ten good things: send your love around, grow branches, grow branches

1) May birthday party at work—which I did halfish of the planning for because each month's birthday babies plan the next month's birthday party, and there aren't any Feb-Apr birthdays in my section—went fabulously.

2) Lindt dark chocolate truffles.

3) The wrist braces did not actually drive me to tears today.

4) Overtime money.

5) My ergonomic keyboard should arrive tomorrow. Today, rather.

6) Also my Dragon software and accompanying headset.

7) Flowers in the front garden.

8) Today is check-the-mead day. (Well, really Friday was, but I was busy.) Possibly also drink-the-mead day, I dunno yet.

9) I realized something important.

10) Even when things are especially shitty (see also, the past several hours on my Facebook feed), people support each other.

11) Sharon Knight, "Take Your Spirit Down".

this is the first time I have worn makeup in...eight years?

( Alex's adventures in makeup! )

I think it's much much too much—actually I'll refrain from telling you what my actual thoughts are, as they're probably slanderous against drag queens. (Bad me.) I feel really ridiculously femme, which is really ridiculously awkward. (Today is most definitely an "Alex is agender today" day.)

But the Mary Kay lady assures me that I want more makeup than usual (than people-who-usually-wear-makeup's usual, that is) on account of outdoor picture-taking at my sister's wedding—that's what the makeup is required for, sister's wedding. And also the ceremony is going to be on stage at the local community theater (bright lights) so I therefore want more than usual because I'm in the bridal party and will thus be on stage. The Mary Kay lady and all of my family who are home (except my brother, who doesn't give a fuck) also assure me I look fantastic in this, and will look even better on K's wedding day with my pretty purple dress and nail polish and jewelry to go with the makeup (speaking of, I really wish K would get back to me about whether I am making jewelry for the bridal party, and if so, what it ought to look like).

I am actually now curious what I look like in less overdone makeup. And, much to my surprise, thinking of buying the lipstick so as to have it for multiple occasions.

Of course, any degree of makeup has the problem of "stuff on my face get it off" (between taking that picture and typing this entry, I took the whole faceful off). There are reasons that I have not worn makeup in about eight years! Also the application process is either I do it myself and fuck up, or someone does it for me, which feels really intimate and consequently really awkward, and doesn't erase the possibility of fuckups; Mary Kay lady says she messed up my mascara on one side because my eyes were all twitchy-blinky with the little mascara wand that close.

I am not good at performative femininity, okay?

(Told a coworker that yesterday when he asked why I wasn't working overtime today. He said, trying to be reassuring, that he's not good at it either. I should have responded like so but I didn't think of it till later: dude, you're a [cis] dude. Most folks are of the opinion that if you're good at performative femininity, there is something wrong with you. Whereas I, being a chick [as far as work knows, I'm a cis woman], am expected to be good at performative femininity, and since I'm not, most folks are of the opinion that there's something wrong with me!)

I am not ignoring comments on makeup post, I promise

So what do people think about copper metal-stampy pendant that says on one side:

NOT
GAY
AS IN
HAPPY

and on the other:

QUEER
AS IN
FUCK
YOU

?

eta: too late, already made one. not patinaed up yet, but it's gonna be!

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*dithers re pod_together*

ohai friending meme over jadelennox way

Dreamwidth Friending Meme, 2015 edition!

(no subject)

So I just now, and at long last, read Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites.

I liked it, don't get me wrong. And I realize this book dates from the eighties, and if I'm correctly understanding my history of feminism, it's engaging with feminist issues of that decade in a progressive manner—and in much the same way that Tamora Pierce does with Alanna, whose adventures were published within a few years of Equal Rites. But I'm pissed off too. Esk has to prove women can be wizards at all by proving she can do a thing that the entire wizarding university is neither capable of nor looking down upon? Fuck that glass-ceiling noise. I mean, hurrah breaking of glass ceiling...but getting one extraordinary girl into the boys' club doesn't equal rights make.