Showing posts with label italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label italy. Show all posts

Friday, April 18, 2008

Overwhelmed...

Worried depression might be taking hold. 14 hours of sleep yesterday and it was still an effort to get out of bed. Worse, the dreams were not productive; they were restless, unresolved mini-dramas. I can only hope that this was the physical manifestation of my sub-conscious working overtime to find a path through this tangled web of space-time that solves my housing crisis.

Clearly, I'm worried, and on top of this, the warm weather is prompting clothing styles which do not necessarily lend themselves well to sustaining my illusion of womanhood. Or maybe they do, it would seem reasonable my self-image radar is off given the current life stressors.

Craig's list has been ... illuminating. I've been thankful to get many replies to my post seeking a room, but less fortunate in finding someone who has to offer what I asked for. Seems a lot of people have bought houses out there with the intention of renting them out. Neighborhoods of streets cul-de-sac into forms more resembling bronchial passageways than homes. Seriously, check it out for yourself! Miles and miles of nothing but residential housing.

Ike is the best opportunity thus far... a meticulous, 40 year-old drug-free European living just over a mile West from South LV Blvd. Lives in a neighborhood called Valley View VII. Creative name. He is fond of sending me photos of himself mixed in with the house. I guess this is appropriate, as I'd probably see his face if I lived there. Here's where he lives.

Mystery man has exactly what I want... a room on the 23rd floor of a high-rise condo one block West of the strip. But he's gone strangely silent after getting a photo, much like I do when they ask me for photos in my swimsuit, although again, using Ike-logic, since they have houses with pools, I suppose it's not an unrealistic, if pig-headed, desire.

Speaking of boys who want swimsuit photos, LJ has a nice place, but two dogs, who "are hardly in the house" but maybe an hour a day and at night, or in Clio's words, "1/3 of the time" which is close enough to "all the time" for me. I don't want to live with animals other than humans.

Daniel, who also has a Ph.D. is also looking to meet people. He offers an older home in a poorer part of Vegas, but is otherwise genuine and upfront. He's divorced with a 7 year-old and already renting out his den to two college girls. He regales me with predation stories in an effort to a) warn me of Vegas, and b) let me know he's quality. Seems on the up and up (in so far as it can be) but not really what I'm looking for.

And then there's SOFIA who can only type in all caps. Born and raised in Vegas, I actually spent about an hour talking to her about the area before I found out she was ... 17! Eeep! Funny thing, she's quite mature for her age and is seeking a 30-40 year-old woman to share a house with on the outskirts of Vegas. No kidding. I wonder if I qualify? Her only age give-away is her sheer enthusiasm mixed with a lack of real-world vocabulary as evidenced by an over-frequent use of "amazing, wonderful", "great", and "awesome". The red-flag and drama-meters are pegged, but I'm not sure she's a creature can be measured with normal person calibrations. Dad pays the rent and gives her a car. In many ways, it sounds too good to be true... but then again, so do I. At any rate, what she's looking for in a house (location-wise) is not what I'm seeking, but my heart goes out to her... poor thing.

And then there's the slew of boys who live 20 minutes from the strip (by car) who responded to my ad anyway. (In it, I said I was looking for something close to the strip... 20 mins away is about as far away as you can be and still be in Vegas!) Besides, have you seen Vegas traffic? It was awful 6 years ago, I can't imagine it now!

And what would the internet be without the boys looking for a girlfriend by offering free rent in exchange for cleaning and sexual favors? I wonder if I'd be rejected by them? OMG, those poor ladies who go out there and the get evicted at a moment's notice. I think my heart would break out there from all the sad stories.

Finally, I wonder if I'm the kind of girl that has to be met in person to be appreciated at face value. My goal is not to deceive, but suddenly now that I'm passing, I'm struck with the double fear of being exposed and, odd as it sounds, not passing. Both will subside when I can pass in a swimsuit... not quite there yet, though... at least, not at the Vegas level of pretty. (Self image is rotten masculine now.)

