Viva Las Vegas!

Again, I'll post in more detail when I get home. But I have done as I intended, and spent all my time in Vegas since Monday May 7th as myself (meaning as a woman).

It's been great! But that doesn't cover it. I expected I'd be all right, but things have been better than that. I'm not sure I can explain what it's like, so I won't try now. I will say I've never been so happy before in my life.

Best of all, I've had no adverse reactions at all. now, this is to be expected from any service people, as they will treat all their customers well. But even that much is a good sign of what gains in acceptance have been made over the years. and that's very good, too. Oh, I've noticed some stares, some disapproving looks, but i don't care. I've also received some compliments <g>, mostly on my clothes and jewelry. I've also had a couple of men hit on me :) One was just about wasted, though. The other wasn't.

The worst so far was a couple of days ago outside the Flamingo. A young man, quite obviously drunk (and at 3 PM, too), was walking close to me, and looking at me. I turned partway in his direction and smiled, whereupon he took a few steps back and told someone else "Man, that's a dude!" I just kept walking. It didn't go beyond that.

When i went shopping I was treated like any other customer, offered the use of changing rooms and overall made fully welcome. at Dress Barn, the sales woman went so far as to offer makeup tips and to look for a necklace to match my earrings. It's just too bad I'm set for spring/summer clothes and there are no fall/winter items at the stores right now.

I've also identified what areas I need help with. in some of these also how to improve. Overall I'm more positive than ever I will be able to transition, hopefully soon.

and I've experienced some changes, too, that are odd and rather unexpected. But I'll post about that later.

PS I'll post some pictures, too. After Doc posts his WoVCon pics, though :)

Now I'm off to donate the rest of my bankroll to the casinos, as this trip is rapidly approaching the end...

Nareed-

First off, it was a pleasure meeting you at WoVCon. I enjoyed shooting craps with you, both through the good, the bad, and the ugly!

My sister's godparents were/are a married couple, male/female. Early on in the relationship, the male told the female he was transgendered. After years of lying, She finally decided to transition and is now living life as a female, still with her partner. The wife is a deacon in the church and they both live very normal lives, for them (which includes extensive travel across the world with crazy stories from each trip.

One thing that really aided in "Connie's" transition (not real name) was the use of facial feminization and high levels of estrogen to allow the voice to be a bit higher. If you haven't looked into either (which I'm sure you have), this may help. It's amazing how much different Connie looks with those changes. If you didn't know and weren't suspect of a 6'4 woman, you probably wouldn't realize it.

Good luck with your transition. You are well on your way, and I'm glad you found people so accepting.

And it was great meeting you as well. Hopefully we'll be able to do this again someday soon.

Quote: Tiltpoul

One thing that really aided in "Connie's" transition (not real name) was the use of facial feminization and high levels of estrogen to allow the voice to be a bit higher. If you haven't looked into either (which I'm sure you have), this may help.

Thank you. Yes, as you probably expected, i have looked into such things. And into others, too, including plastic surgery. I should tell you i haven't yet bothered trying to re-train my voice much, though I did practice extensively before my trip. But that has not been a problem at all so far.

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Good luck with your transition. You are well on your way, and I'm glad you found people so accepting.

Thanks!

Now for more details. I'll try to spare you back stories and excessive detail (note I said "try").

I need some back story first. Whenever I try something that's hard, frightening or risky, I tend to leave myself options. But when I do I invariably take them. So for this trip as far as spending time as myself went, I left no options. This means I brought along no male clothes at all, except what I'd wear on the plane trips to Vegas and back. Also before leaving I scheduled an appointment at a TG-oriented business for a makeover. The idea was to start off on the right foot.

So on the second day (nothing happened on the first day), I went to Just You and met the owner, Amy, as well as some of her family at her salon. I'd come prepared, already wearing panties, body-shaper (details on request) and stockings under my shirt and jeans. I carried a small suitcase with some clothes, accessories and three wigs.

I showed my outfits to Amy and we settled on a brown-print dress. So I just put on my bra, breast-forms and dress and we were ready to go.

