Marking time…

Well it had to happen at some point: I’ve run out of things to say again!

Way back in the earliest days of this blog, I mentioned that I’d been too busy doing things to stop and write about them. Specifically, I’d started going out and about around Scotland taking photos for a calendar for my friends, dressed up in different daft outfits.

Don’t stare at the bright, shiny future without protecting your eyes…

And that’s what I’ve been doing on and off ever since then; over the past decade I’ve put together eight tongue-in-cheek calendars for a select few friends, each one requiring about a dozen photo sessions to cover each month. I have to tell you, it was all bloody good fun!

The photos from each trip have made their way onto the blog gallery, and provided a ton of things to talk about in between the current affairs, psychology and random observations.

It passes the time…

I’ve reached the point where I’ve run out of ideas – I haven’t been on any more photo road trips recently, so I haven’t got any more new content for the blog. But this doesn’t mean there’s no more blog!

I’ve already learnt not to say ‘goodbye’ – sometimes life will take you by surprise. Instead, I’ve found that being Twist is a thing that happens when I need it the most. And for the time being, she can put her feet up. She’ll be back in my life, I just don’t know when!

Until next time – have fun! 🙂

I’m not turning my back on you…

Getting over the ups and downs

How did I get halfway through the year already??? And what happened to all those blog posts I had planned?

I can answer the second question straight away: they’re on their way. As for the first part… I guess I just got distracted by life in general. I don’t post about my life in non-Twist mode (not relevant to the blog, at least as I intend it), but sometimes the non-Twist stuff needs to be attended before I can go off on more adventures.

For one thing, I’ve got a garden now, and I’ve been learning about Zen And The Fine Art Of Murdering Plants the hard way. So that’s a happy distraction.

Digging trenches for the battle of Hoth.

I’ve also been spending a good chunk of the year losing my lockdown flab (again).

I was sick of being out of breath, tired, and feeling like a sack of potatoes. So I renewed my acquaintance with the swimming pool and have been jumping into the granny lane at 5.30am twice a week. I’ve also been having regular pre-breakfast walkabouts before the city wakes up – kind of like Batman on patrol, minus the whole beating-up-clowns-at-night thing, and swapping the cape for running shoes. (So, nothing at all like Batman.)

I have been getting in touch with my inner self. I make sure to mop up afterwards. And the neighbours asked me to stop doing this outside because the noises I make agitate their pets.

I’ve reached the point where I’m Twist-shaped once more (and probably fitter than I was fifteen years ago; now there’s a statement that screams “mid-life crisis”). I have no idea what adventures I want to go on this year, so I’ll just take things as they come.

Looking forward to a new dawn! …which will likely be blowing a gale, so keep your hair on.

Meanwhile, I have plenty to share from last year, and I’ve finally selected which pictures to use (sometimes I have something to say, and choose how to illustrate it afterwards; other times I have a bunch of photos and then work out what stories they tell…).

Stay tuned!

Magnificent bumps. On the landscape, I mean.

You still haven’t seen the back of me yet.

Never say never again…

So, way back when I announced I wouldn’t be blogging any more, because my brains had spoken enough and I wasn’t going to have any more Adventuuuuures in Crossdressinnnnng*… might’ve been a bit too soon.

I have BEEN PLACES

Life has a funny way of coming at you. This year has been… eventful. And in the process, I’ve found being Miss Twist has given me a great reason to get back into shape and live a healthier lifestyle; been a fantastic mood-lifter; a great way to reconnect with old friends; a great way to make new friends; and a fantastic excuse for going on a whole bunch of new adventures.

I lost so much weight before doing this shit.

All of these, I will write about in the coming months. There will be pictures. Sweet, muscular Jesus, there will be pictures!

I’m all about healthy living. (No I’m not.)

For now, all you need to know is, my adventures continue… 🙂

Epic Scottish legendary monsters, muthafuckaaaaz!

Epic retro sci-fi cosplay, muthafuckaaaaz!

*In my head, ‘Adventures in Crossdressing’ has to be read out in an epic voice with an echo.

Forever young

This will most likely be my last blog post here. I started it in January 2012, and I suspect my brains have said all they need to (at least on the subject of “adventures in crossdressing”).

This year also marks about 10 years of Twist going out in public. I first came out to my writing group, where one of my friends suggested “Twisted Sister” as a pseudonym, after the 80’s band. Somewhere along the way, this mutated into “Miss Twist”.

I came across the advice from Dita von Teese on finding our style and developing confidence:

You can be a juicy, ripe peach and there’s still going to be someone who doesn’t like peaches, so you can either submit to someone’s criticism of you, or you can get on with the business of being your own amazing self who attracts other like-minded people that appreciate you.

Through Twist, I made a ton of friends I’d never have met otherwise. But cross-dressing was never a deep part of who I am; compared to some of my friends, I’m just a gender tourist – they’re proper ex-pats. For me, it’s cosmetic; for others it’s part of a process of figuring out their real gender identity, and they face a struggle for acceptance:

The trans woman in the public restroom is not saying, “I’m here to invade your space!” – she’s saying, “please take me in, I have no other place to go.” We’re not conquerors or invaders, we’re refugees.

*

The past couple of years I’ve noticed my wardrobe’s not had any new additions, and everything’s looking a bit… tired. The wig that’s been about half of what makes Twist ‘Twist’ was starting to fall apart. I had a choice: get a new wig, or keep it going?

A different wig somehow wouldn’t feel like Twist any more. I mean, I look pretty much the same in every photo that’s taken – and I kinda feel like Twist should look like that forever. (I can’t imagine an elderly Twist.)

I’ll keep going out as Twist – meeting up with friends – for as long as I can. Last year in Edinburgh I went on my local march against Donald Trump who was visiting Scotland at the time (“I’m here to chew gum and signal my virtue – and I’m all out of gum!”). I learnt not to march in heels, by the way…

Otherwise, I don’t feel that urge, that pressure to go out in girly mode. It’s quite a relaxed state of mind.

Twist always has been and will always be a part of me – don’t think you’ve seen the last of her!

Until next time (whenever that may be)…

All I’ll say is, you may not have completely seen the back of me… but this’ll do for now. 😉

Brain Freeze

Minor news: I’m not going to be doing monthly updates any more.

I’m still going to post blog entries and I have a ton of photos still to add to the galleries – my brains aren’t done speaking yet! – but I’m not going to stick to my once-a-month schedule.

For one thing, I don’t do enough as Twist to justify making the blog a diary; for me, cross-dressing isn’t a lifestyle or anything more than skin-deep. A lot of the stuff I wanted to do as Twist has been done. In many ways, whatever itch made me want to cross-dress has been scratched. I’m in a fairly happy, tension-free place now. I can go out as Twist or not – I’m cool with it either way.

But life’s always more vibrant when I’m Twist. 🙂

I blog about a few big-ish things I do (or have done), or things I want to take my time and research before posting (ideally, stuff that will be valid whenever it’s read, rather than as a reaction to current events). The last thing I want to do is get repetitive.

I still have adventures to share and opinions to bloviate upon. I just won’t be doing it quite so frequently.

And I’ll always keep up with reading my fellow bloggers. 🙂

Until next time…