Trans Moments?

[Starbogen]

Today at work, I thought of the pun "Gender works in Mx-terious ways"...it's not even that funny, but I snickered for a solid 5 minutes when I came up with that.

...it was a slow day at work today.

What?...it totally is :lol:

A hard-to-excuse-away pass?

Well, color me shocked. I was out at a bookstore getting a gift for my friend's birthday today. Felt pretty good because my hair was absolutely on point. I'm looking in the section I want, but there's an elderly man standing there looking too. So I kind of just hang back and see if I can see the books I'm looking for. To my side, his wife comes up (I guess she was finished and was ready to leave) and says, "Harold, I'm done. If you're done looking there, this lady here wants to look."

:o I don't know why I'm so surprised by these things. I guess my self esteem and confidence is just that low. I smiled and tried my best to say, "oh no worries" in a voice that wouldn't out me.

I dunno, Hadley...how are you going to dismiss this one? A stranger, so she had no reason to humor you. And she was much older, so probably not "in the know" on these kinds of things even if she did want to humor you.

I think this was it. I was just a lady in the bookstore. I've got no way to dismiss this one.

Yeah I was like that too when I first started passing to strangers for more than a couple of seconds. It was usually when ordering food and they'd call me "sir" or the male form for kid and it was surprising in the best way XD

I hope that soon you get to the point where that's the norm instead of the exception.

[Emery.]

I heard this interview with an astronaut and he said he felt like this view of Earth being so far was not meant for him. And I thought that I felt the same about crossing the line of gender. I feel like this view was not meant for me. The sexism.

[Starbogen]

Today some classmates and I were chatting in the group chat through the later part of a class because it was really boring and we all wanted it to end and when we finally got out I ended up accidentally walking alongside one of them and he asked me who I was in the chat and I said Adrian and he was like "Oh that was you?"

And then I got all nervous and couldn't help but wonder if he had been seeing me as female or what, but he didn't say anything like that and then we just complained about the class so idk X'D

[butterflydreams]

I always feel so concerned that my boobs have stopped growing. They haven't, but it's definitely slow progress. I'm always really worried because the women in my family have pretty small chests, and I can't even really expect to get to parity with that

But I was standing in the shower this morning and I dunno, I was just looking down at myself and thinking, "hey, it's not so bad. You're just not realizing how big they are because it's been so slow." I'm not like "oh I really want big boobs" I just want them to be proportional to my body. It was kind of nice to give myself credit for how far I have come.

[Destan]

Last year I went to a picknick with friends, they are all girls except me. I was the only guy there, Lol. During that picknick some kids kept staring at me for a long time. When I stood up to make a groups picture, one of them kinda shouted at me "Hey, are you a guy or a girl?" I ignored him because I thought those kids were just gossiping too loudy.

[Emery.]

There are some moments I would say "This is why I don't get women."

And I think it a lot. I had a strange moment like this today, when I bit my tongue not to say to my dad that women are strange...

[Mezzo Forte]

So, when I got another T shot a few days ago, my nurse genuinely started crying as she talked about how masculine I'm looking now and how far I've come in my transition.

Earlier today, I sent my sister a voice comparison since she didn't know that I had a pre-T recording of my voice. Later, when she played it for my parents, she apparently got really emotional about the difference too.

My transition is genuinely moving people to tears. I mean, I'm flattered, but I kinda feel bad seeing others cry, especially when I caused it (even for positive reasons).

[butterflydreams]

K, I'm calling this a trans moment simply because I want to be proud of it, and because it would've been utterly unthinkable just months ago.

Pulled into my driveway last night. Headlights shining on the back of my other car. "Hmm, why are they so dim?" Oh, it's because the left one is burned out. Test a bit, confirm, look up online how to replace them (side note: I hate you, Subaru engineers. A headlight shouldn't be so hard to change.)

I've gotten pretty comfortable being out in public as myself, which in itself is pretty amazing. My anxiety used to be pegged to 11 everywhere, but it varies between 3 (hippie food cooperative) and 7 (local hardware store) these days. But the one I've never been able to conquer is the auto parts store.

I don't know what happened for me. I stopped on my way to work this morning. Marched up to the counter with a purpose, "Good morning, can I get two H7 bulbs?" I was incredibly nervous, but the guy got the right bulbs for me, I paid (hoping he didn't see the name on my card, though I'm sure he did) and left, "Have a nice day!"

