World Tour of America #6: Update 5
My last post was done on Friday morning, just before we set off to Vermont so that would be a good place to start this update.
Friday:
We'd spent most of Friday morning getting all ready for the drive up to Vermont. We were very organised and even made butties to take up with us so that we didn't have to spend a fortune on food at one of the service stations. As soon as I'd posted my last update on LJ, I just had to put my laptop in my bag and then we were all ready to go. It was about 1 o'clock or thereabouts when we set off which was a bit later than we wanted but it wasn't too bad. It was going to take us about 3-4 hours to get up to Burlington so it would still get us there before dark. The only problem with setting off at that time was that it wasn't long before we needed to stop for food! We'd got into New Hampshire though, only just, but we could tell it wasn't Massachusetts by the plethora of off-licenses apparently. Another good thing about taking butties with us was that we didn't need to stop for long so we were soon back on our way.
It was about 5pm when we got to the motel and checked in. The bloke on the reception desk was very nice and commented on the picture on my driving licence; I'm wearing a suit and tie so he said how formal it was in England. He also said that he was pleased to see I had a Boston hoodie though. We stayed at this motel last time we came to TIC and ended up with a room opposite the one we had previously which amused me. We were going to go to Friendly's for tea, but there was a 50s style diner at the top of the road so we went there instead. The food was pretty nice but there wasn't a great deal of choice for fussy eaters such as myself. I was also bemused by the strawberry shortcake that I ordered for pudding. Not only did it come in a dish, but it was made up of three scone halves piled with puréed strawberries and a mound of 'whipped topping'. Something seems to have got lost in translation somewhere there! It was nice enough, just not what I was expecting.
Saturday:
We had to be up at 7am this morning in order to get to UVM for the start of the Translating Identity Conference at 9. We managed to find one of the only two Dunkies in the area (wtf Burlington?) and were doing really well for time until we tried to find somewhere to park which took us the 45 minutes we had left. Then we went up to the 4th floor which was actually the 3rd only to find out that registration was down on the first floor which was really the ground floor.... not a good start to things!
The workshops were pretty good, though as usual all the good ones were in the same slot and some of the later slots didn't really have anything interesting in them. Teaching Trans was brilliant, especially as it was presented by Samuel Lurie who is just wonderful. He gave us several ideas of both exercises to use in speaking gigs/awareness training as well as community resources to put in place. That's what I call a good workshop! We got to speak to Samuel later on and he said he's going to be coming out to the UK soon and he'd love to meet up while he's there so that's something to look forward to. There was the option to do an additional workshop if there was something missing from the schedule so Michael and I said we'd do one on Trans/Trans Relationships as we thought that was a topic that really needed to be included. Unfortunately it didn't seem like anyone else felt the same way as no one turned up! Mind you, it probably didn't help that we'd only put it down at dinnertime so it was a bit short notice.
After Miss Major, the keynote speaker had finished, Michael and I arranged to meet up with TJ who was supposed to be doing a workshop but had to call in sick. He recovered a bit to go out to Applebees with us for food so that was nice. I've not met him before, though I've had contact with him, and Michael hasn't seen him for ages so it was doubly good. I'm doing really well at meeting up with LJ friends, it makes me happy to turn them into real life type peoples.
We went back to the motel afterwards and the same bloke was on the reception desk so when he saw us, he asked if I was having a nice trip. Later on, I went to ask about getting extra pillows and he was like, "Sure! Come on down, I'll get you some, no problem!" He just seemed to be so enthusiastic about being helpful! It's stuff like that that makes it an extra nice stay and makes you want to return.
