Jiggly Tofu, Injection, and Upcoming Doctor Visit

Injection time went well last night! I've got that shizzit down like a pirate knows how to fire cannons through portholes.

I didn't get home until a little after midnight, but that whole 'Is this what jonesing feels like?" sensation I experienced last time wasn't present. Whew!

Last time I injected into my left thigh (I'd always been injecting into my right) with the idea that I'm going to alternate between thighs. So last night I injected into my right thigh and, for some reason, it's become a bit painful. I can feel the needle slide through every layer of muscle like it's thicker or hardened when it used to have a seamless, slide-in-like-butta sensation going on.

I just need to develop a little bot like this to do injections for me! Then I can just lay back and think about buttery textures and juicy centers while the bot determines the softest point of entry before sticking n' injecting! Genius.



Anyway, right after work last night I went to an awards dinner for The Inclusion Center as one of the attendees from the Utah Pride Center. I heard free dinner and I was sold.

However, a vegan never knows what to expect at an event like this when it comes to the dinner side of things. For example, I remember going to the most recent Democratic convention dinner with my pops (who went vegan a few years after I did!) and some other family peeps in support of my grammy running to become a national delegate.

So the servers bring out little plates for everyone that include a main course of chicken, then two little sides of corn and peas. My pops and I are told, "The chef is preparing yours. We will bring it out shortly."

In no time at all two little dishes are brought out and the lids are removed to reveal a main course of a steamed block of tofu drizzled with BBQ sauce and two little sides of corn and peas. We thanked the server, then, once he'd wandered off, couldn't hold back some chuckling. Um, yes, I eat jiggly blocks of steamed tofu every day! It's my favorite!

I could just imagine the chef in the back room having absolutely NO idea what vegans eat. "Tree bark? Grass, maybe?", then scratching his head trying, for the life of him, to figure out what to make. "Oh, I know. I'll steam this block of jiggly tofu and drizzle some BBQ sauce on it."

Don't get me wrong. I love my tofu. But, a good non-vegan analogy might be to imagine having someone crack open some eggs and just drizzle them on to a plate and go, "Oh uh, here. All done. Eat up!" Slurp slurp.

Jiggly block of tofu aside, it was actually really cute and we entirely appreciated the effort and ate it all up.

I've had experiences where there's zero catering towards vegans, but times are changing. It also helps to consciously remember the land before time when I wasn't yet vegan, especially when I hadn't even heard the word before and, even after I had, how entirely mysterious and foreign it initially was.

Anyhoo, stemming from experiences like this, I wasn't sure what to expect dinner-wise. Low and behold, when they brought out my dinner I was above and beyond impressed. Delicious clear noodles with tons of cooked, flavored vegetables, mushrooms, slices of grilled tofu. It was amazing.

I ate way too much.

After eating so much I eventually had to wander off to the mens restroom. There were some youth who came with our group from the LGBQT youth center who had learned that I was trans. When I was all done with my bidness in the loo and started washing my hands, one of the youth walked in.

Saw me.

Froze.

Muttered something.

Looked horribly uncomfortable.

Then he walked up to a urinal, glanced over at me, then turned to enter a stall.

Oh boy. Poor kid and all that bewildering trans processing. He'll adjust.

It was also pointed out to me last night by another trans guy that my clothes aren't fitting. I'm aware of this. I told him to shut it, then he asked if he could have my hand-me-downs.

The Inclusion Center, by the way, runs a little program called Camp Anytown that I went to in high school. It was an incredibly memorable experience and I mentioned it in an earlier blog post:

I remember going to this camp shindig in high school for naughty youth who were tardy too much, which entailed a series of little exercises about diversity and tolerance (I actually came out sexual orientation-wise at this camp). They had one exercise in particular that was pretty surprising and memorable for me. The facilitator would separate the room according to the gender binary - "males" on one side, "females" on the other. The facilitator would then ask a series of questions and whoever it pertained to could raise their hand, irrelevant to gender. The moral of the exercise being that, in general, a lot of polarized gender abuse occurs.

For example, one question was, "Have you ever been hit for crying?". Not a single 'female' raised her hand, but every 'male' (but the two I happened to be friends with, and who also happened to not be hyper-masculine and felt comfortable expressing themselves in a more laid back, fluid way) DID raise their hands. It was astounding to me, and that binary dynamic continued to occur. "Have you ever been sexually harassed on the street?", etc., etc. Hmm!

Ahem, so in just a couple hours I have an appointment with my doctor. This will be my first appointment with her since starting hormone therapy. I'm bringing a little notepad full of questions and I also haven't consumed anything but water all morning in preparation for those oh-so-fun blood and pee tests.

so...h.u..ng..ry... My mom is coming with me and warned me that she also has questions for my doctor and may insist on a "general panel".

My poor, poor doctor.

p.s. my parents have had the few little bumper stickers on their car vandalized a number of times. They have a green "GO VEGAN" sticker that gets it the worst, then woke up this morning to discover that their Obama one had been covered over with a sticker that has this URL at the bottom (warning: it's a really messed up, infuriating site).

Neo-Nazis? Seriously? Ugh. Just what Utah needs.