My Face for the World to See (Part II):
The Diary of Sherilyn Connelly
a fiction


July 11 - 20, 2002

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Saturday, 20 July 2002 (7-methoxy-b-carboline (telepathine))
8:44am

The Herbivore on Divisadero is pretty much the same as the one on Valencia, except the parking sucks and and there aren't any mariachi bands and rose vendors wandering around inside. I probably ate too much, but it was mostly baby greens, grilled vegetables and brown rice, so as indulging goes it could have been worse. Oh, and the cake.

Basically, Dax doublecrossed us. The dinner was ostensibly a veggiegoth gathering, but for dessert the waiter brought out a vegan chocolate cake with "Congrats M + S" written on it, courtesy of Dax. We were so not expecting it, even though she'd been swearing she'd have some kind of celebration for our recent domesticating. Wouldn't'cha'know, she followed through. It was terribly sweet of her, and she had no idea that Michelle and Rocco had also gotten us that kind of cake, which just goes to show we have the coolest friends.

4:32pm

The first half of Charles and Annalee's show at the Roxie this morning (dubbed "Exploitation Brunch") was exploitation trailers and a hygiene film. Not nearly as much Shatner as promised, though. The second half was films from the Prelinger Archives—presented by archivist Rick Prelinger himself. Annalee was kind enough to introduce me to him, which was quite a thrill, as I've admired his work for years. The gushing was kept to a minimum, and I successfully resisted the urge to have my picture taken with him. Sometimes I worry that I can be a bit...overwhelming, especially to a quiet little guy in a 2600 t-shirt.

I told him we'd used Three Little Kittens on our show (with credit given to the Archives, of course), and briefly described some of the other films we're planning on using. He knew exactly which ones I was talking about—not bad when you consider they're two out of the 1,254 titles currently available online, with more on the way. Indeed, he said that more cat stuff would be added soon. Cool. Strictly speaking his permission and/or approval isn't required, since the films are officially "available for downloading, exhibition and reuse at no cost" for silly little projects such as ours, but I always like it when they know.

The movies themselves were rather chilling. One showed the warning signs of a country moving away from democracy and towards despotism (I'm not sure why the word "fascism" was never used, since it was made in 1946 when the word was still fresh on the public's mind), and much of it seemed like what our current government's been doing lately. Just a coincidence, no doubt—gotta battle them terrorists, y'know! Another, produced during by the Treasury Department (?) in 1945, was narrated by a white man made up to look Japanese and speaking in bad accent going on and on about why America sucked and how Japan was going to win the war. Disclaimers at the beginning and end assured the audience that was how the Japanese really felt about us, no fooling. Not surprisingly, there was a definite "we hate your freedom" undercurrent. The classics, they never die.

Between sets, I won a quasi-legal talking Jar-Jar Binks watch because I knew who Biggs Darklighter was: Luke Skywalker's childhood friend from Tatooine. They wanted to go to the Academy together, but Luke had to stay behind to help his aunt and uncle. I also knew they were reunited in the on the Rebel base at Yavin, though Biggs was subsequently killed by Darth Vader during the assault on the Death Star. Charles was terribly impressed by my level of geekiness. The sad thing is, I don't really consider myself a Star Wars fan, having willfully missed the most recent movie in theater. Sadder still, they'd almost asked a question about Herschell Gordon Lewis instead, and I would have gotten that wrong—The Gore-Gore Girls was his last movie, not The Wizard of Gore like I'd thought. Of course, I could have argued that his last movie is technically the as-yet-unreleased Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, but that would have been nitpicking. I have my Jar-Jar Binks watch, and that's what matters.

Since he was going to be driving around in that area anyway, Philip Ford and I arranged to meet at 16th and Valencia at half past one so I could give him the CD. When he saw me, he pulled over and opened the passenger side door. Since I was wearing my buetz with fishnets and a plaid schoolgirl skirt (which I'm not at all embarrassed to admit I bought at K-Mart for $12—if you can overcome the stigma of such places, there are some terrific deals to be had) and looked the part, I leaned in and said, "Wanna date?" I've always wanted to do that, and what better time than when there's a big gay boy behind the wheel?

