Saturday, August 31, 2013

Gender Roles

I have some cd or cd-ish cartoons waiting to be scanned in, but today I have a few "gender role" related ones.

I bet no-one's surprised that the humour all comes from guys taking a girl's role/habit.  This is the 21st century and still it's a one-way street.  I did enjoy these cartoons; hopefully, in ten or twenty years someone will look at this post and say "huh?"

Candorville, Duplex, Ink Pen




Friday, August 30, 2013

Jewelry Show ~ At The Show

It was drizzling a bit when I got to the show, but not enough to require an umbrella.  There was also a line that stretched outside the building and not many parking spots available.  Parking got worse.  When I left, someone followed me to my car so she could snatch my spot.

There were three types of exhibits: open stands, where you could examine and touch the jewelry, closed

click to enlarge
cases where you needed to ask the person running the booth to show you items, and mixed, like at a typical department store jewelry department.  As you can imagine, expensive items were in the closed cabinets.  This meant I didn't have to look at all 350 or so exhibits ~ just the open ones.  Behind glass meant out of my budget.
There was also a section where a serious-looking man blocked the entrance: wholesale only.  Glancing in, it looked to be about a quarter of the size of the retail section.

From purchasing my ticket (with a coupon!) to buying a snack to leaving, it was all "ladies" with four exceptions: there was one "ma'am" (not unexpected), one "you guys" (acceptable), one no-title-at-all (that's OK too), and one "girls"(!).  And that was unexpected!

It was almost all jewelry.  There were some booths with other accessories.  Scarves were common.  There was one guy selling dresses.  (more on him in a moment)

I was looking at framed stamps at one booth.  The woman said "the stamps are $10."  I said "but... it says thirty-two cents."  She gave me this wide grin and kept it up, staring at me for several seconds.  I'd love to know what was going through her mind.

Vendor to my left
I was pretty dressed up, but hey, it's Sunday and women go to church and then to the jewelry show, right?  I wasn't the dressiest.  I saw at least one woman in a suit and some of the saleswomen were nicely dressed.  Perhaps other shoppers figured I was taking a break from a booth.  Perhaps I don't care what they thought, as long as they kept it to themselves and treated me cordially.

The show had an Indian slant, with heavy, brightly coloured jewelry.  The patrons leaned Indian too, with many older women in saris and many younger ones in dresses over leggings or pants. 

The guy was selling dresses was sure I was buying.  He explained that the style is to wear them over leggings.  I really liked the dress style and some had very vibrant colours and patterns.  They looked well-made; they came from India and had European sizing.  I think he said I was a 38.

I asked why they wore them over leggings/pants since the skirts were not very short and lined.  He said it was very stylish.  He held one up to me and I called for Charity to take a picture.  He then grabbed another and held that up.  I took that one too and Charity took another picture.  (They did not allow pictures so I didn't take others; just these few I could sneak in.)  I readily admit they were very pretty (there was a royal blue dress that looked fantastic) and very well made and reasonably priced, but still outside of my current budget.  He worked hard to sell me a dress and I hated to leave empty-handed.

I'd guess 95% of the visitors were women.  A few guys were wandering on their own; a few were dragged along by their SOs.  There were very few kids there (under 8 were discouraged).

I had some coffee and considered using the ladies' but decided against it due to the constant stream of women going in and out of each restroom.  Don't get me wrong ~ no-one gave the slightest hint of discomfort or even an odd glance.  I was just another woman enjoying the show but I do like to not make others uncomfortable if I can help it ~ even if that discomfort is only in my own mind.

So I waited.




Thursday, August 29, 2013

Jewelry Show ~ Preshow

The jewelry show didn't start until 11 on Sunday so after a leisurely breakfast I got ready to go.  I decided on an implied "came-here-from-church" look and wore the green dress I had worn to a soiree a few weeks ago, plus a pair of brown open-toed heels.

I hadn't worn those shoes out before so I brought a pair of backup wedges (my silver Aerosoles which are pretty comfortable).  I also brought a pair of backup earrings for the dangly (but evil) ones, I tried to wear previously.  This was the "with cushions" test.

