Okay, maybe I have another issue (I'm all full up). Steph, you read the wikipedia kathoey article? You thought they identified as male? Because I thought they identified as either female or 3rd. Which means they're not almost all gay. Because they almost all sleep with men. This is the sort of blurriness I keep encountering that's driving me batshit.

Yeah, in the Wikipedia article, under the heading of "General Description," the first sentence said this (bolding is mine):

The term "kathoey" is not an exact equivalent of the modern Western trans woman, in that "kathoey" suggests that the person self-identifies as a type of male, unlike the term sao praphet song, which (like "trans woman") suggests a female gender identity, or phet thi sam, which suggests a third gender.

Timelies all!

Took my folks to the Sugarland Crafts Festival. Amusingly enough, I was the only one who didn't buy anything. Though there were many shiny dangly earrings to tempt me.

One of the messages for the runners going through my 'hood: [link]

Went back around 10, stayed until 1ish when I realized I was getting sunburned lips. It was a lot of fun. Saw some folks I know that I didn't know were running. Got a lot of appreciation from the runners, people who were clearly at the end of their rope smiled, thanked us and managed to pick it up again. Every time someone had a nametag, we'd call out their name. Or a costume. Wonderwoman, a fair number of tutus, devils, angels, a bride (getting married tomorrow!) powder silver tux, some crazy pastel plaid, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Dunkin' Donut's coffee cup, housecoats and dresses with pearls, the guy who runs every marathon he can pushing his severely disabled son (that kid loved the cheering.) Gave so many high-fives.

There were a couple little girls totally grooving out to the music (obviously someone's workout set, it was a near perfect running mix,) and some of the runners would start dancing too.

I love Baltimore.

I've got a serious farmers' tan.

Farmers market haul: green peppers, chili peppers, plum tomatoes, and four spaghetti squash (2 bucks each! If I'd paid by the pound it would have been, like, twenty bucks.)

He says that we can wipe down the outside of the spaghetti squash with bleach water every month and it'll keep the fungus off.

I have many friends (and have date many people) who identify as "genderqueer", which is a popular way for people to ID if they do not have a desire to be completely another gender, but don't feel right in the gender they were assigned. Some do have some surgery or use some hormones--to create some more ambiguity. Many use "they" or "ze/hir/hirs" for pronouns.

But im on my phone at a gay dance convention, so hard to go into everything I'd want to.

Big rally in Oakland today: per Twitter, Danny Glover is going to nail demands to the door of the federal building. (In truth, he won't get anywhere near the door of the federal building, I'm sure, and since the doors are made of metal, there will be no nailing.)

Me: I'm going to pick up my shoes, and hit the climbing gym, and then watch State of Play and make banana bread.

Viva la revolucion?

I am curently staging Occupy My Couch.

My next door neighbor is going to the OWS march in Raleigh, NC. I told him to call me if he needs bail. I support the march, but I have crowd issues

About to head out the door, but I think coversation is good, even when one is "not a X" because thinking about and trying to understand something ambiguous/hard-to-define that affects a lot of people is always, always of the good.

I think people should be able to identify themselves as whatever they feel is right for them.

Me? I like being a woman fine -- I fit into a lot of societal expectations, like enjoying dresses and shoes and make-up, and being mostly comfortable with talking about emotions.

I also like that I have a lot of characteristics society has long seen as masculine; I'm physically strong, I'm assertive, blunt, I geek out, I never hide my brains, I have no compunctions about physical violence if warranted and feel pretty confident in my ability to do so, I kill the bugs, change the flat, would be the one to walk down the hallway with the crowbar instead of my husband if I heard a burglar.

I'm very lucky that I am comfortable with my female form and my personality traits that do or do not fit in with societal expectations.

Mostly, I think of myself as a person. Who has a female body that I like, and characteristics that society often wants to fall into a duality, but I mostly think of as just...characteristics.

My hope is that someday, characteristics will be seen as that -- something a person has, and it doesn't matter about biology or outward appearance. They are just people, and who they are is who they are.

And now, after doing a lot of heavy lifting of furniture, I am going to Microcenter to geek out, and then I am going to buy a mascara with my garage sale money. And I am pleased to do all of it.

(It occurs to me I may sound smug, and that's not my intention. I just feel lucky to be able to feel okay about being myself, no matter what society expects to see or experience when they see breasts and hips.)