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Friday, 19 July 2002 (transparent)
10:10am

I refilled my hormone prescription this morning. It's a very simple process. I call the pharmacy, give them the prescription numbers, go in, plunk down $20 for the insurance copay, and leave with a month's worth of provera and permarin. (Premarin is made from the urine of pregnant mares, hence the name. I am wholly aware of the ethical problems, particularly considering I'm trying wean animal products out of my diet. Thank you, drive through.)

It will cease to be so simple process if Maddy loses her medical insurance, which is seeming likely. At least, it could continue to be as simple, but not as cheap: without insurance, the 'mones cost an additional $100 or so. We lose our jobs, and our overhead expenses go up as a result. The irony is so beautiful, you want to buy it flowers.

There are, of course, other ways, and I'll be exploring them if it does happen. I know what I need and in what dosages, and there are places in town where 'mones can be had cheaply, and almost safely. If I'm not mistaken, Rocco gets his from the Tom Waddell Clinic, which I'd considered originally before I had the ways and means to do it through more official channels. They won't supply just anyone who comes in off the street, but I can bring in a fair amount of paperwork proving I've been at it for a while. Of course, with my luck, I'll probably be deemed too well off and turned down. There's always Mexico, I suppose.

11:49am

We're having dinner tonight at the newly opened (?) second location of Herbivore with Dax, Leni and others—rumor has it Imani will be making it as well—and tomorrow morning we're going to a show at the Roxie being put on by Charles and Annalee. It looks like it should be a lot of fun; it's a combination of WWII propaganda films from the blessed Prelinger Archives and exploitation film trailers. Those are, of course, two of my favorite things, even if the word "Shatner" keep getting thrown around. (Personally, I think Shatner-bashing is passe, and the unfortunate fact is that a lot of the decent work he's done—Roger Corman's The Intruder comes to mind—gets lumped in with the rest, because, you know, he's William Shatner, and everything he's ever done is now considered camp. And, to all the people who do impressions: we've heard it before, okay? Consider the joke gotten.) Anyway, that's 11:30am on Saturday morning at the Roxie. Just sayin'.

Getting out is good. I don't think I've done so enough this week. Hardly at all, really, except for the two-minute stop at the temp agency on Tuesday morning and the running of the occasional errand. I talked with Violet on the phone Wednesday night for a while (invited him to the Roxie thing, but there's no telling) and played phone tag with Philip about the Jayne County CD (who will definitely be picking it up from me after said Roxie thing), but that's about it. As scary as it can be sometimes, a lack of interaction with the outside world is a bad thing. Evidently I need it more than I used to.

4:23pm

you can't see me, but you know i'm here.

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Thursday, 18 July 2002 (who'll fall)
8:27am

Campaigning for the November elections has already begun. By this point in most presidential elections, I'm already sick of it all. Indeed, I was so fed up by the time Election Day rolled around in 2000, I decided I would not watch a single drop of coverage. None. I voted, then disassociated myself from it all. I didn't want to know what the latest exit polls said, who was beating whom, any of that. I figured I'd just wake up the next morning and there'd be a new president and the drama would be over. Gee, what a swell plan that was.

Anyway, running for Supervisor in my district is a man named Ed Jew. He seems like a nice guy, and if the Guardian endorses him he'll probably get my vote. (Hey, at least I vote at all, and they're where I'm at politically.) What weirds me out is his campaign sign. His last name is in a larger font than the rest of the words, and it's the first thing you see. Now, I may be gentilicious but I know my history, and especially these days when our government is recruiting citizens to spy on other citizens, there's something disconcerting about glancing at a store window and seeing the word "Jew." (This is not me being hypersensitive, and I don't think the signs are in poor taste or anything like that. They can show the WTC collapsing with the words "Vote for me or the terrorists win!" for all I care. It's just an odd coincidence.)

6:36pm

For at least the last twenty minutes, Captain Jack and Skully has been nothing but white noise.

God, I love KFJC.

