What Happens in Vegas, . . .
Wow, what a fun week! From shopping last Monday to tonight. It has been a blast!
Today, I was really bold. I showed two relative strangers my picture as Kathi. The first was a local girl helping us with the trade show crowd. She would help with scanning badges, handing out raffle tickets and pointing questions to the correct geek (usually me). She seemed so very nice and we hit it off great.
I asked her what she did last night, and she said that her and a friend were going to go to the Divas Las Vegas drag show, but never made it. For some odd reason, insanity possessed me, and I blurted out how cool that would have been, and that I had even dressed up as a woman in the past. That piqued her interest - and not just raised-eyebrow interest, but full-on "tell me more!" interest. I told her that I'd been doing it for years, and even had a picture or two, if she wanted to see. She was definitely interested, so I showed her the usual Kathi Pics - the one with the herringbone skirt and black ruffled top, the one in the black and white gown (you all know the ones). When she saw the first one, she looked me over, looked at my iPhone, looked me over again and said, "Wow. You are a very pretty woman. Look at your body! After two kids, I'm jealous!" I smiled and laughed and said, "Well, what else is a skinny guy like me supposed to do with a body like that?"
Through the course of the day, she kept asking to see the pictures again, and complimenting me on how realistic and convincing I was, and asking lots of questions, like "What does your wife think? Do your kids know and what do they think? Do your friends know? Do you want to be a woman - because you look so feminine in this?" and others. I told her about my oldest finding out, what my wife thought about it, and how some friends felt. I told her that sometimes I slipped while talking, with either a bit of knowledge that I shouldn't know, or said something I shouldn't.
Overall, it was a very positive experience. Granted, I'll probably never see this woman again, but I'd like to think that I made a positive impression on her. She sure led me to believe that was the case with her attitude and her words on how cool she thought it was. As my BS detector never went off (and it is really sensitive!), I think she was telling the truth.
The next woman was a former Miss Nevada. She was in a booth that was usually crowded with people getting their picture taken with her. It was near lunchtime, and there was no one around, so I wandered over. The first thing I noticed (OK, the 13th or 14th :)), was her shoes. Without thinking (my usual mode of operation), I blurted out, "Oh my gosh, cute shoes! Those are from bebe, right? They're soooo comfortable, aren't they! After a second or two of awkward pauses from each of us, she smiled (dazzling!) and said that they were from bebe, and that I was right, they were comfortable. We talked more about how even though they were so high, that the platform made it easy to walk in, and as many pageants as she had been in, she knew a lot about walking in heels. I said that I agreed, they were very easy to walk in. She said I had great taste in shoes.
I then said, "You're probably wondering why I know so much about this stuff." I then pulled out my iPhone and showed her my favorite Kathi picture. She said, "She's gorgeous! Who's that?" I said to look again. She looked again, and looked back at me blankly. I said, "It's me!" She could not believe it. She took my iPhone and looked closer, looking back and forth between me and the picture. "Wow, you're incredible! Is this a glamour shot?" I told her that no, I did the hair and makeup myself. She said that I could enter pageants, looking like that.
I then said I loved her dress. She said it also was from bebe, and that she had gotten it on sale for only $24.00 (if you know bebe, you'll know that that is a great price!). We talked more about how we loved bebe, and she said that I should get the dress, and that it would look beautiful on my long, slender body. I thanked her for her compliments and said that I did indeed love dressing that way. She agreed, and said that what I did was just another persona, just like when she glammed herself up, she was another persona. "The pushup bra for the boobs, the hair, the makeup, the clothes and shoes, it's just one part of me, just one part of being a woman, just like you dressing up and letting the part of you that's a woman shine out." Wow, I wanted to hug this woman. :)
She then said with a smile, "So girl, do you have a boyfriend? I'll bet he loves that body of yours!" I told her that I actually had a wife. She looked confused. "You mean a wife wife? Like a woman? You're straight? Wowwwwwww! Sorry, but all during this time when we were chatting, you seemed so, . . . you know, girly. Wow. As pretty as you are, that must be hard on her. I told her that it was hard on my wife sometimes, and that I still tried to be the man she married. She said that her husband had long, gorgeous hair down to his lower-back, but was definitely a man's man. I said so was I - sometimes. :)
I said goodbye and she said "It was nice chatting, girlfriend!" Off I went, floating back to my booth. When I got there, I told the girl helping out about my conversation. Later, Miss Nevada passed by my booth, along with a guy with long, black hair (her husband, I'm sure). She saw me, smiled, and gave me a hello and a wave. The other guys in the booth said, Wow, you know her or something. I said, "Or something" with a smirk. The girl and I traded smiles at his. "She seemed pretty friendly with you. I wish she'd be friendly with me" they said with a laugh. I just said that I guess I had a womanly way, or a way with women - something like that."
Life hands us many opportunities. You have to be ready to grab those opportunities. Swallow your fear. Don't listen to the voices telling you that you can't do it. Just get out there and do it.
Anyway, after I pack to get out of Vegas, I'll post more about my night tonight!
Kathi
