Check-Up #37

Yes, 37 in a row (little Clerks reference there). See, I can get blogs out before the end of the month. I have got another I want to do about some stuff I've been watching but I wanted to get this one done while I still think of it.  

I went to a convention today and I was just thinking about the amount of prep I did for it for, well, not much really. Today I was Belinda Chandra, the latest Doctor Who companion, from the 1950s set episode Lux in which she wears a very nice yellow dress (please see below picture). The dress itself was good although the one thing wrong with it was that it was very generous in the chest department and despite the ravages of middle age, I really don't have much of, if at all, boobage. I tried pinning it back and I suppose the only other solution would be to wear falsies but I'd never done that before and can't be bothered to be honest. The dress is also backless which meant I would be showing more skin than usual so I got up early and did as much shaving as I could do. This is despite the fact that I bought a white cardigan to cover my shoulders. So I needn't have done so much shaving but part of me thought I might do a photo at some point although I would also say that perhaps not even the sudden heat death of the universe would have been warm enough to make me take the cardie off. Welcome to gender dysphoria. 

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu)
take in a movie in Lux

The flip side of this though is when I tried the costume on all at once including the white shoes (which I had originally bought for Cher Horowitz) and I just felt so good. My hair is a bit longer and fluffier at the moment so that helped. Again only the lack of boobage let me down today. It was one of those moments when I remembered the feeling that made me want to do this over and over again. I felt so pretty in that moment. After a few arguments in the office at work recently when trans issues have come up it was a reminder of why I still like to do this. It also reminds me that I really should speak up more. 

So why did I do it? Basically to walk around a lot of stalls for 2 hours. Literally 2 hours. I changed clothes in a a small tent (luckily no-one else wanted to use it) and had some overpriced food so why bother? I felt wonderful walking around though. I carried myself a little differently and felt a bit like a proper lady as my heels clacked on the bare floor. The same heels that my feet are now recovering from. I had some nice comments and someone even asked for a photo which was nice. I've also just realised that this is a growing trend of companion period costumes I have (see also Rose Tyler's 1953 dress from The Idiot's Lantern and Ruby Sunday's mod dress from The Devil's Chord). This one I bought specifically because Varada Sethu, who plays Belinda, was at the convention.  

Elsewhere I also went to Birmingham for a talk. Despite travel issues I managed to get there ok but I needed to catch a cab which is how I ended up standing outside a rock pub wearing a t-shirt and red maxi skirt, trying to hide next to a mural. I was expecting a text or call from the driver as he drew near but this didn't stop the paranoia kicking in and me dashing across the road to ask a couple of taxi drivers if they were here for me which prompted one pub patron to shout "What are you doing?" at me. I almost had my face in my hands screaming "I don't know!" (please note I took this a more lightly than it sounds like I did. It's almost sitcom like). As I got in my cab I was treated to a rousing chorus inviting me to either get my tits or my dicks (plural?) out for the lads (still not sure which one it was). Charming. 

Apart from breaking a bracelet this weekend while trying it on in a store, that's about it. I will say though that I am taking the chance to dress more often while going out which does mean lugging a bag of clothes into work but I have found a nice secluded space to change. I will just leave you with a couple of stories I'm following at the moment:

Fake It Until You Make It by tithug - Another tale on The Changing Mirror, this is a fun, ongoing bimbofication story about a snooty literature graduate being taught how to 'fit in' at her new job at a local salon. 

The Underwear Situation by Lost Mind - not quite sure where this is going but it's an interesting mind control tale as Tom's roommate Rebekka tries to change his mind about her - and her underwear.