LGBTAitP 26: No Time For Snappy Titles

[Arachu]

You know what I want? Brain extensions, starting with sensory processing. Preferably wireless or integrated or something so I wouldn't have random bits of plastic sticking out of my head. I would proceed to watch trippy music videos with colors and sounds I couldn't see/hear before.

Not to rain on your parade, but Dolphin vocabulary according to the article is 200 words. That's a two-year old. Don't expect to talk philosophy with it anytime soon.

I also couldn't get information on whether dolphins combine their noises in a systematic way. Because language isn't just words, it's grammar - combining words to form sentences, sentences to form stories and conversations, etc.

I didn't say they were very eloquent, just that they identify by combinations of sound. Having words to begin with puts them closer to people than most humans seem to assume anything is.

Good points, though.

And the octopus... did you look at the timeframe? Long-term recall was 24-hours later. I would hope that if I learned to distinguish a red ball from a white I would be able to do it the next day.

They're intelligent, very intelligent, but the gap between them and humans is still enormous.

Didn't quite get the time frame or the forgetting... Actually I assumed the first one lost interest or figured out the red ball was too fast to catch.


Also: chimpanzee memory. @.@

Apparently having photographic memory impedes abstract thought and language-forming, but I'd definitely say they have most of us beat on the former.

Just imagine the amount of trouble Lix would be in in an Virtual Reality Thread.

... That thread would be so awesomely chaotic. XD

Eh... second guessing myself again. Have been male for the past couple of days, but I went out last night en femme, and the switch over was so easy that I started worrying that maybe I'm pushing myself into being more girly, that it's not real. After all, if I'm making a concious choice to be male or female, then is that really who I am?

If you can choose, clearly who you are is someone who can choose. ^_^

That said, try not to push too much if you are... You should enjoy yourself however you present~ *Hugs*

(Also what Asta said - it doesn't have to be set in stone to be important. )


~Bianca

[Absol197]

Eh... second guessing myself again. Have been male for the past couple of days, but I went out last night en femme, and the switch over was so easy that I started worrying that maybe I'm pushing myself into being more girly, that it's not real. After all, if I'm making a concious choice to be male or female, then is that really who I am?

I've been having similar worries for a while. I tend to get really wrapped up in new things, and I've been concerned that I just got the idea in my head, and I'm pushing myself to something that's not really me. Now, I'm pretty sure that's not the case, but the idea's always there. I can't really offer any useful advice, but I can offer sympathy and *hugs*

I went clothes shopping yesterday. I won't lie, I was rather embarrassed while I was in the store, but I'm really happy with what I picked out. And the cashier even said some of the things I bought were cute . First time I've done that in a long time, but I must say it was an overall positive experience.

[Zorg]

@ Helio - I guess the question would be if much changed about you when you went out femme? I don't mean appearance, but behavior / personality etc. I lack the confidence and appearance to go out femmed up at the moment, but I've noticed on reflection that when I'm with friends who I'm out to that I certainly act more 'girly'. But when I'm not I don't, and I don't think it's anything to do with forcing the issue.
My personal take is that when I'm not out it's not that I'm swapping, it's that I'm keeping something back. Now, I find this very easy to do - I'm quite a reserved person in real life if I don't know you well - and I regularly keep a lid on things so to speak when at work or whatnot.

I still find it incredibly easy to slip into a conversation about hairstyles, clothes (shoes!) and makeup even if a few moments ago I was bro-ing it up with some dudes.
So, yeah, I wouldn't worry about it so long as you're comfortable with yourself


-

Got my first electrolysis appointment on Tuesday, which is good - but I have to let my facial hair* grow out, which is bad. Not liking looking in the mirror at the moment, but at least I'm getting it done now before my hair grows out or I start going femme. I'd hate to have to let it grow for treatment when I would otherwise feel comfortable going female.


And in other news my GF and I have prettymuch sorted things out. They're still up in the air in regards to our future as a couple, but we've sorted out things in regards to moving out, telling parents and so on. So even with a degree of uncertainty about some things we're doing ok.




