Skipping out on a meetup and making new plans.

 

In the past, when in my "Pink Fog", I experimented with my gender presentation and went to meetups geared to women.  I was accepted, though most knew I was TG.  Yet, after a bad experience or two, I decided to skip out on a women's meetup. As much as I could be reacting out of fear, I also feel that I've been eating out way too often, and need to do something else other than meeting new acquaintances.  This means that I again had the option to go into NYC and see a play while RQS is away for the weekend.

Did I go to the play on Friday?  No. Although I woke up early enough to go out and take a 1 mile walk, I stayed inside much of the day, and went out only to buy some essentials at the local BJ's Wholesale Club.  That's where I found out that my reproduced card with my Marian picture didn't work.  (This was a planned test of the reproduction, as I had the good card with Mario's picture on me.)  Since I no longer have the card with my Marian image that works (it was stolen while I was in Chicago last year), I'll have to bite the bullet and announce that I am trans to get an official card with Marian's picture and name on it.

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Saturday came, and I took my time on getting up.  Although there are two full loads of laundry to be done, I've had no energy to do them.  Instead, I decided to migrate most of my full resolution photos to be backed up in Amazon Photos, so that I can make space on Google photos for new pictures.  This has been a very time consuming process, as I have to upload photo organization and information from my computer's hard drive to create albums in Amazon photos.  By midday, less than half of my photos were in organized Amazon photo folders.  At least, this is only a time consuming task that will take several days to complete.

Later in the day, I decided to go and see an Off Broadway play.  Instead of seeing "Celino v. Barnes" like I planned (the evening performance was sold out), I chose to see "Someone Spectacular" in its place.  (If I had thought more, I'd have gone to see Blue Man Group and saved "Someone Spectacular" for when RQS is back home.  But I digress....)  

I purchased my ticket online, then headed down to NYC with only a few minutes to spare.  The 4:52 pm train gave me 2 hours in which I could find something to eat, then make it to the theater.  Normally, I would have no problem leaving Grand Central at 7:00 pm, taking a crosstown bus to make an 8:00 pm performance.  So I went downstairs for a bite to eat, then listened to a busker perform "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" on his horn.  However, the bus I took was overcrowded and took almost 45 minutes to make it to 10th avenue from Grand Central (4th Avenue/Park Avenue).  For those not familiar with New York City, that's a speed of 1.33 miles per hour!  NYC should be ashamed for rushing the extension of the Flushing line (the #7 train) to Hudson Yards without having a 10th Avenue stop.  In the rush to get the job done "on time" for political purposes only, we lost a much needed stop on the West Side that would serve some Off Broadway theaters and get people onto faster subsurface transit.

Eventually, I found myself in front of the theater and picked up my ticket.  A few minutes later, and I was seated for the play.  Now, the opening 10 minutes has the cast fiddling around, moving chairs and things, killing time before their grief therapist is to arrive.  But the therapist never arrives, and here the real play truly begins.  If one has been to group therapy, especially Grief therapy, then the situations of each of the characters will seem very familiar.  So when the play starts having the characters start baring their souls, the play becomes both funny and serious at the same time.  I'm not going to spoil this play by giving out any more details.  But I highly recommend seeing this play if you are in the NYC area.

When I got out of the theater, I noticed that the crosstown buses were running every 15-20 minutes or so.  Instead of waiting and missing my train to Croton, I walked the 2 long blocks to 8th Avenue, where I made the big mistake of entering the subway system to walk the last block over to 7th Avenue where I could catch the shuttle to Grand Central.  I must have walked up and down stairs equivalent to that of a 4-5 story building while walking that last block.  (But I did get my workout for the day!)  Luckily, I made it to Grand Central with 15 minutes to catch my train.

On the way home, I had a texting conversation with RQS regarding the party she attended in Boston.  I won't go into too much, save that I am concerned about RQS being in a car when her friend is driving due to her questionable judgement.  Hopefully, RQS can find polite ways to tell this friend NOT to drive when she's partied for too long....

Another Game Night

 

I had two things on the docket: Having lunch with my friend from the census, then going to Game Night later on in the evening.  Given my energy level as of late, I'd have rather skipped both.  But I'm glad I didn't do so....

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In hot weather, I get very uncomfortable wearing my wigs.  As a transgender person, the male hormones that flowed through my body for years have poisoned the hair follicles on my head.  In short, my male pattern baldness has forced me to wear wigs when presenting as female.  So I try to stay in air conditioned comfort during the summer.  Today, I was able to do so.

Waking up way before the alarm sounded, I knew that I would need to fall asleep early, or to take a nap sometime during the afternoon.  So I decided to get up and take care of some things before getting showered, made up, and dressed to go out for lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant suggested by my friend.

