So, here are a few pictures of yours truly and some of the characters of ‘Bout Time in Austin Texas.
Getting Ready to Go Out in Austin. (One of my all time favorite outfits)
Getting Ready to Go Out in Austin. (One of my all time favorite outfits)
She was a performer at the drag show. I spoke to her for a minute or two and she was a nice gal.
The above picture is of Teree. I think she and I are becoming good friends. I know I like her, but can't speak for her tolerance of me. Her only draw back is that she is cuter than I am! :)
The above picture is of Stephanie, one of my favorite regulars at 'Bout Time. She just exudes confidence and an in your face attitude. She IS gonna be out in the world and you can just deal with it!
I did not catch the ladies name, but the gentleman next to her is Marshal. In my early years, I had come to 'Bout Time in a short little mini dress when it was about 25 to 30 degrees outside. Long story short, some jerk had slashed my tires when I politely (and I was polite) told no thank you when he so eloquently said "You wanna go home with me?". Mini dress, freezing my but off, Marshal and his SO went out and changed my tire for me. That was about a decade ago and I've never forgotten him for it. Marshal - you rock!
Mary Kay! Mary Kay is one of my all time favorite people. She is one of the kindest and sweetest people you will ever meet. She was at 'Bout Time the very first night I was there (that was my very first night ever out and about as Kim). To the best of my memory, she has been there every single time I've gone there. They used to reserve the seat at the end of the bar for her, 'cause she was kind of THE queen of 'Bout Time.
One of the performers at 'Bout Time. Also a nice gal but wow, you gotta notice that hair! Seems to me she ought to have flashing lights on top of that hair to warn low flying aircraft away!
Erin. I first met her in boy mode when she was putting up some shelves. When she and I talked that day, I was kind of thinking to myself "Yeah right, sure your one of us." Imagine my surprise when I at last saw her this way! I laughed and told her she looked like one of those rich Texas women we all love to hate and she got this real cute smile and told me "Thank you! Thank you very much!" Clearly she liked the idea! :-)
OK, so the next day I had to drive to Dallas Sunday t be there for an installation and repair first thing Monday morning. The good news of having rented a hotel to go out the night before was that I had a launching pad to get ready and make the drive to Dallas "Pretty".
If you have been following my blog (What the hell is wrong with you? You cant be that bored?!) you probably noted the big bruises on my legs. They are from this wonderful little condition I have called Erythema Nodosum, ironically enough an almost entirely female disease. Leave it up to me to become one of the few men inflicted with it. Long story short, I have the sever and persistent variety and it has permanently disfigured my legs. Rather than be forced back in to wearing only long skirts, I decided to try buying a pair of boots. I am not terribly fond of them and would vastly prefer a cute pair of shoes but . . .
I got to Dallas and went to see the movie "Australia". Pretty good flick that one! Clearly they are going for the "Epic" type picture, and I think they've done fairly well. The acting was great, but I think some of their special effects (the boats in the harbor and others) were a bit thin.
I bought my dinner at KFC and took it to my hotel room with me. Of course they had failed to give me a fork and so I had to go to the hotel restaurant and ask to borrow one. The hostess saw me coming and gave me this great big smile.
"Hi dear, just you?!"
"Actually, I just bought some nice fattening fast food and they failed to give me fork. Can I borrow one?" I replied.
"Here sweetheart, just take this and you'll be all set!" she said with a smile as she handed me a whole little package with silver wrapped in a fine napkin. Once again I'd encountered the world and the world was all right with me. :)
Monday, I went to breakfast leaving a hell of a mess in my room. I had stuff thrown everywhere, breast forms here, hip pads there, boots and nylons in the floor, night gown across the bed. This is what my wife calls a "Kim Bomb". Not a problem though, cause I figure to put up the "Do not disturb" sign before I leave, thus sparing me the requirement of picking it all up, and sparing the house keeping crew from cleaning my room. Surprise, surprise though, cause when I returned to my room I found a maid already hard at work cleaning it. The bed was made, my nightgown set aside, most everything else still scattered across the room, and the maid hard at work. Oops. It's not so much that she knew I was a cross dresser, I'm way beyond worrying about that, but I was embarrassed she had seen what a slob I am. Oh well . . .
I spent most of my work day arguing with my customer. No matter what, when you find yourself in a conflict with your customer, you really cant win. I wont bore you with the details, especially since it wont mean anything to you if you don't work with high vacuum, but she was convinced our system leaked, and I spent 5 hours proving it to her that it didn't. Even then, she didn't believe me until one of her peers came in and agreed with me. It's funny how often a PHD thinks that their education trumps a decade and a half of real world experience . . .
Spent most of the rest of the day trying to compensate for the fact that her building shut off all of the vacuum and gas lines for the holiday. So, my day wasted solving and working around problems on my customers end, instead of installing and setting up the equipment I was supposed to be working on.
I got back to my hotel at around 620 PM and got as far as standing in front of the mirror with my razor in my hand to start the process of turning an ugly old man in to a butterfly. I stood looking in the mirror and just couldn't do it. All I could picture was a tired old man, with wrinkles all over his face, who was probably about to be unemployed due to the current economic situation. (Manager keeps hinting bad stuff coming January) Try as I might, I just couldn't dredge up the enthusiasm for getting ready and going out. Ultimately, I went down to the hotel pub, grabbed a snack, a long island Iced Tea, and sat there reading my book. Even though I had chosen not to get dressed up, I still found myself immensely depressed when I saw the women in the pub. None were particularly pretty, but they were women, they were out and smiling, and were having a good time, while this tired old man sat there reading a book. I find myself inflicted with depression more and more often these days and I really need to get a handle on it.
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