I have to catch a train

Fantasia Fair: Thursday, October 23, 2014

My second presentation, "Things You Can Do When You're All Dressed Up" was at the Boatslip at 10 AM. Many months ago, Jan Brown had asked me to do the presentation with her. She suggested that we show photos of our various outings and describe what we did in order to encourage our audience to get out, too. I can do that, so I agreed to present with Jan. I arrived at the Boatslip an hour early to help set up. I wore my Avon Mark "Edge" dress, silver jewelry, and remembered to switch to my black pumps after walking from my B&B to the Boatslip in my wedges. One of the computers we intended to use to display our photos was not working properly, so I went to find for the program chairwoman, Dallas Denny, for assistance.

Me and Jan Preparing to Present Photo shot by Melissa

When I found Dallas in the lobby chatting with a few other girls, I said, "Dallas, we have a problem," but no one got my “joke”! And Dallas fixed the problem despite my attempt at humor!

About a dozen girls showed up for our presentation, which exposed a contrast between each presenter's take on going out en femme.

Jan is more conservative than I when she goes out and takes some precautions that I don't take. For example, she always has male clothes in her car in case she has to change modes for some reason or another. She also carries a whistle with her to ward off any troublemakers she may encounter.

I, on the other hand, throw caution to the wind when I go out. The only precaution I take is to make sure I have my compact and lipstick in my purse in case I have to touch up my makeup while I am out.

After introductions, we did show and tell using the photos we had collected for the presentation. I did mine first and I think Jan was a little surprised about all the things I have done en femme because after I was finished, she commented, "There's nothing you won't do, is there?"

That says it all!

After our presentation, I hurried to Bayside Betsy's to collect lunch tickets (Emily had volunteered me for the job when I picked up my registration package on Sunday).

Andrea saved me a seat and when I was done, I joined her and Jamison Green. While I ate a delicious lunch (seared ahi tuna burger on ciabatta) and chatted with Andrea and Jamison, it turned out that Jamison had been a technical writer in the past, so we exchanged technical writer war stories.

After lunch, I attended Moonhawk River Stone's keynote address "The Adventurous Evolution: The Life and Times of Trans* Over the Past Century or So..." and then I attended Natasha Wilkie's presentation "Planning Your Transition."

I thought Natasha's presentation would be useful because lately I have been planning my transition. Whether I transition or not is something else, but at least I might be able to plan with a little more wisdom after listening to the presentation.

Some things I already knew, some things I had guessed correctly about and some things I was clueless about, so the presentation was worthwhile. Perhaps, the most important thing I took out of the presentation was that you do it at your own pace... a pace that you are comfortable with.

Natasha left us with a metaphor... Transition is like riding a train. You can get off at any stop and you can get back on the train whenever you wish and in some cases, you can go back to a previous stop.

When the presentation ended, I was the first to leave. I thanked Natasha and excused myself by saying, "I have to catch a train."

No one reacted to it; second time that day that my attempt at humor failed!

I was in a hurry to leave because I volunteered to find a place to go for dinner and then notify all the parties scattered around Provincetown where we were going to dine. I had a few ideas, but wanted some expert advice, so I asked Chris, the Chicago House owner what he would recommend that was nearby in consideration of the persisting wet weather.

He suggested Ross's Grill, so I looked at their menu on the Internet, was sold on his suggestion and contacted all the parties involved to meet at the restaurant at 6 PM.

Ross's Grill is a classy place with a beautiful view of the Bay. It was nearly empty when the six of us arrived for dinner and we were seated immediately. Our waitress was wonderful and unlike the waiter at Lobster Pot, punctual and knew how to use the correct pronouns.

I had a codfish dish and it was very good. We split the bill again and like the Lobster Pot, we each paid $45 again!

After dinner, we went to the Crown & Anchor to view a documentary about transgenders titled Just Gender. The film was well done, but it was intended for a general audience, so for us, it was like preaching to the choir.

The weather was not conducive to walking around town to partake in whatever it had to offer, so after the film, we all called it a night and returned to our respective temporary homes.

 

 

 

Wearing Line & Dot Scarlett.

 

 

 

Professional femulator, Mr. Jackie Hayes, circa 1950.