Freakin' Awesome

I waited at my car yesterday from 3:30 to a little after 4 to meet with Sandra as we arranged. The "Mandatory Meeting" my supervisor had called to announce my transition, how to behave and what to expect had just ended. Sandra gave me so many more details from the meeting than I could possibly remember, and summarized it with, "Overall, I think it went well."

Last night, I made my appearance on stage as Ms. Featherwind at Sub Rosa's Open Mic. I signed up for the fourth slot, and it was almost midnight before I got the microphone. The crowd had thinned somewhat by then, but not quite as bad as last week.

I read a couple of excerpts from my book: "Butterfly Wings" and "Transphobe." At the end of "Wings," I segwayed by telling them, "If you didn't figure it out from my last piece, I'm a transsexual poet." Before I started "Transphobe," I did my reading from "They Beat The Girl Out of My Boy...Or So They Tried," the Calpernia Addams segment. As I was reading, I noticed a couple of people walk out, and inside I was panicking that I was losing them. But the remaining people stayed and a couple, including The Bard in Blue, seemed absolutely rapt as I proceeded into "Life is Poetry" and "Rebirth."

As I was getting off the stage, I apologized for clearing the room, and was told that this is the normal size of the crowd at that time. I guess I suffer from CDD, as Amy put it from our earlier chat: Confidence Deficit Disorder. When I was asked what was significant that week for me, I told them my book was available on Amazon. Someone actually asked me how much it was! Too bad I forgot to mention the title.

Almost right after I was done Ed Black and his girlfriend/wife/lover walked past my table and she said. "That was freakin' awesome!"

The comedian that took the stage next thanked me for the bedtime story, and I told him, "Anytime he needs help getting to sleep."

I am going to order 5 copies of my book and bring them with me to Sub Rosa and they will be gratis (read "free") on a first come, first serve basis.

As I came into work today, I didn't worry so much about the slightly orange lipstick, the leftover eyeliner and lipstick. And I didn't worry about trying to get my hair to stay in a less feminine manner, because yesterday's announcement set me free.

I did worry, anticipating a fishbowl effect, but it's been relatively quiet with no visitors to my cubicle. I asked Sandra and was now able to ask Nikki, who both pull off feminine professional so well, to take a look at my wardrobe Thursday afternoon for my first week's plan.

The invitation to my pre-meet went out to everyone at the meeting yesterday, due to an instinctive sense of political correctness by my friend Mike, and Sandra saved the day by saying that anyone who wanted to come was invited.

So, for lunch, I cornered Anil and Mike into going out to lunch with me, where I asked the manager about the feasibility of my having a special event from 5 to 7 at the bar. He assured me that the crowd is usually light during that time.

Tonight is Chalice Night at the church, and I just got a meeting reminder for something in the next 5 minutes.

Hugs and God Bless,
Sophie