Sunday:
We got to have a nice lie-in this morning as checkout wasn't till 12 and we weren't in any hurry to leave. Unfortunately, the nice bloke was not on the reception desk so I didn't get to thank him for his help. I made sure to mention him on the feedback form that was in the room so hopefully he'll get told about it. We went into Burlington and parked near the lakeside before walking down to the Skinny Pancake. TJ had recommended going there and we were happy to try it out. It was so busy though. All the tables were full and there were at least a good half a dozen groups waiting for a free table. The system was not apparently obvious but it turned out that you ordered food and then just waited in the hope that a table would come free before your food arrived! Thankfully Michael and I managed to get a table a few minutes before our food was ready, although we both had visions of having to eat it outside where it was windy and rather chilly. I ordered the Easy Rider which was a pancake crêpe with fried egg and cheese, while Michael ordered the Lumberjack which had ham and cheese. They were both seriously yummy and definitely worth the wait. Apparently it's only that busy on Sundays but that goes to show how good it is!
We had a walk down to Lake Champlain where we took lots of photos before our hands froze off and then walked up to Church Street to have a look round the shops. There was a really nice sweet shop where we both ended up getting a few of those flavoured candy stick things because they were only 25 cents each. Then later on, I found a second hand shop with an illustrated copy of Dracula in the window. It had pretty nifty illustrations, they were kind of comic book style but I think they work really well with the story. I've always wanted a copy of that book and it was only $9 so I got it. A little way down was an enclosed cash machine which Michael had to visit and inside was a Bookcrossing book! It wasn't my thing but I think my mother will love it so I picked it up for her. I love the idea of taking it all the way to the UK and releasing it there; I think the person who released it will really appreciate that. We were about ready to leave once we'd finished looking round the shops there but went into the shopping centre to use the toilets before driving back to Boston. There was a Spencer's Gifts next to the toilets though so we had a quick look inside. I didn't expect to find anything I wanted in there. Oh, how wrong I was! I came out minus $20 but with a very cool fleecy throw that has the Sgt Pepper cover art on. It is all kinds of awesome, although a little weird that I got it in Vermont rather than Liverpool!
We didn't set off till half past 3 but as we didn't need to stop en route, we got back home in 3 hours so that was damn good going. We got to see a really gorgeous sunset too which was a bonus. I tried to take photos of it but through a car window doing 60 mph is not really opportune circumstances!
Monday:
Michael was very tired from the long drive home yesterday so we spent today relaxing and doing a lot of cooking! In the afternoon, we used up some more apples in another cake, this time the apple and walnut cake which has the amusing and bizarre name of New York Nobby Apple Cake. It was much easier to make than the previous one as it was more a case of bung everything in and stir it up. It wanted 3 cups of chopped apples which translated to 3 medium apples and once I'd added it to the cake mixture, it looked like far too much apple and not enough cake to hold it all together. It actually didn't come too bad once it was cooked because the apples reduced down quite a bit.
Later on, I made sausages and onion gravy with mash for tea. It would have been easier if we actually had some kind of gravy, like Bisto, but we didn't so I had to find a recipe. The one I found actually worked quite well although it started off by making a roux which is not the easiest thing to do. Thankfully I managed okay and the resulting gravy was reasonably tasty and not at all lumpy. Yay me! We had a piece of the apple cake afterwards and it was really yummy. Somehow the top has turned out all sticky-chewy which is so good and really makes it a bit more special. Although it wasn't a completely lazy day, it was certainly a very tasty one!
Tuesday:
We didn't really have any plans for today and the weather wasn't looking brilliant either. It started off with a bit more cooking though as I made French toast for breakfast. We'd attempted to make some bread before we went off to Vermont using a mix from Trader Joes. It's called beer bread, although it says you can use any fizzy drink if you don't want to use beer. We used ginger ale and I don't know if that was the problem or not, but the bread came out being really dense and quite dry. Michael had toasted a piece which he said improved it, so I thought turning it into French toast would be a way to get rid of it. It wasn't too bad although it didn't soak up the egg-and-milk mixture very well.
We decided to go up to this arcade in Saugus which was supposed to be open from April though to October. It took us nearly an hour to find it and when we got there, it was shut! We ended up spending time wandering round Square One Mall instead which was a little way down. It wasn't especially interesting, except there was a pet shop right where we went in so we spent a lot of time in there looking at all the puppies. They were all in individual glass-fronted cubicles and some kind of plastic mesh on the floor. They didn't seem particularly interested and most of them were sleeping which I found a little concerning. It made me want to buy them all just to get them out of there and give them air and hugs and fun. It doesn't seem right that dogs should be on display like that, it doesn't seem healthy for them at all.
