Monday, March 29

Sleep, Cross Dressing, Marcia Cross and Turn Signals


(Bet you never thought you'd see those four things together)

For many years, I have slept an average of seven hours each night and that has always been sufficient, although I've been known to nap once or twice per week. Last night, I slept eight hours, was up for two hours and then took a two hour nap! I don't know if my sleep needs are changing or if spring fever has something to do with it. Allergens could be the culprit, I suppose. But I hope that the meds I started this week to counteract them will prove the panacea for all that allergies bring, including the need for more sleep. I'm too busy to sleep ten hours a day!

*****

Raleigh is growing rapidly and has become a much more cosmopolitan city in the forty-one years since we moved here, but last week I saw a first. We were having dinner with friends at Winston's; seated close to the entrance aisle. We were eating and conversing and I looked up to see someone teetering on four inch heels, and walking very slowly from the bar towards the restrooms. I had only to glance at that person for a second to realize it was a man dressed as a woman. I doubt that was the first time a cross-dresser has been seen in Raleigh, but it was the first time for me.

He/she had on a flared mini-skirt, a peasant blouse, a wig with a black headband and a wide black belt. You have to give him/her an 'A' for effort. I know that people who wish to become transsexuals have to live for a year as a woman before doctors will consider the surgery, and it must be a very difficult thing to do, especially in the early stages. The high heels would be enough to give me pause if I were a male cross-dresser. I quit wearing them about ten years ago and they are agony for the feet, no matter who wears them. This person had on only a little make-up, unlike the last cross-dresser I saw in Pentagon City (a large mall in Arlington, VA), who had (his own) long blond hair, a dress and heels, but still retained five o'clock shadow under the pancake make-up he had applied, and a physique that could never be mistaken for a woman. People who have this situation (transvestism) in their lives are deserving of our understanding; they are born with these urges and cannot help acting on them. But I will go to my grave thanking my Maker that I was not born with the urge to be anything other than I am.

***

As I am typing this, I am watching an old Cheers program. I saw a face I recognized, and it is the woman who now plays on Desperate Housewives as the caterer.....Marcia Cross. In this episode, she is Rebecca Howe's sister, an actress from whom Rebecca has been estranged since they were in school. I don't know how old that show would be, but it was fun to see Marcia as a very young woman - with medium brown hair - instead of fire-engine red. Now another episode is on and Lisa Kudrow (with jet black hair) is opposite Woody in a play. She calls it method acting and he calls it teasing.....LOL. She sure does look different with that hair color! I love old TV shows.

***


Automobile Turn Signals: USE THEM!!

More and more often while driving, people in front of me (or worse yet, coming toward me) fail to use their turn signals. That's what they are there for, people, and it's the law! How infuriating is it to wait to make a turn when another car is coming because they don't have their turn-signal on and you can't be certain which way they will go?! I waste a lot of time that way.

15 comments:

Kay Dennison said...

Tell me about sleep!!! Send me any extra sleep you don't want!

When I separated from my husband and moved into my apartment I met one of my neighbors when I was doing laundry. He was a 6'2" drag queen who liked high heels, mini skirts and spandex!

Looking to the Stars said...

I hope your sleeping pattern goes back to normal. I went thru the menopause of not being able to sleep and for me sleep is everything! LOL
I was so glad when it stopped :)

Trinidad, Colo used to be the hot spot for people who wanted a sex change so we saw a lot of people here in the Springs that were differant. I'm with you, I'm thankful I never had any of those issues.

We love old TV shows too and love seeing actors in younger roles.

take care :)

Evil Twin's Wife said...

We have a cross dressing attorney here who likes to shop at the Mart of Wal. S/he likes to really do it up, but there's no mistaking s/him as a man.

I'm with you on the turn signals. How hard is it to just move your hand over an inch and use it??? Aggravating!

Lynn said...

