.  But it was a short evening, as we were both exhausted due to the heat outside, and went to sleep early.

Before going to sleep, I mentioned to RQS that I wanted to get a manicure after dropping her off at the train station, and we agreed that I'd be presenting as Marian when I dropped her off at the train station.

I hate hot weather....

 

For me, the only good thing I can think about summer these days is the time I can spend cooking steaks on the grill.  Unfortunately, my co-op now prohibits gas and charcoal grills on our decks.  So I am stuck getting BBQ at restaurants instead of doing it myself....

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Why do I start off writing about grilling and BBQ you may ask?

To me BBQ symbolizes the best that summer has to offer.  And when RQS arrived for the weekend, I figured that we'd go to Holy Smoke BBQ in Mahopac.  It's been a long while since I've been there, and I can only wonder what would have happened if I stumbled into FCP there.  But not to worry - she was off doing her things while I was doing mine.

RQS enjoyed the food at this BBQ much more than the last BBQ joint we ate at - neither of us suffered from the over salted aftertaste we often taste when food is cooked with too much salt.  This doesn't mean that the food wasn't salty.  My pastrami sandwich has way too much salt for one meal, and I decided to save half of it for another day.

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I keep being amazed by how comfortable RQS has gotten with me when presenting as Marian.  Neither of us give it much thought anymore that I will meet her at the train station in female presentation, and I'm very happy about that.  I'm still the person paying for dinner.  But to others at the restaurants, we are two women having a nice Friday evening out.  If they only knew....

I received an interesting message today.

 

First, I am not going to discuss the who sent me the message, or what its contents were.  Yet, the fact that this message was sent is very interesting.  (Long time readers of this blog can read between the lines to guess who I am talking about.)

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Sometimes, one acquaintance has something to say about another mutual acquaintance.  Today's message was one of those communications.  It seems that an issue I had to deal with in regards to the acquaintance drove another person crazy.  We both have similar feelings about the mutual acquaintance.  Yet, it is interesting that in my last (or, should I say, "Final") communication with the acquaintance, that the acquaintance wanted to say that she stopped communication with the other person.

Somewhere, I have learned that there is my viewpoint, your viewpoint, and an objective viewpoint to all disputes.  In this case, I have a feeling that I know what the objective truth is regarding many things, and I'm glad that I am no longer dealing with a certain person who I now see as a lonely bully.  There is a part of me that misses this one acquaintance.  But I feel much better that I don't have to deal with this person's issues any longer.

Dinner with Vicki

 

It's always nice to get together with Vicki.  Tonight, it was sushi dinner at a new joint in Croton.  Although this place has been around for a few years, we never made it there for dinner.  We finally did, and enjoyed the experience.

But first....

When I got up today, I was in a rush and forgot a few things. This was a harbinger of little things to come. Arriving at the office, I found that I didn't take my morning medications.  So I figured that I'll avoid trying to play catch up, and take my evening pills when I got home.  I then noticed that I had lost an extendable back scratcher, so I used one that wasn't as effective - and left it at the office.  Since I had no more lunches available to me, I planned to buy 2 more lunches to finish out the week on my way home - that wouldn't happen either.  But I get ahead of myself.

I was surprised that I wasn't as sleepy as usual today, and was wide awake when I left the office.  Since I had errands to run, I drove to the auto parts store for a cabin air filter.  From there, it was off to Walmart to pick up some coin wrappers. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to stop off at home to drop off my goods, so I didn't bother going to Shoprite as planned.  Instead, I met Vicki at the Sushi parlor.

Vicki and I had a belated birthday celebration, ordering way too much food.  Yet, we did a good job at finishing what was in front of us, and figured that we'd be going there again soon. Both of us liked the dresses each of us were wearing, and I felt good about my choice of what I wore today.  Once done with our "nutritious dishes of little raw fishes", it was off the the Blue Pig for dessert.

All too soon, it was time to leave - and we went our separate ways.  I will miss her when she retires and leaves the NYC area....

I hate heatwaves, but love dresses during heatwaves

As I write this, we're entering this summer's second heat wave.  I'm not a fan of hot weather, and I'm grateful that the air conditioner in my car "sorta works" after a few minutes on the road. (Yes, it's something I want to check out with my local mechanic, but I need to spend money on other things right now.)  But I'm not going to feel bad about how the temperature affects me in this weather, as there are many people who have to work outside in this weather, with no way to stay comfortable while working.

I don't care how much electricity I have to use in this weather.  But I'm lucky to be able to afford the electricity I need to make my apartment comfortable during the summer.  When I eventually have to move from here, I will need to choose an affordable place which will be less expensive to keep cool during the summer.  As you might guess, there is no way that I'll move South as I get older.

Yet, there are a few good things about summer.  Being TG, I have the option of wearing a dress when presenting as a female.  No one looks at me strangely if I choose something comfortable to wear in this weather, and I take advantage of the options available to me.  It's too bad that men do not have this option in our culture.  But discussion of that issue will be reserved for another time when I have more time to write about it....
 

Accomplishing much and nothing at the same time.

 

If I could find the original negative for the above picture, I'd develop a larger photo from it and frame thhe picture.  This is how I remember the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, and it's how I'd like to see it when I visit again.

Why do I mention this?

RQS and I have been talking about going on a cruise to New England and Canada's Maritime Provinces.  Halifax, NS will be one of our stops on the cruise, and I will insist on visiting Peggy's Cove while we are in port.  However, until I decide to leave my job, I can't tell RQS that it's time to book the cruise.

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Today, I was trying to stay awake during my shift at the office. While there, someone had moved a non functioning refrigerator into the center of the break room, so that a replacement unit could be slid into the spot occupied by the old unit.  Now, we will have enough room to cold store our lunches, instead of trying to cram them all into a small refrigerator that didn't have enough room for all of us.

After work, it was off to the dentist's office for a tooth cleaning.  This was the least expensive visit I have had for a while.  Afterwards, I ended up going home to do laundry.  What an exciting evening!  Not much was done today, and yet, I got some needed things done....