Decidedly Obscure Human Complaints.

Released just a few days ago and shared with me by my friend, Sara (thank you!): Transsexual differences caught on brain scan Differences in the brain's white matter that clash with a person's genetic sex may hold the key to identifying transsexual people before puberty. Doctors could use this information to make a case for delaying puberty to improve the success of a sex change later. Medics are keen to find concrete physical evidence to help those children who feel they are trapped in the body of the opposite sex. One key brain region involved is the BSTc, an area of grey matter. But the region is too small to scan in a living person so differences have only been picked up at post-mortem. Read more  > Interesting. I'm going to dig up the papers this is based on through my school's library as soon as I have time!

The date is set: August 11th! I have the rest of my Spring semester, May term, and McNair summer research up until August - and then Fall classes begin August 25th. This date is ideal! This should and will (hopefully) be enough time to save up and garner enough donations (which I'm so super uber grateful for). I was also given a 10% discount, which brings the grand total down to $5,479! I'm so excited . I can't stop obsessing about this date and fantasizing about life once it's done. I'll elaborate more in a later post, but I just wanted to make this quick and brief blog post to spill my mass amount of inexplicable excitement all over the interwebs. I can't contain it! Wooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On an unrelated note, why is this one of the top two Google image results for "top surgery"?

Earlier tonight I watched the documentary Becoming Chaz , about Chastity Bono's transition to Chaz Bono which is premiering here in Utah at the Sundance Film Festival. From the Sundance website: Chaz Bono was a male trapped in a female shell for as long as he can remember. Growing up as Sonny and Cher’s adorable golden-haired daughter in a body he felt wasn’t his own was a crucible it took years to transcend. Now, as he undertakes gender reassignment, he’s bravely decided to share the process on camera. Becoming Chaz invites us along on Chaz’s remarkable journey of transformation. As hormone shots give way to top surgery, down-to-earth, unflappable Chaz beams with a sense of liberation and goes public with his story to put a face on a misunderstood issue. Meanwhile, his gregarious girlfriend grapples with the realities of suddenly living with a man, and it’s clear sex change isn’t solely a physical transition. Intimate and nakedly honest, the film reveals the humanity and c...

Had my consultation today and it went very well! It was up at the University of Utah Madsen Surgery Center with Doctor Cori Agarwal . I made the appointment with a super sweet over-the-phone coordinator named Haley, who informed me that it would be in the Womens Health Center and made sure to add the disclaimer, " But don't let that scare you. We're welcoming of all gender variations! ", which I thought was adorable. So this morning my mom and I got up all excited for my big consultation day. And my mom, as always in her mega supportive way, accompanied me. We found the Madsen Surgery Center up in the cobweb of a mess loopty loop road situation up at the U of U in time for my morning appointment which was, in fact, at the Womens Health Center and was, in fact, full of women. As we waited to sign in, a nurse behind the counter, addressing my mother, said, " We'll be just a moment! " Once that moment had passed and sign-in time had arrived, again add...

After seeing my blog post about Antony and the Johnsons with their beautiful Hope There's Someone video, my friend Andrew exposed me to heaps upon piles atop a mountain of additional Antony and the Johnsons stuff - which keyed me in to another song of theirs called ' For Today I Am A Boy ', which is just as good. So last night I, as per diligent old man student usual, went to bed at 10pm for my classes this morning. But, then I woke up around 3am from a discomfort I'd felt before and confused me the first time around, on December 21st . But now, Round 2, I knew exactly what it was - menstrual cramps. These new post-hormone therapy cramps are similar to what I'd experienced before; but different enough that I couldn't quite peg it initially. Unlike before, these are not distinctly painful, just, really uncomfortable . I have to pee repeatedly. I can't sleep. It's obnoxious. At the least, this is becoming predictable. It hasn't happened since De...

Earlier today I made a very exciting phone call. Wait for it... wait for it... ... for a consultation with the top surgeon here in Utah. Wooooo! I learned about her through word-of-mouth at the Trans Action conference in November from other guys showing off their chests and rambling on about how great she is. I've been giddy and prepping for it ever since. During the consultation I want to a.) get a quote on how much my surgery will cost and b.) figure out payment options. I have around $2,000 so far (90% of this from donations - thank you everyone! ) to use as a down payment, if possible. If not, I will at least have a (presumably) much smaller amount to continue saving up towards than the initial fly-to-Florida for a $5500 surgery + figuring out a place to stay & food for a week, plane ticket costs, covering the costs for a friend to come play care-taker, etc., plan. Having a surgeon located so close makes the whole thing much more attainable. If I'm lucky ...

Alright, enough is enough. I'm updating my blog. Last I left off, it was day one of Spring semester. Now, two weeks in, I'm overwhelmed with 16 credit hours (plus a 4 credit hour Research Methods class that's required for the McNair Scholarship Program ) and plugging along. The class I've felt the most intimidated about? Spanish I . It's been 12+ years since I've tried to learn a foreign language. A couple of nights prior to my first day at school I expressed my language acquisition nervousness to my friend, Emmi, who is currently a Spanish high school teacher. The way she explained learning language to me really resonated; along the lines of how I learned my first language, English, as a baby picking up on individual words, learning to piece together sentences, grammar, ... eventually reading, writing, proper pronunciation, yada yada. She forewarned me of teachers who have - other methods. During week one I had Spanish with a professor who, in a nutshell...

Today was the first day of Spring semester. After maintaining my rigid 8am class go-to-bed-at-10-pm schedule last semester, it was pretty tragic how my 10am class this morning felt way too early. Staying up all night playing Fable 2 over break unraveled all that diligent sleep schedule work FAST. I barely remember my morning class. I sipped water while recovering from the shell shock of returning to school. What I do remember is positive, at least. Then I worked. And then I had my night time Adolescent Development class. Which, by that point, I was finally awake and alert for. I have the same fun and genuinely educational instructor for this class as I did in last semester's Brain & Behavior , so I'm confident it will be oodles of actual learning and being entirely captivated by the information. Which, to be honest, is quite literally the first time in my entire life of education that I've really felt like I'm learning something in a class . A rant will now e...

Five-year-old Dyson Kilodavis is a little boy who loves sparkly things: princess gowns, hot pink socks, glittery jewelry: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy This interview is impressive. I love how Dyson's dad says, " It's not contagious. He's just like any other kid. Plays checkers, plays in the trees...he just likes to do it in a dress. Big deal. " Whoa . The concept of supporting their child's glittery princess  happiness , irrelevant to what social convention says? Interesting - society felt the same way about girls who wore pants back in the day. And now social convention has changed. It's so brave of this family to challenge modern social convention in the face of so much pressure for little Dyson to feel ashamed of what makes him happy and being his genuine self. I also love what his mom says in the above interview on MSNBC: ... in 2010, in light of all of this bullying and things that have happe...

I celebrated New Years Eve this year by relaxing indoors with friends. I stuffed my face with fried vegan chick'n and mashed potatoes while watching  1,000 Ways To Die  marathon on Spike TV . I took the bus down to my friend Jude's place to spend it with her and her girlfriend, Shannon, and her roommate, Shannon. No driving or bicycling on New Years. No way. The dinner and marathon concept dawned on me the year before last while I was at a more traditional New Years Eve party where I opted to slide off to the bathroom at 11:55 and lock myself in at midnight. While sitting there with a headache creeping on, I decided right then and there, "Next year, I'm staying in." The fact that I got sick afterwards sealed the deal. And this year the roads are all plastered in ice. The local news reported the morning after that there were a slew of accidents and that three people died in three separate crashes just hours apart. So yeah, the drunkest night of the year + ice =...