I know I shouldn't have been nervous. That's not fair to the people at the auto parts store. I love cars. I love talking about them. Working on them (to the extent that I can) and I love driving them. I'm not a trans woman going into an auto parts store, I'm a car lover going to a place where there are other car lovers. I kinda felt silly afterwards, but still proud of myself for conquering my fear.

[epiphanycakes]

Iv got 2 really funny trans moments One was when I was walking up from the bus from the lgbt event ( how i am in my pic that was the day) and i saw 2 friends form america ken and cindy , they seemed lost and almost walked passed me and im like " um hey ken and cidy " in a fem voice and there like " who are you " and" im like ummmm its me -wispers in boy voice- ewan but I go by Emily now ^_^ "because they last saw me a year before pre transition and they were like " no wayyyyyyyyyyyy you look amazing we just thought you were a good looking woman we did'nt know who you were !" . Lets just say I was beaming :lol: I explained my whole thing and at my dads house cidy was like " this is what you should of been , your smiling your happy " i was so touched :D

the 2nd is and old friend , I go to this lgbt youth thing and there was this girl that was awkward and stuff shy her name was kaitlyn and round me more so she resented being dragged away to do girl stuff at the meeting , I was dressing up at the meetings to vent at the time I was early in transition and there was a thing about trans stuff and I explained how I felt eta

I had to no go due to conflict with appointments eta for 2 or 3 months plus holidays I came bk and saw this guy short hair and i'm like "are you new?" and he was like " um Emily its me kaitlyn I go by blayse now , i'm a trans guy I sort of had these feelings but I did'nt know there was others like me and there was something to do about it till you so ...um thanks honey " lets just say I was blown away he talked different he smiled , he laughed

so yea by the way he is going to see a gender therapist had is 1st meeting this week hopefully he will get on hormones soon as hes full time and changed his name legally ^.^ .im so proud of him we joke like him cheeking me out like my but and I slap his arm going " stop ogling boy!"

[Dodecahedron314]

Tfw you're on a public transit excursion with a friend and you stop to take a picture at a train station with the same name as you, and consider updating your Skype profile picture with it...and then you realize that between the different name and the binder it might just out you to your mom and friends from grade school who are still on your contact list and would almost definitely notice. -_-

[Mezzo Forte]

So, I voted today, and considering that I'm 6 months on T and my license photo is from over 6 years ago, it was definitely more nerve-wracking than it should have been.

The person who I presented my license to still believed it was me, but made me present my signature twice to help me "make sure that my vote counts," but that might be because I actually tried to write in cursive in my license signature when nowadays, I basically scribble my signature. So she passes down my ticket with my birthname on it and tells me to go to the woman handing out the ballots.

The woman with the ballots sees my ticket and asks loudly for me, and when I said that was mine, she looked at me and said "you're not [birthname]" with zero doubt in her voice. My heart sank, but without skipping a beat, I insisted that it was indeed me and she started apologizing profusely.

I still got to vote, but I'm starting to be really thankful that I made my counselor and doctor write letters detailing my transition/why I may not look like my identification, because until I get my name and gender marker legally changed, I will probably need it.

[butterflydreams]

Sheesh, Mezzo. I've never actually voted before, or even been registered. But a lot of people have been razzing me this year, and they didn't give me shit when I said I'd probably just vote for Jill Stein so I thought, "eh, maybe this is the year." But then I realized, "shit, no one's gonna take your ID for something like that."

Oh well :(

[Starbogen]

I wonder if something like that will happen to me when I go vote because of that experience I had while registering where the two people who worked with me didn't understand at first that my birthname would be female looking the way I look.. And if it does happen I really hope it's not within earshot of my dad.

On another note.. Today I was uncharacteristically out in the living room in the middle of the day eating some popcorn, and then out of freaking nowhere my uncle (dad's brother) and aunt showed up unannounced. So dad of course told them to come in and I don't remember the last time I had seen my uncle but it must have been a while because he just looked at my face and said "So this is (my brother's name)?"

I think he even said it like twice before my dad said that no, it was (my birthname)..

And I had so many thoughts and feelings going on after that X'D Like I was surprised and glad that I apparently passed that much that my own uncle just automatically saw a boy when he looked at me, and I wasn't even binding so he must have just looked at my face and hair and thought "boy". I was also amused because that must have been a huge blow to my dad's idea and conviction that I look female and that people must think I'm a freak for being a female who's trying to look male, like he doesn't even realize most people don't even see me as female. But then I was also scared that he'd lash out at me for that later, though thankfully he hasn't said anything about it but I'm still a little nervous he'll do it at some point later when I can't just walk away.

