It's a Wonderful Life
I'm having a very rare and very wonderful problem at the moment. I'm finding that I can't keep with everything that's happening because everything is moving a little too fast for my liking. But more than that, they're moving forwards in a positive direction. It all makes me feel a little befuddled.
The Sea Cadet website has been moving on apace. I've finished the theme to the point where I'm happy with it. It's very simple and classical, but that's deliberate, since I feel a charity website should be simple and unfussy, especially since charities never know who (or even if) their successor will be in anything. Better yet, both my dad and Steve, the CO of the Unit, like it, and have started to publish stuff on it. My dad has mastered the basics of posting news articles into the system and written two lovely news articles. The whole point using a Content Management System like Drupal was to make that happen, and it's wonderful that other people who know very little about web design can use and interact with the site. It's looking more and more likely that the site will go live and be used for a useful purpose. Yey!
The fact that the site is going well is also useful in that I found an Islington-based Drupal firm that are looking for interns. I'm thinking of applying, using that site as a portfolio of past work. If the site keeps getting better, I shall give it a try soon and see where I get.
My application for Jobseeker's allowance was also successful, and they paid me some money in which I haven't spent at all. This is in addition to the money my grandfather gave me. So at the moment I have more money then I've had in a long time.
One of the most useful things about having money is that I can go shopping for female clothes. I have very few items that I can cycle through and wear, and very little in the way of range for formal and smart occasions. I've started trying to fix this by actually buying some things. Going shopping is something that has always been a huge effort. I'm not entirely sure what all the baggage I carry around with me is, but it makes it a fraught experience. But I've gone shopping some four times in two weeks and the experiences have been all right and did not feel like such a huge effort this time. I felt very comfortable, and that made the trip much better.
My bank has also finally changed my name. It ignored my first request, which I put in before Christmas. So I went again and spoke to another really friendly and curious bank assistant who helped me put in a second change request. My debit card came yesterday and the rest (credit card, cheque book, paying in book) came today. Financially, I am my new female identity, which is so very, very awesome.
I still haven't received anything from the GIC, and I realised that this was depressing me quite a lot last week, so I decided to move forwards with plan A, which is to transition as much as I can and then see a private psychiatrist for hormones. To that aim, I decided to change the name and picture on my driving license. I may not change my driving license number without the letter that the GIC promised, and that number has a gender marker. However, for most purposes, I don't think people know to check the number and wouldn't think to check for if performing a casual ID check, which is what I need it for. Of course, I need a chequebook to send them money to change my photo, which came today as I mentioned. And going private requires money, which is slowly happening through the job front. Isn't it wonderful how everything is interlinked?
The Sea Cadet website has been moving on apace. I've finished the theme to the point where I'm happy with it. It's very simple and classical, but that's deliberate, since I feel a charity website should be simple and unfussy, especially since charities never know who (or even if) their successor will be in anything. Better yet, both my dad and Steve, the CO of the Unit, like it, and have started to publish stuff on it. My dad has mastered the basics of posting news articles into the system and written two lovely news articles. The whole point using a Content Management System like Drupal was to make that happen, and it's wonderful that other people who know very little about web design can use and interact with the site. It's looking more and more likely that the site will go live and be used for a useful purpose. Yey!
The fact that the site is going well is also useful in that I found an Islington-based Drupal firm that are looking for interns. I'm thinking of applying, using that site as a portfolio of past work. If the site keeps getting better, I shall give it a try soon and see where I get.
My application for Jobseeker's allowance was also successful, and they paid me some money in which I haven't spent at all. This is in addition to the money my grandfather gave me. So at the moment I have more money then I've had in a long time.
One of the most useful things about having money is that I can go shopping for female clothes. I have very few items that I can cycle through and wear, and very little in the way of range for formal and smart occasions. I've started trying to fix this by actually buying some things. Going shopping is something that has always been a huge effort. I'm not entirely sure what all the baggage I carry around with me is, but it makes it a fraught experience. But I've gone shopping some four times in two weeks and the experiences have been all right and did not feel like such a huge effort this time. I felt very comfortable, and that made the trip much better.
My bank has also finally changed my name. It ignored my first request, which I put in before Christmas. So I went again and spoke to another really friendly and curious bank assistant who helped me put in a second change request. My debit card came yesterday and the rest (credit card, cheque book, paying in book) came today. Financially, I am my new female identity, which is so very, very awesome.
I still haven't received anything from the GIC, and I realised that this was depressing me quite a lot last week, so I decided to move forwards with plan A, which is to transition as much as I can and then see a private psychiatrist for hormones. To that aim, I decided to change the name and picture on my driving license. I may not change my driving license number without the letter that the GIC promised, and that number has a gender marker. However, for most purposes, I don't think people know to check the number and wouldn't think to check for if performing a casual ID check, which is what I need it for. Of course, I need a chequebook to send them money to change my photo, which came today as I mentioned. And going private requires money, which is slowly happening through the job front. Isn't it wonderful how everything is interlinked?