* wrote "beard" but it felt really wrong to refer to myself as having one- bit sickening in a way. Kinda good sign in some ways I guess

[Mina Kobold]

Eh... second guessing myself again. Have been male for the past couple of days, but I went out last night en femme, and the switch over was so easy that I started worrying that maybe I'm pushing myself into being more girly, that it's not real. After all, if I'm making a concious choice to be male or female, then is that really who I am?

To quote and paraphrase Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore; It is our choices, Helio, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. To you, it might be a conscious choice, but the road you have picked is no less important for it. If you wish to be female, even when presented with the option not to be, then it is just that much more a part of you.

Or, if that is too serious. A Helio that chose male might be the Voldemort to your Harry Potter, and Voldemort is scary! ._.

[Coidzor]

* wrote "beard" but it felt really wrong to refer to myself as having one- bit sickening in a way. Kinda good sign in some ways I guess

Why would it be good?

Or, if that is too serious. A Helio that chose male might be the Voldemort to your Harry Potter, and Voldemort is scary! ._.

Well that's being a bit harsh.

[Lentrax]

Just a little, I think.

And Helio, whoever who choose to show everyone, you are still you. So to you, I offer the following:

Wherever you go, whoever you decide to be, just be happy doing it.

[Asta Kask]

*Wonders if a humanoid with tentacle limbs would be plausible... It seems like that wouldn't be any more demanding than the human setup, if somewhat unable to use human tools.*

~Bianca

Elephant trunks are capable of handling tools so why not? The males also have a prehensile penis.

[Zorg]

Why would it be good?

A sign that I'm mentally shedding my 'maleness' more completely. Don't quite know how else to express it.

[Saposhiente]

There is a genetic mutation that makes women grow facial hair.

[noparlpf]

Easy to solve.
Give them their own personal (anti)gravity generator. Arthropods can get a great deal bigger with lower gravity. Or no gravity at all.
My avatar... huh... look, she's a thing from another dimension, I don't know if they have gravity over there. Maybe she thinks it's some quirky local folklore. I don't think she's hydraulic, anyway.

First somebody has to invent that...

Damn, yeah, that'd make it perfect!

Well, actually, "perfect" would be a immersive virtual reality that we could enter as replicas of our avatars and sit around and chat with one another ... and order food. And free refills.

It'll be a few years. And I might have to use a different avatar if I want to eat.

When I was going through a really hard time emotionally/mentally I took some advice to start keeping a journal of at least three good things that happened every day, and that really helped. It was easy and a definite goal, and it made me focus on positive things that happened. So maybe some definite goal like that would help you focus?

That's definitely a good idea.

Not to rain on your parade, but Dolphin vocabulary according to the article is 200 words. That's a two-year old. Don't expect to talk philosophy with it anytime soon.

I also couldn't get information on whether dolphins combine their noises in a systematic way. Because language isn't just words, it's grammar - combining words to form sentences, sentences to form stories and conversations, etc.

Whose two-year-old? Two-year-old me was speaking full paragraphs and doing basic arithmetic. And my brother, although worse at math, talked a little earlier.
And besides, even a rudimentary language is a start. We were at that point a hundred thousand years ago. (Or whatever, I forget the estimates.) Unfortunately, their lack of manipulators and fire will probably keep them at around that level.

Elephant trunks are capable of handling tools so why not? The males also have a prehensile penis.

Elephant penises are the coolest penises.

[Zorg]

There is a genetic mutation that makes women grow facial hair.

Oh thanks now my dysphoria is completely cured

[Castaras]

There is a genetic mutation that makes women grow facial hair.

Women grow facial hair anyway. At least, older women have to deal with whiskers / hair around the moustache area. Normally it's only at tweezer level, but it exists. Not something I'm looking forward to having to do. =/

[Coidzor]

A sign that I'm mentally shedding my 'maleness' more completely. Don't quite know how else to express it.