It actually ended up being not a bad day weather-wise. We walked to the Super Stop and Shop that was next to the mall and both remarked on how nice it was. It wasn't really sunny but it was still reasonably warm. We only had long-sleeved T-shirts and hoodies on and we weren't cold at all. It's certainly very nice although I was pretty sure it's not going to last much longer!
When we'd finished wandering round, we went back home where I made yummy sweet and sour vegetables with Quorn pieces. We also watched Empire Records which is one of my very favourite films ever. If I was going to work in a record shop, I want to work in one just like that.
Wednesday:
It turned out that I was right about the weather. Today it started out being grey and drizzly and a little bit on the chilly side for hoodies. We found out that a friend of ours had a baby on Sunday; it's a teacher at the high school where we usually do speaking gigs, so we had to find a present. Michael said that we should get something for the parents to enjoy, rather than gifts for the actual baby so I suggested gift cards for Dunkies and Lush which is what we did. We also thought we would have a third and final attempt at going to an arcade and went out to one called Fun & Games in Framingham. Michael rang to check they were open and got a recorded messsage with their opening times which we took to be a good sign. When we arrived, it didn't look very good as there were workmen just inside the doors but it turned out that they were actually open! With it being a Wednesday morning, they were pretty dead. Actually, there was only us in so we had the run of the place which was quite nice.
They had a couple of skeeball games at the back which Michael loves so we had a few goes on those. They also had two different basketball games, one that used mini basketballs which seemed suitable for younger kids and then another that used full sized balls which was presumably for bigger people. We had a go on both. They were both a lot of fun, but my shoulders and biceps were really aching after we'd played two games on the second one! Whoever thought you'd get such a workout at an arcade? After that we had a go on the shooting games. There was one where you had to knock down a clown's teeth which turned out to be easier than it looked. Michael had the first go, knocked them all down and won 9 tickets. When it was my turn, I knocked them all down as well but only got 3 tickets! I think it was because I only used 4 of the 6 balls, it must have confused the machine. When we ran out of tokens, we counted up all our tickets. Michael had 62 and I had 53. There was actually a reasonable selection of prizes to choose from, including small soft toys for under 50 tickets. I was surprised, I'm used to any soft toy being more of a major prize. I've never really won anything like that at an arcade and I didn't want to get 53 plastic army men or spend all the tickets on sweets as Michael did, so I got one of the small puppy soft toys instead. I had a moment where I wondered what the bloke there thought of me but I really didn't care all that much. I was just pleased to have something decent to show for my efforts! Initially I called him Ginger because he's that kind of colour but maybe I should call him Framingham instead to commemorate the event ;)
When we left, the weather had taken a turn for the worst and it was pissing it down and blowing a gale. We had a couple of errands to run, including getting the gift cards so we spent some time dodging puddles and rain drops before going home and hiding inside where it was warm and dry.
Thursday:
A few weeks ago, Michael had been asked to go into a local college to do a speaking gig and so he asked them if it would be okay if I went along too. The answer was yes as there was going to be a small panel of Trans people so that was all set for 5pm. It would take us 45 minutes or so to get there which didn't give us a great deal of time to do much else. However, I thought it would be a good day to get my hair cut, especially as Michael's friend that we met at Oktoberfest worked at one in Boston which was just a few stops away on the T. It meant that we'd be able to get both of them done without having to schlep back and forth too much! We'd arranged ages ago to dress up as the Doctor for Hallowe'en so I needed to get my haircut appropriately. I'd tested it out recently but it had grown out since then so I spent the morning looking for decent pictures to show the cut I wanted. I can think of worst ways to spend a morning though...
