Clothes Shopping

I do not identify as trans, but as someone who is biologically male and not of the male gender, every detail in this brief piece about shopping for women's clothes as a trans woman is accurate about the fear and anxiety that I feel when shopping for traditionally feminine clothing. I've gotten comfortable enough that I'll at least look through women's jeans (not really because they're feminine, but because they can be so much more *visually interesting* than men's jeans!) in thrift stores, but I'm still nervous about that and can't bring myself to look at skirts or dresses. A few people have gone with me and just been present while I did so, and I am so grateful to them.
(Special mention to my housemate for giving me a lot of his old feminine stuff as well as having offered to go shopping with me!)

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"In those days, doctors did not always tell patients that they had cancer. In this new era of medical consumerism, most cancer patients are told they have the disease." -New York Times, 5-23-2000, health and fitness section describing Rudolph Giuliani's decision to leave the senate race due to prostate cancer.

To emphasize: "In this new era...most cancer patients are told they have the disease." Well I should damned well hope so!

Bicycle work

I've always procrastinated about doing 'messy' maintenance on my bike, but once I actually do it, it's not that bad. That was true about starting to oil my chain regularly, and today it turned out to be true about grease. With a few things from the hardware store, I did an overhaul on my brake assemblies. The arms mount on metal studs that they rotate on, and for *years* the force of the brakes never seemed quite centered between the two arms, even after the overhaul I got done earlier this Summer.

Following instructions from the internet, I took the arms off, used Simple Green to clean everything, sanded the studs smooth with a 600-grit sandpaper, applied lithium-based waterproof grease, and reassembled. Not only is the movement centered now so I don't have to try to mount the wheel slightly off-center to compensate for unequal friction, but after adjustment the brakes are working the best I can remember them ever working. I'm proud of myself! Now I need to learn how to do something similar with Nathan's bike. He's biking to work most days now, and I want to make sure he's safe.