Patty, Hero of the Peppers

So we got up this morning, and what do we see? We see that the perfect ripe paprika is no longer on the plant. We are sad, we are outraged, we assume animals have gotten it.

Then I see that it has fallen down to the fire escape on the floor below us. I state quite clearly that I don't have the stones to go out there and don't expect Patty to either. But! Out she goes and rescues the pepper.

So now we have one tiny, ripe paprika. It has a slit in it near the top and a few dimples around the area that might be animal teeth marks or might not be -- they are very tiny and hard to tell.

Is this safe to eat? Or can we get squirrel rabies from it? Or yicky bird diseases? Should we just cut off the suspect parts? Or merely photograph the thing to prove it all happened.

PATTY WENT OUT ON THE SCARY FIRE ESCAPE AND RESCUED THE PEPPER.

sundries

Over 1,250 people have now signed the petition against Polanski. Can we make it 1,500 before we reach the 24-hour mark? Signatures have come from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Croatia, Malaysia, India, Turkey, Luxembourg and more.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/art-does-not-excuse-rape-polanski-must-face-justice

In case you hadn't heard women's suffrage is destroying America and it's because we're naturally nurturers.

Yesterday, I wore my pinstripe suit with a shirt with its own subtle stripe pattern and may favorite tie (the one with the reds -- more stripes!) and I looked awesome. My experience of the suits has been that it takes me several wearings of each to feel at home in them and understand how they should move with my body. This one finally settled in yesterday, and I was glad.

I find I am still getting used to how people look at me and respond to me in both suits. Women compliment me often, sometimes in an envious manner, usually without acknowledgment of gender topics. Men, I find, need to talk to me about it when the reaction is positive, i.e., "I find women really attractive in men's clothes." When there is interaction there is a need to name and specify what they feel they are looking at. I have also noticed a direct correlation between the level of expense at an establishment I'm in (restaurant, store) and whether the male employees there address me as a man or a woman. The higher-end places, I am _always_ addressed as sir in the suits.

Perhaps most uncomfortable for me remains the subway. People, particularly men, look at me, and I'm having trouble grokking the context in many cases. I receive none of the drama I do when dressed in women's clothes about my personal space -- thighs do not touch me, I am not expected to keep my legs closed and sit nearly sideways or on the edge of my seat to make room for a man. However, there's also a much stronger sense "keep off the grass" or "please don't sit near me" from men with empty seats next to them on the train. I'm unclear if this is because of how men interact with each other, or if the genderqueerness makes them more uncomfortable.

I love my suits fiercely and on many levels. If you have not worn clothes made to your measurements, you can't imagine the pleasure of that -- I'm a big believer that clothes should be a sensual experience. But I also love, particularly, the encasing nature of the suits, even if it is sometimes exhausting with all the layers involved in the matter (when you consider both my suits are three pieces, and then there's a dress shirt, a t-shirt under that and the sports bra or two beneath that). The suits are armor and lies, and I think in some ways make my body seem more like what it is -- muscled and spare -- than what is the first thing most people see -- thin and curvy.

The suits also inform me about how suits lie, not just about my body, but about men's bodies. That's interesting to me. Their shoulders aren't where their suit jackets say they are either. I would argue that in the current era men's suits lie more about male bodies than women's clothes lie about female bodies. This surely speaks to the level and nature of the anxieties we inflict upon each gender, the impossible standards of structure we expect female flesh to have and the fears men are taught to harbor about their strength and authority.

Of course, the more comfortable I am in the suits, the more I forget that even amongst people I consider very used to me they can and do provoke questions. Hence wearing one to work yesterday when that was perhaps not the best plan, or having to remind myself not to do it around my parents, because I don't want to deal with their anxiety over my gender identity and sexuality.

Anyway, the whole thing remains fascinating, and at least in weather like this, I want to wear them every day if my planned activities allow.

Holy crap, I need a haircut. Although it's starting to be cute in its shagginess.

The following sentence is only here because I can't believe I get to type it: I will not be working as a coffee-loving sales-oriented model at a store promoting a high-end European coffee machine because I will be in Zurich for some of the required dates. See, it's funny. Also, me? Allergic to coffee!

Last night I made nachos for dinner for Patty and I and they were SO GOOD. I'm trying to remind myself that it would be vastly unhealthy to make them for dinner again tonight (although if she wants them, I totally will -- OMNOMNOMNOM).

Weekend weather is improving. While there looks to be some rain for the pepper festival, things look clear for Sunday, meaning I'll get to go up in a plane. It's funny how much commercial flying terrifies me, and the prospect of this feels like relief, like water.

Seriously? The Marriott is already sold out for Dragon*Con? *hugs my Hyatt room while searching for a swap*

Today is the day the Social Security Administration says is my birthday. My parents and my birth certificate say it's the 4th. Any effort to resolve this continues to be met with failure.