We left after dinner and parked at the college, then got the T into Boston to go to Floyd's Barbershop. We had called to make an appointment but got there a little bit late so it was nearly 3pm when I was called over. Although C was aware of Doctor Who, she wasn't too familiar with the character or the look so it was a good job I'd taken pictures. I have to say, the hair cut was an amazing experience. I've never been to Floyd's Barbershop before but Oh. My. God. The atmosphere itself is something else, it's kind of like a trendy music shop or something with all the posters and actually plays pretty decent stuff too. I saw a review where it was described as 'what Rolling Stone would look like if it were a barbershop' which is pretty accurate, I think. I found the process to be a bit odd because the back was cut first with the clippers and then my hair was washed. The spray was on a sort of power shower type setting so it was a really strong spray but if that wasn't enough, once the conditioner was on, I then got a rather intense scalp massage. It was Amazing. Once the cut was all finished and producted to satisfaction, the whole experience was finished off with a shoulder massage! I wasn't really sure what to think about that but I think it might have been more enjoyable if Michael hadn't been watching. Still, my hair looks great and pretty spot on which is the main thing. The best part is that we got it at friends rates ;)
After that, we went back to the college to do the speaking gig. The class was quite small and the teacher wasn't sure if any other Trans people were arriving later on for the panel so we just started off and did the four line exercise. It pretty much blew their minds, I think. They all looked kind of shellshocked throughout. We'd just finished when two others arrived for the panel so that was good timing! There was a young MTF and then someone else who identified as Two Spirit but preferred male pronouns. I found that pretty cool because I've never actually met anyone who identifies as Two Spirit although I know what it entails. I think it was a really nice mix; we all had different experiences but seemed to give a unified joint opinion which worked out pretty well. The class were really quiet to start off with but after a while we got more and more questions and from a variety of people too which is always good. The teacher was very pleased with us but then she knows Michael and has had him do several speaking gigs before. It was about 6.30 when it finished so we decided to go to Friendly's for tea and neither of us complained about that!
So, this is my last full update as I've only got another few days here after today which is very sad. We still have a couple of things left to look forward to though:
Oct 31: Hallowe'en
Nov 1: the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science and going for tea with Michael's kids
Nov 2: no plans!
Nov 3: no plans!
Nov 4: Fly back to Manchester :(
Friday:
We'd spent most of Friday morning getting all ready for the drive up to Vermont. We were very organised and even made butties to take up with us so that we didn't have to spend a fortune on food at one of the service stations. As soon as I'd posted my last update on LJ, I just had to put my laptop in my bag and then we were all ready to go. It was about 1 o'clock or thereabouts when we set off which was a bit later than we wanted but it wasn't too bad. It was going to take us about 3-4 hours to get up to Burlington so it would still get us there before dark. The only problem with setting off at that time was that it wasn't long before we needed to stop for food! We'd got into New Hampshire though, only just, but we could tell it wasn't Massachusetts by the plethora of off-licenses apparently. Another good thing about taking butties with us was that we didn't need to stop for long so we were soon back on our way.
It was about 5pm when we got to the motel and checked in. The bloke on the reception desk was very nice and commented on the picture on my driving licence; I'm wearing a suit and tie so he said how formal it was in England. He also said that he was pleased to see I had a Boston hoodie though. We stayed at this motel last time we came to TIC and ended up with a room opposite the one we had previously which amused me. We were going to go to Friendly's for tea, but there was a 50s style diner at the top of the road so we went there instead. The food was pretty nice but there wasn't a great deal of choice for fussy eaters such as myself. I was also bemused by the strawberry shortcake that I ordered for pudding. Not only did it come in a dish, but it was made up of three scone halves piled with puréed strawberries and a mound of 'whipped topping'. Something seems to have got lost in translation somewhere there! It was nice enough, just not what I was expecting.
Saturday:
We had to be up at 7am this morning in order to get to UVM for the start of the Translating Identity Conference at 9. We managed to find one of the only two Dunkies in the area (wtf Burlington?) and were doing really well for time until we tried to find somewhere to park which took us the 45 minutes we had left. Then we went up to the 4th floor which was actually the 3rd only to find out that registration was down on the first floor which was really the ground floor.... not a good start to things!
