Transgender Musician

In the current issue of Rolling Stone, a popular musician named Tom Gabel (of punk-rock band, Against Me!) announced he's starting the transition to becoming publicly female.  Honestly, I've never heard of Gabel but I certainly wish him well on this difficult journey.

Gabel has chosen a new name, Laura, and plans to stay with his current wife Heather.  They have a two year old girl, with whom Gabel recently painted his toes.  Heather doesn't see any reason why they need to break up. 

I hope they can maintain their relationship but past history is discouraging.  A famous transsexual, Jennifer Finney Boylan, wrote about her transition and described how, in the years following it, her marriage changed and became unworkable.  While every relationship is different, the strong forces Boylan described will strain Gabel's marriage to Heather.  Similarly, Chaz Bono's relationship with his girlfriend, Jennifer, failed after his transition despite their fervent efforts to maintain it.

Gabel said in his announcement that he hasn't told his parents yet because he expects his father (who works in the military) to never speak to him again and his mother to cry uncontrollably with sadness.  As hard as it will be for Gabel to inform his parents, I hope they don't learn about this from reading the news or a magazine.

Things I Saw Today

Riding At The Track

I've been eagerly awaiting the professionally-taken photos of my experience at the track last week, but they haven't arrived yet.  Those pictures will show you some of the excitement I felt riding that day.

While we're waiting, here is a video taken by my friend Jim.  Jim has a camera mounted on his bike.  The video shows Jim riding the 13-curve track we were at that day.  The track is named "Thunderbolt," to distinguish it from neighboring track, "Lightning."

As you'll note from seeing Jim pass slower riders, Jim is an exceptionally-skilled motorcyclist.  His bike -- a rare BMW sportbike that costs $28,000 -- hit 160 mph on the straightaway and could have gone faster if that stretch was longer.  At its end, you have to make two sharp right-hand turns that necessitate slowing down to get through the curves.

Watching the video, you get a sense of the lean-angles our motorcycles are capable of.  To get through sharp curves at high speed, you need to lean over as far as possible, even to the point of dragging your knee on the road.  Hovering inches over the pavement while hurling at ridiculous speeds is scary but, if you're brave, you can savor the sensation.  Seeing this visually gives you a glimpse of the ride, but it doesn't convey many other sensations accompanying it, like the visceral thrill of acceleration, harsh vibration, physical forces pulling your body, and occasional terror.  :-)

Gracey's Prom Party

I enjoy Gracey's blog, Fashion For Giants.  Gracey recently went to a 1980's-themed prom party and pulled out all the stops, as you can see by the photo below.  Gracey also invited her blog-friends to participate by sending in pictures which she posted on her blog.  Of course, I joined in the fun (go here).

Nature Walk

The weather in New York was beautiful today, so I suggested to Robin that we visit a place I'd never seen before, Sweetbriar Nature Center.  It's a charitable nature preserve where injured wild animals are rehabilitated.  The animals were amazing.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day.  When I saw this picture, it made me laugh.

Halting In Halter

In the male world, there are no clothes with a halter-top.  So, when I tried a halter-top for the first time, it felt odd.  I'd never had clothes hang on me like that before.

Last night, I was walking through Kohls and a pretty dress caught my eye.  Its colorful print attracted me like a moth.  I circled around it, then decided I had to go back and look.  The closer I got, the more I liked the dress.

I returned to the store today and picked it up.  It was on sale for $23 which my budget can absorb.  I like the halter-top feature and the dress suits my style.  To enhance it, I added a feathery hair-piece and new orange lipstick (brighter than my first orange lippy).

What do you think?