Yeah I gave up high heels, too - they are not worth the pain. Plus - I have developed bunions. Heavy sigh. Comfy shoes - that's the ticket, no matter what sex you are. (I think.) :)

LL Cool Joe said...

I'm transgender (Ftm) myself, and of course that can cover many aspects of transition, from cross dressing to a full sex change.

I'm glad you mentioned this subject in a sensitive manner because as soon as I read your title I thought..ok here we go.

Arkansas Patti said...

Quite a diverse fist full. Sleep sounds like it might be the meds. Mine put me right out.
Cross dressers, never saw any but wonder why anyone would want to do that to their feet.Gad, that hurts.
Love seeing actors before they were well known. Sometimes it drives you crazy trying to place them.
Only thing worse than not using turn signals is when someone fails to turn them off and you follow them a long time waiting for that turn.

Olga said...

This gave me an idea for my own blog--my experience with a cross dresser. I'd kind of forgetten about it.
I watched old Barney Miller shows last night. The new tv shows largely leave me cold. Hey another topic.
Thanks!!

Pat said...

Ah the good old days when one did hand signals and dried one's nail varnish at the same time.

Darlene said...

My sleep patterns are all over the map. Most nights I wake up after three hours and can't go back to sleep. Other nights (rare) I sleep nine hours. The norm seems to be seven hours if I take a sleep aid.

sage said...

back in the early 80s, I remember talking to a cop who walked the river beat in Wilmington and said about 1/2 of the "women" brought in for prostitution were men... not that I was in thinking of it, but his insight certainly stuck in my young mind as a reason not to seek out such services!

Unknown said...

Judy, have you ever seen the film Pricilla Queen of the Desert? It's a really funny, zany "musical" with a heart toward transvestites and trans-sexuals - two very different predispositions!

I guess everyone has itches, it's just that there are different ways to scratch them! ;-)

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Sleep patterns are so amazingly different for different people....I'm lucky if I get 5 hours a night abd it's broken up into 2 hours and 3 hour segments--in fact, three hours of sleep, in one sitting, is a long time for me....Good luck with this, my dear.

Dear friends of mine--the wonderful actress, Lee Grant, and her husbamd Joeu Feury made a really important documentary called "What Sex Am I" on transgender people...Lee Directed it and Joey produced it for their company Feury/Grant Productions....It was on HBO and this was around 1985 I believe....It is extremely informative and very very sensitive too...They covered both MTF and FTM transitions....Such a difficult and often very painful thing to deal with.
In fact, there was a long article in the Los Angeles Times, just recently--in the last few days--about a Times writer who transitioned from Male to Female and then, quite a few years later, transitioned back---and then killed himself.
Like you, I am grateful that is not something I have had to deal with in my life...I know how very difficult and painful it can be for so very many people.

I remember the days when we had to do "Hand Signals" while driving when we were going to turn...Then when those turn signals came into being, it took a while for all of us to get used to them and why someone wouldn't use them seems just nuts to me and so very damgerous, too.

And I hope you DO ger to see the Tile House 'in person' some day, Judy...it is astounding!

Fran aka Redondowriter said...

My allergies are rampant, too. I'm not a good night sleeper--better day sleeper. Hope you are feeling better.

I've seen cross dressing in West Hollywood but not in South Bay that I'm aware of. I remember the first time I saw female impersonators--Finocchios in San Francisco in the 1960s. http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Finocchios_poster_and_text. I would never have believed they were men.

srp said...

Unfortunately, most allergy meds... even the ones that say they don't make you sleepy.. really do. So just give in and sleep. Your body will tell you when you don't need it as much.

Anonymous said...

I rarely sleep more than 6 hours. It's been this way since I was a kid. I think I have that rare gene.

If you visit here, you may not even notice the transgendered. That's how good they are at hiding it. Transvestites are completely different, and I can't say I get that. No desire to be gay, but just loves dressing up. It's a diverse world. :)

Turn signals! I won't even open that can of worms. It's rampant here.

my verification: nockless
~S