When I arrived at the restaurant, it had its normal lunch crowd.  So, I took a seat and waited for my friend.  She texted me to tell me that she was going to be late - she had forgotten to put in her contact lenses, and had to go back inside the house to take care of things.  After 5-10 minutes, my friend arrived.  I told her all about my Norway cruise, and our plans to visit Alaska next year.  She then told me all about her trip to Vegas to celebrate her son's 21st birthday, as well as how gambling comps have paid for some of the cruises she has taken and for spectacular rooms in hotels - one of which was a suite with a pool table in it.  (Hopefully, my friend won't mind me saying this much about her.)  All too soon, lunch ended and we made plans for next month.

I went home for a while, and then got ready for game night.  This was a time I could have easily have stayed home and caught up on my sleep.  Instead, I rushed down to Yonkers and was late for the first game of the night.  (It was only designed for 4 players, and I would have been the 5th.)  So I waited until the next game was played, and enjoyed that.  Things started to break up around 10:00 pm, and I couldn't wait to get home to sleep - and I was out within 1 1/2 hours.

 

Meeting up for dinner in White Plains

 

It seems like a long while since I've been to a dinner meetup - even though I was at one as recently as last week.  But then, my short term memory isn't as good as I'd like it to be these days. 😉

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As usual, I prepared for my meetup by finding a nice dress to wear, and refreshing my makeup.  (Do I ever go anywhere as Mario anymore if I can avoid it?)  Then it was off to La Bocca in White Plains.  Although I've been to meetups with this group before, I had not yet met tonight's organizer.  (I don't have much to say about her, as she is a pleasant person who I'd like to get to know better as a friend.) The conversation at the table flowed like water, as there were enough different topics for us to chat about without becoming awkward.

But I've neglected the most important past of the meetup - the food!

La Bocca is a mildly upscale Italian restaurant.  Being in Downtown White Plains, this restaurant likely has a high rent.  So it has to recoup that expense in slightly higher prices than I'm accustomed to be paying for Italian food.  But the food is worth every cent.  I had the Octopus Salad as a starter, consisting of various greens and thick, tasty tomato slices with several cooked octopus limbs on top.  Yum!  My main course was Chicken Scarapariello.  And it was served without bones.  YUM!  The only drawback to this place is the parking.  If one doesn't know White Plains, there is almost no on-street parking.  Instead, there are quite a few municipal parking lots squeezed in between office buildings which one must use.  This can be confusing for people not familiar with the area.

All too soon, our group finished dinner, and we were on our way home.  I figured that I'd register for some new meetups when I got home, and found out that I was taken off the wait list.  I am now scheduled for several more over the next two weeks, including one in NYC for its restaurant week.  (I won't say much about the NYC restaurant, save that it is known for a steak named after the restaurant.)

As you can guess, I'm looking forward to eating with nice people again....

 

 

 

 

 

Having a weekend off at the wrong time.

 

One of the problems a person can have in a healthy relationship is not having enough alone time at the right points in a person's schedule.  In short, one needs "Me Time" - whatever way that time may be spent.  It certainly doesn't mean that one doesn't care for one's love.  Instead, it means that one has to recharge one's batteries to keep expressing that love.  For some, it means simply being with friends.  For others, it may mean pursuing one's hobbies.  In my case, it involves being able to live life as Marian, and share that life with my partner.

I enjoy being with people, but I'm not an extrovert.  It's the conversational aspect of being with people that I like - either by imparting information, or by receiving information.  My problem is that being a polymath that likes to share, I can overwhelm others with my knowledge. Luckily, I often end up finding intelligent people to be with, some of whom have similar issues to mine.

This coming weekend, RQS will be away in Boston visiting a friend.  That gives me a weekend that I can use to recharge my batteries   However, none of my meetup groups are holding any gatherings of interest to me.  Since the weather will be turning hot again, I don't plan on going into the city to visit any museums or see any plays.  I've already seen most of the friends I see on a regular basis - they are not the types with whom I can drop in at a moment's notice.  So, what will I do?  That's the question I have to answer. Given that my nail polish is still looking good, I will stay in Marian mode for the upcoming weekend. With my ears being newly pierced, swimming is out of the question.  One thing I know is that Air Conditioned comfort will be essential to get through the coming weekend.

Since the weather looks good for the start of the weekend, I'll consider going into NYC to see a play early on, and then drive somewhere late in the weekend.  It's not perfect.  But I realize how import a person RQS has become in my life, and that I will be glad to see her when she returns from her friend's place.

Getting my ears pierced (again) & Dinner with a friend.

 

This is another one of the iPhone pictures that I had problems receiving and moving to my PC.  Seems like Apple found a new way to name image files which make people using non-Apple equipment have problems extracting and saving more than one image file in a single message.