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Wednesday, 17 July 2002 (all the things she said)
5:21pm

Looks like I'll be supplying Philip Ford with a CD of Jayne County's "Fuck Off" for a play he's co-producing with Jennifer Blowdryer. Finally, showbiz!

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Tuesday, 16 July 2002 (she walks on me)
7:49am

Right before an interview is not the best time to trim your bangs.

11:04am

Then again, I think in an interview you're supposed to at least sit down. We never made it that far. I handed her my resume(s), confirmed that I was available to start anytime and was willing to do any kind of admin or creative stuff, and was told that they didn't have anything just at the moment but to keep trying back. In other words, I doubt she paid much attention to my bangs.

While I was in the area I went by the Water Department and paid the bill. I looked at the employees, at desks in a quiet office, and felt a little envious. How do I get in?

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Monday, 15 July 2002 (interstate)
7:50am

Saturday night, vivisected for your reading pleasure.

finding sister midnight, part 1

The first thing you notice are the fangs, those $400/per dental enhancements. You can't help it, especially since she (smiles? laughs? giggles nervously?) so much. Next would perhaps be her gothy red and black clothes, or the shock of black hair, or the wild look in her eyes—what you can see of them through the hair, anyway. It was the fangs, however, which confirmed that it was the long-lost Danielle Willis. The drugs have taken their toll over the years, as they must, but it was her.

Charles' monthly spoken word show Writers With Drinks at Cafe DuNord had been earlier in the evening, and from there Maddy and I went to Jennifer Blowdryer's party. Conveniently, it was at an apartment within a block of the garage at 21st and Valencia, so we parked there earlier in the day then took the train to DuNord and back. Rather than curse the traffic gods for the mess that the City can be, you must be respectful and thank them when they smile on you.

The party was starting to wind down, and the already ill Maddy was feeling geez0red, when Danielle's friends arrived. Not that it had ever truly wound up; not much happened aside from sitting in the living room, munching on the spread of of what Jennifer called healthnik foods (not vegan, but at least vegetarian) and talking. Nice and mellow. There were people who recognized us from K'vetch and Poetry Mission, and we also got asked twice by people we'd just met if we were writers. I still don't know how to answer that with feeling like I'm overselling myself—especially since I don't, and probably never will, do it for a living—but I usually try to say "yes" without qualifying it too much. I've gotten pretty good at being told I'm beautiful without protesting, so I should be able to manage this, too. (The fact that we were invited there by Jennifer increased the probability of us being writers, of course; it's not like a stranger approached us on the street. Then the question is usually "Are you in a band?")

It wasn't until after he left that I realized one of the people asking—and who said we looked the part, which I'm filing under "compliment"—was Philip Ford, director of Vegas In Space. (All I can say about it is, if you're a closeted late-teen tranny in Fresno, it's the kind of movie that's gratifying to know exists, even if for years your only exposure to it is in the pages of Film Threat.) I wish I'd made that connection while he was still there, if only to let him know that his work was still remembered. I think that's important.

He mentioned at one point some time he'd spent on the street, presumably after the movie was made. Jennifer chimed in with a story of her own, as did everyone else there. Except for Maddy and I, who had nothing to tell. It's a peculiar sensation to be the one of the only two people in a room who has never been homeless, however temporarily; it didn't make me uncomfortable at all, but hopefully it's something I'll keep in mind as the prospect of a retail job looms larger. Even if I find myself back at Le Video to make ends meet, things could be worse, and I'm damn lucky. We both are.

Anyway, it was probably around eleven when Danielle's ex Violet arrived. Maddy recognized him before I did, as I've only seen the HBO Wild Cards special once, and she's watched it a few times. Quite a few.

If not for Wild Cards, I'd probably be going on about how much I hate that I've been single ever since The Ex and I broke up. It's like this: in the early nineties, Annie Sprinkle made a set of erotic playing cards (cf. the Jennifer Blowdryer link from a few days ago), including the likes of herself, Carole Queen, Susie Bright, and Danielle. HBO did a special about it, and when interviewed Danielle described herself as a bisexual with a bloodfetish whose lovers tend to be male-to-female transsexuals and transvestites.