Ah, seemed for a moment there like you just had intensified dysphoria that focused on a word for a type of facial hair rather than the facial hair itself.

Actually I'm still not sure I'm grokking you. Either you're dysphoric and there was no maleness to shed or you're more fluid and there's nothing orally wrong about having a male component to your identity.

And if we're talking something that was induced via trauma, it seems odd to identify it as your maleness rather than for what it is, a facade erected to protect one's self from the world... And making a word a repository for your angst seems problematic or possibly even counterproductive if that were the case, at the very best neutral rather than something good.

[Heliomance]

Uh... if you're dysphoric there's pleny of maleness to shed. The maleness is in fact everything that feels wrong and makes the dysphoria.

[Asta Kask]

Whose two-year-old? Two-year-old me was speaking full paragraphs and doing basic arithmetic. And my brother, although worse at math, talked a little earlier.

A typical two-year old, who will at that time use two-word sentences.

Elephant penises are the coolest penises.

It's so useful! Need a fifth leg to stabilize you? Penis. Need to swat flies in an area where the trunk can't reach? Penis.

Uh... if you're dysphoric there's pleny of maleness to shed. The maleness is in fact everything that feels wrong and makes the dysphoria.

I wish I could understand what it felt like... without actually having to experience it, because it sounds like hell.

[Coidzor]

Uh... if you're dysphoric there's pleny of maleness to shed. The maleness is in fact everything that feels wrong and makes the dysphoria.

Physically and learned mannerisms(at least some of which aren't even widely considered to be male anymore because feminism as Serpentine and others have mentioned in the past), yeah. The consensus and thought I've always seen on the matter was that transwomen were not male except physically and whatever training from their upbringing they received.

Experiencing emotional anguish from a word for facial hair even when it's not even being discussed in a context that has to do with one's self, like, say, if one went into the You Thread or even went through the backlog of this thread to a couple of my posts... And I may be mistaken that such is the case... But I could hardly call it a good thing, emotional anguish being unpleasant as it is.

If I'm getting something wrong, please explain rather than try to silence me. That's why I'm including all of these qualifications so you've got a chance to say, stop right there, you've misunderstood something here.

[noparlpf]

A typical two-year old, who will at that time use two-word sentences.

See, I don't have any idea what normal kids are like. I avoid others' most of the time, and my family is atypical.

[Astrella]

Physically and learned mannerisms(at least some of which aren't even widely considered to be male anymore because feminism as Serpentine and others have mentioned in the past), yeah. The consensus and thought I've always seen on the matter was that transwomen were not male except physically and whatever training from their upbringing they received.

Experiencing emotional anguish from a word for facial hair even when it's not even being discussed in a context that has to do with one's self, like, say, if one went into the You Thread or even went through the backlog of this thread to a couple of my posts... And I may be mistaken that such is the case... But I could hardly call it a good thing, emotional anguish being unpleasant as it is.

If I'm getting something wrong, please explain rather than try to silence me. That's why I'm including all of these qualifications so you've got a chance to say, stop right there, you've misunderstood something here.

Stuffs that's strongly coded male tends to be a stronger 'reminder' though of dypshoria.

[Zorg]

Ah, seemed for a moment there like you just had intensified dysphoria that focused on a word for a type of facial hair rather than the facial hair itself.

It's both. All people have facial hair, even if it isn't noticable. The thought of having a beard sickens me as much as seeing that I do have one does.

Experiencing emotional anguish from a word for facial hair even when it's not even being discussed in a context that has to do with one's self

Given I was blatantly refering to myself:

but it felt really wrong to refer to myself as having one

I don't get how you could think the word beard offended me on a personal level outside of that.


I've had almost thirty years of "training", so I've got a lot to get rid of. And as the debate earlier about demi-romantics and asexuality would show the consensus can go and cram it with walnuts when it comes down to individuals.

[Lady Serpentine]

Damn, yeah, that'd make it perfect!

Well, actually, "perfect" would be a immersive virtual reality that we could enter as replicas of our avatars and sit around and chat with one another ... and order food. And free refills.

