Awaken, My Love!

So blogging has not been going like I’d like it. I either just don’t have the time or don’t feel like thinking enough when I do have the time.

This year has been super eventful, though. Kass and I took a road trip to Montreal in July to Osheaga. It’s a super big music festival. It was so awesome. We got to see Wolf Parade, Haim, Cypres Hill, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lana Del Rey. We saw several others, but there were so many. We missed the whole day on Sunday (I wanted to see Leon Bridges so bad) because we both got food poisoning so something equally awful. We got up and went to breakfast at this cute little place called The Breakfast Club, and by the time we were done eating we couldn’t decide if we wanted to pass out or die. Since we were leaving on Monday we decided that we should just hang out in the hotel, so we slept all day.

Aside from that, we’ve decided that we’re not huge fans of Canada (sorry, Canada). We really wanted to be, honestly. We both thought that once we got there we would never want to leave. We were disappointed that didn’t happen. We just met so many rude people, both of our hotels charged us twice, we got food poisoning (which isn’t Canada’s fault, we get that, but it still taints your experience), we were almost killed by an insane cabbie, and my credit card info got stolen. Pretty sure it was when we were in the crowd at Osheaga since in Canada they hand the credit card scanner to you and never handle your card. We got back home on Wednesday and opened the bank account on Friday to go over bills and there was almost $1,200 missing. Someone went to some women’s boutiques and shoe stores, a jewelry store, McDonald’s, and a strip club. So we called and since I had been using my card at all my normal places at home, (coffee shops, grocery store, etc.) and she could tell a card was swiped, the bank had no problem reversing the charges, getting me a new card, and putting the money back in our account right away. But the lady we talked to said that was the fastest she had ever seen a fake card made and used. Great.

In November we went to Canun. We got a LivingSocial deal so we saved a ton at an all-inclusive, adults only resort. Literally never wanted to leave. Kass even looked for jobs in her field before we left. We had planned to do a ton of things, but when we got there we were so exhausted from work and politics (we left the day after the election) we just relaxed. We did get to drive a speed boat through the jungle and go snorkeling. That was amazing. We got to see two pieces of the underwater coral museum. Otherwise, we just swam in the ocean and the pools, drank, ate, and relaxed. We even had our own dip pool on the balcony of our room. We spent a ton of time naked in there. Totally could have moved into that room.

We spent Thanksgiving with some family. Kass’ cousin and wife and my cousin and her boyfriend live in Milwaukee, so we drove there and stayed in a hotel for the holiday. It was really nice to spend time with family. We haven’t done it in so long. Christmas and New Years we just spent at the house and relaxed.

Down on the West Coast they got a sayin’

It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to write. Kass is taking time off from the blog as well, so for now I’m taking it over as my own. Though I’m sure she will still pop on every now and then. She’s had a lot of her own stuff going on between work and school and such.

So much has been going on. We went to California for two weeks back in June/July. It was amazing. I seriously want to move there now. We spent a few days in San Francisco and then we flew down to LA and hung out there. We did all the touristy things which I loved and drove around a bunch, went to the beach. I saw the guy that plays Turk from Scrubs at a barbecue joint our first night in LA, but that was our only celebrity sighting that we were sure of.

Turned 27 on October 20th.

December 22nd was my 1 year and 2 month anniversary on T. I’m pretty pleased. My wife says she really hears changes in my voice. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. She says I sound totally different. I have been trying to keep up with pictures and recordings of my voice, but I just don’t honestly remember. I was going to do a one year voice change video but I don’t have enough, so I’m thinking I’ll make a two year video.

I am now one of the operators for the new Trans LifeLine, a for Trans* folk, by Trans* for crisis line. I’ve logged in a couple times, but haven’t gotten a call yet. I’ve been really sick with a bad cold and my asthma the last few weeks, so I haven’t really logged on because I just don’t feel like I would be as good as I should be for someone calling in a potential crisis. I am super proud of being a part of it though. I think it’s an amazing service and I’m glad that something like this has been created. If you or anyone you know needs help, do not hesitate to call.

http://www.translifeline.org  (877) 565-8860 in the US and (877) 330-6366 in Canada.

Kass and I had a pretty good Christmas. We opened our presents on Christmas Eve. I was supposed to go to work but stayed home because I’m sick. Sadly, I won’t get my holiday pay, but that’s ok. Kass found us an immediate care and pharmacy that was open, because she is super sick, too. The experience was less than favorable. The guy at the registration counter understood immediately that I was trans and when I asked if he could put a different name of my forms and he was like oh yeah, no problem. I thought man, this is going to go so smooth. And then I got called into triage, and into administration, and to go back to my room. And every. single. time. they called my legal name. Even though he wrote my name in bold at the top of my sheet and underlined it a bunch. By the third time I was about ready to throw down. I thought I was going to lose it. Kass and I both said something to the woman taking us back and she was like oh yeah, I saw that. Seriously? You saw it, but what? Just ignored it? I was livid. Then we get back into our rooms and the nurse comes to mine first and calls me by my legal name. I corrected her and she just ignored me. Then she went to Kass’ room and she asked if she had been to my room yet, and the woman told her no, even though she already had been. Kass told her that my preferred name is Wes and my preferred pronouns are he/his/him and that I’ve had it up to here with everyone saying my legal name and female pronouns. So when she came back in she was extra nice and kept calling me Wes. We got the name of the person in charge though and are going to call, because it was just not a great experience, it was so uncomfortable and could have been dangerous. I’m always on the look out for stuff like that. I hate that I prepare myself to get my ass kicked. Do I think I will? Probably not. But I hate that I feel like I have to be ready, just in case.

When we got back home we opened our gifts. I got her an acoustic guitar and cell phone case, a “Notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg” shirt, and some other stuff and she got me a P-Style and a case, a bread maker, ice cream machine and some awesome cookbooks, one for my bread machine and one called Thug Kitchen that’s like a super cool food truck cookbook with foul language, an Oyster subscription and some other stuff. We’ve been hanging out playing Sims and SimCity and watching Lock Up and Roseanne marathons. Tonight I made a small ham, green bean casserole, and cheesy hash browns.

Tomorrow we’re going out to do a little shopping and I’m going to get stuff to make a couple loaves of bread. I also need a haircut something fierce and there is a pretty cook barbershop that I have really been looking to try out. It’s this kind of rockabilly place called Floyd’s 99.

Well, that’s what I’ve been up too. I’m going to make a point to write more frequently again.

And here is my day 1 on October 22, 2013 vs. 1 year, 1 month, and 1 week one testosterone.