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When I got up and ready to drop RQS off at the train station, I decided to wear the same dress she was wearing (albeit in a larger size).  This made her smile a bit.  And then it was off to the piercing studio to get my ears repierced.  I arrived at the studio around 12:30 pm, and was out the door by 1:30 pm, with studs in each earlobe, and $170 less in my wallet.  So what did I do next?  It was to go home to strip and relax.  Several hours later, I decided to get dressed in something new - the jumpsuit I purchased from Universal Standard.

Now, I won't wear this jumpsuit too often, as it  gets in the way when I need to take a bio break.  I have to plan to be able to remove this jumpsuit gracefully when I go to the ladies' room, and put it back on (along with a top I plan to wear with it) before reappearing in public.  Today, I wanted to look pretty and wear something different in my wardrobe.  So I wore this with a neutral linen shirt over it.

I arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before my friend, and we proceeded to have a nice dinner at the Himalayan restaurant in Yorktown Heights.  It was a yummy meal.  And the conversation was even better, as the two of us were able to talk about things AND assume the other could process things at the same level.  (Did I say that my friend has a doctorate and speaks several languages, including German which has mostly been forgotten?)  I don't mean to sound snobbish.  But when one is a lesser grade polymath, it's nice to be able to talk with another polymath - and this person is a polymath.

All too soon, the restaurant had to close.  My friend asked me to advise her on Alaska shore excursions she could take that would allow her to do some serious wildlife viewing while accommodating her handicap.  Hopefully, I can find some excursions for her, so that she might be able to plan a cruise soon.

A visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum (Going "MAD" for the day.)

 

I didn't know this, but Mad Magazine once offered Norman Rockwell a commission to update the image of Alfred E. Newman.  Sadly, he declined the offer, based on the "Good Advice" from his wife.  However, years after his death, the Norman Rockwell Museum decided to have an exhibition of the Art of Mad Magazine. 

Both RQS and I realized that this would be a rare chance to see Mad's art treated as something more than disposable, especially since the current publishers of the magazine helped with the exhibition.  Our only issue would be the distance to get there.  We skipped going there the day before because of the length of the drive and the time it would take to reach the museum.  Since we didn't know when we'd have the chance to drive there on a weekend day, we bit the bullet and left the house around 10:00 am.

The drive up the Taconic parkway was dull and boring (as expected), but we made it to the museum by 12:30 pm (including stops for breakfast and bio-breaks).  Given the warm weather, it was the perfect day for both of us to be wearing linen dresses.  So we were comfortable on the short walk from the parking lot to the museum, as well as inside where it was properly air conditioned.

 

Some of Mad's "Usual Gang of Idiots"

I've been a fan of Mad Magazine since I was a child, and I have to say that this exhibition does Mad's Usual Gang of Idiots" justice, as it covers art from the EC Comics day, through the Golden Age of Mad, to the Current Day.

Of course, no exhibition of Mad Mad Magazine artifacts would be complete without a reference to my favorite sport 43 Man Squamish.  Although the unplayable sport described in Mad is a joke, it has rules always tend to make me smile when I read them. One could go on and on about this visit.  But it was nice to see the work of Al Jaffee, Dave Berg, Don Martin and Sergio Aragones again, being given the respect it deserves. 

We both spent too much at the museum's gift shop, and left the place around 3:00 pm.  It took us 2 1/2 hours to get home, including a stop in Dover Plains for ice cream.  It was a long day for us, but a day well spent....

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Going out to the movies

 

RQS knew that I would be presenting as Marian the entire weekend.  So, we decided to go to the movies, and beat the heat by someone else paying to keep us cool....

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The day started with neither of us wanting to get out of bed.  Yet, we were bored and wanted something to do where we wouldn't break a sweat.  And going out to the movies fit the bill perfectly.  But where should we go?  The only movie that we had even a remote interest in seeing was "Twisters", and we wanted to be comfortable when seeing this film.  That left us with only one good choice: The Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers.

Unlike most movie theaters, the Drafthouse has had both a liquor license and a real food concession from its beginning.  Its original seats were both plush and sturdy - perfect for a movie viewer to enjoy a movie, some wings, and a beer to go with the film.  In addition to current first-run films, the Drafthouse has also shown classic films such as "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"; "Once Upon a Time in America"; and "Once Upon a Time in The West" in single-night special showings. This is my favorite theater, and one I always try to visit for first-run films.

We decided to go for a 3:30 pm showing of "Twisters".  As expected, we had to endure 15 minutes of trailers before the movie. But once the movie started, time passed quickly - and we left the theater around dinner time.  So, what can I say about the film other than it was a good summertime film?  It was a pleasant distraction, a film that stimulated without making one think much to enjoy it.

After the movie, it was time to go home for the evening.  We stopped by the local supermarket to pick up some things we could eat that night (and for the rest of the weekend), then drove home where I cooked some Fettuccine Alfredo (no cream - classic recipe) with shrimp.  Yum!