Somewhere deep in the heart of Kansas, a light went on above the head of a twenty-something woman. She was stuck in a very bad marriage to a very, very bad man. Suddenly, she understood. She'd always liked femmey boys—as a teenager she'd dated guys in hair bands who wore more makeup than she did—and her attraction to women was always there, even if it had required intense sublimation. Admitting it to her husband had been a terrible mistake, and he'd also never hid his feelings about anyone who crossed gender lines. The words "Fucking freaks!" and "That's just wrong!" were frequently invoked.

But now she knew. This cool, vampiric-looking woman (with fangs, even!) from San Francisco and her tranny lover Violet had supplied the final piece to the puzzle which was her sexuality. She wanted to thank this person right then and there for showing her the light. Unfortunately, there were a few obstacles in her way.

I probably also didn't recognize Violet because he was in boy mode—which may or may not be his only mode these days, and I suspect he was never hardcore full-time like I am now—and he'd put on some weight. Not that he was overweight, but as he told me later, getting off the heroin and onto the methadone slows the metabolism down considerably. Just another reason why the smack-as-diet-pill approach wouldn't have worked for me: eventually you gotta come off the stuff, and the weight's probably going to come right back, and worse. Then there's the whole scary addiction thing. Um, nope. I'll stick to the water and bunnylunches, I think.

Danielle arrived shortly after Violet. Maddy and I were talking to people in the kitchen when she stuck her head in, flashed her pointies (she smiled, you perv), and said "Hi!" before ducking back out. We got a few more greetings like that; she might have thought we'd already met, but she couldn't quite place us. We get that a lot.

Continued, soon.

10:27am

See? Toldja.

finding sister midnight, part 2

I get that a lot, anyway. Danielle's current beau, for example, evidently thought I looked very familiar. That's certainly a popular one; I seem to have managed the trick of standing out in a crowd (maybe because you're six feet tall, moron?) while looking like a lot of other people. Considering that I've always aspired to be just another goth girl, I guess that's okay. I look generic, but then again, not.

We finally did get to properly introduce ourselves and talk to her. As she was signing a copy of her book Dogs in Lingerie (which Maddy and I had each bought years before we met), Maddy told her about the impact the Wild Cards special had on her. Danielle seemed to appreciate it, and I suspect she's always happy to come across another genetic girl who gets the tranny thing.

I honestly don't know if this quaifies as a coincidence or not, but it turns out we were in Danielle's old apartment, and one of her oldest friends, the host's roommate, still lived there. His room had been off-limits to the general party, but since we were with Danielle, he was cool with us being in there. "You're a tall one," he said as I first came in, and apparently he didn't read me until later when he asked gingerly if I was an F2M. It was surely drug-induced dyslexia, and he'd meant to say M2F, but I asked him all the same if he honestly thought I was trying to look like a boy. (According to Maddy it came out snarkier than I'd intended.) He said that no, I looked like a pretty girl. I assured him that was more the effect I was going for.

By midnight it was just Danielle, Violet, us and him. Everyone else had already left; Jennifer had surfed to a couch elsewhere, and Danielle's boyfriend and their friends had gone out for a smoke and never returned. She asked if we could give her a ride back to her hotel in the Tenderloin, and we said yes. (It's always the right thing to do.) She'd already said a couple times that she wanted us to see her room—I had no idea why, but sure, okay. There was something oddly endearing about it, like a kid wanting to show off their decorating skills. I probably I used to get like that, and even now Maddy and I like to make sure everything's just so when we have company.

Presently, as we were sitting on the floor of the bedroom, Danielle decided she needed to cut her hair, or at least restyle it. My job, she informed me, was make sure she didn't take off any length. I had no idea how to do that—I mean, doesn't cutting hair by definition involve taking off length?—but I nodded and agreed. She reshaped it into a Chrissy Hynde-esque shape which was in fact a definite improvement over how it had looked before, and I guess I did my job because she seemed happy with the length. The roommate compared it to Steven Tyler, to which Danielle objected (she was seriously digging the Chrissy look) although she mentioned that she'd done him in drag king shows before. I can very much see that; she mentioned later that she's been clocked as a boy before, in spite of being a genetic girl.

