diamondgirldi

So there's this online climbing forum I read a lot (but don't post to often), where I'm not out as trans, and like lots of forums they have a sort of "general discussion" forum. One topic comes up, about women and numbers of sexual partners, and someone opens the thread with a nice post about the double standard behind regarding a man with lots of sexual partners as successful and someone to emulate, yet a woman in the same position is generally considered dirty, of lower morals, not someone to emulate, etc..

So I read on, and am pleased to see lots of posts expressing a similar sentiment - that this is a misogynist double standard, and then I see this:

Sex is all about the moment not the past ( health and STD's and sex change operations aside that is)

For fuck's sake! Apparently I can't get away from it. *sigh*

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/219268.html - you can comment here or there.

F-list, I demand a show of creativity!

Some of the folks in my office received a series of postcards yesterday, and the images were so cool I HAD to scan them.

YOUR MISSION!

Write me a story/scene/something or other based on the following two postcards. Take as long or as short as you like. The only stipulation? Once you see the two images, START WRITING. DON'T OVERTHINK IT. DON'T SIT ON IT. JUST DO IT.

Original or fandom-based, I don't care. Hell, I'll do it as well on my lunch break. ^_^

( Images below )

And the links for those the internet, or in the least their computer, appears to despise:
http://pics.livejournal.com/ink_n_imp/pic/000f7s04
http://pics.livejournal.com/ink_n_imp/pic/000f99b9

AAAAAAAAAAAND GO!

I have a million things to update about, like, the Decemberween party of piratey shenanigans, the half-assed but rather fun meet up last weekend, a very holiday-inducing rifftrax, Lindsay being in town, pink Christmas trees, real egg nog (DAMN that was a lot of egg...) and highly appropriate Christmas gifts--

Which I'll try to update about tonight. And with pictures too! But for the meanwhile...

We're retiring the 1st generation computers at my workplaces, because they are old and we're tired of trying to drag them back from death's door constantly. But The Captain--master of being serious in his minor detail orientation--told me to label the retiring computer, so we don't mix it up with the new shiny ones.

...Not like the computer is already labeled with an ID number so there's no danger of that happening, but VERY WELL, I can play at this game of anal redundancy.

( The Captain wants labeled, I'll GIVE him labeled! )

Let no man claim I am not THOROUGH in my half-amused mockery.


UGH I need Christmas to happen before I do something REALLY foolish here.

I may be about to express a somewhat unpopular opinion. If you hate London's landmark "Gherkin" tower, you may want to pass over this entry.
( Cut to save the blood pressure of Daily Telegraph readers and others of similar architectural sensibilities )

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/219046.html - you can comment here or there.

I came across this clip yesterday -- it's my favorite version of my favorite song by my favorite musician.



I actually saw Home of the Brave in the theatre. Hard to believe that was 1984.

From today, the northern hemisphere nights start to get shorter.

Thank $DEITY for that.

That is all.

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/218703.html - you can comment here or there.

It's now official - Rage Against The Machine have the UK Christmas number 1. Congratulations everyone who helped contribute, and yah boo sucks to all those sniping from the sidelines about this all being pointless because the money goes to Sony anyway.

Certainly for me this was never about Sony, or some kind of protests against commercial music. Years ago, InterCity trains, service stations and airlines would employ actual chefs to produce food. Even if you were only of a mind to eat something quick, processed and packaged, the choice of something good, something hand rafted from good ingredients was available. Now that choice is gone - with few exceptions, all that's served in such establishments is the bland plastic output of a remote production-line.

Perhaps today was half a million people saying that, "no, we don't want that to happen to our art too".

And number 2 in the charts is still a very respectable position for someone who was only ever likely to get his 15 minutes of fame. If anything, this might actually further his career.

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/218467.html - you can comment here or there.

( Cut for length, talk of scary falls and body parts not doing what they're supposed to )

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/218262.html - you can comment here or there.

Dear Diary - there's been nothing to write about.

Seriously. The trans cortex of my brain has been dead for a few weeks. Cause of death has been oxygen starvation from the parts of my brain that were dealing with the apartment move and the sudden influx of legal work that has invaded my life in the last 3 weeks. Very little to report except that we are in fact moved into the new apartment. Move went well, and aside from needing brighter light in the bathroom I think the new place will work fine as my trans HQ.

But for now I am totally exhausted and going to bed. Might not have any news until after Xmas, in which case best wishes for a wonderful holiday season to all of you!

Dramatis Personae:
Nella a.k.a. Me
Lady!Boss a.k.a. Lady!Boss
Her Boss a.k.a. The Captain a.k.a. Father
The Copier a.k.a. Debbie (The Bitch)

Our scene opens to Nella and Lady!Boss sitting at their desks. Nella's desk is faced away from Lady!Boss, her back to her. Lady!Boss's desk is next to Father's--he's desk faces hers. The pair are typing away at this and that, when suddenly, through an email, Lady!Boss proclaims!--

Lady!Boss: Dad looks mad that he had to fill the copier

Me: *likewise through email* Yes, after all, we should be able to divine from over here when the printers need refilling.