But surprise and amusement probably win out in the end, (but also how much must I be hunching if he didn't notice my chest, that can't be healthy X'D) and of course it makes me feel better that statistically that seems to be most people's reaction and every time it keeps happening it just proves it more and it makes me feel like I'm coming across how I am and see myself and that's pretty great.

[Mezzo Forte]

Sheesh, Mezzo. I've never actually voted before, or even been registered. But a lot of people have been razzing me this year, and they didn't give me shit when I said I'd probably just vote for Jill Stein so I thought, "eh, maybe this is the year." But then I realized, "shit, no one's gonna take your ID for something like that."

Oh well :(

Voting had definitely been something I was nervous about, and I can totally get why you wouldn't want to deal with it before your ID starts actually looking like you. I feel like it's so wrong not to have transgender accommodations for something like this. I voted early because I wanted to have time to fight back if I got turned away at the polls, and even though I got letters from my counselor and doctor to prevent issues with travel and the GRE, I felt a bit more confident knowing that I could have used them for voting too.

I was a little uneasy to begin with seeing the groups of Trump supporters holding up signs as I drove into the polling location, so I felt pretty spooked in general walking away from the polling location. (So much so that I forgot that I was even going to try working out of the library the polling took place in.) Thankfully, I didn't deal with any downright hostility, but it's hard not to be nervous. My family is helping me organize my name change, so hopefully, this is the most I'll ever have to deal with this issue.

(but also how much must I be hunching if he didn't notice my chest, that can't be healthy X'D)

I'm pretty sure hunching to hide my chest is exactly why my posture turned to garbage pretty much when puberty hit. :P I'm actually really excited about the notion of standing up straight again once I get top surgery :)

[butterflydreams]

I was a little uneasy to begin with seeing the groups of Trump supporters holding up signs as I drove into the polling location, so I felt pretty spooked in general walking away from the polling location. (So much so that I forgot that I was even going to try working out of the library the polling took place in.) Thankfully, I didn't deal with any downright hostility, but it's hard not to be nervous. My family is helping me organize my name change, so hopefully, this is the most I'll ever have to deal with this issue.

Freakin' love this. Mezzo, I want to just give you my parents' phone number so you can call them and talk to them. No matter what I do, I can't quite seem to dump the weight of my parents' disapproval.

I just remembered that someone at work told me you could register online. Which is convenient I guess. I dunno. This is why I've never voted before, because what's the point? Why should I go through all the embarrassment of using my birth name, and feeling awkward and nervous just to vote in a state where it won't make a damn bit of difference?

[Mezzo Forte]

I was a little uneasy to begin with seeing the groups of Trump supporters holding up signs as I drove into the polling location, so I felt pretty spooked in general walking away from the polling location. (So much so that I forgot that I was even going to try working out of the library the polling took place in.) Thankfully, I didn't deal with any downright hostility, but it's hard not to be nervous. My family is helping me organize my name change, so hopefully, this is the most I'll ever have to deal with this issue.

Freakin' love this. Mezzo, I want to just give you my parents' phone number so you can call them and talk to them. No matter what I do, I can't quite seem to dump the weight of my parents' disapproval.

I just remembered that someone at work told me you could register online. Which is convenient I guess. I dunno. This is why I've never voted before, because what's the point? Why should I go through all the embarrassment of using my birth name, and feeling awkward and nervous just to vote in a state where it won't make a damn bit of difference?

I don't know what'd be better, the "kill it with kindness" approach of just your family hearing me speak so affectionately of my parents and the difference they made by supporting me and my transition, or if your family heard my mom express her strong opinions regarding trust and unconditional love between parent and child. :P My family knows how busy I am, and the name change is the one they they can actually assist me with, so I'm certainly thankful that they're willing to help :)

Being in a college town, people were constantly running around campus and public locations with paperwork to get people registered to vote, so I didn't even need to bother with online registration. I originally registered to vote for the 2012 election, so all I did this time around was update my address. I originally wanted to do an absentee ballot to get around the nervousness, but since I was concerned about the ballot taking too long to get to me, I figured that it was better to just early vote, even with the ID worries. My state's pretty important to the results of the election, and I already regretted not voting in the primaries, so I felt much more pressure to vote. (That and there's a really misleading amendment on the state ballot that I want to at least try to get rejected.) I imagine that by the next election season, your ID will say Hadley on it, so hopefully, you never have to worry about your ID at the polls. :)

[butterflydreams]

Mezzo, I want to thank you for writing about your experiences here. I told myself, "Hadley, Mezzo is pretty much in the same position as you name-ID-wise, but he did it. He even had a weird birth name situation come up, but he still did it."

