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Reflections and the Future for me:

I have been wanting to build out and complete this particular page for some time. In the midst of day to day life and trying to keep up with various different activities, it's easy to become distracted and preoccupied, pretty much anywhere in life. What has pushed me a little are the results (thus far) of our Summer Survey (located on the Main Menu page ~ take the survey). Contrary to what we had expected, at least as far as the respondents go thus far, many of you who visit TransAngeles are in fact here for the first time and many have indicated that to some degree, you are searching for knowledge about being transgendered, as you may feel that you are tg.

I've been in Hollywood now for a few short years, and a lot has changed for me and, more importantly (I think), for the people around me. During my time doing nightclub promotion, it was my pleasure to meet so many wonderful tg sisters as I discovered the tg community on the "opposite coast." It was cool to connect the dots between the community that I knew back east and the "girls of the west coast," some of whom I had known "online." I spent a solid, two-year period living about 80% of my time as my female persona. It was, at one point, at such a consistent degree, that I would cringe at the thought of having to go somewhere as my male side. That right there is a peculiar predicament to find yourself in, trust me on that. At the same time, it's cool ~ in a funny kind of way.

Although I identify as a transsexual (and I don't arrive at that conclusion lightly, having had decades to explore and define what that means to me), my degree of gender dysphoria has never been overwhelming to me, at least not for any sort of prolonged period. That is a two-edged sword, in a blessing / curse sense. Personally, I see it as more of a blessing, if only because so many other things in my life experience have in fact been overwhelming to me (see "high sensitivity" exploration, earlier on these pages). That being said, I have recognized who I am and I have explored extensively.

So what have I found? That's where the experience of the past few years has really come into play. In a recent discussion with a close friend about how we met - which, incidentally was initially online and then at the (now closed) Queen Mary - we reflected on how our friendship had evolved as did the lives of the girls around us. The QM was an interesting place, but in my opinion, overrated. In the wake of the QM closing, new doors of opportunity began to open up, and soon a group of us found ourselves out - in a new bar or club - virtually every night of the week. My friend refers to us as "the class of 2003." It was an exciting time, to say the least (remember, I'm living 80% female during this period).

It was as if we were all thrown together by fate, into some sort of soup mix, simultaneously. I think it's pretty safe to say that we all explored our female sides, individually and collectively, like we never had before. A lot of the pictures that you see in the Strobe series are from this time period. It was one of those rare occasions when something truly magical was unfolding in my life, as many of my lifelong dreams in terms of self expression and exploration were manifesting themselves right before my eyes. I am truly thankful to the universe for the overwhelming abundance of experience that came my way. Seriously - there were so many times when I would be somewhere, saying to myself, "I can't believe this. I never thought I'd make it this far." Granted, we're talking about being a tranny, so it's not the Tour De France - but - for me, being able just to get to that point of free, comfortable expression was in fact the Mt. Everest of my life - always in the distance, on the horizon. I really never thought I would climb it. As a result, I now have a fresh perspective.

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This is the latest addition to Wow! Girl! Planet!
and it is the final page in the WGP series.
Into the Great Wide Open:

So what is the point of my blathering away on this page? During the past few years, my life and the lives of those around me have changed, all in their own beautiful ways. Many of the "class of 2003" have transitioned; some partially, others all the way, including srs, facial reconstruction and a host of other "trans-ready" 21st century remedies for gender dysphoria. Sure, everyone has had their ups and downs, but for the most part, my friends are happy, as I am. I have decided that I am not going to transition, although I do occasionally trot on and off of hormones.

I have been blessed to have met the most wonderful girlfriend, and we have been together for going on three years now. We were initally introduced through one of my closest friends, Krissy (Sodapop), at a lesbian bar (called Here) in West Hollywood. We met very briefly that night, at this "girls bar" where I was out enjoying myself en femme. Fast forward a few months, and Krissy decided to set me up with this girl, without prefacing the hookup with the fact that we had met months earlier at Here. I, for one, did not make the connection at all. It wasn't until we had been dating for a couple of months that my new girlfriend mentioned the fact that we had met before. D'oh!

Any of my friends - or most of the tg community for that matter - can tell you that if you are tg and in search of a mate, well, good luck. Although we have made great strides as a community over the past few years, there is still by and large a stigma attached to people like myself, and we are most often misunderstood. Men ~ and the male Ego ~ with its need to be in complete control of everything it comes into contact with ~ most often assumes that, "Oh, you dress like that, because obviously, you like men, and since you like men, you must like me, because I'm a man and I'm all that." Oy - Please. Don't flatter yourselves. I'm not saying that there are not decent men out there. There are. It has been my experience that they do not, however, make up a significant segment of the population, by any stretch.

So I met this wonderful person, who was more kind, sweet and understanding of me than any other female that I had ever come into contact with. As our relationship grew, my outlook on life began to change. I still remain true to myself as I always have, but something (I think) in the comfort and security of our relationship, has released a tension inside of me that was driving me to prove something more to myself than I actually needed to do. Going back to my epiphany about being transgendered (on a previous page), even then I had some kind of understanding that as long as I could express myself as I saw fit, I would be in effect, "okay." I've since come to believe that one of the primary reasons that we are here, on this planet, in this dimension, is to express ourselves and to grow. Trying holding that in your head for a moment - that that is the reason we're here - and then think of all of the problems in the world, which lie mostly in direct opposition to such a thought. It makes sense.

I've found that comfortable level of expression in my life and I understand now (thank you, Dr. Wayne Dyer) that I don't need anything else, I don't need to have or possess anything else, or to reach for anything else outside of myself to make me feel complete. My relationship with my girlfriend has helped to really bring that into focus. Becoming and realizing Tina in full physical form was enough of a wild dream at one point. Having someone in my life who loves and cares about me because Tina is me, all of me and part of me at the same time - that was just downright unthinkable as an achievable reality at one point. These days, I'm no longer living 80% of my time as Tina. It's less than that, but that's okay, because I feel secure enough to maintain balance, and that's really important. Like my other creations and passions, it's my muses who lead me.

If you have read up to this point, god bless you. My message to you is this: No matter where you are right now, now matter how far you may be from your dreams, hold on. My life is a testament to the fact that you can go back and conquer fears that you've had since childhood. You can create change and find yourself living in a world of your own dreams. Seriously, if I could do it, you can too. I haven't "arrived" anywhere, and that's okay. It's all about the journey, and the people, places and things that you encounter along the way. If you are tg or you think you might be, by all means explore that side of yourself. You might be amazed at what you find. If you are like me, having gone through years of cycles, expressing and imploding - and then you break out and hit a new level - you'll be asking yourself why you didn't do it sooner. On the other hand, if you do that, please try to have a sense of style, and don't be the linebacker-type in the red dress, purple pumps and hairy legs who's walking down the street ~ you'll make us all look bad.     : )

Oh, and for the record, I still will not do reality TV. I do, however, still want my own show on HBO.