a thousand words...or was that a thousand ships?

I'm going to Great Barrington this weekend on a mission. A partial mission of social visitation, which should be fun, as I haven't been to Simon's Rock since November, and there are quite a few folks I'm looking forward to catching up with. It's going to be hard to fit it all into just 24 hours!

The main goal of the trip, though, is a photo date that I have with Hitt. She's going to take pictures of me, photoshoot style, because I want to begin documenting my transition with a set of "before" shots. Eli as his mama made him.

I've been trying to think about what sorts of pictures I want to take. I'm going to put a lot of it in Hitt's hands- she's a great photographer, and I trust her to make this project turn out excellently. But I know that I want some standards that can be used later for comparison, or that I can send to Dr. B, just straightforward, unapologetic bodyshots. But I also want some that are less clinical, and more documentarian. I have to talk to Hitt about this, but maybe I should bring some clothes or other artifacts to interact with for the shoot? We had a lot of success with our necktie project. Neckties are important for me, but I should probably branch out a little, huh?

It's appropriate that we're doing it at Simon's Rock, too. I really grew up at the Rock; ages 15-19 are pretty formative years. Now I'm going to start growing up again, but for real this time. I never could envision myself growing up to be a woman- just didn't compute in my head. Maybe that's why my puberty never felt like such a big deal the first time around- I didn't feel like I was "becoming a woman," just that I wasn't quite such a kid anymore. Now I feel like a guy, but definitely a young guy, and I feel a bit silly calling myself a man sometimes just because I'm barely 20 years old. But also because I've got smooth cheeks and a high voice, and starting T is going to remedy that. I know that it's going to be more than just a year of life experience that's going to make me feel older next year.