Really, brain? REALLY?

Jun. 30th, 2025 04:58 pm[personal profile] cupcake_goth
cupcake_goth: (GeeWay)
Last night my brain decided to give me a new stress nightmare, oh yay. In it I had taken all my bedtime meds on the drive to Seattle for next week's (!!!) MCR concert. I met up with [personal profile] minim_calibre , we found our seats, and during the opening act I fell asleep, missing the entire MCR show. 

WHAT THE HELL, BRAIN?!

This obviously won't happen in real life. But in that brief instant between sleep and waking out of the dream, I was SO UPSET. 

Twelve days until the concert! The Seattle show is the first one of the tour, which means the band should be all riled up. And that I'll have no idea what the tour merch is, so I'll have to make my purchasing decisions in real time. Yes, there's a part of my brain that says buy it allllllll, but I'm trying not to listen to it. No really, I'm trying to, because I know I don't need all the Long Live: The Black Parade merch. Probably. 

(buy it allllll)

Pride weekend, part 2

Jun. 30th, 2025 11:04 am[personal profile] sistawendy
sistawendy: a cartoon of me in club clothes (dolly)
Saturday afternoon SFDs: short pink sparkly circle skirt, Camp Beaverton ("I ♥ graphic-of-beaver") tank top, but sensible hippie sandals because I'd trashed my ankles the previous evening. Oh yeah, I wore a whole lot of SPF 50 and packed a picnic lunch as well.

Went to the Broadway street fair as one does. Bought a book from the queer bookstore that is, ironically enough, within walking distance of my house. Spent too much money on a big pendant of a biblically accurate angel in Pride colors. Saw:
  • Fellow Lambert House trans facilitator A-the-dude (A-the-lady is the one I've spent way more time with).
  • vantablack from Mastodon. She doesn't live in Cal Anderson Park, but I've seen her there about half a dozen times.
  • E, a more or less elder goth who lives near Broadway. I'm pretty sure she used to have an LJ, but damned if I can remember her old username.
  • K and L, [personal profile] gement's little sisters! K has a storied history as a Burner and organizer of (ahem) parties to which I often wore latex, whereupon she had to remind me not to hug her because she's severely allergic to it. ("K!" "Noooo!!")
Seriously, Broadway on Pride Saturday is my happy place. So much queerness and peeps.

Went home. Ate leftovers. Turned around twice. Wriggled into my new latex LBD for...

Saturday evening: the Hot Flash Inferno night at Neighbours. As the name suggests, it's aimed at queer ladies of a certain age, two of whom independently invited me to go. I'm not fool enough to fight the universe, so of course I was the first one there by a wide margin. (The other four of us either have ADHD or live way the hell out in the suburbs.) In attendance: [personal profile] cupcake_goth's pal T, looking very dapper; Funny Lady; and the Siberian Siren and her lovely wife! I expressed my relief that the SS has finally found Ms. Right. As badly as I'd like to follow suit, I can't claim to have had breakups anything like the Siren's.

Said a brief howdy to one of the latex gang, who were showing up right after Hot Flash ended. Then Funny Lady suggested that we hit the Merc, which we did. Sometime around midnight we called it a night. I got ramen at Betsutenjin, where the staff have started to recognize me, and caught the last train northbound. Much win.

Pride Sunday: slept until 0900. Wore my customary Pride outfit*. (Mental note: get spirit gum for my reusable pasties. Toupee tape doesn't cut it.) Went to the parade to find Ken Shulman, director of Lambert House, because he had what I thought might be urgent business. He wasn't with the LH parade contingent, at least not at that time, so I headed toward the Seattle Center just in time to see the parade start.

You know what that means: the dykes on bikes. No, I didn't try to join them this year because see above. But the sound of a few dozen motorcyclces revving in the concrete canyons of downtown Seattle is impressive, to say the least, and I find it moving.

So I made it to the Seattle center, wandered around, ate & drank, and eventually ran into Ken. And our IT guy on the board of directors. And two or three of the yoof from Lambert House. I've mentioned here before that there's no such thing as a brief conversation involving Ken Shulman, and luckily, we were in the shade. Plus, Ken & Ray imparted much-needed info to me so I can do my database monkey thing. Oh yeah, lots of excellent queer eye candy in full sunlight.

Went home. Napped. Put stuff away.

It was all too brief. I wish I could do all the things and see all the people, but even when I was half the age I am now with seemingly limitless energy, there simply isn't time.



*Black Stetson, black leather harness from Apatico, Pride stripe nipple pasties, skirt belt from Chrysalis, black leather thong, knee-high Pride socks, white Docs that K in SF gave me, Pride stripe accessories. You know, the usual.

Pride weekend, part 1

Jun. 28th, 2025 08:03 am[personal profile] sistawendy
sistawendy: a butterfly in the style of a street sign (butterfly)
So I put on my sleeveless rose print New Look dress from Pinup Girl and pointy red Fluevogs to go to Trans Pride yesterday evening. And why get gussied up? Because Trans Pride has evolved into a place to see & be seen. I would have felt underdressed in anything less.