I apologise for the teaser.  I'll have more tomorrow.

I do have a picture of me and my new friend  She's nameless right now.  More on that in a week or so.  Right now, I'm thinking of calling her Mustard because she's grey and she'll poupon anything.  Sorry.

Ain't she cute?

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Encounter ~ Casual

click to enlarge
(if the poll is still open, please let me know what you think!)

At a mostly civilian game night at Star's, I was wearing a long dress.  I went into the little back room where there is a refrigerator to get a soft drink.  One of the guys followed me in for the same purpose and he said "that's a beautiful dress but you'll find that we're more casual here."  I smiled and said "this is about as casual as I get."  He shrugged, we got our drinks and headed back to the game.

I just realised I never wrote about that night!  I'll have to either do that or just extract some encounters.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

I Think This Is A Recurring Theme

(take the poll, but I think it's pretty overwhelming right now.  If you have a good reason to go against the majority, I'd love to hear it)

I had a plan for last Saturday.  Yes, it's another "plan, non-event" ~ sort of.

I would get dressed in something casual (maybe that long black-and-white dress again ~ I do like it a lot) and go to a local farmer's market.  Afterward, I'd treat myself to breakfast, and possibly go home and change into something nicer.  I've been wanting to wear my green dress again, and I wanted to go to the annual jewelry show.  Depending on how long I spent there, I might go grab another bite afterwards, or maybe do a bit of window shopping.

Instead, I had several things to catch up on (it's called "life" or something like that) and I decided it made more sense to push myself to do that Saturday and go out dressed the next day, as a reward ~ IF I could stay on schedule.

So Saturday, I had breakfast at home and went to the local farmer's market in drab, and then back to work.  I did what needed to be done, so Sunday would be a Meg day out!

The jewelry show was an event I had some qualms about.  Remember I recently wrote about how I avoid events that are civilian single-sex oriented, and I figured a jewelry show would be overwhelmingly female.  It was, but no more than, say, the women's department at Burlington or TJ Maxx.  Of course, there were a LOT more women at the show.

But I went.




Monday, August 26, 2013

Not Happy

(take that one second poll, which should say "get her ears pierced"!)

I am not happy about Chelsea Manning.

I'm sure you know by now that, post-sentencing, Bradley Manning announced.  "I am female.  I am Chelsea Manning."

Ms. Manning will cause serious harm to transgender causes.  The ignorant are going to say "oh, 'she' acted irrationally by leaking documents.  This explains it." Or  'She' is just going for an insanity appeal now that he's been sentenced."  Or "'She' wants to run amok at a women's prison."

I'm very conflicted ~ I'd hate to see someone live an untruthful life because it makes our lives more complicated.  Maybe she could have found a more private way to come out, although considering her history (see: WikiLeaks) she doesn't seem to act very privately.  Even for a private.

I'm working on this.  I'm thinking about this.

In the meantime, if someone is NOT working on a song that starts "Woke up, I was Chelsea Manning..." I'll be shocked.  Capitol Steps?  Bob Rivers?  I think it's not Weird Al's kind of thing.

In one of the many articles about Ms. Manning I picked up the following gem:

The American Psychiatric Association — in its most recent edition of the guidebook the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, used by psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians — revised “gender identity disorder” to “gender dysphoria.” The term is used to diagnose people whose gender at birth is contrary to the one they identify with. A psychologist who evaluated Manning in Iraq diagnosed him with a gender identity disorder in 2010.

Kim [
Grace Kim, a District-based psychologist], who has a number of transgender patients, said the change in terminology represents a shift away from gender issues being pathological and removed the connotation that the patient is “disordered.”

“Questioning your gender identity isn’t of itself a problem,” she said.


D.C.-based psychotherapist Mike Giordano agreed: “People need to understand that someone else’s gender identity and their expression is actually not up for debate, and people are who they are.”




Sunday, August 25, 2013

Sunday Funnies ~ Poodle + Taser = Funny

(please take the poll.  That, of course, should say "get her ears pierced"!)

