28 February 2008

It’s a small world

(imported from myspace)

I use high quality mastectomy breast forms. They're expensive but I figure I'm worth it. :)

I bought my last pair of breast forms about 6 or 7 years ago and they had started to develop small cracks around the edges in the past few months. A few weeks ago, one of them split and started leaking. Eww.

There was nothing to be done but buy a new pair. There were 2 local suppliers that I knew of, so I had a look at the website for one and found exactly what I was after. With some extras included in a package deal, they were $699. Out of curiosity, I rang the other place and was quoted $431 each. That's $862 without any extras!!!

Obviously, I ordered them from first place! When I got an email last Wednesday to say that they had arrived, I arranged to go and pick them up.

I knew was that the woman there was named Tanya, but when I arrived, I looked at her and thought that she looked familiar from somewhere... She thought that I looked familiar, too.

After a little while, we worked out where we knew each other from. It turns out that we had been in the same group of friends for a few years about 20 years ago! Wow. What was supposed to be a half hour shopping trip turned into a 2 hour visit. :)

Ironically, one of my brothers was interested in Tanya all those years ago, and was just about to ask her out when she met the man she's been married to for the past 17 years. This is the same brother who didn't talk to me for about 9 months after learning about my crossdressing.

Tanya said that she wanted me to get a photo of my brother's reaction when I tell him what she does for a living now.

This Tuesday, Tanya came along to our weekly cafe night. It was great! Towards the end of the night, we got a couple of photos of the pair of us. She wants me to email one of them to my brother. I love the idea, except that I'd miss out on seeing his expression. :)

I think I might print the photo out and take it to my niece's birthday party this weekend in case my brother goes too. :)

17 February 2008

What a fortnight!

(imported from myspace)

I've had a busy fortnight.

Back in October last year, I tried to go out to a cafe with friends. It was a big let down when I got dressed up and drove into town only to find that they had cancelled without telling me even though I'm sure that I'd told them the week before that I intended to be there. I wasn't treated very well by the staff at the cafe, which upset me quite a bit.

There were some unfortunate misunderstandings as a consequence of that, and I pretty much stopped crossdressing for over 3 months. I'd occasionally try something on or buy something in a shop but I didn't do makeup and I didn't even consider going out.

That all changed a couple of weeks ago. Completely by accident, I happened to be in a chatroom late on Friday night when a friend from the next suburb showed up. I hadn't seen her in about 6 months, and I jokingly suggested that I could go and visit her. She said yes, I said "When?" and she said "Now." I changed clothes and went and visited her from about 12:30am until 3:30am, and tentatively organised to visit again the next night.

The next night, I did my makeup, got all ready to go and then went into the chatroom to check that she was home before I went. She wasn't there, and nobody had seen her all night. I hung around for over an hour, then changed, showered and went to bed.

Well, I guess about then my brain shifted gears and said "I wanna go out!"

The next day was Sunday. I dressed again with the intention of going to Charlestown Square. Well, by the time I was ready to leave, about all that was open were the supermarkets, Myer and David Jones at Kotara. Myer would be closed in about half an hour, but David Jones would be open for another hour and a half. That made the choice easy. DJs it was.

Having not been out for so long, just getting the nerve to get out of the car was a real struggle but I did it. I went into DJs, wandered around and browsed, got friendly smiles from the shop assistants and generally had a relaxing and positive experience.

I decided that I'd have another go at going out to a cafe, so that Tuesday night I went out and spent a couple of hours having dinner with friends. It was great being out!

The next Saturday, I decided that it was about time that I got myself a better fitting bra. I knew that the one I had worn the last couple of times I was out didn't fit right, and I wanted to get 2 new ones, one black and one skintone. I went to the shopping centre and spent about 3 hours going around various shops. I tried bras at a few shops but none fitted quite right. I ended up at Myer, where I found a bra that fitted much better but they only had it in skintone. I thought "oh well, I'll drive to DJs and see if they have the same one in black."

I got to DJs and started looking for the same bra. A lady there asked if she could help me. I told her what I was looking for. They didn't have the same one, but they had another similar one in the same brand. Isn't that always the way?

Anyway. I tried that one on and it wasn't right. Just as I was going to give up, the lady came back to check on me. I ended up getting a proper bra fitting done, finding a completely different bra that was a better fit than I'd ever had before and I got 25% off because I bought 2! I was happy. :)

The following Tuesday, I went out to dinner with some of the same friends. Another great night, and I was even less nervous about going out.

Of course, now I was thinking that I'd really like to find a new top or dress to wear next week...

Saturday couldn't come soon enough! As usual, I had a late start and didn't get out anywhere nearly as early as I wanted. It was mid afternoon by the time I dropped into a local op shop to try on a dress I'd seen before. It would have been great if the zip hadn't self destructed! Oh well, I'll just have to go look for something new instead. I drove to Kotara and wandered around for a couple of hours. I tried a couple of tops but didn't end up buying either.

It's a shame I have so much else that needs doing. I could have spent today shopping too. :)

I still don't know if any of my neighbours know about my crossdressing. :))