Hmmm... Italy probably won't be much better... but maybe I'll be different enough to still look feminine compared to all the local beauty.

Maybe I don't want to go to Vegas in some sort of sharing arrangement. I certainly don't think I can survive out there without a car. And what the heck am I doing considering moving to a desert anyway?

I think I need a nap.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

... But Hopeful!

So Vegas is looking suspect, but how can I go to Italy with no passport?

Will it arrive before I have to leave? Will I still have time to get a ticket?

These are the thoughts going through my mind as I decide to check the mail. Lookit what came! The brochure included with my passport seems to answer the question between Vegas and Italy...

OMG, yay yay yay! My transition is (legally) complete!



Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Learning Italian

Vegas or Italy... honestly don't know which one yet, but I'm preparing for both. The above photo is also both at once!

Cleaned up the old resume and am now looking (and applying for) freelance jobs in the Vegas area. Also reading a book on learning Italian. Italian for Dummies, whatev! This book is like two years of French class wrapped up in two chapters! Oh, wait a minute... ;)

My goal is to get the basic vocab and grammar down (it's a mix of Engish, French, and Latin rules!) so that once there, I can focus on learning new words via immersion. Might also do Rosetta Stone stuff after I get the grammar down. You know, immersion before the immersion?

Italian is a beautiful language in its simplicity. For example, you can omit most subject pronouns with verbs as the conjugation of the verb tells you which pronoun would proceed it! In other words, I could just say, "want chocolate" and how I conjugate 'want' implies 'I' want, or 'you' want, or 'she' wants, or 'they' want ... Fascinating!

Also, the nouns, pronouns and adjectives are masculine and feminine but they all must agree and they all will have different endings based on the object you're talking about. For example:
  • il ragazzo italiano - the Italian boy
  • i ragazzi italiani - the Italian boys
  • la ragazza italiana - the Italian girl
  • le ragazze italiane - the Italian girls
You can see now why I'm trying to get all this straight before I go there! :)

And I'm loving the use of accents. I wish English used them more. For example, in Chinese how you say the word "ma" changes what it means! If you say it in an even tone (like a typical American male says everything) it would be MĀ. If you said it like a question, it would be written MÁ. If you said it in a falling tone, MÀ, and if you said it with a rise and fall, MÂ. They all mean different things! (“mama”, “hemp”, ”horse”, and “to scold” - a naughty word, I was told!)

Italian isn't that extreme with the use of accents, but it still uses them. My name has one... the altered pronunciation from it is probably too subtle for most Americans, but that's okay. I'll hear it when someone says it!

Another neat thing about Italian, the penultimate (second to last) syllable in each word is usually the stressed syllable. That's why an Italian accent sounds the way it does! Neat! Well, that, and the way they pronounce the vowels, A (ah), E (ay), I (ee), O(oh), and U (oo). But the stress is what really makes the language sing: ee-ta-lee-AN-oh (Italiano). I don't have synethesia, but I hear the notes (g, f#, g, E, c) when I hear that word! Cursing in French may be like 'wiping your ahss with silk' but speaking everyday words in Italian is like singing a song!

Of course Vegas still lures me. It's the one city I considered living before I initially left America and it's now the last American city I'll consider living in. I guess it's fitting in some ironic cosmic sense that I could feel so at home in a city so fake. I don't know... something about the fakeness is comforting... as if the whole town knows enough not to take itself too seriously.

Perhaps I'm just drawn to the opulence of it all. I mean, if America is all about living in excess, then Vegas is that done right!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Working Weekend


Narrowing life down to Italy or Vegas. Italy represents a new life of unscripted adventures, while Vegas pretends to hold at least a glimmer of professional respectability.

Each choice would be consistent with my prior residence history. Every house I've owned or flat I've rented was either next to sin or salvation. After leaving Georgia (where I lived across the street from two malls), I lived across the street from a church, above a sex shop, across the street from a strip club/brothel, across the street from a church, then across the street from another church, then above a poker hall.

Thus, Italy, the home of the Pope seems a logical choice as does, Vegas, the city of sin!

