Monday, July 19, 2021

Summer of ’84

Summer of ’84, the ARRL sent me to Metairie, Louisiana, to speak at a ham radio convention. My wife came along, not to hear me speak, but to visit the world’s fair, which was next door in New Orleans. 

After the convention, we spent one day at the fair and another day seeing the sights in New Orleans. After walking around the French Quarter for a few hours, we rested our derrieres on a park bench in Jackson Square. And what to my wandering eyes should appear, but two femulators walking side-by-side through the park. They were dressed in “office girl drag,” that is, skirt suits and high heels with wigs and full makeup. 

Their presentations were convincing, but seemed out of place on that very hot and very humid summer day in the city of New Orleans. In retrospect, they were probably like so many of us – dressed to kill for that one day out en femme that they had been planning for weeks – the weather be damned.

I mention this sighting because it was the first time I had ever seen femulators out and about among the civilians. Until then, the only femulators I had seen were in books, magazines, films and television shows – never in the flesh.

Needless to say, I was impressed and a little jealous. My four public forays en femme were under the protection of Halloween. I never dreamed I would femulate in public on a day that didn’t close out the month of October. Yet, a few years later, I attended my first support group meeting en femme (see photo) and the rest is herstory.



Source: SheIn
Wearing SheIn



John D. Collins and Nicholas Frankau
John D. Collins and Nicholas Frankau femulating on British televison’s ’Allo ’Allo.

Friday, July 16, 2021

A Big Win at the Casino


Continuing with our Out and About theme, here is an outing that I completely forgot about until I was browsing through some old blog posts.

Friday, I went to the Mohegan Sun casino to play slots and have fun.

It was a miserable drive from my home to the casino with heavy rain falling the entire trip. The bad weather and slowed traffic added almost 30 minutes to the normal 75-minute trip.

I arrived at the casino at 11 AM and found it busier for midday weekday than it has been in awhile. Either the economy is better or a lot of vacationers abandoned the nearby Long Island Sound beaches for some dry indoor activities.

I played quarter slots for the first 90 minutes and was down about $10. After lunch, I switched to two-cents and one-cent slots and my luck improved. By the time I quit and headed for home, I had $248 more in my purse than when I arrived!

People-wise, I had one very interesting encounter. When I ate lunch – a glass of seltzer and a salad topped with grilled chicken – I sat at the bar rather than at a table in Big Bubba’s BBQ because I wanted to check out all the breweriana on display behind the bar.

Half way through eating my salad, I had a new real life experience! A middle-aged guy sat next to me, ordered a beer and began chatting with me.

I cleared my throat, spoke softly and held up my half of the conversation.

After about 10 minutes, I emptied my glass of seltzer and the guy asked me if he could buy me a drink.

“Where was this going?” I wondered. I did not want to find out, so I played the spoken-for card.

“No thank-you,” I said, “I’m happily married.”

“Is your husband here?” he asked.

“What difference does that make?” I asked.

“Well, he is a very lucky guy.”

“Thank-you,” I said.

"It was nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you, too,” I returned.

With that, he paid his bill and left the restaurant.

Wow!



Source: Intermix
Wearing Jonathan Simkahi



Jenny Shaw
Jenny Shaw out and about at The Magpie Cafe in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Not Out and About

My previous Creative Cocktail Hour
appearance, October 2019
I was so looking forward to Thursday because I was planning it to be my first post-pandemic en femme outing among the civilian population of Connecticut. I even purchased a new dress and heels for the occasion and I have been dying to wear them out. 

My plan was to attend the first post-pandemic Real Art Ways monthly “Creative Cocktail Hour,” but I will have to postpone my coming out until next month.

For most of this year, I have had on and off pain and swelling in my private areas. I hoped it would go away on its own, but of course, it did not and it got worse as time marched on. So I finally visited my doctor last month and the diagnosis was an inguinal hernia

If I sit on my dupa all day, I am fine, but if I start walking around for a bit, the pain begins and lasts for hours thereafter. As a result, I have given up my daily one-mile hikes through the woods, as well as all outings en femme.

The good news is that I am having surgery to correct the problem later this month. My surgeon is using a new procedure that reduces recovery time to a few days, so hopefully by this time next month, I will be out and about en femme as Goddess intended.



Source: Paige
Wearing Paige


Joey
Joey out and about in a big box grocery store

Monday, July 12, 2021

Dress to Shop

I’ll admit it: I overdress when I go out en femme and am a prime candidate for OA (Overdressers Anonymous). But I have a perfect excuse for dressing up when I go shopping: better service.

Think Julia Roberts shopping on Rodeo Drive in Pretty Woman or Dwight Schrute shopping at the Steamtown Mall in The Office. In both cases, their appearance determined whether they received better service or no service.

Similarly, a “man in a dress” is likely to get poorer service than a man who appears to be a lady. (A “man in a dress” is a femulator who does not put much thought and effort into his femulation. His wig looks too wig-like because it is cheap or has not been styled since it exited its shipping box. His makeup is Bozo-like rather than Bazaar-like. Unsightly hair is visible where it should not be visible. His clothes are wrinkled and unkempt. Etcetera.)

A lady, on the other hand, is likely to have attentive sales people at her beck and call, assigning a personal dressing room for madam and fetching clothing off the racks when the sizes madam selected are not quite right. I’ve experienced this treatment many times and it sure affirms my feelings of being a lady. 

When I go shopping, my goal is to femulate a professional woman dressed for work, who may have slipped out during lunch to pick up a few things or is on her way home after a long day at the office. Think dress and heels, modest jewelry and makeup and nicely styled hair. 

That’s me whenever I go out and since I am dressed to shop – guess what – I shop!


Source: Boston Proper
Wearing Boston Proper

Nicole, Jamie and Kim
Nicole, Jamie and Kim out and about at a Denver restaurant celebrating Nicole’s birthday