That's actually one of things that intrigued me the first time I'd heard of her, seeing an ad for Dogs in Lingerie in a photocopied independent book catalog so many years ago: she looked like she might be a tranny. And, I mean, come on, that name—Danielle? Puh-leeeze! That's almost as bad as "Georgette." Still, I was reasonably sure she wasn't (even back then, I had a good radar) but she looked like she could have been, and she didn't mind, working with it rather than trying to hide it. It was inspiring, especially to someone who was beginning to suspect based on their own feelings that gender was a fluid, amorphous thing, but couldn't find any positive expression of it in the world around them.

She handed me the blowdryer and told me to scrunch the back of her hair, demonstrating briefly. Does asking someone you've just met who doesn't do this sort of a thing for a living (so far as you know) to scrunch your hair qualify as trust or simply pragmatism? I'm not sure, but either way, I found myself scrunching Danielle Willis's hair. I could have compiled a list several volumes long of things I never would have pictured myself doing, and that probably still wouldn't have made it on. Maybe I could have envisioned clubbing with (e) and Lynn or having dinner with Michelle, but this was off the scale.

Then she set her sights on me. I suggested trimning my bangs, but she deferred to the resident bang expert Violet, who said he was too drunk to do it properly. Serious points for honesty. She drew a quick sketch of a possible new cut for me, but settled for straightening my hair, something it always needs. She patted down some sort of holding goo onto my head, handed Maddy the blowdryer, and got to work with the comb.

There are certain times in which the absolute best thing you can do is close your eyes, relax and let it happen. If it's true regarding pain, then it's doubly true regarding pleasure. Depending on who's doing it, having your hair worked on can be very sensual. Not sexual or erotic, mind you, but something more pure, more basic. Having Maddy and Danielle work on my hair together was blissful, partially but not entirely because I didn't see it coming. It's the unexpected moments you have to savor the most, because they'll never happen again.

As for Maddy, there wasn't much that could be done with her hair, although Danielle loved the blue and asked for a bit of it. Very few people could have a request like that granted, and Danielle was one of them. To be equitable, Danielle cut a lock of her own and gave it to Maddy. Unfortunately, attempts to put the others' hair into their own failed, so Maddy taped the lock of Danielle's into the inside front cover of the signed copy of Dogs in Lingerie. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would consider that the most fetishy thing ever. We could probably sell it on eBay and retire. ("L@@K! Signed Danielle Willis book w/hair! HOT!! goth/vamp") But we won't.

Danielle has a thing for condiments. Loves 'em more than the food they're supposed to go on, and carries around a jar of green cake-decorating sugar for a quick hit whenever she needs it. (Maddy had some, figuring it was close as she'd ever get to doing drugs with Danielle, as her usage is far beyond ours. I don't like sugar, so I passed. Besides, I still had to drive.) Lynn has a similar condiment fixation, and quite often Maddy plans meals around what she can have with salsa or ranch dressing. The eerie part? All three of them are into trannies. (It's not quite as much of a focus for Lynn as for Maddy and Danielle, but it's still there.) I have no idea what the tranny/condiment connection is, but someday I'll figure it out, and rest of the mysteries of sexuality will surely fall into place.

In addition to doing her hair, she put on makeup; evidently her working day was just beginning. She told me that the one thing (emphasizing "one") which could get me clocked is too much eye makeup, and showed me her technique for applying it. Not that I was wearing too much; my raccoony days are behind me, although I do still tend towards somewhat thick eyeliner. I almost said "Do you really think I'm passable otherwise?" but managed to stop myself. She'd made that clear, and it's very annoying when someone doesn't get such an obvous point. I know this because of how often I annoy people. I thanked her for both the tip and the implied compliment. I don't think I'll ever get tired of that sort of thing.

She also told me one of the drawbacks (or, at least, compromises) of fangs like hers is "you can't wear trick-or-treat makeup anymore." Apparently it throws everything out of balance, which makes sense; if you're already made up like, say, oh, me, then the other person is already half-expecting to find fangs, and where's the fun in that? Not that I've ever considered getting permanent fangs (we do have a standing offer from Lee to make removable ones), although word around Clay Center, Kansas is that we already do. While it's annoying that we were unable to spend a few stealthy days there without becoming the subject of gossip, that's a damn cool rumour.