Wouldn't it be better if we didn't have to be our avatar? Because I don't think most of my avatars would work too well, considering one of them has two people, and all of them* contain someone of a different gender than I am, which would be not fun at all, from what I've heard.

*Not including the one being eaten by an eldritch abomination which I've never used in my avatar box, or the one I used only on one special occasion.

[Mono Vertigo]

Order food?
... my avatar doesn't have a mouth. I don't know how she feeds. Or what she feeds on.
Note to self: put actual thought into the specifics of that creature.
At least I could hug several people at once in real-time. That's a plus. Even though I don't identify with my avatar at all, it's more like a personal puppet that offers me a comfortable distance between my actual self and my Internet identity. For all I care, I could just as well take back my old Dalek avatar (which would have the unfortunate side-effect of being less suited for any non-murderous activity, and I'm only occasionally in the mood to kill, myself).

[pffh]

It's so useful! Need a fifth leg to stabilize you? Penis. Need to swat flies in an area where the trunk can't reach? Penis.

Even if I could swap flies with my penis I don´t think I'd do it. It just sounds like an unpleasant experience. But there are other uses for prehensile penises in the modern world. An example would be say pushing hotkeys on a keyboard while gaming that you couldn't easily reach with your hands or stabilizing a heavy box that you are carrying or grabbing a clean paper towel when you have stuff on both hands and don't want to get the stuff on the rest of the paper towels.

[Arachu]

I wish I could be my avatar. She's so pretty~ :3

... Or, well, I wish I could look more like her. The OotS proportions would take some getting used to. As would being 2D. X3

Got my first electrolysis appointment on Tuesday, which is good - but I have to let my facial hair* grow out, which is bad. Not liking looking in the mirror at the moment, but at least I'm getting it done now before my hair grows out or I start going femme. I'd hate to have to let it grow for treatment when I would otherwise feel comfortable going female.

*Hugs* At least it'll be gone after~

I really wish I could get one of those No-No things... Shaving is so tedious and I can always feel stubble again in hours. >.>

And in other news my GF and I have prettymuch sorted things out. They're still up in the air in regards to our future as a couple, but we've sorted out things in regards to moving out, telling parents and so on. So even with a degree of uncertainty about some things we're doing ok.

*More hugs* However things turn out, I hope it goes well~

* wrote "beard" but it felt really wrong to refer to myself as having one- bit sickening in a way. Kinda good sign in some ways I guess

I think I get it... Sort of? It's like, reaffirming or something.

Elephant trunks are capable of handling tools so why not? The males also have a prehensile penis.

Good point (also the thought of something using a saw or something with its penis is amusing).

It's so useful! Need a fifth leg to stabilize you? Penis. Need to swat flies in an area where the trunk can't reach? Penis.

I wish I had space left to sig this. XD

Experiencing emotional anguish from a word for facial hair even when it's not even being discussed in a context that has to do with one's self, like, say, if one went into the You Thread or even went through the backlog of this thread to a couple of my posts... And I may be mistaken that such is the case... But I could hardly call it a good thing, emotional anguish being unpleasant as it is.

If I'm getting something wrong, please explain rather than try to silence me. That's why I'm including all of these qualifications so you've got a chance to say, stop right there, you've misunderstood something here.

It sounds... Pretty complicated. It would probably be hard enough to explain if it readily made sense (triggery things rarely do).

Wouldn't it be better if we didn't have to be our avatar? Because I don't think most of my avatars would work too well, considering one of them has two people, and all of them* contain someone of a different gender than I am, which would be not fun at all, from what I've heard.

*Not including the one being eaten by an eldritch abomination which I've never used in my avatar box, or the one I used only on one special occasion.

