First time out in 4+ years!

[victoria]

Since I don't have a blog I'll post this here..

After literally years of planning, I finally got the courage to go out en femme again. :D

Here's a little background...

I used to live with my dad and could sneak out late at night while he slept. Well even though I live on my own now, I live in a condo with 24 hour security and cameras EVERYWHERE! I can leave the building by taking the back stairs, but coming in I pass the concierge and multiple cameras which is my biggest problem.

I was wondering how to get past this for a while when I finally realized if I bought a winter parka and put the hood over my face I could most likely walk in without the concierge seeing me. Well I got the parka last week and after lots of debating, planning and trying to build up the courage, I finally decided to give it a go tonight. Right now it's around -10C outside, so I had to wear a pair of tights underneath my yoga outfit which is made up of stretchy black pants with a long sleeve fitted black jacket. The parka is a grey fitted one with faux fur on the hood that goes does just above my knees. I picked this outfit because I could wear running shoes with it without looking out of place. I'm horrible in heels so the runners were the best option in terms of shoes for me.

Anyway, I snuck out of the building around 2:45AM. The cold air immediately hit me and I realized there was no going back at this point! I ended up going down to city hall and only had my crappy camera phone with me so none of the pics I took came out well. :straightface:

After about an hour I started to get really cold, so I decided to go down to a food court which I knew would be open, since it was next to a 24 hour grocery store. I went there and sat down and tried to warm up when all of a sudden I noticed 2 HUGE security guards coming towards me. There were other people in the food court so I'm not sure why they came right next to me but they walked by me and pretended tocheck if the doors nearby were locked. I just put my head down and read a flyer till they left.

After they left I noticed a creepy old guy walking around. He saw me and decided to sit a few tables down and directly face me. The guy was literally sitting there just staring at me which is a weird feeling. I decided at this point enough was enough so I got up to leave. As I was going up the escalators I saw a girl coming down so I waited for her and asked her if she thought I was passable. I probably scared the crap outta her but she looked at me and said she thought I was and didn't even notice me. I guess that's one thing us girls really need to pay attention to in trying to pass. Just act like a regular person and chances are most people wouldn't even pay attention to you.

Anyway my final goal for the nite was to obviously get home by getting past the concierge. I circled my building, put the parka up and finally decided to enter. It was 4am by this time but there were still people hanging out in the lobby! I saw a guy with a couple of girls sitting there and before they could look me over, I quickly hustled into the elevator. :D

Although I didn't go to the 24 hour drugstore and get makeup like I wanted to, I still think tonight was a good experience for me Next time I go out hopefully it will be a bit warmer :D.

Edit: Here's what I wore...

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/8554/tnayg0.jpg

Thanks for reading.

[hjt101]

The first time is always the hardest. Congrats!

[dancinginthedark]

Sounds like such a simple thing to the outsider looking in doesn't it? :) Well done Victoria on what was undoubtedly a very big step. Cool beans on you hun.


dancin

[Sam-antha]

I have never been out really late at night but I do know how to freeze in town when all is shut down.
At least you did get in to see the big bouncers ( do they have two jobs ?). I twould have been awfulif it had been closing time.
~Samm

[victoria]

Thanks all. It does sound like such a simple thing but unfortunately it's a hell of a lot harder than most people think!

[Karren H]

Awesome!! And it isn't an easy or a cheap hobby.. . Just goes to prove my theory that crossdressers are amungst the harding working people on the planet.. Too bad we can't put that on our resunes? Hahaha

[Lorna]

No, it's not a simple thing - and that's one of several reasons why I have not been out visibly dressed and probably never will. I don't know where you live but it occurs to me that going out in the middle of the night is far more likely to attract unwanted attention than doing so earlier in the evening or even in daytime when there would be many more people around and blending in would be easier. I'm sure you had good reasons for choosing that time but I would worry about the potential safety issues if others adopted the same practice: it certainly wouldn't be a good idea everywhere. Well done, nevertheless.

[victoria]

No, it's not a simple thing - and that's one of several reasons why I have not been out visibly dressed and probably never will. I don't know where you live but it occurs to me that going out in the middle of the night is far more likely to attract unwanted attention than doing so earlier in the evening or even in daytime when there would be many more people around and blending in would be easier. I'm sure you had good reasons for choosing that time but I would worry about the potential safety issues if others adopted the same practice: it certainly wouldn't be a good idea everywhere. Well done, nevertheless.

Definitely not cheap Karen. Wouldn't it be great if we could put it on our resume's lol :D

You raise a good point Lorna. My gg friend who knows about my dressing has also expressed her concern about me going out that late, but I stick to the "good" areas of the city so to speak and always try to be aware of my surroundings. I'm not recommending to others that they do the same thing I do since they may not be in the same situation as me.