The workshops were pretty good, though as usual all the good ones were in the same slot and some of the later slots didn't really have anything interesting in them. Teaching Trans was brilliant, especially as it was presented by Samuel Lurie who is just wonderful. He gave us several ideas of both exercises to use in speaking gigs/awareness training as well as community resources to put in place. That's what I call a good workshop! We got to speak to Samuel later on and he said he's going to be coming out to the UK soon and he'd love to meet up while he's there so that's something to look forward to. There was the option to do an additional workshop if there was something missing from the schedule so Michael and I said we'd do one on Trans/Trans Relationships as we thought that was a topic that really needed to be included. Unfortunately it didn't seem like anyone else felt the same way as no one turned up! Mind you, it probably didn't help that we'd only put it down at dinnertime so it was a bit short notice.
After Miss Major, the keynote speaker had finished, Michael and I arranged to meet up with TJ who was supposed to be doing a workshop but had to call in sick. He recovered a bit to go out to Applebees with us for food so that was nice. I've not met him before, though I've had contact with him, and Michael hasn't seen him for ages so it was doubly good. I'm doing really well at meeting up with LJ friends, it makes me happy to turn them into real life type peoples.
We went back to the motel afterwards and the same bloke was on the reception desk so when he saw us, he asked if I was having a nice trip. Later on, I went to ask about getting extra pillows and he was like, "Sure! Come on down, I'll get you some, no problem!" He just seemed to be so enthusiastic about being helpful! It's stuff like that that makes it an extra nice stay and makes you want to return.
Sunday:
We got to have a nice lie-in this morning as checkout wasn't till 12 and we weren't in any hurry to leave. Unfortunately, the nice bloke was not on the reception desk so I didn't get to thank him for his help. I made sure to mention him on the feedback form that was in the room so hopefully he'll get told about it. We went into Burlington and parked near the lakeside before walking down to the Skinny Pancake. TJ had recommended going there and we were happy to try it out. It was so busy though. All the tables were full and there were at least a good half a dozen groups waiting for a free table. The system was not apparently obvious but it turned out that you ordered food and then just waited in the hope that a table would come free before your food arrived! Thankfully Michael and I managed to get a table a few minutes before our food was ready, although we both had visions of having to eat it outside where it was windy and rather chilly. I ordered the Easy Rider which was a pancake crêpe with fried egg and cheese, while Michael ordered the Lumberjack which had ham and cheese. They were both seriously yummy and definitely worth the wait. Apparently it's only that busy on Sundays but that goes to show how good it is!
We had a walk down to Lake Champlain where we took lots of photos before our hands froze off and then walked up to Church Street to have a look round the shops. There was a really nice sweet shop where we both ended up getting a few of those flavoured candy stick things because they were only 25 cents each. Then later on, I found a second hand shop with an illustrated copy of Dracula in the window. It had pretty nifty illustrations, they were kind of comic book style but I think they work really well with the story. I've always wanted a copy of that book and it was only $9 so I got it. A little way down was an enclosed cash machine which Michael had to visit and inside was a Bookcrossing book! It wasn't my thing but I think my mother will love it so I picked it up for her. I love the idea of taking it all the way to the UK and releasing it there; I think the person who released it will really appreciate that. We were about ready to leave once we'd finished looking round the shops there but went into the shopping centre to use the toilets before driving back to Boston. There was a Spencer's Gifts next to the toilets though so we had a quick look inside. I didn't expect to find anything I wanted in there. Oh, how wrong I was! I came out minus $20 but with a very cool fleecy throw that has the Sgt Pepper cover art on. It is all kinds of awesome, although a little weird that I got it in Vermont rather than Liverpool!
We didn't set off till half past 3 but as we didn't need to stop en route, we got back home in 3 hours so that was damn good going. We got to see a really gorgeous sunset too which was a bonus. I tried to take photos of it but through a car window doing 60 mph is not really opportune circumstances!