The garage closed at two and it was pushing a quarter 'til, so we headed out. We dropped off Violet at his place in Japantown, then went into the Tenderloin. I'd been expecting that she would live in a scary place like the corner of Eddy and Jones, but in fact she was off of Polk, not too far from Divas or the bar where Smoke and Mirrors used to be held. (Used to be, until it got closed down for good. No more dancing to "Christianity is Stupid" for me.) Not the best neighborhood, but relatively well lit and with enough pedestrian traffic that I felt a little more comfortable parking my car than I'd expected to. Which is good, because I think she would have been terribly disappointed if we didn't come up to see her room.

A conclusion, or at least an end, is forthcoming.

12:39pm

finding sister midnight, part 3

On the way to her room, Danielle pointed out the wallpaper in the hallway, with its depiction of a mass foxhunt without a single fox to be found. She knows, because she's looked. I can imagine her having scoured it, trying to find a fox. Hell, I can imagine myself doing it.

I've read about them, but being the bourgeois pig that I am I've never been in a Single Room Occupancy hotel before. Her room was pretty much what I was expecting, roughly the size of our living room, mostly taken up by a bed at which I decided not to look. I was more fascinated by what appeared to be recent grocery purchases on the table: two jars of peanut butter, a box of powdered egg whites, and brown sugar, all unopened. I decided it was a mystery best left unsolved.

Living in the Sunset District, you can about forget the existence of fire escapes. Danielle led us out onto hers, for the lovely view of the neighborhood. I guess she wanted us to get the entire experience of where she lives. And why not? Before going back to the street—she'd invited us to go for a walk with her—Danielle had me check the street to make sure that a sheriff's van she'd seen from the escape hadn't circled back around. The coast was clear.

At first, anyway. I had to go across the street to get my ID out of the car, and when I returned we'd barely gotten to the corner before the van reappeared. Whoops. Well, they weren't around when I looked. The deputy commented that we'd gotten down from the fire escape pretty quickly. Danielle agreed that yes, we had, and that they should keep an eye out because there were some suspicious characters out tonight, and to try to keep safe. They agreed and drove off.

I'd had no idea that it was illegal to be on fire escape when the building wasn't on fire, but that was the impression I'd gotten by the fact that the deputies had remembered seeing us up there. I suppose that either Danielle or myself alone are fairly memorable, both being tall with black hair in velvet coats and a somewhat sinister countenance, but if you put us together and throw Maddy into the mix, we become very hard to miss. I wondered if they could have arrested us on general principle if they'd wanted to, and where they would have put me. I look female and my ID supports that notion, but an examination of my body (especially between my legs, which as we all know is the only way to determine gender) would suggest otherwise. I'd probably be traded for cigarettes before long.

Aside from the apparent possibility of getting thrown in the pokey for being outside at all, I was a little nervous at first walking around out there without an actual destination, but after a while I realized that we were safe with Danielle. She was in her element. She was Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, strutting as the bombs go off all around: you just knew she wasn't going to get so much as a scratch.

Besides, the encounter with the deputies had galvanized her, and Whorehelp was on the job. Whorehelp being an organization founded by Danielle to, well, help whores. (At the moment she's the only member, but, hey, acorns and oaks and all that.) Tonight, Whorehelp was going to let the working girls know that the sheriff's van was on the prowl. She also warned the speed dealers of the danger; when one of them asked her if she was in the market, she replied that if he just looked at her pupils he'd see she's set in that department. It answered a question for us, anyway.

I'd never felt quite so much like a working girl myself as when walking around with Danielle; certainly the johns in the cars, and the traffic was thick with them, seemed to be checking us out as much as anyone else. We were wearing coats and boots (hers at least had heels, whereas mine are flat) which meant we weren't displaying as much as the poor girls in the skimpy clothing and fetish heels shivering in the cold on Sutter, but that didn't seem to matter. Maddy, in less flashy attire and carrying a Marilyn Manson lunchbox, probably looked like a trainee still freshly bruised from the turnip truck accident.