Amy is truly gifted as a makeup artist, and has long experience with TG makeup. She did the "instant facelift" trick with a wig cap and some surgical tape, which serves to smooth out the face a little and raises the eyebrows (or so I felt). Next she applied neutralizer on areas where there is facial hair. This is an important element. Without it beard shadow will be visible, no matter how close one shaves or how much foundation one slathers on. In fact, at first I had contacted Amy solely to obtain some neutralizer (also known as concealer or beard cover). I did note she applied it under my eyes. I tried to see and take note of everything she did, so I could eventually replicate it. This turned out to be an experience similar to learning video poker or my earliest attempts at cooking: I was doing most things right, but failed at or didn't know some things.

Over the neutralizer and all over the face she applied foundation, and then loose powder. Then Amy applied blush and lipstick. I learned I've been emphasizing the wrong place when using blush, placing it just a little bit too low on the cheekbones. Next came eyeliner and eyeshadow. Here I couldn't see certain steps, as her technique required me at time to look away from the mirror. I couldn't see exactly what she did with my eyebrows, either. Finally she asked which wig I thought would be best. I told her the medium-length, black bobbed one and she agreed. She proceeded to style it, while I had my eyes closed, then put it on me.

I was just blown away when I opened my eyes. I wish i could say more, but I was just about speechless then and remain so when looking back on that moment.

At the last we went through my accessories. I had no earrings good enough for daytime, but Amy found a lovely pair of nested gold hoop earrings to match the bracelet and necklace we'd picked out.

Now, before I post a photo of Amy's brilliant work, I want to post the "before" picture. Note it's 2 years old, but this serves perfectly to illustrate how far I've come:



And here's what 70 less pounds and a gifted artist wrought:



Before leaving, I made another good decision. In addition to the neutralizer, I asked Amy for the same tone of foundation she used. She suggested I take loose powder as well, which I did.

I guess this is enough for now. Next I'll tell you how things went, and what happened when I met the Wizard for dinner later that day.

Ok, so Amy called a cab for me. While waiting for it, I exchanged recipe and cooking tips with her mom, who was straightening up around the front of the shop.

I had the cab drop me off at the Wynn. My thinking was that it would be cheaper to take the SDX back Downtown from there than to pay for the ride to the 4 Queens. I found no free seats on the bus, which is normal that far up north in the route. However, a man kindly offered me his seat! I think he did it because I was carrying a suitcase. I thanked him, and did so again when I got off.

Shortly after reaching my room I got a text from the Wizard asking if I wanted to meet him for dinner. I called him to arrange a time and place. We settled on meeting outside the Grand Lux Cafe at the Venetian. I warned him he might not recognize me. I don't recall what I did just then, but eventually I rode the bus to the Venetian and played some six card poker while I waited for 6 PM.

After donating some money to pay the Wizard's salary (all in a good cause, naturally <g>), say around 5:45, I left the table and went to wait around the Grand Lux, which was conveniently near by. I spotted him about 5 minutes to six (I love punctual men). I walked near, but not toward him. I think he saw me, but didn't recognize me. To be fair, we'd met only briefly two years earlier, so he didn't have much to remember me by. Whereas we've all seen his pictures and videos often.

So I walked toward him and I know he did see me then. As he realized I was walking up to meet him, I swear his eyes went wide like little coffee saucers, and his mouth opened a little.

As I mentioned, I had several compliments throughout the trip, but that was the best.

The Wizard also kindly mentioned I just might pull it off, which was very sweet of him.

After greetings, I followed him with difficulty, to his car. One thing you may not know about our esteemed site owner is that he walks fast, and I do mean fast. He should forget about running marathons or scaling mountains, and instead try for the Olympic March team. Anyway, that's when we had dinner at Tacos El Gordo, which I take the opportunity again to highly recommend if you want authentic Mexican tacos in Vegas.

As I recall, we talked mostly about the message board. Oh, the Wizard ordered in his tacos in Spanish, and tried it on the cashier as well. The latter complimented him on his handling of Spanish, something no doubt he's too modest to say here. We also talked a bit about my plans and made tentative schedules for Spanish tutoring.

And that's the first day. The rest ought to be shorter, as I don't intend a day by day narrative. I just don't remember it all. And I won't talk about getting lost inside the MGM later that night, either...

I did find out one thing: silk is way too warm to wear in Las Vegas in the Spring.

I'll take a quick detour to the end: I lost two kilos, or about 4.5 pounds, while in Vegas. :D

I didn't stick to my diet, as that's hard or impossible to do while eating at restaurants or buffets. I planned to only eat two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. This proved more difficult than I thought, because for me dinner is around 8 to 10 PM, but I had several dinner invites for 6 PM.