Monday:
Michael was very tired from the long drive home yesterday so we spent today relaxing and doing a lot of cooking! In the afternoon, we used up some more apples in another cake, this time the apple and walnut cake which has the amusing and bizarre name of New York Nobby Apple Cake. It was much easier to make than the previous one as it was more a case of bung everything in and stir it up. It wanted 3 cups of chopped apples which translated to 3 medium apples and once I'd added it to the cake mixture, it looked like far too much apple and not enough cake to hold it all together. It actually didn't come too bad once it was cooked because the apples reduced down quite a bit.
Later on, I made sausages and onion gravy with mash for tea. It would have been easier if we actually had some kind of gravy, like Bisto, but we didn't so I had to find a recipe. The one I found actually worked quite well although it started off by making a roux which is not the easiest thing to do. Thankfully I managed okay and the resulting gravy was reasonably tasty and not at all lumpy. Yay me! We had a piece of the apple cake afterwards and it was really yummy. Somehow the top has turned out all sticky-chewy which is so good and really makes it a bit more special. Although it wasn't a completely lazy day, it was certainly a very tasty one!
Tuesday:
We didn't really have any plans for today and the weather wasn't looking brilliant either. It started off with a bit more cooking though as I made French toast for breakfast. We'd attempted to make some bread before we went off to Vermont using a mix from Trader Joes. It's called beer bread, although it says you can use any fizzy drink if you don't want to use beer. We used ginger ale and I don't know if that was the problem or not, but the bread came out being really dense and quite dry. Michael had toasted a piece which he said improved it, so I thought turning it into French toast would be a way to get rid of it. It wasn't too bad although it didn't soak up the egg-and-milk mixture very well.
We decided to go up to this arcade in Saugus which was supposed to be open from April though to October. It took us nearly an hour to find it and when we got there, it was shut! We ended up spending time wandering round Square One Mall instead which was a little way down. It wasn't especially interesting, except there was a pet shop right where we went in so we spent a lot of time in there looking at all the puppies. They were all in individual glass-fronted cubicles and some kind of plastic mesh on the floor. They didn't seem particularly interested and most of them were sleeping which I found a little concerning. It made me want to buy them all just to get them out of there and give them air and hugs and fun. It doesn't seem right that dogs should be on display like that, it doesn't seem healthy for them at all.
It actually ended up being not a bad day weather-wise. We walked to the Super Stop and Shop that was next to the mall and both remarked on how nice it was. It wasn't really sunny but it was still reasonably warm. We only had long-sleeved T-shirts and hoodies on and we weren't cold at all. It's certainly very nice although I was pretty sure it's not going to last much longer!
When we'd finished wandering round, we went back home where I made yummy sweet and sour vegetables with Quorn pieces. We also watched Empire Records which is one of my very favourite films ever. If I was going to work in a record shop, I want to work in one just like that.
Wednesday:
It turned out that I was right about the weather. Today it started out being grey and drizzly and a little bit on the chilly side for hoodies. We found out that a friend of ours had a baby on Sunday; it's a teacher at the high school where we usually do speaking gigs, so we had to find a present. Michael said that we should get something for the parents to enjoy, rather than gifts for the actual baby so I suggested gift cards for Dunkies and Lush which is what we did. We also thought we would have a third and final attempt at going to an arcade and went out to one called Fun & Games in Framingham. Michael rang to check they were open and got a recorded messsage with their opening times which we took to be a good sign. When we arrived, it didn't look very good as there were workmen just inside the doors but it turned out that they were actually open! With it being a Wednesday morning, they were pretty dead. Actually, there was only us in so we had the run of the place which was quite nice.