So with that thought in my head, and the peer pressure of my coworkers, I filled out the online registration stuff (with birth name :() and got the confirmation that I'm good to go. My coworker even called up my town clerk to find when/where I can vote. She said they legally can't card me or screw with me in any way, so that's good. My ID is so barely usable at this point. I know I'm in a state where it doesn't matter, though I wish the people of my state had some balls and would actually not green-light Hillary after all she did to Bernie. I'm certainly not voting for her.

My coworker told me what she always tells me, "Hadley, you need to just go in there and own it. If you own it, no one will question you at all."

[Mezzo Forte]

Hadley, I'm flattered, and I hope voting went without a hitch. :) (Even though you didn't phrase it quite so strongly, you made me think back to all those moments people looked to me as an "inspirational woman musician," and how it made me feel almost commodified. You voting in part because I shared experiences feels so much better than that. :) )

I took the GRE today and was so nervous about the ID, that I even brought up my papers before the proctor was going to ask for my ID. When I was getting prepped for the test in a more private setting (getting the photo taken before walking to my station), the proctor asked if my nervousness about my ID was because I was transitioning. (Apparently, I was far from the first trans person this proctor worked with.) She said that with the ID, people are trained to look at the eyes to confirm the photo is of you, (I guess that's a common biometrics thing, because apparently, it's the same with passports too,) and she also commented that my smile is the same as it appears on my license.

Let's just hope my IDs end up just as much a non-issue for my flights as they were for my GRE!

[butterflydreams]

Thanks, Mezzo! I haven't actually voted yet. Small town...they literally do it that day only. But I'm confident it won't be too bad.

That's an awesome story about your GRE! I've kind of noticed that myself about some people. They pick up on it, but they keep quiet and let you know they understand and care in other ways. It makes me feel safer and more welcome than almost anything else. I remember I had too much coffee and needed to use the bathroom before my laser appointment. I'm a dope, so they have me in their systems as (give name). But the receptionist was so nice, "No no, you don't have to use the bathroom in the hall outside, we have our own nice bathroom here, come on, I'll show you were it is."

And then there was the time she called me "she" without any prompting, and despite the name on my file. :)

[deltaX]

I'm glad to hear that you all were able to vote despite transitioning issues. In NJ they're not allowed to ask for ID at polling stations, and can only confirm it's you based on your signature (which caused a problem for me when I first tried to vote because a glitch happened and they polling people didn't have a copy of my signature). But if you live in a state that requires ID, I still think it's important to try voting if you feel up to it. In this election especially, voting is important, and I hope that trans voices aren't silenced because voting is harder for them. :cake:

[butterflydreams]

I'm planning to vote tonight, I'll definitely update how it goes.

Update: I voted...not for Hillary. Long and short, it went fine, but it wasn't worth the anxiety it provoked anyway. I'm too fragile to be adding stuff like that unnecessarily.

I thought I'd share what I think is a quintessential trans moment here. It's one of the most amazing things about being trans I think. That's experiencing the world from more than one gendered perspective. Most people won't ever get to experience that. I know a lot of more politics-inclined trans people tend to go off on this in a "privilege" discussion, but to me, these things aren't really good or bad, but just interesting.

One weird thing I've noticed is that men will shake your hand very differently depending on if they see you as a man or a woman. It's actually jarring to me, because I'm so expectant of a certain type of handshake. Very firm, not hard, but just firm. Really grasping your hand. Guys don't shake my hand like that anymore. It's much gentler and just they way they grasp my hand. Soooo different.

Another thing? Women are so much more likely to compliment my clothes, my hair, or anything about me. Heck, I've noticed myself doing this more with other women as well. As a guy? Nothing. Except if my mom was complaining about my clothes being too baggy.

