Time Out For Kitties: Non-Election Fun Stuff Open Thread

@IP

Aww, very sweet compliments. I don’t really do makeup. I’ve tried it a few times but it hasn’t turned out great. The eyebrows are all natural too.

UNBELIEVABLE, you need to try again. Your eyes are perfect for some eyeliner. Come here (just one continent away!) and I fix it up for you.

@Scildfreja Unnýðnes

Eeeeeeeeeeeee I love Norwegian forest cat-looking kitties in the snow!

They look like they should be on longships. The two in the photo below seem inadequately dressed.

Frejya’s chariot was pulled by cats, it’s only right that they adventure with the vikings!

@LindsayIrene

OMG!! So cute yet majestic at the same time!

@Scildfreja

That said – Canada almost unanimously covers gender affirmative procedures under the health care acts.

🙁 If only that were true! I’m in Nova Scotia, and on social assistance. The only thing covered is my bottom surgery (and a huge wait for that, even longer for me due to a moronic therapist delaying my getting on the waitlist for a year). No facial hair removal coverage, no coverage for thyroid cartilage (“adam’s apple”) reduction, no coverage for chest reconstruction/augmentation (31 months on HRT and still only a AA/A cup, and maybe I’m more screwed up than most but breast development is very important to me).

And, nail in the coffin, no mental health care (I can’t afford a therapist who specializes in trans* issues, and don’t see the point in seeing a social worker with no real awareness of what I’m going through).

That said, it seems that your friend has a good support network, hopefully things will work out much better for them.

@Jesalin, I’m so sorry! I know that NS coverage is pretty spare on the ground :\ Almost all provinces provide some coverage, but a number of them don’t provide all that much. NS certainly isn’t great in that regard. Alberta covers all of the surgeries and a bunch of the other support – not all, but more. It’s tough without money, and well, he doesn’t have work, and hasn’t for awhile now. Still! I am an optimist.

I really hope that things work out for you as well! I don’t know what that scene is like out east, but I know that here in Alberta it can be pretty spotty whether you’ll be in a supportive environment or a hostile one. You deserve all of the support you need, and it’s a terrible shame that you don’t get it, just because of where you live. I hope that it improves for you!

@Chio, I bet that kitty’s going to have delusions of being a lion!

Yeah, the waiting is a terrible thing. It’s something we all know and are preparing for, though. Thanks for telling me about the situation out there. As far as I know, Alberta covers all of the surgeries and some of the other treatments, but it’s not complete coverage. Alberta’s certainly no paradise for trans folk, but it sounds like things are a bit tougher over here. Much love and care.

I almost forgot (for the sake of completeness) , my voice/speech therapy was also covered.

And thanks again.

@DandAHC
I was 18 or19 when I had my first sexual experience, (With an older man, as it happens; it’s overrated.) and I think 21 when I went on a date for the first time. Also, I’m with Chiomara and WWTH that most of ‘being noticed by men’ consists of harassment and bullshit. I got it from plenty of men even before I started transitioning, and more so now. (I’d think that, being gay men, my coworkers would be less obsessed with my breasts, but apparently I’d be wrong).

More than that, though, I feel like I’ve never been attractive or alluring to guys, or that I’ve never had that special something that allows girls to appear appealing to men.

Presumably the guys you dated thought differently 🙂

@Scildfreja
Well, congratulations and best of luck to your friend.

@Jesalin
I feel your pain. After the recent health care reforms over here, my HRT is covered, and I think bottom surgery should I pursue that, but basically nothing else. Also top surgery for FtM folks.Definitely no mental health or voice/speech therapy, not that I think the latter would actually be able to accomplish much of anything in my case.

As I promised on the other thread, here’s some pictures of the bearded dragons I feed and take care of.

