Nice Weekend

[Jaye]

I'd debated putting this in one of my older threads, but new news tends to get lost in the old, and sometimes folks don't pay attention.

I work the night shift at a limited service hotel, and I work ten-hour shifts four days a week. This means that I get three days off, and lately I have been getting these days off all at once, so that I get the equivalent to a weekend. I say equivalent because my days off generally fall into midweek, say Tuesday-Thursday. Until lately, that is. The fellow who covers the shifts opposite from me likes having certain days, so the last couple of weeks, I have been off from Saturday to Monday. I'm getting it again this coming weekend, so I am stoked.

Last Saturday, I got off at 9 am and headed home for a quick nap. I got up around 2 and headed to the bathroom to start my ablutions. I got dressed fairly quickly: a black halter top with silver foil detail, black slacks and sandals. I did my makeup in about half an hour (getting faster all the time), and fixed my wig. I decided to go with the red one this time, as the dark brown made the outfit too drab. I tossed my stuff into a little black leather purse and headed for the mall.

I started at Southpark. It was a lot more crowded than usual, and there were a few more people than I expected, but I didn't let anything faze me. I made my way through Nordstrom, pausing at the MAC counter to thank them for all their help the other day (I bought some lipstick there a couple days before, in drab) and then out into the mall. I was headed for my fave store, Torrid, where they were having a sale. Halfway through the mall I passed a woman whom I was pretty sure was pre-op. She smiled at me in a knowing way. I smiled back and we kept on going. The Torrid crew were fabulous as always. It's not the first time I'd been there en femme, but it was the first time I'd been out in a long time with the red hair. I got a few odd looks from folks, but no one said anything negative. I didn't buy a lot at Torrid, just a shrug and a silver ring. I found a really cute top on sale for $14.99 (originally $30), but they didn't have my size. A quick check of the computer revealed that they did have it at the Northlake Mall store, on the other side of town, so guess where I headed?

I had another reason for going to Northlake. There's a Borders store there, and they have one of those "Mix & Burn" CD stations. I didn't find the music I was looking for, but they did have a book I wanted, so the trip was not for naught. Then I went downstairs to Torrid and found my top. I also picked up a paperback copy of Kevyn Aucoin's Making Faces. If you don't know of Kevyn Aucoin, the man was a an artist with a makeup brush. He was one of my idols, whom I really wanted to meet, but he passed away in 2002. Anyway, here's the top I chased all over Charlotte to find:

http://www.torrid.com/store/product.asp ... TEM=541003

After the mall, I drove downtown to Hartigan's Irish Pub. This is the restaurant/bar where Kappa Beta have their meeting dinners. This was my first time there solo. I had a quiet dinner, and took a few photos of myself. I noticed that the bar was beginning to fill up, and that people were starting to drift downstairs. Come to find out, the bar operates a dance club on Fridays and Saturdays, between 10 pm and 2 am. I asked about cover and stuff, and was told that they didn't get busy until around 11:30. I'd missed out on this part of the place in all my previous visits, and decided it was time for a change.

I drove home to freshen up. I traded my slacks for a pair of jeans, and shifted to shoes with lower heels. I can dance in high heels, but I was told that the place gets really crowded, and heels probably weren't a good idea. I went back, and the place was PACKED.

http://www.hartigans.com/basement.htm

The crowd there is mostly lesbian, with a smattering of gay men. I guess I was the odd tranny out, but I wasn't made to feel unwelcome. I even bumped into a couple of people I know. I played a little pool, and danced till they kicked me out. Fun, fun, fun...

Sunday, I slept in. I managed to drag myself home in one piece, and got most of my makeup off before I staggered into bed. I debated going back out, but I ended up camping out in front of the DVD player with my lateste Netflix selections. "Margaret Cho: Assassin" was pretty funny, but "Aeon Flux" (the live action with Charlize Theron) stunk.

Monday I got up and decided that I needed to go back out. I paired my new top with a pair of jeans and brown wedge sandals. It was raining, so I packed an umbrella and headed for the only mall I didn't hit Saturday: Carolina Place.

Lane Bryant was finally open. They'd been closed for months while they remodeled and added one of those Cacique lingerie departments. The staff there were not half as enthusiastic as the team at Torrid, but they did okay, considering I'm a CD and all. I didn't want to spend a lot of money in there, but I still managed to buy a top, a hooodie, a skirt and a set of bangle bracelets. It's nice stuff, but more expensive than it would've been at Torrid. I don't think I'll be shopping there very often, but at least I tried.

I put some photos in for processing at Wolf Camera, and wandered around for an hour while I waited. Several times folks would come up to me like they wanted to say something, but no one did. One brave teenager came up and got into my face like he wanted to insult me, but he lost heart, and ended up saying, "Nice shoes," before shuffling away.

After I got my pix, I headed home to watch "The Closer" on TNT.

[Anita]

Hi Jaye--
Shopping is fun to hear about, and I never thought I'd say that. Even chasing all over town for the top you really want can be fun. I liked that description of the dance club. I was surprised to find out that transgirls are not well represented in gay bars. As part of the general public, I figured that TG people and gays and lesbians were all one big happy family. Not so--they don't necessarily understand us much better than a regular bar would. They're more tolerant, though.

I didn't like that part about the guy coming close to you--that's not good.
I'm glad he veered off.

[Virginia]

Hi Jaye,
Sure enjoyed reading about the "Queen City" and all your good times! I know that Charlotte is so far ahead of most cities in the south. I am coming down there in September, but it is for the National Bench Press Championships. Just thinking outloud, maybe we could get together after the meet and visit the Irish bar! I would enjoy meeting you and I know Virginia would as well.
Keep the faith, girlfriend!
Virginia

[Jaye]

Anita - You're right about where we fit into the community. It seems that the LGB segment is okay with us whenever they need attention (see also Stonewall, RuPaul, etc), but merely tolerant the rest of the time. Most of the Kappa Beta members here are older, and not as into "clubbing", so I'm having to figure these things out on my own. There's one other spot in Charlotte that I've heard of, a club called Scorpio, that supposed to be okay for us. I've been there once before, but that was eight years ago. They're one of the few venues in the city that still has drag shows. Next time I'm off, I might give them a try.

Virginia - I just had a look at the Carolina Power Lifting site. That event looks like it might be neat to check out. One of the sponsors is giving custom katanas as prizes for the best lifters. Whoa. I'll put in a request for the days now. I'd be happy to check out the competition and then I'd be game for anything after.

[Absaroka]

Glad you had a nice weekend. Lots of fun to be able to do this semi continuously for a few days.

Absaroka

[Jaye]

Looks like these weekends are becoming a regular gig for me, so guess what I'm doing this weekend and next?