I've also noticed that hugs are a much more accepted casual greeting as a woman (which is great, because I love hugs). When I had to dress up like a guy a few months ago for a family funeral, none of my male cousins would hug me. Even some of my female relatives went for a handshake.

Transition is without a doubt the hardest thing I've ever done, but I feel really fortunate that I'm getting to see more than one side to things. I think it makes me a more understanding, open and empathetic person.

[Dodecahedron314]

So my Gender and Sexuality in World Civilizations class recently watched the film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, which I've already created a thread about in here, and the professor who led the discussion after the screening was actually a cinema & media studies prof rather than a gender studies prof. Because of how the movie is done in an intentionally surreal style, the prof mentioned several times how part of the reason that was done was to disrupt the inherent self-identification with the protagonist that movies often attempt to create, and at one point said something along the lines of how the character was so deliberately outlandish that it was purposefully made impossible to identify with them. All I could think at that point was "What are you talking about? This shape-shifting genderless androgynous immortal is now absolutely the embodiment of my life goals, just you watch me identify with them!" :lol:

[Heart]

So my Gender and Sexuality in World Civilizations class recently watched the film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, which I've already created a thread about in here, and the professor who led the discussion after the screening was actually a cinema & media studies prof rather than a gender studies prof. Because of how the movie is done in an intentionally surreal style, the prof mentioned several times how part of the reason that was done was to disrupt the inherent self-identification with the protagonist that movies often attempt to create, and at one point said something along the lines of how the character was so deliberately outlandish that it was purposefully made impossible to identify with them. All I could think at that point was "What are you talking about? This shape-shifting genderless androgynous immortal is now absolutely the embodiment of my life goals, just you watch me identify with them!" :lol:

Consider them identified with :P

[Mezzo Forte]

So, I just went to a huge percussion convention this weekend, but I had to sign up using my birth name because that's what's on my IDs. That led to a lot of awkward moments of people asking for my name and looking to my badge to make sure they get the name right.

That badge annoyance led to my fair share of awkward moments since it made me somewhat visibly trans at a huge event. (And don't get me started on the awkwardness that was attending the diversity panel. I didn't know that everyone had to talk, so I stuttured through coming out to a bunch of big names within the percussion world to be the only person who brought up LGBTQ topics at all.)

Thankfully, the moments when my name-juggling outed me ended up not being a big deal. I interviewed a musician as part of my research, so within extended conversation, he did ask questions (nothing terribly invasive), but just seemed genuinely happy for me.

In another scenario, I introduced myself to a musician who I was really excited to see perform, but he looked at my badge as I was introducing myself. He later told me that he has a niece "doing the opposite transition" and spoke fondly of her while wishing me the best. :)

On a similar note, it was kinda reassuring that some of the people who hadn't seen me in quite some time still recognized me, often right away. :) I think one or two people didn't recognize me, but I wasn't really expecting them to.

[Heart]

Oh wow Mezzo! I don't know how you felt about that awkward stumbling through outing yourself in the diversity panel, but I would have been so anxious! Well done on such a great experience overall though :cake:

[SleepyFox]

Dodec, I had the same reaction when I watched Orlando in my Modern Lit. class :) I find Tilda Swinton in general is just perfect, especially to my little agender heart.

I had a Trans moment the other day at work, actually. My female co-worker was complaining that her pants didn't fit right because she had a "man's bum". I had to try so hard not to blurt out "Ugh, I'm so jealous. I'd love to have that."

[KRae]

One I had a couple days ago: I went to a yoga class in an attempt at rebuilding my nonexistent social life and improving my mental health. One pose the instructor led us in was "goddess." Since we all were presenting female, she was calling us all goddesses and telling us how beautiful we were inside and out. Um...

[Dodecahedron314]

I'm studying abroad in Paris in spring with one of my friends, so obviously I need to learn some French. Said friend started teaching me a few phrases as soon as I got into the study abroad program, and since we're both trans, one of the first things I learned was how to correct someone if they misgender me, because linguistic priorities.

[butterflydreams]

On 1/7/2015 at 8:50 PM, Hadley167 said:

My two-fold hope for a future "trans moment" would be 1) get called cute and 2) be mistaken for a girl (passing I guess).

So I barely remember even saying this here, but I did. January 7th 2015...wow. At the time, I thought something like would probably not happen. I wasn't on HRT. I hadn't even researched the doctor at that point. It was all just a vague pipe dream. I hadn't told anyone IRL. Not even my brother at that point.