Enjoy:)

http://i.imgur.com/qUsGixu.jpg

This little guy’s named Charlie. I picked him up from the reptile rescue Friends of Scales in Chicago, where he’d been dumped after he bit the ten-year old boy who owned him. In his defence, Friends of Scales initially though he was female because he was so underfed that his hemipenes had contracted.

http://i.imgur.com/3YfnNGI.jpg

Last thanksgiving, my wife and I drove up to Montana to be with the folks for the holiday, and we took Charlie with us. I’d gotten a critter carrier all set up for him, complete with food, and I’d wrapped it in blankets to keep him warm. 5 miles down the road, I look back, and he’s sitting on top of it!

http://i.imgur.com/xEpNSjE.jpg

This lady is named Myrtle. She’s also a rescue, but she came from a loving family who’s owner had come down with enough health problems that she could no longer care for her. I do the best I can for her instead.

http://i.imgur.com/9HyoRnX.jpg

And here she is sunning herself on her favorite log, back in the old enclosure. You may be able to see here that she lacks claws on her back feet. Apparently, when she was a juvenile, she was kept in a cage with a whole bunch of other juveniles, who chewed on her feet. The experience seems to have given her the notion that she belongs on top of everything, which results in a lot of falls, as she can’t really hold on to anything with only front claws. I make sure she’s got something plush to fall on, and she’s been fine 🙂

http://i.imgur.com/oANGKqG.jpg

As a special bonus, here’s pic of my wife’s parakeet, Peanut. She’s the reason I have lizards instead of cats. She also firmly believes that that Boo doll that I got my wife for Christmas really belongs to her. Go figure 🙂

@DandAHC and everybody who never felt attractive (that would be all of us, right?)

Yeah, me too, and I was one of the ones who had boobs at 11 and way too much attention from men at way too young an age. Believe me, even that young you know when you’re being used with contempt; and it does not make you feel attractive.

I’m now in my 60s, and polyamorous (putting the sex in sexeganarian!)* I’m overweight and wrinkled and hairy and have great big honking surgical scars. And I’m here to tell you, girlfriends, the smart men simply do not care; they have learned that beauty is all in the rapport. They are vocal in their praise of the beauty they see. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I more beautiful now than I was 30 years ago.

And here’s the amazing thing: there are lots and lots and lots of those kinds of people. (I mean, I haven’t personally tried them all out, but you know, wish me luck.)

My point is, the social standards of attractiveness are as much bullshit as any other aspect of misogyny. We only accept them because of the wall of noise telling us that only a very narrow range of being is “attractive”. The social standards of attractiveness are an arbitrary way to find women lacking a) as a reason we should buy shit, and b) as yet another reason to put us down.

*Um, no, not in Iqaluit. In Iqaluit I was ultra-respectable. I went south to sin.

@PeeVee: Yep, that was me. I switched avatars once I figured out how to get my own pics uploaded to Gravatar. That one was one I found online.

I picked it because that dragon was posturing and signaling aggression (black beard, open mouth, etc). Bearded dragons are really quite expressive, once you learn to read them.

I’ve actually got a story about the lizards that is relevant to this site (not sure if this needs a TW, but I’m going to discuss lizard mating behaviors):

They actually signal consent.

Bearded dragons have a distinct mating behavior: the beard darkens, and the male’s head starts bobbing rapidly, while the females head starts bobbing more slowly (Myrtle actually starts doing pushups).

Here’s the great thing: when I let the lizards out at the same time, Charlie often starts headbobbing at Myrtle. Myrtle then does one of two things.

If she starts head-bobbing back, they get freaky.

If, instead, Myrtle starts rapidly jerking her head and holds up her forepaw (which I’m guessing is lizard for ‘not interested right now, buddy’), Charlie runs off and hides in a corner.

Moral of the story: the literal lizard brain can figure out consent. Why do people have so much trouble with the concept?

(Admittedly, it took a few trials before Charlie got the idea, and there were a number of times where I intercepted him on his way to Myrtle when she just wasn’t interested and explained the concept to him. But, he learned. So can PUA’s.)

Joekster: that was you! I noticed that avatar right away, but it’s always cooler to use your own photos, I agree.

That anecdote about your lizards made me giggle.