I wouldn't mind being two people. Well, I don't think I would. It might be kind of hard to keep up with it all. Maybe if they moved automatically and I just thought with both or something... [/ramble]

[nonramble]; sorry I never got around to posting in FFRP, I couldn't figure out where to start or anything... >.>


~Bianca

[Lix Lorn]

I really hope Augmented Reality Games will have this kind of possibilities in the future, it would be so fun to have a virtual town of GiantITP with a LGBTAitp pub. ^-^

That'd be totally fun. We could do fun things, like hug, and... other unnamed things. :3

Just imagine the amount of trouble Lix would be in in an Virtual Reality Thread.

Oh crud it's like you people KNOW me
(SMOKE BOMB)
(flees into wall)
@_@

It's so useful! Need a fifth leg to stabilize you? Penis. Need to swat flies in an area where the trunk can't reach? Penis.

I
Just
what. xD

[Selpharia]

Physically and learned mannerisms(at least some of which aren't even widely considered to be male anymore because feminism as Serpentine and others have mentioned in the past), yeah. The consensus and thought I've always seen on the matter was that transwomen were not male except physically and whatever training from their upbringing they received.

If I'm getting something wrong, please explain rather than try to silence me. That's why I'm including all of these qualifications so you've got a chance to say, stop right there, you've misunderstood something here.

To say "physically and learned mannerisms" as though it's not much because you can list them in two items is a bit misleading. They're rather large things that are difficult to change. It's rather like saying: "The Empire isn't that threatening except for those two Sith Lords running the show and that Death Star thingy"

I'll echo Zorg and say that an entire lifetime's worth of training is difficult to get rid of, and add that a lot of behaviors still hold intrinsic "maleness" even if they're not undertaken exclusively by males. As a quick example, I know I write in a very "male" way, and that's very unlikely to change, even if I went through any other physical and/or lifestyle changes, simply because I've been writing this way all my life.

It's not that the behavior is "learned," it's that it's very firmly inculcated by repeated practice. I don't have any statistics or anything to back this up, but I'd guess that a lot of trans* people spend a great deal of time holding back any "feminine" impulses and extra effort attempting to conform to gender expectations, and after so long doing that, it can be difficult to shed those learned aversions and act "naturally" When you're trying to attempt such a complete break with physical sex and social behavior, it's very easy to be reminded of how far you have left to go, and how incomplete the transition is. I often have the same reaction as Zorg to body and facial hair, I suspect because it's so purely masculine a thing, and it's part of the face, which is so important for identity.

[Arachu]

That'd be totally fun. We could do fun things, like hug, and... other unnamed things. :3

Hugging and hair-braiding are unnamed?

Oh crud it's like you people KNOW me
(SMOKE BOMB)
(flees into wall)
@_@

*Quietly sneaks into entirely different wall while everyone's distracted* >.> <.<

I
Just
what. xD

Oh, they do those things all the time. It's like a shorter, extra trunk for mating or something. I'd find a link, but I'm still link'd out from yesterday and I don't feel like making that particular search at the moment. :P


~Bianca

[Lix Lorn]

Hugging and hair-braiding are unnamed?

Well, it's quite a long list. I'd have been here a while listing all the things* I was going to do.
* read people ;P

*Quietly sneaks into entirely different wall while everyone's distracted* >.> <.<

Awww, are you okays?

Oh, they do those things all the time. It's like a shorter, extra trunk for mating or something. I'd find a link, but I'm still link'd out from yesterday and I don't feel like making that particular search at the moment. :P

A dangerous search indeed. xD

[Arachu]

Well, it's quite a long list. I'd have been here a while listing all the things* I was going to do.
* read people ;P

Awww, are you okays?

Yeah, just joking about being weirder than I (think I) let on.

Thanks for asking, though~

A dangerous search indeed. xD

Even if I were careful about it, the best-case scenario has me breaking out into laughter. I feel like relaxing right now. My sides are already tired from all the crazy computer mods my cousin and I have been talking about making. X3


~Bianca

[Lix Lorn]

Yeah, just joking about being weirder than I (think I) let on.

Thanks for asking, though~

Then I has no idea what you actually did. xD

[Viera Champion]

So most of you already know this, being friends with me on Facebook and all, but a couple weeks ago my boyfriend broke up with me.