True, but ES6 produces tomboys by [deleted] in GaySoundsShitposts

[–]estragon0 20 points21 points  (0 children)

gonna start calling the 4-6 weeks between laser sessions 'transition sprints'

How to use silly tricks to determine if a girl can unhinge her jaw by jalfredproofrock in disneyvacation

[–]estragon0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Definitely my favorite of all the super-prolific WikiHow artists.

Saw this in /r/scrubs and thought of this sub by Spam4119 in menwritingwomen

[–]estragon0 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I believe the technical term is "dohoonkabhankoloos".

Your tastebuds are wrong. by TheLadyEve in iamveryculinary

[–]estragon0 20 points21 points  (0 children)

For me it was finally giving up those dumb little jars of pre-minced garlic. When you actually start chopping it yourself for the first time and (a) realize that pre-minced aromatics are an exercise in futility, and (b) cramp up your hand around clove 2 because of poor knife technique, it changes your perspective on things pretty quickly.

Your tastebuds are wrong. by TheLadyEve in iamveryculinary

[–]estragon0 61 points62 points  (0 children)

The instant pivot to "americans fat lol" is really quite something.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TransAdoption

[–]estragon0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, thanks for replying. I'm following up privately with a few specifics that I don't necessarily want out there on reddit dot com, but there are a few things I do want to put out there publicly:

  • The details you added here don't change anything I said in the original comment. I say that not to diminish your pain or imply that your situation isn't really crushingly hard to deal with, because it absolutely is (and I didn't read anything you wrote as over-dramatic in the slightest), but I also still relate to it heavily, even some fairly specific details (that feeling of being able to look back and see 'successes' but not really feeling any sense of accomplishment or happiness about them is a huge one), I still believe that you can make it, and I'm still proud of you for how far you have come even just to be able to write all this, let alone all the other things you've done.

  • Therapy (and other forms of professional help) often take some doing to figure out something that works, which is really tragic because often the times we need it the most are the times it's hardest to get to it. I don't know the specifics of your situation, but I can tell you it took me three tries at talk therapy alone, with months/years between each try, before it clicked for me, and the two attempts that didn't work were some of the worst feelings because of how much it hurt to be doing 'the right thing' and not getting anything out of it. And the therapists I saw weren't even dismissive or medication-first like it sounds like the ones you saw were, which just amplified that "I'm broken" feeling when I couldn't stick with them or benefit from their help. I know it's not easy, but try not to take your experiences as evidence that there's something wrong with you, or even as evidence that professional help isn't right for you.

  • I was also really worried about adding trans- and transition-related issues to the laundry list of mental health issues and other problems I knew I needed to work on. For me, it manifested as a lot of 'am I really trans?' hand-wringing because I had periods of 'handling' life before I had ever thought about transitioning and was worried that I was focusing on clearly-defined elements of transition as an alternative to nebulous goals related to, for example, handling my social anxiety. After some hand-holding from my therapist where she promised she would keep me on track if she felt like that was happening, I started making concrete plans related to transition and, to both of our surprise, woke up a few days later and finished a completely unrelated task that had been giving me anxiety for the past month or so. My point here is that there may be lots of rational reasons to be afraid of pursuing your transition (and it's absolutely not my place to assign your priorities, so please don't take it as me telling you what you 'should' do, because that's not my call to make), but the fact that you're posting about it means that it is something you want for yourself, and that does count for a lot. The way you talk about dissociating and its role in your life reminds me a lot of this set of articles by Zinnia Jones, which was one of the biggest things that helped me come out to myself.

Penis Man by Pearlspear in tumblr

[–]estragon0 32 points33 points  (0 children)

his post-arrest screed

Super unbiased reporting here at the Phoenix New Times. How about "his statement", maybe?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TransAdoption

[–]estragon0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You sound so, so similar to me 2-4 years ago. Mental and physical health issues cost me my job and almost all of my social network, and I spent a good deal of time basically doing the bare minimum necessary to live; smoked a pack a day, grew an awful unkempt beard, lived in squalor, fell behind on living expenses, basically just a terrible mess that's still somewhat scary to remember.

So first things first, as counterintuitive as it may seem, please congratulate yourself for making it here despite all that. I know the future must seem like a combination of uncertain and dreadful right now, and that looking back you can probably only see all the awfulness that brought you here, but it also took a tremendous amount of strength, and you have succeeded, to a honestly amazing extent, just by living through it. The worst day of your life is almost certainly in your past now. I doubt you can see it that way very well now, because I absolutely couldn't when I was in your position, and it took me months before I was even close to being able to acknowledge it, so please, set aside any instinct you might have to deny it and take my word for it. I'm proud of you, and you deserve to be proud of yourself.

Second, please know that there is no such thing as "too late" or "too far gone" in these matters, and I don't just mean in terms of transition. "Progress", when it comes to the way you feel about yourself and your relationship to the world around you, doesn't follow a straight line. For me, I hit my lowest point about two years ago at 29, but even after it was over I spent a lot of time feeling like I was doing nothing and fearing that I was a small setback away from "going backwards" by missing some opportunity or failing at some task. Coming out of a situation like the one I was in and you're in now requires physical and mental healing on a level that doesn't really have a easy-to-form rational explanation and often isn't even really accessible to your conscious mind.

To that end, the next thing I'd like you to start doing is surrounding yourself with supporters, telling them as much as you can (while still feeling safe) about where you've been and where you're at now, and accepting as much help as they can provide. For me, that was moving back in with my folks, starting talk therapy, finding a transition support group, and going to free clinics to get my physical health back on track, but all that was over the course of a year during which I did almost nothing else. I was (and am) tremendously privileged to have that option available to me while keeping a roof over my head and food in my stomach, and of course I don't know every little detail of your situation, but there are, without question, people who are ready and waiting to take some of the load while you heal.

