Crickets, Chaos, and a Quiet Revolution

     Some days begin with exhaustion and end with revelation.  Yesterday was one of those days - a mix of sleep deprivation, bureaucratic nonsense, unexpected intimacy, and a quiet moment of trans joy in an aisle at Petco.

2 A.M. and Wide Awake

    I woke up after only two and a half hours of sleep.  I made a quick trip to the restroom.  Back to bed, then... NOTHING!  Just me... lying there in the dark, waiting to go back to sleep.  Tossing... turning...  After about an hour and a half, my wife, Gina, got up to go to the restroom.  I turned over to face her side of the bed so I could snuggle her when she returned.  But, when she came back she told me, "roll over".  Excitedly, I did as she said, realizing that she was wanting to snuggle me.  I love to snuggle my wife, but I love it even more when she snuggles me.  It makes me feel loved, safe and secure.  What girl doesn't love that?  She snuggled up to me, and as her arm encircled me her hand came to rest on my breast.  She began gently kneading.  "Uh-huh," I thought.  "Give the girl a stress ball..."  After about forty minutes of some serious play you would think I'd be ready to go back to sleep.  Not a chance!  My stupid brain was still at full volume.

Bureaucracy and Bullshit

    I had to return an AT&T internet hub, but to do so in rural Kansas is no quick task.  To do this, you have to take the equipment to a UPS Store.  The nearest one to my house is fifty plus miles away.  So... road trip!  We decided that Gina would drive there, and I would drive back.  I was able to catch a few winks en route.  When we got to our destination, I went in and handed the girl at the counter the equipment, expecting a quick drop off.  Nope!  

    "I need your account number," she said.
    "I don't know what it is.  The email said I would only need to bring that," I replied, pointing to the hub.
    "Without your account number, they won't take it back," she told me.

    What kind of happy horse-shit is that?  They won't accept their own equipment for want of an account number?  I took out my phone, brought up the AT&T app and looked for the requested information.  No luck!  The young lady in front of me asked, "do you have the AT&T app?"  What the hell did she think I was looking at?  Facebook?  I told her that's what I was looking at right then.  She asked to see my phone and I handed it to her.

    Tap... scroll... tap... scroll... tap...  She shook her head.  She said, "I guess they already took it off.  You'll have to call AT&T."  Shit!  I should have known it wasn't going to be easy.  I grabbed the hub and stormed out to the minivan, where I grumped about needing "that damned account number".  Gina hates it when I'm grumpy... I tend to be such a bitch!  I still had the app up on my phone so I tapped the chat button, optimistically thinking that would be the quickest way to resolve the issue.  Of course not!  Why the hell should technology make our lives easier?  I was chatting with a bot, which, in such a case as this, is just about as worthless as tits on a rock.

    After five fruitless minutes of this, and a whole lot of frustration, I asked for a phone number in order to talk to a live human being.  I was denied!  I saw the communications tab and thought, "I bet I'll find the phone number there."  I tapped on it, and... there... right there, at the top of the screen... the ever elusive account number!  AAGHHH!!!

    I grabbed the bag I had put the hub into and headed back inside.  I sat the bag on the counter with a thud and thrust my phone toward the girl's face.  Pointing at the account number, I grumbled, "now, send it back!"  Finally, the matter was resolved!

Petco and Passing

    After that, we stopped at Petco so I could get some crickets for my leopard gecko, Jee.  I had chosen to wear a thin, form-fitting top with spaghetti straps and no bra.  It's obvious that I'm trans.  I mean... in my eyes, I'm not a whole lot more passing than Klinger, on MASH.  We spent about a half an hour there, and even conversed with a couple of people.  You know what happened whenever someone caught sight of me?  Friendly smiles!

    No stares... no sneers.  Just normal human interaction.  Exactly what anyone should expect when they're out and about.

    I'm starting to think that the media, social media, "religionists", and the GOP are making more of an issue of this than actually exists.  Yes, there is an anti-trans movement, but it's manufactured and promoted by bad actors.

    I refuse to let those sons of bitches define my reality!

A Call To Action

    It's time we stop letting politicians, media personalities and internet influencers dictate our lives.  Get out among other people and talk to them.  See for yourself that the people you're told you should hate really aren't bad people at all!

    We need to stand together and tell these assholes in one thunderous voice to set their asses down and shut the fuck up!

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