Chilly. It's Chili.

Yo!
It's been a long time... 4 1/2 months, to be exact. I didn't have Internet in my apartment and I left my job where I used to spend most of my Wednesday nights killing time on someone else's Internet... And let's be honest: the only reason I've even remembered that I have a blog to write in is because I am reading the blog of a new friend. It's not because today, of all days, I have something to write about. But I figured that while I'm hear, I'll update anyone who wants to know on everything that's happened from August 5, 2009 until now.

I began classes at George Mason at the end of August. I am trying to finish my stupid Bachelor's degree, but having decided years ago that I hate the political science major and will chew of my own foot before I sit through another political science class, I switched my major to biology. My classes for the semester were Biology w/ Lab, Organic Chemistry I w/ Lab, and Iraqi Arabic (because I took Arabic before and didn't want to lose any of it... too late.) The classes were alright, but then in October I got promoted to the lead teaching assistant in the classroom I work in and my obligations to work increased. And I lost motivation to continue putting in the effort in classes that were way over my head and that I wouldn't end up doing anything with anyway. So, with the advice and help of a friend (who doesn't even go to the school, but it a lot better at solving problems than I am!) I applied for the Bachelor's of Individualized Study program and got accepted into that. Yay! So what does this mean? For one, a reevaluation of my transfer credits, which should bring me to over 100 transfer credits and mean that I will be graduating in 2-3 semesters! It also means that I get to create my major. The tentative title for what I want is Health and Nutrition for Developmentally Disabled Children. We'll see. I'll give more details about it next semester once I really shape up the plan for it.

What else? Hmmm... well, I came out (officially) at work. Maybe I wrote about this before? But my name change was official as of August 25th, so I did the process of changing my name over on all my legal/employment stuff. Now I have a driver's license that says M for gender and my new name, James Ethan, on it. :D yay!

Wow, another reason I don't write blogs: so hard to stay focused! Currently, I am making chili (yum!) taking online tests, trying to buy a game online (Diablo?) and talking on facebook, in addition to writing here. Oh, and occassionally (I know that's spelled wrong...) I have to stop and sing/dance to whatever song is on the radio. "Well I'm not paralyzed, But I seem to be struck by you, I want to make you move Because you're standing still. If your body matches what your eyes can do, You'll probably move right through Me on my way to you!"

Right now, I'm trapped in my apartment. We didn't have a blizzard, but we're drama queens when it comes to the weather in Northern Virginia. That people panic when it's simply cloudy out during the summer should indicate the state of driving when it's rainy/snowy/icy/windy/dark outside. We have notoriously bad drivers in the beltway area. :( I'm not one of them, but I have to share the road with them. I walked to the store today because I didn't feel like digging my car out of 30 cubic feet of snow, only to get stuck feet away from the parking spot. Having a rear-wheel drive sports car is just ASKING for trouble in the winter. It's a good thing I live walking distance to both the shopping center and to my work (and to the library, I guess, but it's always closed anyway.) Actually, there are two shopping centers within walking distance... one is about 1/3 mile away... the other is about a mile.

Hmmm... wow, I didn't realize that I really don't have anything going on in my life. No hobbies... friends all too far away to walk to... really the only things I care about in my life right now are work (have I mentioned I LOVE my job? Hehehe) and... well, that's about it. Work is the only thing that energizes me and makes me smile. So, I guess it's not really 'work', is it?

What's new on the transition front? Absolutely nothing. I had been on 50mg/week for a year with almost NO change. I have ZERO facial or body hair after 12 months. My voice has changed only minimally. I'm SO disappointed. I feel like the whole thing is a big joke and my endocrinologist one day is gonna be like, "Haha, just kidding. That wasn't *really* testosterone. That was just the cottonseed oil. Good one, right?" Anyway, I increased my dose to 75mg/week last week. And I'm going to a new doctor after Christmas. That's all I can do, I guess. I'm either called "she/her" or people assume I'm 14 years old. (Of course, given the choice, I'd choose the latter.)

I don't even want to think how long I've been working on writing this stupid post. I don't handle distractions well... or I handle them really well: I give attention to every little thing and get NOTHING finished! Oh well. I am going to try to do something productive. Plan for the evening: watch Yentil, make holiday cookies, and go to sleep. :)