Danielle was doing her own share of checkin' out of the ladies herself, mind you. Not to make a purchase, but because by her own admission she's a pig and has a fifteen year-old boy inside her. I know my share of dykes who would say the same things about themselves, gawd love 'em.

As we made the circuit and approached the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell theater, Danielle told me to take my glasses off. I did. Perfect, she said. We were going to go inside and tell them that I wanted to audition, but that I'd just arrived from Russia and didn't speak a word of English, hence taking care of the voice issue. (Evidently she didn't really think too much eye makeup was the only obstacle to passing. She's right, of course.) Obviously, I wouldn't really audition; we were just going to go as far as getting approved to audition, and she was wholly confident that I would be. The O'Farrell, it should be pointed out, does not knowingly hire trannies, and certainly not pre-ops such as myself.

Normally I would never consider doing something like that, but culture jamming the O'Farrell with her was irresistible; after all, there was The Danielle Willis Incident, when she beat up co-owner and notorious pussyhound Artie Mitchell for coming on to her a little too strong—which is to say, coming on to her at all. As a result, I couldn't say no. Besides, who knew? It might actually work.

Unfortunately, at almost three in the morning, the O'Farrell is closed. Danielle wasn't about to let that stop her, knocking on the door to get the attention of the few people left inside. She asked if an after-hours audition was possible, and what was sort of ID was required, since her friend Sonja (!) had just arrived and only had a passport. (Good strategy, when you think about it.) An employee opened the door long enough to glance out at me and say that a passport would be fine. When they were open, that is.

For Danielle, that was enough. As we walked away she was thrilled that it had worked, that I'd passed at the O'Farrell. Turns out she'd mainly done it because she knew I could use the validation—the woman knows her tranny psychology well. Because it did feel good, even if I wasn't convinced they'd gotten all that good a look at me. Obviously she had faith in my passability, and that counts for something; she decided that I look like "Johnny Depp's younger sister." Considering he's on the very short list of boys that I actually find attractive, I won't turn that one down.

She stopped at an actual hotel on the way back to her place to use the phone, introducing us to the clerk as Sonja and Natalia, both just in from Russia. Having used it all her life Maddy's voice is quite assuredly female, but apparently Danielle was seriously enjoying the visiting Russian thing. The payphone was downstairs out of the clerk's earshot, but when I spoke she shushed me, reminding me that I don't speak English. Very Method.

When we got back to Danielle's building it was decided to call it a night, though it was fairly obvious that she'd be awake for awhile, even without the aid of the coffee she'd been guzzling. Contact info had been exchanged with her as well as with Violet, although I can't say I'm holding my breath on hearing from her, or that she'll remember our names as anything other than Sonja and Natalia. But that's okay. The entire evening was one of those unique moments which you can't really expect to ever happen again. If it does, great. If not, at least we had that night, which was more than we could have hoped for.

The end.

2:22pm

Of course, nothing I did Saturday night required the nerve that it took for me to call the temp agency just now. The odds of me getting anything else in my "field" are slim, especially since CNET is their only client who has been looking for webmonkeys at all since last September—and even then, they knew they wanted me for the job and just used the agency as a necessary middleman. Anyway, I'll be going in tomorrow with my resume to see about getting general office work, to sell myself to them. So this is what fear feels like.

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Sunday, 14 July 2002 (sour times)
6:50pm

It's no Beowulf, but I seem to have a novel in me. Or a long-winded anecdote, anyway.

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Saturday, 13 July 2002 (worship the glitch)
11:06am

160. I've been here for a while now. It's not a bad place to be, especially at my height, though that can be hard to remember sometimes.

sometime after midnight

We played hair salon with Danielle Willis tonight. I helped her cut and blowdry her hair, she styled mine (and offered a few suggestions for a new cut), and her and Maddy exchanged locks of hair.

I love, repeat, love living in San Francisco.

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Friday, 12 July 2002 (blood from the air)
1:45pm

Unless there's a lot of movement, cats generally ignore television. (They really are more advanced than us.) They also have attention spans like...well, like cats. Which is to say, none to speak of.

