Button, Button

There's a movie coming out today entitled The Box, with Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. They play a couple with money troubles. Out of the blue, a box appears on their doorstep, featuring a big red button under a glass dome. Later, a man arrives, telling them that if they press the button, a stranger will die, but they will be paid $1,000,000.

The film is based on a 1970 Richard Matheson short story, "Button, Button". I guess after the huge financial success of I Am Legend, someone in Hollywood decided Matheson was bankable again.

I'm not greedy or anything, but if said box landed on my porch, I'd press the button as many times as they'd let me. A million dollars would be enough to pay all my debts, cover all of my near-future expenses (moving, hormones, et al) and leave me a nice little nest egg. Who knows, maybe I could finance my own lobby and buy a couple Congress-critters. Get 'em to ram ENDA through both houses and onto the President's desk.

Yeah, a Senate sub-committee held the first hearing on a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act since 2002. Oddly enough, no trans people were at the hearing.

Sesame Street

I used to watch Sesame Street, when I was little. This week is the fortieth anniversary of the show, and to commemorate that, the last three days Google has featured characters from the show in their header. Wednesday the "L" in Google was Big Bird's legs. The day after, Cookie Monster had his mouth all over the top, like he was "Nom, nom, nom"-ing the search box. Today it's Bert and Ernie, television's first socially acceptable gay couple. Ba-doom boom.

Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week. Please don't forget to tip your waitresses.

Sorry. It's been a long, stressful week, and I thought a little levity would lighten the atmosphere.

EDIT: Yes. Yes! I KNOW Bert and Ernie are not really gay. That's one of those horrible urban legends, dating back to the early 90s, at least. It was meant as a joke. One in poor taste, perhaps, but a joke all the same.

Conservatives shop sex ops ban to GOP

From Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29164.html

Apparently, the conservative culture warriors are trying to hobble the proposed reforms to the American healthcare system. No provision has been made in any version of the bill to specifically cover sex reassignment or other procedures, but someone has already drafted language for an amendment which would specifically prohibit the government from paying for such procedures. From what I understand, it's hard enough to get private insurance companies to support anything related to being trans. Preventing the Feds from providing support would make it that much harder.

A Fitting Memorial

A couple of days ago, Nate was going through a box of our family recipes when he happened upon Mom's recipe for chicken casserole. It's simple - chicken, rice, stuffing mix, cream of mushroom soup, so he went to the store and got the missing ingredients.

I'm having it for dinner as I type this. Nate's a pretty decent cook, and he's done the recipe justice. We were talking about that just now, when he asked if I remembered what day it is. Mom died two years ago today. I think it would warm her heart to know we're eating her casserole today. It warms mine.

One more from Halloween

I promised I'd post another photo as soon as I could find them. I hereby nominate myself for "Girl Most in Need of a Waist-cincher".

But for the witch hat, the entire outfit came out of my closet. The corset top, black lace tank and the boots are from Torrid. The skirt and stockings are from Hot Topic.

Jesus, Queen of Heaven

It seems the producers of this play in the UK are getting blasted for daring to portray Jesus as a transsexual.

http://www.tron.co.uk/event/jesus_queen_of_heaven/

Cheesing off the religious establishment? That's my game all over. Such a shame it's not playing on this side of the pond.

Naturally, when I saw this, I thought of Tori Amos. From Boys for Pele, the song "Mohammed, My Friend":

"Mohammed, my friend/It's time to tell the world/We both know it was a girl/Back in Bethlehem"

Halloween Epilogue

I wasn't able to get online at all yesterday after I left work, and I only had a few minutes to check my email at home, so this post comes twenty-four hours late, so I've had time for a little more analysis than I might've posted in a raw recap.

Friday wiped me out. Between sitting up all morning waiting to get paid, then running around all afternoon paying bills and stuff, then getting too little sleep before going back to work, I was exhausted. I had my Halloween costume assembled, but I had to put a few finishing touches on myself. I'd made a half-hearted effort to shave my legs Friday night, but my heart wasn't in it, so I resolved to wear black tights with my costume.

Getting ready Saturday evening, I remembered that I had a pair of black-and-white striped thigh-highs that I picked up at Hot Topic a couple of years ago. I think they're meant to stay up on their own, but I wore a garter belt anyway, just because. I had trouble fastening the rear set of tabs, so I enlisted Nate in hooking me up. I told him he could scratch an item off his bucket list. The expression on his face was priceless.

I ditched the "Eris" makeup in favor of something I thought was Halloweeny, a Revlon palette of smoky greys and green. The polish I bought turned out to be more of metallic onyx, but it worked with my outfit, and it matched the tone of my star earrings almost perfectly.

By the time I was ready to go, Nate had our neighbors all psyched up to see me in costume, so I strolled across the street for a photo op before rolling out. Because I forgot to bring along my camera, the only photos of me from this excursion were taken by other people. A few of them have appeared on Facebook and elsewhere, so I'll try to find one or two to post here for everyone's edification and entertainment.

The party at Mike & Mark's was great. I am not a party person, in the usual sense. I like to meet and hang out with people, and maybe have a drink or two, but that's all. That's the main reason why I don't spend a lot of times in bars. That, and I can only put up with so much cigarette smoke. This party was different, somehow. I only knew a couple of the people there, but the others I met were very friendly. There was dance music playing on Sirius. There was a big cooler outside filled with beer and wine coolers, and the fixings for assorted mixed drinks in the kitchen. There was food - I've seen wedding receptions that had smaller spreads.

I think I was the only trans person there, though I wasn't the only one in a female costume. There were three fellows from the Hampton Roads Men's Chorus, dressed as the Golden Girls (they had a female friend dressed as Rose to fill out the set). Towards the end a carload of friends showed up dressed as assorted dead people, including a guy dressed as Jackie Kennedy on November 22 (a pink Chanel suit covered in blood) and another dressed as Anna Nicole Smith (wearing stripper shoes that looked impossible to walk in).

Towards the end of the party, I was talking to a woman dressed as a fairy. I think she was a little drunk. She asked me what I was dressed as. I asked, "The hat doesn't give it away?" She told me she loved my costume, but I should ditch the witch hat and tell people I was a hooker. OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!!

I tried to explain how demeaning that was, both to me and to women in general. I told her about the people I have known who turned to sex work because they couldn't find regular employment. I told her telling folks I was a prostitute could get me arrested. She would not be dissuaded. I broke off the conversation and found someone else to talk to.

The picture above shows me, Tiffany and her girlfriend Danni.