Last week I went on a trip about 100 miles away. I stayed at an inn, and my first morning there, getting breakfast, I ran into the innkeeper. I chatted with him a bit. He asked me where I was from, and if I'd ever been to the town before. But I was 100% passing as female to him. Even with my voice. Later in the day, I went to a bookstore. I was waiting in line to checkout, and someone at the store waved me over, "I can help you here, miss".

And yesterday at the grocery store, while checking out, the cashier said my beret was "so cute".

I can't believe it, but my quintessential trans moment has finally happened. The only thing I was wrong about was that I wasn't mistaken for a girl, I am a girl.

[nerdperson777]

On 9/8/2016 at 1:52 PM, Mezzo Forte said:

So, I met with a student for office hours today to help her with snare drum, and after everything started clicking for her, we started chatting a little bit. I mentioned what my first semester of undergrad looked like (max credits you could take, mostly courses for a biology degree, all while learning snare/timpani from the ground up and prepping for music major auditions).

Student: "Wow, I'm taking [minimum] credits and I'm having a tough enough time. Just transitioning into college is tough enough."

Me: "Yeah, I know all too well how tough transitioning can be. You made a sound decision starting with a lighter semester."

(I'm still mostly closeted, which is extra fun because the effects of transition are pretty visible since I'm ~4 months on T. Funny how "transition" sits on the ears so differently nowadays. Even if the student caught my wordplay, I doubt she would have said anything :lol:)

On 10/14/2016 at 4:11 PM, Hadley167 said:

I always feel so concerned that my boobs have stopped growing. They haven't, but it's definitely slow progress. I'm always really worried because the women in my family have pretty small chests, and I can't even really expect to get to parity with that

But I was standing in the shower this morning and I dunno, I was just looking down at myself and thinking, "hey, it's not so bad. You're just not realizing how big they are because it's been so slow." I'm not like "oh I really want big boobs" I just want them to be proportional to my body. It was kind of nice to give myself credit for how far I have come.

On 10/29/2016 at 7:28 PM, Liebelit said:

On another note.. Today I was uncharacteristically out in the living room in the middle of the day eating some popcorn, and then out of freaking nowhere my uncle (dad's brother) and aunt showed up unannounced. So dad of course told them to come in and I don't remember the last time I had seen my uncle but it must have been a while because he just looked at my face and said "So this is (my brother's name)?"

I think he even said it like twice before my dad said that no, it was (my birthname)..

And I had so many thoughts and feelings going on after that X'D Like I was surprised and glad that I apparently passed that much that my own uncle just automatically saw a boy when he looked at me, and I wasn't even binding so he must have just looked at my face and hair and thought "boy". I was also amused because that must have been a huge blow to my dad's idea and conviction that I look female and that people must think I'm a freak for being a female who's trying to look male, like he doesn't even realize most people don't even see me as female. But then I was also scared that he'd lash out at me for that later, though thankfully he hasn't said anything about it but I'm still a little nervous he'll do it at some point later when I can't just walk away.

But surprise and amusement probably win out in the end, (but also how much must I be hunching if he didn't notice my chest, that can't be healthy X'D) and of course it makes me feel better that statistically that seems to be most people's reaction and every time it keeps happening it just proves it more and it makes me feel like I'm coming across how I am and see myself and that's pretty great.

Okay I think I somehow messed up my quoting.

Reply to Quote 1: Sometimes when you hear transition as a queer person, you start focusing on it.  Once I went to a free food engineering event years ago and I heard someone say "are you a trans?"  When I listened to the rest of the conversation, trans was short for transfer student.

Quote 2: My friend has the same problem.  It's been 4 years and my friend doesn't have anything noticeable, just buds.  Her mom isn't very big but her aunts and cousins are much bigger so she feels a bit disappointed by it.  I don't think she could really be satisfied either way though.  If she did get them, they'd get in the way of her job as an exercise instructor and athlete.  Just every year she gets to dress up in cosplay and last year I saw a very small beanbag shape thing sitting on her bed.

Quote 3: Once my family went to visit my mom's cousin.  I had never met them before but when the cousin's wife walked in, she said "It's nice to meet your...son."  Her husband and my dad both corrected her and I had horrible time all day with my mom just telling me to act happy for the relatives but I refused.  When I told my cousin that they bought me an expensive drink after I said I didn't want one, it was somehow my fault.