Lady!Boss: But of course…Debbie that BITCH… you’d think she’d give us a heads up!

Me: You KNOW that Debbie lives to make us look bad in front of Father…

Lady!Boss: Hahahaha That whore.

Me: I can’t decide if she’s the sister from the other marriage, or the evil step mother.

Lady!Boss: I think she’s the sister from the other marriage from the evil step mother.

Me: And not even the red-headed one that’s just kinda of stupid and ends up being alright and marries the baker.

Lady!Boss: EXACTLY!!!!...Debbie is the blonde evil one that every one thinks is sweet and innocent…. And then goes and marries the town hottie and cheats on him with the town sleaze bucket for money!!!

Me: She’s also a DIRTY whore—that’s the second time in a week I’ve had to wipe her down to get rid of lines in the copies.

*a pause of some time, when suddenly--*

Lady!Boss: Do you understand, how hard…. It is…. Not to laugh right NOW?

Me: Oh, I sympathize. It’s a damn good thing my back is to Father. And on that note. Mwha. MWHAHA. MWHAHAHAHAH.

~*~

BLEGH TUESDAYS.

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

That Simon Cowell seems to think he can take entirely for granted that the Christmas number one in the singles chart is his to do with as he pleases strikes me as the height of arrogance, and a symbol of everything that is superficial, nasty and plain distasteful about western consumerism.

I know it's also published by Sony, so we're giving them money anyway, but Killing In The Name's closing lyrics express succinctly how I feel about Cowell and his ilk. I appreciate that the song was written for an entirely different context, and ranting against tacky plastic consumerism might seem a small thing compared to the racism, violence and death that the song is about, but that too seems to me to be a reason to try and make it the Christmas number one. This is a potent message which should be heard again and again.

I'm sure many people enjoyed the X-Factor and I have nothing against Joe McElderry, who sings very nicely. I even bought one of Susan Boyle's singles a few weeks ago, so Mr Cowell already has some of my money, but I still wanted to add my voice to the countrywide chant of, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me". With that in mind, I bought Rage Against The Machine's single today, and so did the_local_echo and zoeimogen.

We might not succeed, but we should at least take number two, and I think that's a positive thing on balance. I also now have an extra bit of musical stress therapy on my iPod out of the deal.

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/218102.html - you can comment here or there.

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( Just tired of being alone in the world. )

So I don't do memes, but I've seen a few people doing a brief summary of their notable points of the 2000s, so I figured I'd do the same. Here we go:

	2000: Bought house, moved in with the_local_echo, for the second time. Got into digital photography. Believe it or not, that's me in the picture.
	2001: Visited India. Spent far too much time in Silicon Valley. Got married to the_local_echo. Got our first snake. Came out to most of my friends as trans. The photo is of a wild monkey in Goa demonstrating no fear of humans.
	2002: Got more snakes. Had a weekend break in Seattle (seriously). Saw Venice for the first time, went hiking in the Dolomites. Found out about Via Ferratas, decided anyone doing one was probably insane beyond redemption. I now want to do one. The photo is Venice (well, Burano).
	2003: Started living part time as female, mostly in private. Started laser hair removal. Went to Utah for the second time, got to the top of Angels' Landing for the first time, conquering my fear of heights. Became decidedly genderqueer, although I didn't know the word at the time. The photo is the top of Angels' Landing.
	2004: Learned to water-ski, in Wisconsin! Consolidated my genderqueerness. Resigned my job of 9 years and went to work for a startup. The photo is of me swimming in the River Cam, and holding on to a punt pole.
	2005: What a year! After 6 months working for the startup, I started working for myself as a contractor. Went to Utah for the third time, got introduced to the idea of canyoneering. Thought it all a bit hardcore. Returned to the US to spend a week in Wisconsin again (more water-skiing), had a bit of a "moment of clarity" there when I realised the genderqueer thing really wasn't doing what I needed. Returned to the UK, sulked for a couple of months, transitioned, saw a gender specialist, started psychotherapy. Started blogging. The photo is me water-skiing.
	2006: The year of my so-called "Real Life Experience". Started HRT in January, had a rollercoaster ride in all sorts of ways. Met loads of amazing new people, visited Venezuela where my brother got married, and where my father disowned me (apparently because I told him to "fuck off" - I think he deserved it). Became good friends with zoeimogen, got referral for SRS, stopped taking hormones, spent the run up to Christmas feeling mostly dead. Was the photographer at two weddings. The photo is one I took of Angel Falls.
	2007: Had sex reassignment surgery. Dilated. Visited a BDSM club for the first time. Dilated. Went on my first Pride march. Dilated. Had revision surgery. Dilated. Visited Barcelona, didn't have energy to do much. Dilated. The photograph, well - I had to really.
	2008: Became polyamorous by accident. Went to Utah for the 4th time, learned how to abseil, descended my first canyon. Met parmonster. Had nasal polyp surgery. Helped organise S'onewall demo and had a Guardian journalist vaguely threaten me with a libel lawyer. The photo is me abseiling in Zion's Subway.
	2009: Joined a political party. Got married to the_local_echo for the second time. Took up climbing after gentle prodding by paradox_puree. Went back to Utah and did some serious canyoneering. The photo - me, Sylvia and Zoe one day in April.