If Italy, then I will most likely sell everything I own (again) and take what money is left and travel the world with just a suitcase, living day-to-day, taking whatever opportunities arise until I find myself a new home. I giggle at how many people who know me must think this insane.

Vegas holds a few more options:
  • Poker
  • Consulting/Programming
  • Cocktail Waitress
  • Escorting
I giggle again at how many people must think this insane. I can hear them now ... a Ph.D. and you'd consider being a bar maid or prostitute? Haha. Yes!

At this point, any sane person thinking these things must come to the conclusion that I've gone completely bonkers. I prefer the term "enlightened." You can keep your 9-5 and all that materialistic crap. You can even have my material possessions if you like! You can't take it with you, you know! Plus, the things you own end up owning you!

So once again, I stand on the brink of two dualities, comfortable in either realm: materialistic excess, and simplistic living...

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Around The Smalltown World

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? If there was nothing tying you down, no kids, no job, no home, no family... where would you go?

I felt it was always a dubious decision to move from smalltown Indiana to smalltown Georgia. Athens feels just like Muncie. (To be fair, Bloomington might be a better comparison.) If I had hesitations before, now there is no doubt: Georgia is out!

Why? A friend had offered her place to stay while I regrouped, but last night I learned that she was not going to be around, as in, not living in Athens. The house is like, over a mile away from the nearest gas station, and I never did see a grocery store, so riding the bus everyday in the Georgia heat? Ugh! Plus, she's pushed back the move-in date so that I'll have nowhere to stay for nearly two weeks after I'm out of here. Bummer. If she really didn't want me to stay there, but wanted me to make that decision for her, I'd give her an A+... these two events make what seemed like a safe haven no better than here. Worse, actually. I was really looking forward to being the lady of the house, cooking, cleaning, and generally taking care of her. So that's a bummer.

Maybe it's time to apply some gorilla warfare tactics to my life. Life is hard, I'm soft; lesson is that I'm flexible. Life is jobless with no home; lesson is I'm free. Assuming I shell out $120 for a year's worth of climate controlled storage (a tiny little lot) then I am now quite mobile. Conclusion: life is telling me that now is the time to travel. Pack up the office, fit everything you own into a 4x4x4 space and move on!

Okay, but where? Someplace familiar? Someplace where kind friends are? I've been meditating on this for the past two days. Some might say I've been sleeping 14 hours a day, others might say I've become depressed. Sometimes I do my best thinking unconscious. (It's a meditation trick... perhaps now I'll have more time to develop it!)

Italy keeps popping up on the radar. Never been. A soul mate met in London has offered a bed... she lives in, you guessed it, small town Italy. LOL.Wouldn't mind the crash course in fashion! Would love to see the history. I have no idea how I'd earn a living, but I'd enjoy learning Italian. Please please please let my passport go through without a hitch!

Wales might be an option. I have an academia friend from ... you guessed it ... small town Wales who might be able to get me a research or teaching job there. The campus is beach-side... Of course, he doesn't know about my transition, and that might be a hurdle.

There's always Vegas. Poker is an option. Plus, I could meet someone, or make an opportunity there. And, if poker fails me, Vegas would be a good city to make a living as a transsexual escort. Of course, for that, my breasts might need to grow a bit more first.

I'm also trying to get a job teaching, but 3 weeks is not a lot of time to find a job, and with no permanent address...

Finally, I swear I connected with the mind of one who once told me he'd be there for me if ever I needed him. Spooky. On the one hand, he's hurt me before. On the other, I can't imagine anyone better to help medicate myself though this crisis... I've not had fun like I've had with him, and I sure could do with some laughs.

Summary:
  • Italy/? - Life unscripted, 100% new experiences, old flames
  • Wales/Research - Life re-attempted
  • Vegas/Poker/Escort - Life unscripted, w/no net, but familiar
  • ?/Teaching - Life resumed
  • D/Party - Life enjoyed, contemplated
Sigh. More mediation required. Maybe one more day... no one's knocking down my door to do stuff anyway.