Jumping With Joy

Some women's clothing has male analogs, like shirts/blouses, but some does not. For example, no male clothing uses a halter top. The first time I wore one it felt very weird: its physical sensations were entirely new to me.

I'm attracted to women's clothing that is uniquely feminine in this way. The pieces have been forbidden to me since childhood. I've bent gender-rules with some things, like floral shirts and colorful neckties but wasn't allowed to wear more feminine items when presenting as male in public.

Jumpsuits. I find them interesting. I've never worn one and always wanted the experience. So when I spotted a cheap one in a thrift-store I thought "Finally! My chance!" 

Obviously this jumpsuit isn't well-designed and not really the right size but I'm WEARING it. That's reason enough to celebrate. 

Oh, and I painted my toes white 'cause I want to be like the other girls; that's something they're doing right now. :)

Images

Photography, as a practice, appeals to me because it allows us to actively engage the world as we pass through it. And then take home fragments of our experiences.

I took this pic shooting into a reflective sphere. You're seeing an image of an image. I like how it resembles a painting.

Raison d'etre

The reason I began this blog a dozen years ago was to explore my femininity with friendly conversation, playful outfits and new friends. That was its raison d'etre.

It still is. The global COVID pandemic interferred, however, by making the process of creating outfit-posts exceptionally difficult. (They are harder than you'd imagine for someone who looks like me.) But not doing them is painful and that ache has been mounting lately. I realize I need to return to creating new outfits no matter how many obstacles stand in my way. I'll leap all of them.

So here's my first effort at a return. Hopefully they'll improve as I re-arrange my personal life. Comments and feedback are always appreciated, so fire away. :)

A Day of Adventure

Turning 21

Our marriage is finally legal tomorrow -- it's turning 21 years old!

I have a full day of activities to surprise Robin with, capped off by a romantic dinner at a fancy restaurant on the water. Have a nice weekend.

New Camera

Lately I've been shooting pictures with old, crappy cameras. It's fun to push these machines to their limit.

I wondered what would happen if I used a good camera. A new one, not used; modern, not vintage. It's a challenge of a different sort.

So I just bought a fancy new camera. I'm not disclosing its brand or price; just know that it has a Leica lens. Leica, a German company founded in 1869 -- that's 18-69 -- makes the best glass lenses in the world. Everyone agrees on that. The lenses in my crap cameras are cheap plastic.

I took my new baby out today for a stroll. Casual shots, nothing fancy. No tripod, no preparation; just want to see what she's capable of.

Wow! Sharp images. Rich colors. I'm pleased with the initial results.

Celebrity Sightings

I love good writing and recently-deceased Roger Angell was one of the best at it. Roger wrote for The New Yorker for decades, usually about baseball. Right now I'm enjoying a collection he published in 2015. Two stories in it made me laugh. 

In a piece on NYC celebrity-sightings Roger mentions his experiences passing stars on the street such as Paul Newman, Babe Ruth (Roger lived into his nineties), Richard Nixon, et al. Once he saw Harry Truman after Truman had left office. Truman was walking alone and Roger muttered a short compliment. Truman responded and they chatted a bit while continuing to walk. Roger writes, "Midway, a man I knew named Harding Bancroft -- a Times executive, in fact -- spotted me and my companion as we came toward him, and performed a double take worthy of the late Oliver Hardy."

The other story which is well-known didn't involve Roger. A woman stopped at an ice cream stand and ordered a cone. After she does she realizes that the man on line behind her is Paul Newman. Trying to remain calm she pretends not to notice him. She pays for her cone and walks away. When she reaches her car she grabs her keys but, what?, doesn't see her ice cream cone. Where did it go? She looks around and doesn't see it. She returns to the stand and explains her predicament to the counterman. He replies "Ma'am, you put the cone in your pocketbook."