An Update

Okay, here it is: the much anticipated (yeah, right...) update!

Part of the reason I haven't written about what's been going on until now is that most of it has been more of the same: support groups, laser sessions, putting in job applications. There is one interesting development regarding my laser treatments; I'm building a new website for Laser Lovers (the salon I go to), and we've done a tradeout so that I get my sessions for free. That removes a big financial burden, which is a good thing as there have been no developments on the job front.

Website work may be my salvation in the long run; I'm getting a lot of inquiries, and I'm reworking the site for the AIDS PArtnership, Inc. It's strictly volunteer work, but it's a good group and it'll be good on my resume. And they're letting me put a link to my site on it. I met the people involved at a dinner they hold each month; everyone was really friendly and they seem to like what I'm doing so far.

Let's see, what else is going on? Oh, I have a car now... the only problem is that I can't drive it! It was given to me by a friend; her mother was getting a new one, and it was so old that she wouldn't have gotten anything for it in a trade-in. It's an '87 Pontiac.

The thing is, I still have a couple of old tickets on my license that I need to pay off, plus I have to get insurance, and there's a $100 fee to register a car from out of state, in addition to the regular registration and tag costs. It'll be a few more weeks before I can afford all that. In the meantime, It's visiting various friends' driveways, as my park manager (the jerk) won't let me park an untagged vehicle here.

I went to St. Pete Pride last month; it was an amazing event, with some 50,000 peeople attending. Apparently it's the largest Pride event in Florida.

I visited the various booths, hung out with friends, and watched the parade, accumulating a staggering amount of beads in the process. I ended up giving most of them away, keeping just enough to look good hanging from my rearview mirror and obstructing the view out the windshield.

The biggest development of all though is that this week marks the one year anniversary of the time it began to dawn on me that I could really do this. In a couple of weeks, it'll be one year since I first ventured out in public. Damn, I was nervous, but it felt so right that just a couple of weeks later I was emailing for a therapist's appointment to begin hormone therapy.

I guess you could say that my birthday is coming up!