matchaotter

I've been recovering from bottom surgery, still on my first week of being home from the hospital. Moving around has been hard, so I spent today watching TV (Dropout's GameChanger and Invincible S4), speaking to friends online or who visit, and doing some hand sewing. Well, plus my surgery maintenance.

Vivaldi is a great Chromium browser. I'm more of a Firefox/Librewolf on my personal machines, but my work's software has a few features that only work with Chromium extensions so I had to use it. Was my preferred alternative to all others, while bloated it was highly controllable and didn't focus on unnecessary features like Brave or others. My work recently banned any browser that isn't Chrome/Edge/Firefox though, so I guess I'm back to Firefox and will ignore the features I can't use

I was told that the dilation schedule will be the same as other methods, but they had significantly more tissue to create the vaginal canal and aesthetic outer vagina with this method. It's less likely to lead to atrophy and prolapse this way, but it is a more invasive surgery as they enter through the stomach to pull down the peritoneal tissue.

So far, I can't sat that I have. Granted, it hasn't even been 24 hours since I came out of surgery as of right now. There was this sensation that almost felt like a had a sore penis at first, but I think that was pressure from the catheter that has subsided.

I'm both ;)

You're going to do great! HF has been incredible so far. Once my bandages come off and the wounds healed some, I'd be glad to share results

As someone who gave in once, I can tell you it usually doesn't work out to deny.

I made an appointment for HRT, saw the Endocrinologist, and cancelled the follow up which I'd receive the meds the day before it happened. The entire time I kept telling myself that I'd still be "me" but doing HRT in secrecy from friends/family/society. I chopped my 3.5 years of hair off, grew my beard for the first time ever, then by 2/3 months later decided I hated that. Nearly a year later, I was back at a new DR appointment for HRT. I've been on HRT for over 3 years now, with bottom surgery just 3 weeks away.

Not saying this doesn't guarantee someone could permanently back out, but it's very unlikely that you're capping to yourself if you've already got the appointments set up.

I am, or at least was, in a similar camp. I never felt dysphoric as a man, but I felt gender envy towards women. How beautiful, strong, and courageous they are. I thought I was satisfied being a man, but the more I tried on skirts in the privacy of my room at 3am during the pandemic or sloppily applied makeup because I just wanted to try it out, the more I realized I had stepped too far over the line and didn't want to go back.

I thought I could inch forward, start HRT but still present masculine. Then I wore a dress to a new year's party with a handful of friends, someone asked if I wanted to be called she/her which broke me. I stepped over the line too far and realized I was too happy to step back.

Not everyone has this experience, and I don't regret my time spent as a man but do look back at old pictures and think, "There's so much that person had yet to discover."

PhilosophyTube on YT said something similar in her video about coming out. Referring to her transition more like a job that isn't bad, provides a lot of comfort and security, but the more you work that job the more it takes a toll. I don't think I entirely relate to her, but she offers a perspective that's also different than "feeling born in the wrong body."

Additionally, I started dating someone back in early college who called me out on being an egg like 7 years before I transitioned. We didn't remain together for reasons I won't get into, but I talked to them recently for the first time in a while and they gloated so hard about that callout.

It might not be a definitive point as in, "you feel X way therefore you are Y," but it certainly can contribute to a greater point.

I myself am trans and was in my egg from a young age that finally broke when I turned 24. For years before then, I referred to myself as gender fluid while I tried to discover myself. My signs were that I wished I could be reborn as a woman (but didn't think transitioning would satisfy that desire), feeling really uncomfortable any time people complimented my masculine features (wishing they things weren't true), and adoring lesbian relationships to the point of wishing I could be in one.

I'm proud to say I've been transitioning for almost 3 years now, and my 1 year anniversary with my girlfriend is coming up :3

P.S. if you would like to have someone to talk to about this and share experiences/thoughts outside of a public forum, feel free to send me a DM.

Somewhere in the distance, I think I heard an egg just crack

When I started college, I still had somewhat of a picky palette. Would pick a lot off my meals and stick to safer foods. My partner at the time started coercing me to try foods or ingredients I didn't like, for example sliced raw tomato on a deli sandwich. This ended up working very well for many things: tomato, broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, and a few others. This could've been attributed to me "growing up" or finally being exposed to better preparations than what I had before college, but I like to think she had the largest influence.

The only one that wouldn't work is pickles. Couldn't stand them despite liking cucumbers and vinegar. For all other foods, I'd forcibly eat them until one day I'd form a "craving", somewhat Stockholm syndrome-ing myself. Pickles never worked. At least, not for 9 years from when this venture began. During this past August, while grocery shopping I finally got my craving so I bought a jar and finished it within 2 days.

Next up, maybe red wine or beer.

I used Linksys for a while but went to TP Link to dip my toes into a mesh system. Any recommended alternatives that aren't Unifi? I'm not opposed to Unifi, they just tend to be the most expensive outside of looming at the used marketplace, which is sometimes hard to catch good deals.