What I ended up doing was to have a light meal, like a salad or sandwich, late in the morning or around noon, then have dinner either at or around 6, or later if I was dining alone. The exception was on WoVCon ][, when we all met for lunch. That day I ate lunch and then only a snack for dinner around 10 PM.

And there's the walking. I estimate I spent two hours, added up, at the least walking each day. Some days it was longer than that. I also took some long walks on the strip now and then, for the purpose of avoiding the Deuce.

Back to it. I told the Wizard I'd go shopping on Tuesday, likely at the outlet mall near Downtown. But first I wanted to cash in my Venetian chips form the day before. I wound playing six card poker again for about two hours, then I decided to sight-see around the Strip. And I needed to shop, as I hadn't brought that many outfits with me, plus I needed a skirt to match a blouse and some blouses to match a skirt.

The Wizard had suggested I try Ross. I decided to do so first, on Wednesday, and I did find a few things. One of them was this dress:



Now, I do like it, and it's easy and cool to wear in Vegas. But this is the dress that got the most compliments. I swear the two times I wore it, several people told me they liked it. One was a man soliciting money for stray animals. He even hit on me ;) Another was the woman at the free pull machine in the 4 Queens entrance.

I can only guess that blue agrees with my overall complexion more than other colors. Fortunately it is my favorite color (the walls of my room are done in sky blue).

I also found a beautiful leopard-print, chiffon skirt with an intermission hemline. Unfortunately I haven't found a top to match it. And I bought an evening little black purse and some slippers. Best of all I found a perfect bra for the breast forms I currently use. But only one. I went back to search for more, but found none. I even went to the bigger Ross near the Showcase Mall (the one with the Coca Cola and M&M shops), but found none.

I'll backup and explain a few generalities and one statement I made.

You may recall discussions of a restroom strategy last year, or maybe not. In any case, using a public restroom can be problematic. It's the single action most likely to get a transgender person in trouble. So I opted for not using any, except the one in my hotel room. This proved a bit difficult, but I managed by controlling when and what fluids I took. A good tip is to strictly limit caffeinated drinks, as caffeine has a mild diuretic effect.

My overall idea was a "don't scare the horses" approach. This is from an old British expression, to the effect that most people tolerate anything that doesn't frighten, threaten or upsets them, or that doesn't cause "trouble." Women who would not react adversely to me on the street or on a bus, might do so if they found me in the ladies' room. Of course, they might not, either. But I thought I should minimize risks anyway.

Now I wonder if I wasn't overly cautious. At the Golden Nugget every night there's a guy handing out coupons for the upstairs lounge, bar or whatever it was. I took one as a souvenir once, and waived the man off saying "no, thanks." every other time. One night I did that, he said "Oh, you don't need one anyway." That was on Ladies' Night :)

Anyway, I said earlier on this thread I experienced some rather odd changes. So:

My libido went way down. This is more or less normal on vacation, as I find most of my time occupied or I'm too tired. But this time it went further. It was like it went into hibernation for the whole time.

Second, I began to notice men more. Not sexually, at least I don't think so, but I'd take more notice of them and would look at them. A few times I felt some attraction, too.

Third, I developed a taste for raw tomatoes. This is really weird, because I find raw tomato slices visually repellent, and I have a hard time with the texture. Nevertheless, I ate them when they came with a salad, and even put some in at a buffet salad bar. Odd.

I'll continue the story later today after my electrolysis appointment.

But I want to post a little update. I bought a size 34 pair of jeans yesterday and they fit perfectly! I'm down 4 waist sizes already! I'll surely go down one more, maybe even two.

Sorry, turns out getting back to electrolysis after a long break really takes a toll. Not to mention scheduling appointments on consecutive days...

So Thursday I finally made it to the outlet mall. My first stop was Naturalizer to get comfortable shoes. As noted before, i was made welcome at the store and had a great deal of attention from the sales woman. We even chatted a bit. I told her my mother only buys shoes from their store since she had surgery on one foot back in the 80s.

I found a pair of very nice flats at once (see doc's pictures of WoVCon ][ and related events) in black and nude. I saw a pair of low heel pumps I really wanted, but they didn't have them in my size. I tried half a size larger, but they were too big. I did sign up for the store loyalty card.

