Saturday, June 9, 2007

The Search for Pink Sandals

(9 June 2007)

LIKE Indianapolis! I have learned where some of the neat places are to hang out, AND I have met a few people there that make it feel like home, so I have a good time there.
I prefer to travel to a customers location the night before, get a good nights sleep, then see the customer first thing in the AM while I am sharp (or at least as sharp as I can be), so I got there the night before I had to be there. I got a hold of Gina Sinclair and let her know I was there and that I would be pleased if she could join me for dinner. Things are a bit tougher for her than for me because she is married and her spouse doesn't know AND Gina owns her own business. I still haven't figured out how she has gotten away with so much with a spouse that doesn't know! I just couldn't imagine how things would be if mine didn't know and wasn't some what accepting.
So, Gina can't meet me the first night - I'm on my own! Hmmm . . . I've got all these pretty clothes, Gina can't meet me tonight, what ever shall I do??! WEEEEEEEE - I'm ah goin to the mall! (In some ways we ARE "worse" than women!) I consider a couple of new outfits I've got, but decide on my favorite pink outfit because I feel confident in it and I head for the mall!
I had been walking for a few minutes when a woman from a kiosk says "Excuse me Ma'am?" (Yes - it happened AGAIN!) I stopped and looked at her and she asked me if I straighten my hair! This sends a number of thoughts scampering through m head:
1 - I must have passed! This is not a question you ask of someone if you know they are wearing a wig. Bless you lady, you just made my day!
2 - Wow, do all women get harassed like this by every kiosk?
3 - I swear I am not kidding - I had the absurd urge to lift my wig off thus showing my bald head, taking a bow, and say "uh uh, sure don't!" Personally I blame Karen Hutton for this urge! The urge passes and I don't do it.
I settle for a compromise - with a bit of a laugh that I just can't help, I tell her, "Nope I sure don't". I winked at her and added "my hair is fake anyway!" While she was still trying to figure out how to respond to this I was walking away feeling pretty smug! I walked the entire mall and didn't get a single look that I thought was a "huh, I think that's a guy" look.
I have seen a lot of girls whose shoes match their outfits and I'm thinking it sure would be nice to have a pair of pink strappy sandals to go with my favorite new skirt. I walked the entire mall and didn't find a pair I liked! I found flats that were pink, and I found pumps that were pink, but no strappy sandals! How can it be so hard to find a pair of pink strappy sandals??!!
While on my endless search for cute, pink, strappy sandals, I come across the book store. I know I've got hours in airports and on airplanes ahead of me, and I'm almost done with the book I brought, so I decide to look for a book. I find one that looks interesting and go to the counter to purchase it. I handed her my debit card . . . you know, the one with my picture on it? She glances at the picture, glances at me, and then tells me that she needs to see my ID. I smiled and told her that my ID looks just like the pic on my debit card but hand it to her anyway. You should have seen the look on her face when it clicked that I was a male! I'm almost ashamed to say I am starting to get a kick out of that look! lol So - two apparent confirmations that I am being perceived as female - life is good! Finish my shopping, and went to dinner at English Ivy's. This is a great place to eat, really good food, really good drinks, and very friendly.
After dinner, I try a place that Gina has recommended - the Metro. I'm still not sure if this is considered a "gay" club or not - I didn't really see anything going on that I considered "gay". (No guys hugging guys, or girls hugging girls). It appeared to be mostly college age folks having fun and I was the only Tgirl there. So Tuesday nights are karaoke - I like Karaoke! My hobby is writing and recording my own music so I do a fair amount of singing. Most places I go to the Karaoke sucks - is truley awful, but not there! They have some outstanding singers and I really enjoyed it! I got up and sang "Who'll stop the rain" but couldn't seem to get in the groove - it was fair but I sure didn't impress anyone. The really funny thing was, four or five songs later someone got up and sang "Sweet Transvestite" from the Rocky Horror Picture show. Not sure if that was done "in my honor" or if they would have sang it anyway. The good news? He did an outstanding job of it! Called it quits early and got to bed so I would be fairly sharp in the AM.
This service call is to replace a consumable component of the instrument - in other words an easy service call.
Easy service call = done early.
Done early = I GITTA BE KIM! ha ha ha
So! Gina will be eating dinner with me tonight but it will be many hours before she can meet me. Unlike (apparently) unmotivated little ole me, Gina owns her own business and she is gonna be tied up for a while. Once again, I have some time on my hands so decide to go shopping. Well, at first I tried on an outfit that looked OK at home but I didn't like it here! I don't think the blouse and the skirt quite go together. Close, but not quite. By the way - I WOULD appreciate your opinion - does this blouse and skirt go together?
Decided that the above did NOT look right together and tried the next outfit I had bought. This is a pretty red top with a "floaty" black skirt - very girly! The problem is that I have to wear very heavy makeup to hide the beard shadow and it then becomes hard to blend the makeup down into the cleavage area. This is why I prefer tops that go around the neck, you avoid the whole "Gotta blend it down to the cleavage " thing.
Anyway, the more I looked at this, the more I thought it didn't look right. The skirt and blouse go well together, but it didn't look right on ME - darned if I know why. Looking at these pics it looks pretty good, but it did not look right live and in person!
Ultimately wound up combining the two failed outfits into one:
  It's not what I intended when I headed out, but now I DO have a new outfit put together! Problem - I feel like this is a "bad face" day. What is a "bad face" day you ask? Glad you asked! It is much like a "bad hair" day, where no matter what you do, you can't get your hair to look good, but in this case it refers to the face and makeup. I keep looking at myself in the mirror and thinking "nah, not gonna go out - I look like a man in a dress" :-( I came real close to showering and just meeting Gina in boy mode but decided to "cowboy up" and go for it. Met Gina for dinner (You guessed it - English Ivys!) and had a pleasant evening. Gina had to go in boy mode - no time and no good excuse for the spouse I guess.
The following day, met Gina for Dinner again - this time SHE got to go dressed so we had more fun! Before we went to dinner, I had some time on my hands so I shopped a Goodwill there. There was one man there that I think "read" me - he kept giving me looks that fell just short of a glare. Try as I might, I just couldn't find any "give a s&#t" and so I ignored him. Found a cute little skirt that I hope to try soon.
Bad news though! I spoke to my manager who I am reasonably friendly with, and told him I enjoyed working in Indy and was more then willing to come back if they needed me again. He tells me that they are working on getting a service contract with this customer and that if they get one, they will be hiring someone to live there to support the contract! Dang it! I LIKE going to Indy but soon may not be able to do it any more! sigh . .

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