They had a couple of skeeball games at the back which Michael loves so we had a few goes on those. They also had two different basketball games, one that used mini basketballs which seemed suitable for younger kids and then another that used full sized balls which was presumably for bigger people. We had a go on both. They were both a lot of fun, but my shoulders and biceps were really aching after we'd played two games on the second one! Whoever thought you'd get such a workout at an arcade? After that we had a go on the shooting games. There was one where you had to knock down a clown's teeth which turned out to be easier than it looked. Michael had the first go, knocked them all down and won 9 tickets. When it was my turn, I knocked them all down as well but only got 3 tickets! I think it was because I only used 4 of the 6 balls, it must have confused the machine. When we ran out of tokens, we counted up all our tickets. Michael had 62 and I had 53. There was actually a reasonable selection of prizes to choose from, including small soft toys for under 50 tickets. I was surprised, I'm used to any soft toy being more of a major prize. I've never really won anything like that at an arcade and I didn't want to get 53 plastic army men or spend all the tickets on sweets as Michael did, so I got one of the small puppy soft toys instead. I had a moment where I wondered what the bloke there thought of me but I really didn't care all that much. I was just pleased to have something decent to show for my efforts! Initially I called him Ginger because he's that kind of colour but maybe I should call him Framingham instead to commemorate the event ;)
When we left, the weather had taken a turn for the worst and it was pissing it down and blowing a gale. We had a couple of errands to run, including getting the gift cards so we spent some time dodging puddles and rain drops before going home and hiding inside where it was warm and dry.
Thursday:
A few weeks ago, Michael had been asked to go into a local college to do a speaking gig and so he asked them if it would be okay if I went along too. The answer was yes as there was going to be a small panel of Trans people so that was all set for 5pm. It would take us 45 minutes or so to get there which didn't give us a great deal of time to do much else. However, I thought it would be a good day to get my hair cut, especially as Michael's friend that we met at Oktoberfest worked at one in Boston which was just a few stops away on the T. It meant that we'd be able to get both of them done without having to schlep back and forth too much! We'd arranged ages ago to dress up as the Doctor for Hallowe'en so I needed to get my haircut appropriately. I'd tested it out recently but it had grown out since then so I spent the morning looking for decent pictures to show the cut I wanted. I can think of worst ways to spend a morning though...
We left after dinner and parked at the college, then got the T into Boston to go to Floyd's Barbershop. We had called to make an appointment but got there a little bit late so it was nearly 3pm when I was called over. Although C was aware of Doctor Who, she wasn't too familiar with the character or the look so it was a good job I'd taken pictures. I have to say, the hair cut was an amazing experience. I've never been to Floyd's Barbershop before but Oh. My. God. The atmosphere itself is something else, it's kind of like a trendy music shop or something with all the posters and actually plays pretty decent stuff too. I saw a review where it was described as 'what Rolling Stone would look like if it were a barbershop' which is pretty accurate, I think. I found the process to be a bit odd because the back was cut first with the clippers and then my hair was washed. The spray was on a sort of power shower type setting so it was a really strong spray but if that wasn't enough, once the conditioner was on, I then got a rather intense scalp massage. It was Amazing. Once the cut was all finished and producted to satisfaction, the whole experience was finished off with a shoulder massage! I wasn't really sure what to think about that but I think it might have been more enjoyable if Michael hadn't been watching. Still, my hair looks great and pretty spot on which is the main thing. The best part is that we got it at friends rates ;)
After that, we went back to the college to do the speaking gig. The class was quite small and the teacher wasn't sure if any other Trans people were arriving later on for the panel so we just started off and did the four line exercise. It pretty much blew their minds, I think. They all looked kind of shellshocked throughout. We'd just finished when two others arrived for the panel so that was good timing! There was a young MTF and then someone else who identified as Two Spirit but preferred male pronouns. I found that pretty cool because I've never actually met anyone who identifies as Two Spirit although I know what it entails. I think it was a really nice mix; we all had different experiences but seemed to give a unified joint opinion which worked out pretty well. The class were really quiet to start off with but after a while we got more and more questions and from a variety of people too which is always good. The teacher was very pleased with us but then she knows Michael and has had him do several speaking gigs before. It was about 6.30 when it finished so we decided to go to Friendly's for tea and neither of us complained about that!
So, this is my last full update as I've only got another few days here after today which is very sad. We still have a couple of things left to look forward to though:
Oct 31: Hallowe'en
Nov 1: the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science and going for tea with Michael's kids
Nov 2: no plans!
Nov 3: no plans!
Nov 4: Fly back to Manchester :(