SUGGESTION SATURDAY
Today's book was suggested by Danimal, who continues in his quest to try to find the weirdest books he can find for me to read. It's a good thing this blogging project only lasts for one year, because I have a feeling that otherwise this wouldn't stop until one of us dies.
I spent the day attempting to read, in between being distracted by the somewhat unsettling thought that I had this morning. I woke up, looked at the calendar, and realized that I am entering the last month of my 20s. I'm going to be 30 exactly a month from now - which is something that I find 10% unsettling and 90% exciting (although I have no idea why I find it exciting.) 10% sounds like a pretty low number in theory, but in practice 10% comes out more like, "Holy s%$#, I'm about to turn 30." I would read a few pages and then think, "30, I'm about to be 30," then a few more before coming back to, "Oh my goodness I'm going to be 30." Then if I was lucky I would get in another chapter or two before arriving back at, "THIRTY. How is that even possible?" I'm amazed I even made it through today's book - and I really hope this distraction is not going to continue or it's going to be a long blogging month. I don't understand how I can find something so exciting and unsettling all at the same time - just like I don't understand why I find the idea of being 30 exciting. The mysteries of Angie's mind - will they ever be unraveled?
Today's book, "A straight woman who has been married several years to a cross dressing man gives a thoughtful account of their relationship (as well as the relationships of other cross dressers she knows) in this forthright and revelatory book."
Shallow thoughts:
- I didn't expect to enjoy today's book after looking at the cover (whose idea was it for that person to wear such a drab outfit anyway.) I always expect books with drab covers to be boring. I know I should have learned by lesson by now after reading about a hundred boring books that had really fun covers - but it seems, when it comes this, I lack the ability to learn.
- My only complaint about the book was that the author refers to all of the men in the book by the name they use when they are dressed as women, but continued to use male pronouns, which got rather confusing with sentence like this, "When Beccas was five he suddenly realized. . . " - I guess that wouldn't have been a big deal if the book has stuck to talking primarily about the men, but there was a great deal of discussion about their wives as well, so keeping track of who is a man and whose a woman was a bit difficult. Actually, the problem lies more with my laziness as a reader - sorting out who everyone was required me to actually read carefully and apparently that's not something that I excel at.
- I also learned a few things from today's book. The first one being that there are nine different kinds of cross dressers. I had no idea. So if that ever becomes a category on Jeopardy or ends up as a question in Trivial Pursuit I'm all set.
- The author also shares this piece of information, "When I met my future husband, I didn't know I had met a cross dresser, but I had. Most people probably don't think they've met a cross dresser either, but odds are they have. Cross dressers pass under the radar." - Naturally this led to me spending most of the afternoon trying to figure out if any of neighbors are cross dressers. I've decided that the neighbors to my right couldn't possibly be since they both wear the same outfit every day of their lives anyway. Both the husband and wife wear generic umbros and Hanes t-shirts, every damn day - so really, what would be the point of switching outfits? Do you have any idea what it's like to be on day 703 of looking at the same pair of generic umbros? It's horrifying. And I can't even figure out how or why they're wearing the same clothes every day - do they wear dirty clothes? Or do they wash the same outfit every single day? Or are they like cartoon characters who have 12 of the same shirts in their closets? So many questions that I never get an answer to. But I have to think about something while looking out the window. I do whatever it takes to keep from lapsing into a boredom-induced coma. I'm dangerously close to buying them new clothes just so I can have something new to look out when I sit in the living room. And here's your decorating tip for the day dear readers: Be very careful about installing large windows in your living room. If you end up with neighbors that dress badly, you will regret it for the rest of your life.
And now I have to go obsess over turning 30 a little bit more (30 - how in the world did that happen.)
