TBN China Red redux

Almost two years ago, I grabbed several bottles of the then-discontinued nail polish TBN China Red, which I've been using almost all of the time for years.

After trying to transfer the dregs from one bottle into another to get enough in a bottle to get my nails done last week, I googled the colour wondering if I might be able to find some more old stock...

Imagine my surprise when I found that it's a current colour again!

On Thursday night, I went to a chemist in Charlestown Square that carries the brand, and got one bottle that looks exactly the same as the ones from before, for just $2.95. There was another bottle labelled something like "new French formula", which I didn't buy.

I figure that I'll have a look around a few of the other chemists that carry the brand if I happen to be nearby, and stock up in case it is discontinued again.

Two years on

The second anniversary of the last time I went out en femme slipped by quietly a few days ago. That means that the third anniversary of the second last time I went out went by a few days earlier.

Having recently set a new all-time maximum weight of 103.5kg, I have discovered that I'm having trouble with what I assume is fat at the top of my abdomen pressing upwards against my sternum and ribs, causing some pain and shortness of breath. Clearly, I have to start losing some of the 30kg that I've gained over the past six years!

I'm now trying to work out how to rearrange my life to get back on track, without a lot of success.

Blimp

Back in January, I mentioned that I was making an effort to lose weight, without much success. A few months on, things have gone from bad to worse. I regained all the weight that I had managed to lose, and then some. I'm now 101.5kg, heavier than I have ever been before.

I don't want to weigh this much, but I've reached the point where I really want to dress and go out even if I know that I don't look as good as I would like. That means I have to be able to dress for my current weight. I recently tried a few different combinations of body shapers and padding, and came to the conclusion that I need to use the large foam breast forms that I bought when I was experimenting with pregnant costuming a few years ago, to balance how big I am elsewhere. With them, I measure 122-92-127cm (48-38-50"), which makes me about a 4XL or Australian size 22.

That rules out every piece of "pinup" style clothing, including two dresses that I bought when I was around 94kg, but never completed a blog post about.

Oddly, I found that one of the pairs of stretch jeans in my wardrobe fits my current size quite well, but they're boot cut and a little short to for my height. Looking back through old photos, I've realised that I should have two pairs of boots that might be suitable, but I have to find them. I think that I stored them in the attic. With the boots being fitted on the calves and me being bigger now, I don't even know if either pair will fit.

Combining a loose fitting top over a stretch v-neck t-shirt that covers my bra, I assembled a fairly nondescript outfit that I can wear. I'm yet to try to do hair and makeup to suit it, which will obviously not be the pinup style that I've done for the last few years. I'm way out of practice, and I'm yet to go through my makeup and make a shopping list of what I need to replace, so I don't expect to get out all that soon. :-(

I ATE'NT DEAD

I think that the phrase "I ATE'NT DEAD", which the Terry Pratchett character Granny Weatherwax would place on her body while she was having out-of-body experiences, has a parallel to where I'm at.

Me, at 73kg

I'm not dead, but I haven't been me in over a year. That's right, not a single outing in 2016, and not many blog posts, either. :-(

Yes, I continue to have long painted nails and long dyed hair, but I haven't done hair and makeup and dressed en femme in over a year.

In the past couple of months, I've begin making an effort to get my weight under control, with limited results. From a peak weight of 101kg, I'm now consistently between 95 and 96kg, but I don't seem to be able to get below 95. I look at a photo from when I was 73kg, and I like how I looked. I look at a photo from when I was 96kg and I can't stand how I look, to the point that I don't want to dress while I weigh this much, because I know that that is how I would look.

Today, I saw a post from Paula at Paula's Place, about why some people stop going out dressed, which referred to another couple of posts from others. Of the various explanations posited, I don't think that any of them cover why I stopped.

I stopped because life got too much. I think about it several times (or constantly) every day, but I couldn't cope with depression, an excessive workload, rejection within the trans community and a myriad of other issues. The biggest problem was a feeling that my wife and son, while not overtly rejecting my activities, don't like it and make me uncomfortable doing anything girly while they are home.

The only way I could see to work around my wife and son seemed to be to extend the house such that I could dress in a part of the house that was separate from where they were. After two attempts at getting planning approval over several years, it all came to nothing. I've recently been looking at a much scaled down extension that would still achieve the same thing, but with only me earning an income and having recently made an unexpected investment property purchase that will pay off in the longer term, we are now so financially stretched that I don't see much chance of building an extension for a few years.

So all I can do now is concentrate on losing weight, and doing any improvements I can to the house that we have, in the hope that somehow, something will make a difference and I will be able to go out again.