Parents, again

(moved from the old...)

Finally a comment from my parents. "We wish you'd stay here... couldn't she move to Helsinki as well?"

I told them about the price differences and J's studies. Said it's not likely that I'll stay here. Also, I told them that my plan is to leave for good, when I do leave... so I won't be returning humbly, cap in hand, saying I've run out of money or something like that.

Call me a cynic, but I'm pretty sure they want me to stay so they don't have to explain my absence. Imagine having to tell everyone that your (admittedly oddball) daughter is living with her girlfriend (Gasp!) in another city! The humiliation! The agony!

In pain

(moved from the old...)

I spent the weekend at J's again. I even went there a day early, because I got two days of sick leave due to this flu... It was OK, I could rest there even better than at home, where I would have been all alone.

Anyway... Friday was bad. My back acted up worse than ever (starting in the morning as we got up), so badly in fact, that we had to see a physician, who then sent us to an ER. It was quite an ordeal: I was in considerable pain all the time and J got to see it all up close. She also got to run some errands, assist me in the bathroom and so on – a lot more than she bargained for, I'm sure (After reading this bit, she denies this; says she's willing to do anything for me).

In the evening, when we finally got back from the ER, via the chemist's (I got some extra strong painkillers for future use), she said she'll still "keep me". Even if this sort of thing happened more often (this was the first time she saw it, and the second time it happened to me). Wow.

Another thing worth mentioning happened at the ER. There was a young student nurse, who did the triage and interviewed me in the waiting-room. At one point she asked J if she was a friend or something. J replied she was my spouse (which was correct, of course), to which the nurse just said (without batting an eye), "I see. All right", wrote J's name down and that was it! No questions, nada.

Drag

(moved from the old...)

I attended a drag king workshop last Sunday. Went there to get some tips on how to look like a guy (for masquerades and the like) and just to learn more about the whole drag thing. Well, it turned out to be an interesting day (7 hours). A bit scary, too.

There were two leaders (theatre students who'd studied the drag thing under Diane Torr) and eight participants. I didn't know anyone, but that was OK. I think it might have been harder with people I know.

The leaders did our make-up and beards. I got a full beard and mustache which was exactly the same colour as my hair. My eyebrows were touched up a bit and I also got small sideburns. The transformation was quite impressive – I looked like a schoolteacher when finished! So... that's the role I took. I became "Shorty", the slightly nerdy teacher (in his late 30's), who doesn't go out much, and whose girlfriend left him because he likes his computers a bit too much :-D

Getting the clothes was easy (they were my own; shirt, tie, waistcoat, trousers, boxer shorts underneath, shoes...), getting bound was easy, if a bit uncomfortable, walking and doing stuff like a guy was fairly easy, too... What was hard (and scary!) was going out and walking in the city centre with the full getup.

But we all did it... and survived. Afterwards, it was almost exhilarating. Getting the beard and stuff out when it was all over was agony, though.

There was a drag king contest on Wednesday. No, I didn't attend (as if!).

BTW, my parents haven't mentioned my plans to move... not once. And being the coward that I am, I never told them the whole truth about the workshop. They only know it had something to do with theatre, studying people's body language and the like.