Memories…

Ronnie 1999

Ronnie is probably the only person you know who can drive with one eye firmly on the road ahead, and the other locked on the rear-view mirror.  And it’s not because she has Marty Feldman eyes either.  It’s a metaphor.  (What’s a metaphor?  You keep your cows in one, silly.)

A quick jaunt down memory lane (to the year Finocchio’s closed) this week with Ronnie Rho.

Time is running out. I have less than three weeks to lose 15 pounds of fat, and replace it with lean muscle.  In that same period, I need to get a luxury car, and a job that pays three times my current salary.  It’s all for my high school reunion. Now, call me a procrastinator if you choose, because I’ve had 20 years to attain these goals, but haven’t.

Yes, I was tempted to pull a “Holiday Inn” reunion prank, but opted against it, because that would require even more weight loss, and procedures more expensive than a Cadillac.

This month also marks another milestone: the 10th anniversary of my joining the TGForum staff.

My first article was on outing.  (Read it here, if you don’t already have it printed off and kept in your Ronnie Rho Fan Club scrapbook.)

Ronnie 1999

You’ve heard it said before, but let me reiterate: youth is wasted on the young.  When I was skinny, I couldn’t afford a lot of sexy clothes, and couldn’t scrounge the money to attend conventions and events.  Now, I can afford the tight slinky dresses, but can’t fit into any of them.  My paycheck allows me to go to SCC, but I know pretty much everything I’m ever going to know about being transgendered, and I get sleepy after 11pm.  (And we won’t mention the creeking of the bones and soreness that comes from dancing.)

Ronnie 1999

Today, I’ve had enough practice with makeup that I feel comfortable with different looks, daytime, nighttime, whorish.  But my skin isn’t holding up so well. The wrinkles are coming in strong, and my beard is resistant to the the best of razors. When I was young, I didn’t know about blending, or which colors were right for me.

Ten years ago, I was in a small town in the middle of Nebraska, with very limited social opportunites.  Now, I live in a big city, but have tired of the bar scene.

Ronnie 1999

The Internet was a fantastic door to the world in 1999, but with dial-up, it was easy to lose a connection in the middle of a chat, and pages like TGFourm took forever to load.  In 2009, my cable modem means instant-on, but the topics in chat rooms haven’t progressed much beyond, “what are you wearing?”

But, it is what it is, and there’s no sense in comparing and contrasting and crying over the difference.  All that can be done is to look forward, and wonder where we’ll be in another ten years.

Category: Transgender Opinion