I did indeed see tons of trans friends & acquaintances, and said hi to most of them. (The others were on the other side of crowds.) Spotted:
  • My fabulous stylist, Adi Chen.
  • Elaine Wylie, one of the chief organizers of Trans Pride plus an officer of Gender Justice League for damn ever. I knew her when. Mad respect to her.
  • Haven Wilvich, the lady who founded STANCE.
  • At least one other trans Mercury regular, and there are several of us for good reason.
  • My fellow Lambert House facilitator A at the house's table.


I did run into one person who I've actually dated once or twice who told me that it's good that Trans Pride is where it is, Volunteer Park, instead of the former march & rally in Cal Anderson Park*, because it's safer from non-cops. You know, if we're making things more accessible for Black & Brown people because we don't have to have cops around, that's good, but I really don't like the idea that we're hiding from everyone else.

The truth, though? I didn't stay long and got home around 2100**. My fabulous shoes were punishing my feet and I wasn't that into what they had on stage, as usual. I did what I went there to do.

Today, I slept in and thereby missed the window for my bike ride. I guess I'll just have to walk a lot, which I was planning on doing anyway on Broadway. So at least for this morning & afternoon, there will be practical hippy shoes. This evening will be... less practical with queer girlfriends.



*Call Anderson Park is right next to a light rail station. I've actually witnessed a fascist creep taking the light rail to Pride. How do I know he was a fascist? He got off the train with me and immediately joined the yelly Jesus people.
**The bus routes have been altered so that you can't take a 10 there from Capitol Hill Station anymore. Now you have to take the 49 to St. Mark's and go for a steep if lovely walk uphill. I wasn't the only person with this plan, though, and we put the trans in mass transit.

Good Sister executes will.

Jun. 25th, 2025 01:22 pm[personal profile] sistawendy
sistawendy: Lego me in a red dress holding a beer tankard (celebration plastic)
Good Sister is no longer, at least legally, the executor of my mother's will. As far as the courts are concerned, she's done. That means she doesn't have to periodically report to them anymore. (Yes, I just verified that.) She's relieved, and I have texted her mazel tov.

Does this mean that Mom's house has sold? Hell no. In fact, just the other day GS sent the other two of us a detailed list of the work in progress or planned to get the house ready for (mercifully quick, we hope) sale. Total cost: $16K. Even Niece E has pitched in, having refused our offer of compensation.

Now I have a mental image of my short, thin sister in a black, face-covering hood with a blood-stained ax. I'm sure she wanted to physically execute the will and a few people associated with it many times.

(no subject)

Jun. 24th, 2025 11:39 am[personal profile] cupcake_goth
cupcake_goth: (Default)
 [personal profile] danabren left a comment on my post about Catholic aesthetics/music/Gregorian chants that unlocked a core 90s scene memory for many of us: constantly hearing Enigma at every damn kink or kink-adjacent play party. 

This led me to see what songs turn up on "Enigma Radio" on Spotify. Guess what the first song was? Go on, guess. 






Ah, good 'ol "Caribbean Moon Blue".

There are days when I think about trying to explain to Kids Today what sort of music was played for the first 30-60 minutes at Ye Olde Spooky Clubs because I'm pretty sure they'd never believe me. 

(no subject)

Jun. 23rd, 2025 01:09 pm[personal profile] cupcake_goth
cupcake_goth: (Default)
Over the past week we watched both Conclave and Immaculate. Both were fun, even if I don't understand the section of fandom that looked at Conclave and said "YES, let's write smut". Not my beautiful cake, but rock on you crazy diamonds.

Immaculate wasn't groundbreaking, and actually kind of predictable, but it was still enjoyable. And yet another entry in the "Yep, I like Catholic-themed horror" category; look I really like the aesthetics and music of the Church. As an institution, fuck no. All the art it's created? Yes. What this means is I bought the soundtrack on bandcamp, and need to look up the soundtrack for Conclave to see if I want it. (I probably don't, as I prefer my Latin liturgical music sung by female voices. As evidence, I listen to this Gregorian chants female voices playlist on Spotify fairly often.) Which leads me to one of my favorite set of tweets:




sistawendy: me in the Mercury's alley with the wind catching my hair (smoldering windblown Merc alley)
As promised I went to the monthly women's capital-L Leather munch, complete with bootblacks, at C.C. Attle's. TL;DR: A+ would munch with those ladies women people again!

I'd never set foot in CC's before, which isn't as odd as it sounds because I was under the impression that it was very much a men's space. And it used to be, but times change, and what was the Leather bar — the Cuff — got taken over by someone with a corporate mindset who decided to give yet another home to "gay bros" as Dancer described them. CC's is dark and loud, but it's hella queer. There's mirror junk hanging from the ceiling, which serves the same function as Pony's mummer junk: putting the hets on notice. They also let the Leather women reserve tables, set up the bootblacks' chairs, and pimp their night on the video. And their beer selection is acceptable. So CC's management gets a thumb up from me.

I must say, the Leather munch seems to be flirtier and less popular with n00bs than the women's munch. It may be my preferred munch from now on. The organizers, B & A from the women's munch, weren't the only people I knew there. There was lovely young Squirt, whom I met a few years ago at another event. There was also H, whom I met at Folsom in '17.

