BDA - Busy Day Ahead

I was planning to go to Bikram hot yoga this morning.  I've never been to a yoga class in my life, and my body seems to be made to do everything that's contrary to what yoga represents to me.  I'm the most not-flexible person I know.  During wrestling the guys had to push on me to help me stretch out.  Balance is questionable.  Way too much bulk.  But I bought a membership on Groupon and I'm going to try it.  Just not today.

Lots going on.  I do need to go to the gym, so I'll do that.  I need a mani/pedi, so I'll do that.  I'm moving soon (same city, different place) so I've got some packing and errands to run.  I need to do laundry.  I've got a date tonight - we're meeting for dinner than going to a play - so I'll need to have time to shower and dress for that.  With everything else going on, it just didn't seem like a good day to try to do something new.

I posted a picture of myself on FB and I'll share it here as well as my picture of the day.  I'm generally liking my "look" these days.  I like being blonde.  I like that I've gained some weight back from being too skinny for wrestling.  Since I work in a "professional environment" my morning ritual of shower/hair/make-up/lotion/getting dressed takes an hour and a half but I'll admit that it's my favorite time of the day.  It's my "me" time.

I've got a few photos in a jpg on this compute from various stages over the last few years...

I still pinch myself that this is my life.  It's still friggin' unbelievable.  I've said before and I'll say for as long as I can that the physical development that continues to happen is only a fraction the amount of deeper change.  Still.  I hope it never ends.

I'm not a child anymore.  I'm not even a young adult.  I'm in my 50's.  Although neither my mind nor my heart perceive that as a limitation in any way that's still the reality.  Starting this week I found that my ankles were swollen for some reason.  Why?  Dunno.  It's the first time it has ever happened.  The point is that although I've still got lots of kick left the tide of age continues to roll in.

In that same vein, I'll mention a show that's going to debut on the National Geographic Network this week.  It's title is "American Transgender".  A link to a little about it is here.

I mention it for a couple of reasons.  One is that I know the people that are featured in this piece, and all are down to earth and just living their lives.  I'm hopeful that the outcome reflects that.  But on that particular page there are photos of Claire and Eli from "before".  There are people who bristle at the fact that showing "before" photos is a staple of these kinds of things.  There's sometimes a sense that it panders to sensationalism, or that it's unnecessary.  I appreciate those perspectives, although I don't agree with them.  I, personally, have no problem with photos at various stages of my life and I still believe it helps to put things into perspective.

This journey is an amazing one.  If people were going to use the photos by themselves that'd be a shame.  But the photos are there as part of a bigger story and are almost like props.  There was a time when it seemed like a new trans documentary came out every 6 months or so but nowdays they are few and far between.  We're becoming blase, old news.  And that's good.  But I'll set my DVR to record this and I'll watch it.  As I say - I'm hopeful it's well done.

Gotta run.  Busy day ahead.....