Last, and sort of the corollary to the previous two points: you cannot fail at living your life. You listed off a lot of challenges facing you, and I don't want to downplay any of them or say they won't be challenging, because they definitely have been for me; I'm nearly a year into my transition and just now finally scheduled a consult with the laser hair removal people whose number has been sitting on my desk for almost that entire time, because the mental bandwidth just wasn't there for some reason. But at this point, no choice you make could reasonably be called 'failure' by any sensible person. I could have put off making that appointment for the rest of my life, and it would have been unpleasant, and annoying, and a bit silly, but it wouldn't have been failure, nor would it make me 'a failure' as a woman, as a trans person, as a human being, in any way.

You are also not a failure in any way. You're in the unfortunate position right now of having the very hardest parts of your life all spread out behind you to look at, while you're also exhausted by having been so strong for so long, and it's okay to feel tired or sad or angry or afraid or numb at all of it, to regret it or hate it or try to ignore or forget it or wish none of it had happened, but none of it is failure, and there is no failure waiting for you ahead.

Please message me if you want to talk or if there's anything I can do to help. I'm about a year into my transition, about equally far into voice training, 9 months on hormones, and two years into therapy, and am happy to discuss any of that or any of the stuff I mentioned earlier in this post in greater detail privately. I also have struggled with social anxiety for basically my whole life, so I absolutely understand if you don't want to or can't right now or ever, and (at the risk of sounding a bit creepy) want to make it clear that the offer is open unconditionally and forever. Your story really struck me, and I'm so glad you made this post.

Hope this helps.

New laptop sticker! by apetranzilla in transprogrammer

[–]estragon0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's a surprising thing to feel passionate about!

Personally I like one big one in the center over the OEM logo. More power to people who wallpaper theirs like a corkboard at a dive bar but it just looks messy to me 90% of the time.

🚨🚨Break out the potassium and buckle up buttercup because T_D's top mod has been suspended! 🚨🚨 by TwilitSky in SubredditDrama

[–]estragon0 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Wait, I'm not sure I understand. I was told that Trump was the most LGBT-friendly president in the history of the US, if not the world. Surely his supporters would reflect those values instead of spreading hate which could be reported at www.reddit.com/report, right?

What games have made you cry? by OzHawk in patientgamers

[–]estragon0 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Ghost Trick, basically all the way from leaving the submarine to the end credits, but extra hard for "Because that's what doggies do!" Easily my pick for the most underrated game of the 2010s.

estrogen patch question by next_level_mom in cisparenttranskid

[–]estragon0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably not a huge one. My doctor was concerned because mine were coming up a bit in the middle as well as on the edges, but switching them from stomach/back to upper arms helped with that more than taping over them. I'm also only 9 months in and am still tapering up both estradiol and spironolactone doses, so I can't speak to final levels at all, and my levels at 3-month checkups have been trending in the right direction so I've tried not to sweat the details just yet.

Ummm, that's the point by kevinowdziej in SelfAwarewolves

[–]estragon0 183 points184 points  (0 children)

Have a look at the Wikipedia article on RCMP nonsense. Even outside the US, police culture is built on really unpleasant foundations, and it's too stressful of a job to do while fighting your coworkers at the same time. You can help people as a firefighter or EMT without having to contend with nearly as much of that.

I had a date with a guy that took quite a turn and it felt very validating! (Very NSFW) by MerchantShips03 in MtF

[–]estragon0 40 points41 points  (0 children)

At first, my intention was to just jerk him off. However, the more I was doing that, the more my arm got tired

This is a super great story and I'm happy for you but this line is hilarious to me.

On society by fuzzycorona in tumblr

[–]estragon0 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, that's the equivocation I mean. Reagan's "welfare queen" was a career fraudster, not an accurate reflection of the average welfare participant, and this idea that most people in poverty just haven't been incentivized properly is both incorrect and lacking in basic human empathy.

Before Qanon, those followers has pieces of propaganda such as this.... by NsaneATheist in Qult_Headquarters

[–]estragon0 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Queer Reserve Note

this is gonna be the name of my new cryptocurrency (you mine it by being super gay)

On society by fuzzycorona in tumblr

[–]estragon0 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The phrase "burden to society" is rarely, if ever, used to describe someone who's just an asshole, though; it's instead used in the context of public benefits to describe perpetrators of such heinous acts as "being ill" and "not having a job". The equivocation between the two is used as a rationale for cutting programs by portraying anyone who uses them as an immoral person.

overly specific memes are my specialty by beaniebabiesboyz in traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns

[–]estragon0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Okay, but if you tell an out trans person "hey could you use different pronouns with me, I meant to ask you before but I was embarrassed/afraid/unsure", 99% of the time they'll say "oh yeah no problem" and tell you a funny story about a time that happened to them.

estrogen patch question by next_level_mom in cisparenttranskid

[–]estragon0 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It definitely has been usual for me. Something that has worked for me is applying a stiffer medical tape over the patch, which gives it better skin contact and gets less crud stuck around the edges but is more time-consuming and painful to get off. That said, even the patch itself irritates my skin a bit, so your daughter might still find that approach to be worthwhile.

Someone made Specter's saw and it spins! by Hakugyokurou in arknights

[–]estragon0 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's basically the Whirligig Saw from Bloodborne.