The world is made of ice cream and rainbows today

[hazard_identity]

Wish me luck. I applied for a part-time radiology attendant position at a nearby hospital. It'll be a foot in the door in radiology. Also, writing up my cover letter, I realized I already had a fair amount of experience relevant to the position thanks to my responsibilities with my grandfather. The fact that it pays more ($8.79 per hour) and leaves

Comments

And you said I knew you so well...

[xel_otath]

That top surgery section is completely new to me.

Re: And you said I knew you so well...

[hazard_identity]

You still do. I haven't even discussed this with my parents. I figure I'll bring it up closer to actually doing it.

People sorta get transgenderism, because most people think in terms of male and female binaries. It's a lot harder to explain genderqueer. And it's very easy to just function as a woman. I've still got a lot of freedom to adopt the masculine and feminine characteristics I like. It wouldn't work as well if I were biologically male. In addition to it being relatively easy to function as a woman, there's the bit where I live in Alabama. So, yeah, if I were any deeper in the closet, I'd be in Narnia.

Course, just so you know, I'd probably have said something to you back when we were in New Orleans. I just didn't know about the word "genderqueer" back then. All I knew was gender really didn't make sense when I tried to apply it to my self image, and that's a kind of nebulous thing to try and discuss with friends.

Re: And you said I knew you so well...

[xel_otath]

A friend of mine once told me that she sees me as a woman trapped in a man's body who is, luckily, a happy lesbian who sees no reason to change her situation. So I can identify with everything except for opting into a surgery that isn't medically necessary. I mean really, I still haven't been able to convince myself to get laser vision correction because I don't trust the experts to not fuck up the job. But then I guess maybe you're just more brave than I am. And to be honest, its an incredibly miniscule change in the world on my end for me to have to remind myself that who I've been remembering as one of the cutest and most awesome women I've ever met would prefer to be thought of as one of the cutest and most awesome non-binary human beings I've ever met

Re: And you said I knew you so well...

[hazard_identity]

Well, I can't say whether you're a woman or not, but I always liked that you didn't have that stupid machismo thing going that so many men did. You always seemed comfortable in your skin.

Laser correction surgery is pretty scary; I'm one hundred percent with you on that. It's not so much that I'm brave (I wussed out of a blood sugar test today) as it is that the top surgery is so very worth it. I can't figure out how to explain it right now. Honestly, I've never been in a position to explain it before. I mentioned my desire to have my breasts removed to my parents back when I was at Loyola, but they kind of brushed it off. Figured it was a phase or something. You're the first person to accept this whole thing at face value and not tell me it's, I dunno, less real or anything.

Dude, you're back in New Orleans? Spill. Have you finished your doctorate? What are you doing in New Orleans? I mean, for school and/or job. Are you staying for good? I'm going to be in New Orleans sometime around October. We should make plans.

Re: And you said I knew you so well...

[xel_otath]

Not done with the doctorate, but done with Hattiesburg as far as having to live there. I have to return exactly three times: dissertation proposal, dissertation defense, and graduation. Basically, I'm done with all my course work there and I took over a job from a girl in my program who was in my boat last year. Hopefully, I'll be able to land an internship for next year, which will be anywhere in the country where they happen to be weird enough to accept me.

Keep me posted on when you'll be here. My home is always open to you.