I posted a Big Top cartoon once before on a Saturday.  Big Top is OK.  The artwork is good, the characters have distinct personalities, which is a plus.  People and animals are together, and things like being a lion is considered a personality trait.

Here's a recent week.  Dusty (poodle) finds a trainer's stun gun.  Click to enjoy.





Saturday, August 24, 2013

Comfort Is Good

(don't forget the poll.  It takes five seconds)

I had a picture of Pierce from Zits yesterday, so more Zits just felt right.

Zits bent the gender lines a little tiny bit with these two cartoons from a couple of weeks ago.  Alas, it had a stereotypically unhappy ending.

I pulled the strip from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer* and I follow each with a couple of reader comments.





"More guys out there with elastic waist band jeans from 'Just My Size' and 'Woman Within' than you realize."
"Getting to the place in your life when you don't give a fig what anyone thinks about your personal choices: PRICELESS!"


"If they were that embarrassed he could've worn them around the house and not in public. They look better than sweat pants IMO."
"my peeps tried to shame me into giving up what I liked and I said no. I advise all of you to do as you please when it comes to fashion choices."
and, sadly,
"There are some lines that simply cannot be crossed."
       
Well most of the comments were positive and supportive in the You Go Dad line.  Too bad the family didn't support his right to be comfortable.  Most of us have been there though.

BONUS: And then there's Herb and Jamaal:





* that name always reminds me of Rocky and Bullwinkle which had a newspaper called "The Picayune Intelligence"

Friday, August 23, 2013

Getting an Earful

I guess I'm old.  I remember when guys could step WAY outside the box and get a single ear pierced.  One was purported to be the sign that you're gay; the other, that you're not.  I considered it so important that I don't remember which was which.

But none of you have a single ear pierced.

I wasn't considering getting just one ear pierced, but I was thinking it might be better to get ears pierced one at a time ~ wait for one to heal and then do the other one so it looks more "normal."  I guess that's normal to a child of the '60s.  My next poll originally had that choice but it won't.

Just over 40% of you have at least one piercing in both ears.

Personally, I'm not interested in multiple piercings, but 10% of you did that!  Cool.

Of the nearly 60% of my readers without pierced ears, about three-quarters of you plan to get them pierced(someday).  That's cool too.  Maybe I should run this poll again in a year!

So obviously I've been thinking about this.  What are the pluses and minuses, as I see them?

PLUS: there are a lot more choices when your ears are pierced.

MINUS: I REALLY REALLY hate needles and holes.  And here I'd have a hole I'd have to stick a pin into regularly.

MINUS: I find earrings on guys distracting.  I don't know why; I don't know if it's just me, but it draws my eyes away Every Time.

MINUS: Four to six week healing period when I have to wear studs constantly.  And I like to sleep on my side.

MINUS: (low probability) possible infection or other problem (holes don't line up, keep closing, etc.

MINUS: I don't want to explain to everyone why I decided to suddenly get my ears pierced.  Midlife crisis?  Yeah, if I'm gonna go until 120.  Freak accident?  Drunken dare?  Oh....  No stories.

MINUS: there are a lot more choices when your ears are pierced.  That can be bad for a budget.

So since the pluses and minuses are pretty well balanced, I'm thinking about it.  What do you think?  Please take the poll to the right.

And Dani (and anyone else looking who can't order online): I bet Claire's or Icing carry cushions.  They carry lots of clip-ons).




Thursday, August 22, 2013

It's A Miracle

As I write this (a few days before you read it), I am wearing the same earrings that I wore the previous week.  One of my readers mentioned earring cushions.  Quite a while ago, I bought a package of cushions and I used them once or twice.

I really should use them more often.  Maybe all the time.

Cushions look like this when scattered on the table:

See the pocket top, esp on the lower right cushion

They have a rounded side and a side with a little clear vinyl pocket on the flat side.  You slide the inside part into the pocket.

