Earworms

Been trying to think of something to write about but all that's in my head at the moment is Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly coincidently there was a documentary repeated on Radio 4 Extra  this week about earworms, what makes a earworm and the power on of such tunes on our psyche.

It was also school nativity time and my niece had nabbed a speaking part causing a small amount of pride from her parents, being a C of E school it was strictly traditional unlike the one I took part in where our teacher cast me as a spider (non speaking, of course).

Snow Ho Ho

Snow doesn't fall that often where I live, by the time it finishes depositing on the nearby hills and downs there's none left, Sunday was different. For children it meant making use of the surrounding hills to go sledging, one or two had a properly designed sledge but everyone else used what they could find, in many cases this was the lid of a recycling bin but also involved anything else they could get their hands on as long as it could go down the hill at breakneck speeds. For others it involved complaining that the council should miraculously clear the roads with snow ploughs that wouldn't be used most years and only a day or two the years it does. We made a snowman, chucked snowballs and lost feeling in our toes that has only just returned.

Over and Over

This is Blart playing the same few mor songs over and over... and over.

I once had a summer factory job in the 90s which had its predecessor station on constantly and had a similarly tiny play-list which barely changed over the weeks. It's constant diet of Simply Red, Boyzone and U2 became torture by the end of it.

One Brussels Sprout

Brussels sprouts are much maligned and target for the easy joke and blamed for the outbreak of farting after the Christmas meal. The chemical that creates the gas is supposedly a deterrent to stop an assortment of pests from killing them. Although its sister veggies like cabbage and broccoli also have the same effect and they always escape blame.  There also blamed for the way they're cooked as if its still before the 90's and everything has to have the life boiled out of them, there are many ways to cook them, go on have a search, I'll wait.

Hate Mobs

Following up from the last post which mentioned bullying comes the sad but depressingly familiar tale of a online anti trans hate mob sparked by parts of the UK media acting as enablers for usual transphobic hate mob towards a young trans woman. What's even more depressing is the ferocity in this example which would test those with the best coping mechanisms let alone a teenager.

Anti Bullying Policies and the Church of England

You would think that releasing a document which essentially says "bullying is bad" at the start of anti-bullying week would be deeply uncontroversial and applauded by everyone.

How wrong would you be.

It brought out comments from those who would rather pick on a child than allow the merest hint of anything trans. In the past I have mentioned it is the wrong thing to do not just for trans children but for all children.

A young child doesn't see that baggage that comes with clothes, just something to dress up in. I think there's something instinctive when a child sees a pair of high heal shoes that they'll inevitably try them on and the correct response from any patent or minder would be to make sure they don't topple over when they're clip clopping about and the same applies to adults. The wrong thing to do would be as one commenter wrote to start shouting at them, they're at the wonderful stage where they're exploring and testing and will mostly go on to become cis gendered older kids without some hateful bigot intervening. 

So It Goes

It is the last month of 2017 and so time for another blogmas in which my publishing schedule ramps up and away from my usual occasional slapdash approach. 

Christmas decorations have finally been put up, lights have been untangled and tested. All the usual traditions. I've been given a poinsettia plant, given our reverse talent with such plants over the years the fact it isn't dead yet is remarkable.

Gift Sets

Visiting a charity shop I was struck by the amount of gift sets in the shop and this was just November. I'm presuming they've been given and put away the recipient having no interest lavender soaps, bath salts and other smellies until it eventually gets dumped off on a charity shops doorstep.

Oink

If there ever is a ultimate life goal it's to find someone who will look at you the way my toddler nephew looks at someone in a Peppa Pig costume.

It's currently his favourite thing as it was one of my nieces until it became "babyish" though there's no way she's going to part with any of her many dvds or toys yet.

Blogmas 2017

IT'S BLOGMAAASSSSS!!!!!!

Thanks Noddy. Yes it's that time of the year to spoil you with content galore from now till Christmas.

A Trending Topic

As well as my position in the trannati I'm also in the group responsible for deciding what's fashionable, The Trending topics, formally the cool list. You have seen our past triumphs from persuading households to put up dado rails, to wear Global Hyper-colour tshirts, tattoo arse antlers onto their lower backs, covering up sexual assaults, among many more. Our current plan is to make lots of young people who have just got fed up playing Pokemon Go while twiddling their Fidget Spinner pretend to be trans by making it look so cool and make many others stop defining themselves as either gay or straight. Things were going so well until some commentators started noticing our work and calling us out for encouraging this fashion. Dammit. 

Of course I could be just making up my role in so many coming out as trans / non binary and/or bisexual/ pansexual etc. And they could really be (and hear me out on this) trans etc. 

Nah.

That would be stupid.

Spooky Dirty Secrets

Ah October, the month of changing your user name to some kind of spooky pun although some do it when it's still September, which is, just wrong. As is transgender people still having to justify their existence. (See what I did there). Detransitioning is one flank of attack, our dirty secret,  which I will bravely talk about despite the trans mafia, the trannati, of which we are all members (shhh, don't tell anyone it's our secret) threats not to.

The truth about this "secret " is that there is no secret, people do detransition though through societal pressures rather than anything else, and the numbers are non existent compared to those in need blocked by gatekeepers. And one person seemingly on a crusade available everywhere does not make a trend.

News At Ten

Bong!

Just over ten years ago, for some reason lost to the mists of time, I decided to type my thoughts into an online journal.

For better or worse it's still going and to my great surprise some people read it. Although I skirt around other things it is primarily trans / lgbtq subjects I post about,many changes have occurred in that time almost nobody in the media says "transgendered" and many trans, non binary and queer terms that have exploded alongside older terms like transvestite giving people more and better language to express themselves. Transphobic humour is also becoming less acceptable and regulators have began to intervene as the TV Burp example showed.

The Gender Recognition Act, was also a relatively new thing, while the hard won right to have ones sex officially changed was welcomed it was flawed at the time, more than a decade on it looks over complicated, over medicalised, expensive and unnecessary. The right to being recognised as ones true sex should not be dependant on being able to jump through a bureaucratic maze.

There is a lot more LGBTQ related materials out there including help, support and advice I am just a section of the queer bubble which has gotten bigger and has many fantastic artists, writers, etc, but it is still a queer bubble, outside there is still a lot of hatred and strong push back from the tiny advances made let alone those needed.

Enough about all that, there's personal reflections as well which I'll save for another time.

Happy tin anniversary to my blog!

Hot Stuff

Hot weather is a particular challenge for trans people whether the that be wigs, binders, padding or forms. Or, seeing far too many pictures of tell tale tan lines on arms. My normal outfit normally starts with a lot of industrial shape-wear to hold, tuck and pad even for a modest outfit. Though when the temperature creeps into the upper 20s it's time for a rethink and to realise that most people are going to be resembling a very sweaty Betty.

More Soon

Oops! Been neglecting this thing again, like an abandoned phone box.