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/217798.html - you can comment here or there.

Yet another article spews forth from within the ranks of our wonderful LGB community, restating that tied old meme, trans people are deluded victims of a medical plot to "mutilate" poor confused gay people and turn our gender-stereotypical model citizens and I am here to save you from yourselves. By way of a striking bit of deja-vu, it's from a gay campaigner and journalist, namely Ronald Gold writing via the Bilerico Project. I love the URL's allusions that trans people are a "disease that doesn't exist" - classy.

Anyway folks, methinks its time to fasten our seatbelts and hold on once again for the inevitable storm when our self-proclaimed saviour and representative from the Penis Preservation Society finds out that his gallant attempts to keep us away from the evil boogeysurgeon are met with less than undying adoration and gratitude. Watch out for all the classic stages. It usually starts with denial, moves through cognitive dissonance into attacking us for our perceived ingratitude, and ends with a persecution complex. The stage where you get nominated for "Journalist of the Year" and invited for canapés by a bunch of jolly decent sorts from the LGB establishment is entirely optional.

Stage one has already begun. Dear Ronald has explained, after a deluge of surprisingly less than gushing comments that he "was attempting to open a dialogue with some of you who are willing", and that he "hopes to be allowed to try again." Isn't that nice?

In the unlikely event that you're reading this, Ronald, I'd like to offer some advice. When I was eight I would try to "open dialogue" with my little brother by hitting him until he came round to my way of thinking. It never actually worked. By launching a full frontal attack on us, you are far more likely to encourage a counter-offensive than any kind of negotiation. Poor play, Ron, poor play.

Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/217463.html - you can comment here or there.

1) Playing Dragon Age: Origins. It is a brilliant RPG -- quite possibly the best CRPG ever made. From a mechanics standpoint, there isn't anything that would seem unfamiliar to someone who has played KOTOR or Baldur's Gate, it's just been refined and removed from AD&D underpinnings, and it all balances nicely and works extremely well.

But the main thing about it is the game itself -- the writing and the voice talent are *phenomenal*. Playing it, I realized that I had never played a Bioware game that involved their own IP, and that I was enjoying watching them really sink their teeth into a world. As usual, corruption and redemption were big themes for them, but the moral space here was a lot darker than I've seen them do before. They also did a good job of playing around with race and class -- they have 6 different origin stories depending on what you choose, and the first *two hours* of the game is customized to your background. (Some is after that, as well, although they can't really warp the *meat* of the story that much, it varies enough that I'm planning on doing a playthru with every background.)

I will say -- the game is rated M, and it is rated M for good reason. Some of the violence is extremely visceral, and the game doesn't shy away from sexual violence. (One of the origin stories surrounds a kidnap/rape scenario.) Even more than that, there a number of situation where there are difficult, icky moral choices that have to be made. All of these things make for a compelling game. They also mean my 14 year old son won't be playing it, even though there are many M games I do allow him to play. Just something to be aware of if there are children in your life.

2) I've gone back to working on my Volmyn novel, which I'm currently calling Dissonance. (The trilogy, then, would be Dissonance, Transposition, and Resolution. And yes, Resolution is a sucky name for a book.) I found a local critique group a few months ago, one that focuses on, of all things, fantasy novels, so it was worthwhile to go back to a steady project, rather than flitting around between short stories that don't quite reel me in. But...it was very satisfying to go back to the chapters I'd written 2-3 years ago and see how *utterly horrid* they were. I've improved a lot as a writer over the last couple of years, and that was why I went back to short stories in the first place. I love it when a plan comes together.

Plus, I'm really enjoying the group itself. There are five of us (including one other Seattle transplant, a refugee from WoTC), which seems just about perfect, and we're pounding through a chapter each every other week. And, you know, I don't really *know* anyone in town, so this is as close as I get to a social life.

3) I was supposed to have a job interview today, but it was rescheduled due to the BLIZZARD!! (As far as I can tell, people in Michigan freak out about snow just as much as people in Seattle do. They just have a lot more snow when they freak out over it.) So...think good thoughts for me on Monday morning.

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