It looks like this on an earring:

That line diagonally across the clip is the top of the pocket.  They probably touched the picture up a bit so the pocket looks absolutely clear.  That actually makes it harder to see what you're getting.
My earring is a bit different, with a inner pad that folds over so it fits on like this:

Just the round bit goes into the pocket

and looks like this:


There are several styles of cushions, but I think they're all pretty much the same.  I saw packages with one pair for $6.50, three pair for $10.00.

But I bought this one, three pair for $2.49 at Amazon.

And I wore those Torquemada earrings for nine hours  (without the cushions, I had to take them off after about 90 minutes) and I couldn't even tell I had earrings on!  Once or twice I checked to make sure they didn't fall off.  I only took them off because it was time for Meg to go away for the night.




Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Encounters ~ Observations

Please take the quick poll: are your ears pierced?

I went to two civilian game nights in July.  About half of the games were there both times.  The first time, I wore this around my neck:
click to see my neckwear
It's a bit hard to see, but the shorter chain says "Meg."  It's much more visible here (from my Pizza night out):


A couple of times, when I was introduced and people weren't sure of the name, I said "you could cheat" and pointed to my necklace.

In the next game night, I wore this:

During one game, someone new to many of us came in.  As I was being introduced, one of the guys who I had met at the previous night said "where's your 'Meg' necklace?"  I said "it didn't go with this necklace so I had to leave it at home."  He said it was a nice necklace and we moved on.

It's nice to be noticed.




Tuesday, August 20, 2013

What's In A Name?

That old poll was sitting around for quite a while, without review.

I was curious about how y'all chose your femme surname.  Let's look at the results....

Fifteen percent just kept their birthname.  That makes it easy for families and credit cards.  If your boy name is Steven Martin and your femme name is Susan Martin, that Visa with S. Martin on it works well.
 
Another twenty percent used a variation on their birthname.  I didn't ask for specifics, but perhaps Silverman changed to Silver, or Johnson to Johns.  Just to get rid of the boy part.  Frankly, I can't think of a lot of examples where I'd choose something close but not quite my old name ~ if anyone wants to enlighten me, I'd love to know.

 

A handful chose the surname of a partner or a friend.  I can see that.  It's a name you like, or its to honour your SO who probably took your name when you hooked up.


Over half chose a name they liked.  I know some girls who picked first and last names that sort of went together.  My surname is nothing like my male surname.

Just a few only use one name.  Cher?  Are you reading? :)

And now, please take the new poll.  What's in your ears?


 

Monday, August 19, 2013

Game Night ~ Actually A Good Night

Please take the quick poll: are your ears pierced?

I know I said it was the Worst Game Night Ever, but, of course, I wasn't serious.

I finally got to play some chess with P, and I readily admit I was not in form.  She's a decent player but I

Ticket to Ride.  I'm the hidden chess player in the background
think we're pretty well matched which is why I shouldn't have lost three games.  D offered to play the winner of our last game, which meant he had a 50-50 chance of playing me (even though I immediately turned to P and said "looks like you'll play D next" and I was up a queen at the time) so he wasn't shying away from playing me.

My OPI friend wasn't there that night, but some other guys/gals who I played with before were and we played a variety of games together.  One was called "Blokkus" which was new to me, but not to the other three players.  I held my own, finishing in a tie for first.  At one point, I asked the room if anyone wanted to play backgammon and I ended up playing two games with W, a friendly guy I had not met previously.  Alas, the dice were NOT my

Players sleep during Werewolf
friends that night.  I had some moves where all I could do was pick the least bad move, and I ended up playing back games (twice) and barely escaped with a single point.

Still, I enjoy games, win or lose.
There was a serious game of Ticket To Ride, which I had played before and wanted to play again but it didn't work out.  My friend C (who I saw in that store in Old Town) loves that game and brought it with her.

One guy brought a huge box of games, including something called "Bang" which is in a large, bullet-shaped box.  It was an interesting game, but not what I'd choose first.

T-note: during Bang, one of the guys pointed to my cards and said "he could play a 'missed' card to avoid losing health" but he was referring to my character (everyone has a role) which was male.

Other than that, Meg was just one of the players.  But I'm still not going to one of the "Girl Game Nights" they have every so often.  Unless someone invites me.




Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sunday Funnies ~ Bowling

Please take the short poll: are your ears pierced?

Piraro, Jartos, Mueller, Pope, Streeter, and Coverly, all having fun with bowling.

Stupid grammar note: the final clause seems like it's part of the list.  I'm a firm believe of putting a comma at the end of a list (before the final "and") but then something like my opening sentence comes up... odd.

The classic example of why to have a comma before the and comes in the form of the (possibly apocryphal)  book dedication:

"I'd like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God."

By the way, there are far more cartoons/jokes about golf than any other sport.

Anyway, cartoon time:





That's me

Love this one!


Saturday, August 17, 2013

We All Know What That Means

New short poll: are your ears pierced?

For the younger crowd, Mutt and Jeff is an old legacy strip that I remember reading when I was a kid.  It was winding down then.  It ran from 1907 (!) to 1982.

I figure there's three types of people out there:
1. those who know "Mutt and Jeff."
2. those who have heard the expression "mutt and jeff," meaning one tall person, one short one.  Maybe on a detective show where a witness describes the perps as "mutt and jeff types."  This is whence the expression came.
3. those who have no idea what I'm talking about.

Jeff!  We need to talk.


Friday, August 16, 2013

Pregame Night ~ Dinner

Update: a quick poll now appears to the right.

A few steps away was a Chinese restaurant I had never been to before.  I enjoy Chinese food.  It's like fast food in many ways: you can get something familiar and it'll be fine.  Probably not great, but filling with leftovers.  AND you get your fortune.  Mine generally reads "Help!  I'm a prisoner in a Chinese bakery" or "The antidote is an additional $50."

The restaurant was mostly takeaway with a dozen or so tables.  You order at the counter and the food magically appears a few minutes later.  I guess Panda Express does something similar.  Most of the tables were empty, but there was a steady stream of people coming in for takeaway.  I haven't been eating out lately, so tonight was a mini-splurge for me.

Like the nail salon, it was an enjoyable interlude before game night, with one small exception: my earrings were starting to be uncomfortable.

If you've worn clip-ons, they are the three bears of jewelry: they can be too tight, too loose, or Just Right.

Too loose means an earring might disappear at an inopportune moment.

Just right are a pleasure to wear.  You don't even notice they're there until you touch your ear or tilt your head and the earring touches you.

OwOwOwOwOwOw.  But so cute!
Too tight earrings were used during The Inquisition.  You start by feeling a little discomfort and think "hmmm.  I can live with this."  Then it gets to be a LOT of discomfort and you think "I don't like this, but I love these earrings."  Then it wanders into pain territory and you think "I should have worn another pair, but I can take this for another few hours."

Then they reach the level of dental procedure sans anesthetic and they have to come OUT.  But by then there's a little blister or cut or scab or other side effect.  But you don't care.  The torture is over.

The best are the older earrings, with the little screws.  You can decide how much torture you need to put yourself through each time.  "That might be too loose.  I'll tighten them Just A Bit....  OW.  Maybe that's too much.  I'll back them off and... where did the other earring go?" and so on.  It's easier to tune a cello.

These were too tight.  I usually have a spare pair in my purse, ones that I know are Just Right but I didn't tonight.

Fortunately, the restaurant was pretty close to home and I was still pretty early so I stopped back at the apartment, dropped off the excess food, touched up my lips, changed my earrings and it was off to game night!



Thursday, August 15, 2013

Pregame Night ~ Nails

As I said Tuesday, I started my game night with a pedicure.  I've only had a few in my life, all within the past few years.  The first time, I was very tense ~ this was an all-new experience and I'm always leery of placing myself where other people might be uncomfortable.  This includes places where all of the other people are civilians and all (or most) of the same sex.  I'd be as cautious at a nail salon as I would at a gay bar.

And a nail salon is both.

Before my first clothing swap (civilians, almost all women), I spoke with the hostess and she assured me I'd be welcome there, no matter how I presented.  Since this was also one of my first outings, yes, I was nervous, but it went very well.

