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No Novel November, part 2

I decided it'd be best to aggregate these instead of publishing a tiny post every day. I was originally planning on posting once a week, but a bug in Hugo's previous Markdown renderer actually held me up until a recent update - so without further ado, here's the first half of the month, with more to come:

posted | about 12 minutes to read

tags: no novel november short story


Becoming more comfortable

Some thoughts on being who I am and accepting my transness as an essential part of my identity - appropriate, I suppose, for Transgender Awareness Week.

posted | about 4 minutes to read

tags: gender identity trans awareness week


Ring Fit Adventure: a review

I have never before felt the need to write a review of a video game, but Ring Fit Adventure has been such a good experience that I felt I should.

posted | about 8 minutes to read

tags: ring fit adventure fitness video games


No Novel November, Day 1

I'm trying something new this month - writing microfiction based on one-word prompts. Some background on No Novel November and my first effort.

posted | about 2 minutes to read

tags: no novel november short story


When am I "done"?

Thoughts on transition milestones and what reaching them actually means, as well as what happens afterwards.

posted | about 4 minutes to read

tags: gender identity gender transition


My year of Gender Stuff

It's been a year since I started my gender journey, so I wrote a four thousand word retrospective about the story so far.

posted | about 21 minutes to read

tags: gender identity


Establishing a low barrier to entry in board games

Part of the fun of just writing for myself is that I can just kind of pick whatever I want and write about it, which is why today I'm going to talk a little bit about board games, and how to move past playing Parcheesi or Yahtzee or whatever with people who typically aren't interested in more complicated games, and things that might turn people off from getting into more interesting tabletop stuff.

posted | about 4 minutes to read

tags: board games


Another vacation, and going full time

After a week in New York City, I finally got to go to work as myself. Thoughts on the trip and putting a bow on my social transition.

posted | about 7 minutes to read

tags: gender identity presentation social transition vacation


What I'm Reading: July 2019

It's been a few months, time for some more riveting book discussion! Here's the stuff that I've read recently that really stood out to me.

posted | about 6 minutes to read

tags: what i'm reading


Vacation report, Minneapolis 2019

A couple weeks ago, I took a prolonged vacation for the first time in a while - combining the Midwest Morris Ale with some tourism and sightseeing with my family in Minneapolis. It was probably the best vacation I have had. In fact, the positivity really started right out of the gate.

posted | about 5 minutes to read

tags: folk dance vacation


Feeling emotions is really amazing

Last Friday, Sarah and I were at home, in the computer room. Very standard night, Mola wandered in and was sleeping on her favorite pillow, and in general we were just taking it easy and winding down for the weekend. I think maybe we were watching a hockey game, I can't really remember now.

posted | about 3 minutes to read

tags: gender identity emotions


Recent validating experiences

Over the course of the last three or four weeks I finally decided to bite the bullet and present as female nearly 100% of the time outside of work. (I'm going to discuss coming out at my workplace sometime in the next couple of weeks, which, uh, yes, nervewracking, but also that'll be literally it, I'll be done with the “coming out” bit in its entirety which is super super exciting.

posted | about 4 minutes to read

tags: gender identity presentation


Faith, being trans, and finding joy

I am still not really sure whether I made the right call as far as where to start this story. It was either at, like, age 12, or last week, and it was really hard to say what would work better. At the end of the day, though, I think it makes the most sense to start with the impetus for the blog post and go from there, so that's what I'll do.

posted | about 5 minutes to read

tags: gender identity faith and religion


The best red chili you'll ever eat

As part of my decision to start sharing my recipes, I decided it'd be best to provide more than one, at least to start. This one is also a pretty easy recipe, just takes some prep time in the morning and then everything else is easy. Chili is one of those things that's easy to come up with an okay recipe for.

posted | about 4 minutes to read

tags: recipes


Fried Pancakes

I love to cook. Like, really love to cook. It's partly getting to come home after work and make something I enjoy, partly just this Zen-like state of creation which I find so relaxing. I thought about this recently and realized that after all this time I've written down some recipes I've put together on paper, but never shared them with anyone.

posted | about 4 minutes to read

tags: recipes


What I'm Reading: March 2019

As my frequent visitors probably already know, I am a voracious reader. Given that, I thought it might be nice to put a recurring feature on this blog for a change, covering books that I've read recently. Just quick blurbs, nothing major. Without further ado, jumping right in: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup This one was a phenomenal read.

posted | about 3 minutes to read

tags: what i'm reading


Hi, I'm Allison.

This is the third or fourth time I've written something like this and weirdly, it doesn't get any easier the more I do it. A lot of drafting and redrafting to make sure I hit everything I want to. The title on this should pretty much give away the big reveal here.

posted | about 3 minutes to read

tags: introduction gender identity


Unfriending

Historically my personal posts have been few and far between on this blog, and I think at least part of that has to do with my activity on social media. If I'm interacting with people there, then what purpose does a personal blog serve? I didn't really feel a need to explore this for a number of years.

posted | about 2 minutes to read

tags: social media privacy


My own library

Books have always been a part of my life; there were always books at home, and as a kid I went to the library almost weekly. I'd check out twenty books, read them all, bring them back, and check out another twenty. I remember, when I was maybe 12 years old, drawing up a floor plan of my dream house.

posted | about 2 minutes to read


Playing Star Realms for the first time

A few months ago, I got involved in yet another Humble Bundle, because I have a terrible addiction to Humble Bundles. This one, notably, got me a copy of Star Realms (you can find their website, unsurprisingly, at starrealms.com), which I forgot about immediately after ordering (par for the course, really, as far as I’m concerned).

posted | about 5 minutes to read

tags: star realms