And yet Oscar spent at least half an hour watching kittypr0n today as we were dubbing a tape. Sometimes there was no action, just him or Mina laying about, and he even seemed fascinated when Dana and Costanza's unfamiliar cats were onscreen. He went away after an episode ended, and before long Mina walked by, saw the screen, and started watching. It was all very odd.

Thankfully, we managed to get quite a bit of it on tape. I think I know what our next high-concept episode will be: the cats watching themselves on their own show. How terribly postmodern.

5:57pm

Oh, the prop went over well. When I was done, I opened it up and emptied the contents onto the table closest to the mic. (The contents being Kraft Philadelphia Chocolate Decadence Snack Bars.) Most of them were taken after the show, and the last few I managed to pawn off on Phred, who had been desiring them earlier in the day. She didn't make it until the show was ending, but it was nice to see her all the same, and afterwards Maddy and I ate at my favorite taqueria with her. (Embeth, unfortunately, had to go home.) Phred was in the neighborhood for an audition, which is a perfectably acceptable reason for missing our reading, although it doesn't quite match the sheer beauty of Shrike's reason for missing our commitment ceremony: she was getting fucked really well. I'd daresay Shrike made the right choice.

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Thursday, 11 July 2002 (perfect from now on)
8:32am

Some belated pictures from Pink Saturday.

2:21pm

This used to be a nice place to live. It really was. There was plenty of parking and not much noise. Now, the curbs are crowded with SUVs and we've been hearing ice-cream trucks. There goes the neighborhood.

3:31pm

I'm going to be reading the piece from K'vetch at Poetry Mission (an open mic at Dalva Bar at 16th and Valencia) tonight. I've edited it down a bit, reworded a few sentences, added some nutritional information—who doesn't love hearing numbers?—and generally streamlined it, so it's a bit more concise and doesn't run quite as long. I even have a prop.

I've also been practicing standing still while reading, or at least not moving constantly. I think I've figured it out.

5:38pm

Just so long as I don't follow Bucky Sinister. I don't think I could handle that.

11:09pm

Bucky was first up, and I was fourth or fifth, so it wasn't too bad. Better yet, I made him laugh a few times, which I counted as a victory since he has a dangerously sharp sense of humor. I went on before Shauna, and though she didn't make it, I noticed (e)'s name in the signup book from the time before. Good company, past and present.

Poetry Mission is a very different environment than I'm accustomed to (inasmuch as I've had a chance to get accustomed to much of anything), the cramped back room of a bar rather than K'vetch's comparatively open space. There was also a microphone, which I found ironic considering K'vetch doesn't have one. But it gave me a reason to stand in one place, not that there were a lot of options—the performer stands literally under the stairs—and I suppose I should get used to speaking into microphones. Because now that I've done it twice, I'm pretty sure I'm going to continue. I think I've even decided what my next piece is going to be.

The audience was small (a matter of physics), but included Embeth and Ted Naifeh, whom we'd met briefly a few months back at a signing for his comic Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things. Embeth was there to hear me read, and brought Ted along for the ride. He had to leave halfway through, though Embeth stayed until the end, so she got to hear Maddy's last-minute reading. (Because of a migraine she hadn't planned on reading, but decided to give it a shot in spite of the fact that she wasn't feeling well and was dressed casually. I'm very proud of her.) It was a pleasant surprise to see Embeth, though I was a bit worried—an open mic can be a miserable experience for all involved, and I wouldn't have wanted that on my conscience—but she enjoyed herself thoroughly, and thanked me for letting her know about it. I was very glad to hear that, and I hope I'll be seeing her at these sorts of shows in the future.

The evening's feature, Jennifer Blowdryer (warning: topless picture), told us something we've been wanting to hear for a long time but were beginning to doubt we ever would: Danielle Willis is alive and more or less well, living in the City and getting cleaned up. She may even be at a party Jennifer is throwing on Saturday night. Then again, she may not make it, but we'll be watching for her.

Of course, all this would be even better if we could be doing these things and be gainfully employed at the same time. Can't have everything, I guess.

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