Shopping puts me in a all-civilian-mostly-women situation, but it's usually a small group.  If I wanted to go into, say, a MAC or Ulta and it was crowded, I would go elsewhere, or come back later.  Sometimes, I still do.

Before...
And for my mani/pedi experience in Sierra Vista (my first as Meg), there were two nail salons at opposite ends of the mall.  I looked into the first, saw that it was busy (but not packed) and I walked to the other.  It was busier so I shopped a bit and walked back to the first, which had quieted down a bit and that's where I had my nails done.  It was a good choice.

Normally, when dressed, I put up with discomfort on the principle that I don't know what I'm supposed to be experiencing.  But when the nail technician asked me if the water was too hot I said YES IT WAS.  She lowered the temperature enough for the lava to solidify.  I then learned that a maxi is maybe not the best skirt for a pedicure.  The back of the skirt was in the water.  I bunched up the back and sat on it, and that solved the problem.  Maybe it wasn't the most elegant solution, but it solved the problem.

My tech was busy finishing up another woman so I had some time to sit quietly, enjoy the massage chair and the hot water spa.  I should have grabbed a magazine, but I didn't think about it in advance.

...After
My tech clipped my nails, used some of that lava that cooled into igneous rocks to scrape the skin off the soles of my feet (kidding.  It feels nice), and gave my feet/calves a wonderful massage.  She had a very gentle touch and I remember sadly thinking "this is going to end soon."

I was pointedly ignored by the other patrons and workers and people on the street as I sat near the front letting the polish dry.  I've said before, women over a certain age are invisible anyway.

The results were marvelous.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Encounter ~ What Did She Say?

After dinner, I paid the waitress and left a tip.  It was not your typical type of sit-down restaurant.  They used a variation on the "Five Guys" format: order your food at a counter then pick it up and leave; or order your food at a counter, find a table, and the waitress brings you your tray.  There was no real service, but she did bring me my food and she seemed very nice and attentive, so I left a tip.

As I was heading for the door, she gave me a huge smile and said "thank you so much, honey!"




Tuesday, August 13, 2013

A Busy Game Night

Click to enlarge
Recently, I've been going out for a single purpose: dinner, or game night, or something similar.  Getting dressed can be a lot of work for a short time out, so I prefer to do multiple events.  12 July was a good example: a walk around Old Town Alexandria with a little window shopping, dinner, a boat ride to see fireworks, dessert back in Old Town.  It was a nice, relaxing evening out.

Money has also been an issue, so I've not been shopping or splurging at all.

I've also not been sleeping well, and I thought a little "Meg time" might help.

I got dressed for game night about two hours earlier than I needed to.   As you can see, I wore the same black-and-white maxi as the previous weekend.  It was with a different group and a different sweater, and I like that dress so Why Not?

There are multiple nail places near my house (surprise!), but there's one that's close to a restaurant that I hadn't tried before so I went there and had my toes done.  The old polish, done at the apartment, was looking worse for the wear, and pedicures are Very Pleasant.

From there, I had a nice dinner at the restaurant and then headed over to game night.

The past two game nights, one of the guys, D, asked if we were going out after the games.  It seems some people head to a restaurant to talk or play more games.

Both times, it was late and I was either tired or had something to do the next day so I demurred.  This time, I was rested and wanted to see what happens after the games, so I was ready to go.

D left early, and when I was ready to go no-one had mentioned after-games and a large group was playing a game called "Werewolf" so it was just home to bed.

I feel like I've just written the "agenda" slide of a powerpoint (ugh) presentation.  I'll have more details over the next few days.


Oh... I slept well that night.
   
(Friday the 13th falls on a Tuesday this month)
(Happy birthday Star!)


Monday, August 12, 2013

Worst Game Night Ever

I went to another civilian game night.  There were about 25 people there, some old faces, some new faces, and three things made it the worst game night ever:

* I saw one guy give me an odd look when I looked back at him.  For all I know, he had gas.

* while we were playing one game, one guy looked at me and two other women and referred to us as "you people."  Funny... there was a slight pause or something that gave me the feeling he wasn't going to say "you ladies" or "you girls."  Maybe that's his generic fallback when referring to humans.