H deserves her own paragraph because she looms large in my memory for giving me the most intense damn scene of my life. I knew she'd moved (back?) into the area last year at the latest, but I hadn't seen her out & about until last night. I managed not to squee audibly, but only just. H says she just doesn't get out as much as she used to to public events. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's a bummer for yours truly. And of course she has an unfairly attractive partner, whom I think I met all those years ago.

I got to tell Folsom stories to the bootblacks. The boots I was wearing are now shiiiny. Happiness.

I got invited to a play party tonight, but it's in Tukwila, which is $$$ to get to without a car. Le sigh, because I have every confidence it'll be good.

I was a good girl and left after only a couple of hours at the munch. And why? Because I'd already promised Dancer I'd help her move stuff to storage. I misrecorded a hair appointment this afternoon and thereby deprived her of about an hour, which only compounded the chaos that others introduced. We did get the stuff mostly moved by the time Dancer dropped me off at my stylist's, only a few minutes late, in a U-Haul van*.

I'd proposed to Funny Lady that we meet up in Georgetown for their Pride thing, but I'm too beat. Fortunately, so is she, having just returned from visiting family back east.



*My stylist realized before I did that I was a lesbian in a U-Haul. It is to laugh.
sistawendy: my 2006 Prius at the dealership (Prius)
I had today off for Juneteenth. I took a little journey via bus and train to the other county that you can get to on the light rail. And I even had a destination!

But first: I bought a hoe and used it on the joints between the concrete pavers in front of the Devil Girl House. I could hear my father's ghost laughing at me. He died while doing yard work. So I definitely felt like I earned a treat. Besides, the weather was perfect today.

What was my destination? Lover's Lair in Everett, whose owners & operators are a couple who regularly come to latex functions. As far as I know, they're the only place in the area where you can buy latex off the rack. I ended up seeing three regular attendees of local latex events, and possibly one irregular.

So how's the latex? Hey, it's a better selection than Metro had back in the day, and it's probably as good as you're going to find anywhere that doesn't specialize in latex. Prices? In line with what I've seen online.

I must say, they had the best selection of restraints that I've seen locally, certainly, and possibly the best anywhere. There was also a solid selection of other toys, both BDSM and otherwise. There's also a well-furnished dungeon through a secret door (!) where they have regular play parties. They're making me grudgingly respect Everett.

Did I buy anything? Yes. I now have a second latex LBD. Hey, it's actually better in a couple of ways than my other one; I'm considering wearing it to Pride Eve.

Oh yeah, the trip itself. On the way there, I took the bus to the train, and rode the train to the northern end of the line. Thence to not one but two buses to get where I was going. Wait times weren't bad and the stations were clean, but damn, that is some of the most depressing scenery in the Puget Sound area: run-down car culture hell. I found myself cheering for the visually weird stuff, like the boarded-up single-family house oddly close to the highway surrounded by razor wire, or the giant US flag in front of a business that had been made to look frozen in mid-wave. I took the short way home: two buses, no train, right down the highway.

I can now say, once again, that I've at least been through every station on the 1 line. When they connect the 2 line I think I'll go to Redmond and get coffee or something just because I can. But seriously, three of the newest light rail stations, which I went through for the first time today, have no buildings near them that aren't residential. That's... not as it should be. I hope it changes over time. The good news is that it has elsewhere: lots of housing got built near older stations that were in big commercial areas already.

From the US Dept. of Irony: both at Lover's Lair and at the supermarket nearest home, both people who rang me up were Black. On Juneteenth. That's... not quite right.

Dad update

Jun. 19th, 2025 06:07 pm[personal profile] cupcake_goth
cupcake_goth: (Default)
Finally got to talk to Dad, yay! He's doing okay. Well, except for the part where "I can work in the yard for about 10 minutes, and then I have to rest for 45", and his cardiologist says, "Recovery is a process, Bob, and there's no definitive timeline". Which, sure, that makes sense, but he had the cardioversion at the end of March, so I'm a little dubious. Dad sees the cardiologist next week, and I told him to feel free to gently threaten the cardiologist with having to talk to me, and I'm a lot meaner than my Dad.

But things are going okay for him and his Ladylove. They are currently a household with no kitties, as Sniggle passed on a few months ago. Dad says he's been able to resist looking at kittens so far, but he'll probably give in soon.

Hilariously, he lectured me about looking after myself, then realized what he was saying. In that pause I said, "Gosh, I wonder where I learned THAT from", and he had the grace to laugh. I told him I'd try to be better if he did. We'll see how that goes.

Ridiculous sewing project

Jun. 19th, 2025 12:37 pm[personal profile] cupcake_goth
cupcake_goth: (Default)

This is something I've been thinking about for a few years, and I've finally decided to try it. I had the Madwoman in the Attic make a version of these "pants" in black lawn. I'm going to sew layers of black organza ruffle trim (the good stuff with fishing line in the hem to make the ruffles nigh-uncrushable) up to the knees on each leg. If my theory is right, then I will have a pair of long bloomers that are also a petticoat! 

I will, of course, report back on how this works. 

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