Oh, also, at some point I said to the general group that I was looking to be set up, so if anyone had an uncle or something... because they are all way younger than me. So someone asked what kind of age group I'm interested in, and I said 35-45, and someone I just met today finally was like, "....are you in that age group??" She said she would have thought I was 27! But that was her age, so I don't take it so seriously.

I got Pumpkin a collar in which the white designs (sadly not dead fishbones, couldn't find those) GLOW IN THE DARK.

This should make it easier to find when she pops it off to play and loses it like her last good collar. She's been wearing the backup.

It's weird, I've never been pro-collar on cats. MK lost his as soon as his deliverers left. But with Pumpkin? One, I can hear where she is (belled,) and she's sneaky and stealthy. Two, it's kinda badass on her and she actually gets extra bouncy to MAKE it jingle. Three, she gets bored, she can pull it off and play.

But I won't collar Loki. I'm still not pro-collar.

None of my cats will wear a collar. Granted, I didn't try very hard to make them, but the immediate struggle to GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF when I have tried is pretty convincing.

Very cool, Jesse! Beverage mistress!

I do not know about the FB thing. Weird stuff certainly crops up there.

That reminds me - my debit card was apparently compromised in the recent Raley's/Nob Hill/whatever else is in that group security breach. It got used to buy a bunch of stuff in Chicago, and some of the charges went through and were paid out of my checking account. So I need to file a police report. Has anyone done that? I can't figure out if it would be under Identity Theft or just Theft or what, so at this point I'm thinking I will just take the documentation I got from the bank over to the police station tomorrow and hope someone there can help me out, although I could apparently make the report online if I could figure out what to report.

Oh, and the soup I threw together for dinner is way better than the thing I tried to throw together for lunch. And even has some red bell peppers in it, although they are chopped up small and were in a jar of salsa for a long time before getting into the soup. Nom nom nom.

and someone I just met today finally was like, "....are you in that age group??"

Winner! Jesse! Feel free to have them set you up with their younger Uncles.

Hayden Panettiere looks weird. I'm sure there has to be dish on her I'm not (yet) privy to.

The issue is that if society classes you as female, you have to abandon all femininity to be andro enough. In a society where “male” is the default, there is a lot more room for masculinity displayed by androgynous people classed as “male” than for androgynous people classed as “female” and this has been my struggle. I enjoy wearing makeup, but can’t really get away with it if I wish to aspire to androgyny. As someone who is genderqueer, I have about as much desire to be overtly masculine as I do to be overtly feminine, but my simple jeans and t-shirts aren’t enough if I want to be truly androgynous. In order to be that which is genderless, I have to be more masculine. Doesn’t that sound a bit hypocritical?

When I read this, it seems to be talking about the phenomenon where women have a lot more range in how they can dress and act without betraying/straying from their gender. But men have a narrower stricture. A man can trespass into "girl territory" with one piece of clothing, but when I wear a tie and remind my mother that if I'd finished high school in Ja I'd have worn one for my last two years of school--it's much harder to find the key masculine piece of outerwear.

But the quoted complaint seems to be saying that this situation is somehow unfair to women or femininity? I'm confused--can someone walk me through it?

I think it's just unfair to androgyny, in that anything "female" makes you read female? I don't understand why jeans and a t-shirt, along with neutral styling on the rest of them, wouldn't make a person androgynous, though.

I don't know. I saw a totally androgynous person on the subway recently, and I was mostly staring because they were so beautiful, but stopped because I was afraid they would think I was staring to try to figure out their gender.

jeans and a t-shirt, along with neutral styling on the rest of them

Because women present like that all the time? And we still consider androgyny something exceptional?

I think, though, it's also that presence of breasts or hips makes any outfit look like women's clothing as well. Well, not me. But most women.Aside from wearing a tie, o one I know will think I'm dressed as a guy unless I bind my tits.

But "dressed as a guy" isn't androgyny either, is it? I think hair is a key signifier, aside from body shape.

I won favorite drink again with the sorrel (this time in a tie)

So, again? What did you win with last year??

I went to TWO recitals today. One much better than the other--my roommate takes an ice dancing class on Saturdays, and the rink had their semi-annual recital (OMG, tiny children in little skating outfits trying to remember routines!). And then this evening we went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet school recital--except while the first group was cute and like, 9-11 years old, the rest of them were very good (up through the pre-professional students, who are all going to be in ballet companies next year).