* I lost three games of chess in a row.

If that's going to be my worst game night ever, I'm good with that.

I wore the same long black-and-white dress as I did at Star's games.  There was a clothing swap during the weekend too; I considered making it a threepeat, but I didn't go to the swap.  I'm a bit swapped out.  Maybe in the fall.

Pictures and more about the evening will follow.




Sunday, August 11, 2013

Sunday Funnies ~ Tricky

I try to keep my blog PG-rated.  I do speak of, um, upper body structure on occasion, but I think I do a good job of writing for even the younger trans-readers here.

That said....

One of my favourite comics is called "Least I Could Do."  The main character's name is Rayne.  Rayne is mostly interested in sex (Star Wars is probably second place).  If you go back to the very beginning of the strip, the writer (Ryan Sohmer) was a bit more subdued and the art was not very good, to say the least.  After a couple of years, a new artist (Lar DeSouza) came on board and the artwork became some of the best in a (web)strip.

Rayne is mostly unfiltered.  He does what he wants, or tries to, and he says what he thinks, and he is successful due to Just Plain Luck.

It's a funny strip but for obvious reasons will never get a newspaper gig.

It's not a strip I'd share with my kids.  But I'll sort of share it with you.  He ended 2011 with this strip:

Click to enjoy


And he spent the next four strips giving his top-ten list.

Sunday is devoted to Rayne As A Boy, but on the following day he's back with the Top 10 Things Men Have Said In The Delivery Room (but then he only lists nine).

I'm not going to repost the strips here, but you can find them starting here.  Use the arrow key to the right to get to the next strip.

If you want, here is the first strip.   Here's the first with Lar doing the artwork.

I've read them all up to the end of 2011.

No, it's not for everyone.  But it's often both fun and surprising.  (And if you go back to the beginning of Dec, 2011 you can find a sequence that's pretty typical of the strip.)






Saturday, August 10, 2013

Makeover Humour

I'm finding fewer "cd" cartoons lately.  I've been leaning on "cd-ish" cartoons, but even they're getting scarce.  I haven't decided if this is a good thing (people are finding cd less fringe, hence, less surprising, hence less funny) or bad thing (cartoonists put cd into the "PC" category and are afraid to touch it).

In any event, I keep looking and, in the meantime, I'm expanding to more "gender" cartoons: things that are girl-stuff related, that might appeal to us.

Today: makeovers, from Big Al, the Gal (aka Allison Garwood) (Neurotica) and Rick Detorie (One Big Happy).

There are no new Neurotica strips.  I don't know how long the strip ran, but I know I've seen these at least twice.  Soon it will go off my rotation, but it's kind of fun and I hope to get some I haven't seen before.




Friday, August 9, 2013

Gaming Part II


There's not much to say.  Illuminati is a game of conspiracies, and after one player had to leave (we were there for over six hours at that point), two of the most experienced players got together and came up with a way where they thought it was possible for all of the remaining players would win at the same time.

Each player has a different "group" and they all have a common win state, plus a unique one.  Alas, at the end of the game, everyone had their win position but yours truly.  I understand why ~ my win position was very specific.  I had to have an exact number of points, and in order for two of the other players to win, they couldn't make my score come out exactly where it needed to be.

Who cares.  I had fun, learned a strange new game and got a couple of pictures.

Oh...  I like that dress.  It's kind of heavy but I'll certainly wear it again soon (for other casual events).

Click to enlarge.  Pooch is helping Charity with strategy.

Star, reading the next group card.

Dave and Corinna, blinded by science

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Gaming

Just a brief note...  It's been a busy week at work and I need of sleep more than I need to write.

Last Sunday, I was at a private game night at Star's house again.  There were eight people there to play Illuminati.  I was the only player who'd never played it before, although a couple of guys hadn't played it in years, and no-one had played the exact version Star had ~ they added some "player" cards that made it unique.

I was there with three other women and four guys.  Here's a picture from before the event.