At one point the sales woman said something about nude being the "new black." That's an expression you hear in fashion as often as in gambling you hear about the "new three-card poker." So I asked her whether black had already been the "new black" yet, and she burst out laughing :)

Then I walked the mall looking at stores. I entered a few, but didn't find anything I wanted, or wanted to pay the prices for at any rate. So eventually I made it to Dress Barn. I like bigger stores anyway, as they usually have more brand variety anyway.

Let me tell you about D, the sales lady. She not only took good care of me, but also put up with my odd tastes, like my dislike for big buttons, for example, and my insistence on tops with some kind of sleeve. I don't get the sleeveless trend that just keeps going and going.

Just the same, I did get a purple, sleeveless dress. For one thing it makes for a good day/evening look with a few accessory changes, and for another purple is the new black ;) D commented purple goes well with hazel eyes (first time anyone has said to me anything about my eyes), and I could put on some purple eye-shadow as well. This took me back to when I was first experimenting with makeup, lo these many years ago...

I mentioned I was looking for a skirt to match a brown-patterned blouse. We looked, but I couldn't make up my mind. D suggested I come back later with the blouse. I would have, too, but I fund a perfectly matching skirt at Ross later that day.

D asked whether I wanted to try the clothes on. That can be a major sticking point for TGs out shopping. Alas, with the makeup I wore, smearing anything that went through over my head was a certainty <sigh>. So I declined, quite confident on what would fit or not. She did say I could return anything that didn't fit or look good.

This is getting too long, and there's a lot more I'd like to say, but surely everyone's tired of a long post about shopping. I'll just say both of Doc's pictures with me in them show clothes and accessories I got at Dress Barn.

I think I've covered the most salient aspects of this trip, here and in other threads. I'll just add a few points and observations.

I regard the style of dress I wore as casual. Just the same, I felt overdressed most times in Vegas. Not that it troubled me, but it does tell me my ideas on "casual" vary with those of the rest of the world, or at least America :)

Of course, sometimes I wasn't sure about some items. Consider this photo, kindly taken by our very own Wizard:



high-resolution link



Aren't the shoes and purse too light for that outfit? When I look at it, half the time i think they are, the other half I think they match rather well (BTW, the bag I found at a shop on the retail area between Cal and MSS, and it only cost me $10).

Anyway, there were some benefits, too. For one thing the porn slappers tended to leave me alone. That's a novel and very nice feeling. Overall, men tended to let me on and off the elevator and the bus, too. That was nice, too.

So that's the gist of it (finally!) But I'll post more if I think of something to add.

After seeing your pics I am 93.67% sure I bumped into you. It was DT either Sunday or Monday. I was standing behind you and I can only imagine it was Walgreens or were you at the Mob Museum? I was going to yell Nareed but by the time I turned around you were gone. I can picture the face but not the scenery.
But glad you had a good time in LV. Even more glad you were able to be you. Heck if ya can't let it all hang out in LV where can ya.

Hopefully our paths will cross sometime across the felt. Till then Go on girl.
EDIT: didn't you say you were going to the Chuck Jones Exhibit at CC? I never got there did you?

Quote: Wavy70

After seeing your pics I am 93.67% sure I bumped into you. It was DT either Sunday or Monday. I was standing behind you and I can only imagine it was Walgreens or were you at the Mob Museum?

I went to the Walgreens next to the zipline ticket office almost every day to get juice and soda. And I went to the Mob museum on either Wednesday or Thursday (16th or 17th). So it's rather possible.

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Hopefully our paths will cross sometime across the felt. Till then Go on girl.

Thanks. I hope so, too. I should be in Vegas again next year around May, whether or not I organize WoVCon ]I[

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EDIT: didn't you say you were going to the Chuck Jones Exhibit at CC? I never got there did you?

I forgot all about it. There's always next year, if the CC is still there by then...

Nothing really new to add, except the obligatory Binion's Million Dollar photo:




The photo is free. You don't even have to present a player card. The funny thing, though, is Binion's was running a "free pull" like they do at the 4 Queens. Except here they gave you a coupon sheet with some offers for new club members and a coupon for a "promotional slot machine" inside. This turned out to be near the back of the casino. There you played a slot machine where you had to stop each reel individually.

I didn't see anyone win anything, but once you were done playing it spat out a consolation prize. This was a "free $1,000,000 photo."

That's so absurd! A free free photo? Wow!