Anyone know a good cure for bags-under-eyes

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Encounter ~ OPI

Now and then, I'm going to add little pleasant encounters to my Wednesday "Simple Pleasure" posts.  These will be bits I missed from previous outings, or shopping encounters, or just teasing civilians, that y'all may enjoy hearing.

At one of the previous civilian game nights (that I never wrote about), one of the women (L) sitting next to me looked at my hands and said "OPI!"  I was confused for a moment but she showed me her fingers and said "I love OPI!  What shade is that?"  I told her, and that started a three-way conversation about the merits of OPI and their new "Euro" and "Bond Girl" collections.  My toes were recently done in Big Apple Red and I shared them as well.  L declared the three of us "the OPI girls" and we kept that designation at later game nights.






   

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Why are we limited?

Guy belts?  No way.

I thought about this while I was in a Burlington Coat Factory store (window shopping only, alas) and I saw their belt racks.

Men wear belts.  Women wear belts.  Men wear pretty much solid belts with brass (sometimes silver) buckles in a handful of colours.  (Western wear excepted.)

Women have Fabric or leather or metal belts.  They might be solid or have a series of openings or patterns.  They might be woven.  Colours are unlimited.  Widths are unlimited.  Buckles have a variety of ways to close.  I even saw a couple where the front has two metal bits that interlock and size is adjusted from the back.

They're just belts.  Granted, for men they're often for utility; for women they're often for decoration.

But why are we limited?

More importantly, why do we allow ourselves to be limited?  I'm open to suggestions and solutions. 

I have none.




Monday, August 5, 2013

Limitations

A few nights ago, I went to pick up the mail wearing a bright pink women's polo shirt.  It was pretty hot out and since I was alone, I had removed my sweaty shirt when I got home.  I didn't think it wise to go out wearing a cami so I put on that shirt.

It's a polo, but in a brighter colour than most men's shirts.  It lacked buttons whereas I've never seen a men's polo without buttons, always the same medium-size 3 or 4 buttons.  It was a different material and the adjusters on the cami were visible from the back, if anyone was looking for them.

It's close to passable, but I wouldn't wear it while in drab to a civilian event.  For a few moments in a (possibly empty) lobby, getting mail, it wasn't a huge deal.  I did hesitate to wear it out, thought about the situation, and looked at worst-case scenarios, just because that's what I always do.

This is a polo shirt.  Just a polo shirt.

Polo shirts are menswear that were adopted by women.  A woman can pick up any men's polo off the rack and wear it without a second thought or second glance.

If I want a polo shirt I can wear when in drab, I have to consider
* colour.  And it has to be not only "acceptable" but solid.  Even striped men's polos are fringe.
* sleeve length.  No cap, not even too short sleeves, although a bit short is passable these days.
* sleeve style.  Simple hem.  No fancy buttons, elastic, slits, ruffle, or anything else vaguely interesting.
* pockets.  Zero or one pocket, on the left side.  Too small a pocket doesn't work either.  Nothing super fancy, like a button on the pocket.
* waist.  Like sleeves, a simple hem.
* collar.  Turn-down collar has to conform to normal button-down shirt collar style.  3-5 buttons, all "normal" shirt size.  No oversize buttons, or row of tiny buttons or snaps,  or drawstring, or anything else you can imagine.
* torso.  Can't have any darts.  Can't be too short.  Must be "normal" cotton; no see-thru material, or silk/poly, or anything else.
* badge.  The polo horse, or designer initials (or frog on a cart) is OK.  A little flower or teddy bear or whatever the designer has lying around?  Sorry.  No.

It's a polo shirt!  It started in the men's department!

And that's the point of this rant.  It's a shirt.  Men wear shirts.  Women wear shirts.  Men have a choice of one style, a dozen colours.  Women have at least ten choices in each category I listed above, and hundreds of colour/pattern choices.  I'd conservatively estimate a billion possible shirts.

I have a bit more to say on this, but that'll be tomorrow.



Sunday, August 4, 2013

Preteena, continued

Alas, Gordo doesn't enter into it.  I would have enjoyed hearing the conversation though.  Click to enlarge.

I'd do that for a friend



can be, yes.