me, the green man, and my pink skull staff at the last day of the renaissance faire.

and men in kilts. oh my!

i stopped by cabela’s today to check out their sale and gun show. this smith & wesson .38 caliber 637 revolver was on sale for $389.99 (normally $439.99, msrp $545.00) so i picked one up. after filling out a two page form, they do a quick background check, and i was good to go.

this is pretty similar to the gun my friend john bought in february, and i blogged about it here. i fired his s&w 442 a few more times since then and decided that it wasn’t as bad as i thought. i also picked up some magtech 38 SPL ammo which is not of the +P type, so it should have a little less recoil than what we were shooting. oh, and since they were having a sale, i stocked up on some ammo for my 9mm and .22.

it’s down to the final three. again, as i predicted, calpernia picked shawn first, and then jim. but broke the rules and asked mike to stay as well.

in the immortal words of andrea, “i think shawn is like 10 times hotter than mike”.

after the romantic walk on the beach, and watching the sunset with shawn, i would have kicked the other two out right there. apparently, calpernia enjoyed the night in vegas with mike and his parents, and the dinner with jim and his parents. granted, those two evenings must have been nice, and perhaps that’s why she chose to break the rules and keep all three. but for myself, i’m rooting for shawn. and i can’t wait until the next episode!

calpernia cries…

shawn remains very cool…

and as i predicted, mark is out.

the show is really heating up. i’ve already downloaded the next episode, and will watch it after i post this. regarding who remains after this show, i’m going with shawn and jim. jim, because it’s politically correct, and shawn, because he’s my favorite. i guess i’ll find out in an hour.

in a related story, during his address to the throng of pilgrims in front of the basilica in saint peter’s square today, the pope said that often, relations between individuals, groups and peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence.

um, yeah, kinda like the way you, your church, your priests, and many of your followers treat lgbt people.

i stopped off at cabela’s on my way home from bevmo this afternoon. i had never been there before, and i wanted to see about buying some ammo, perhaps saving a little money compared to buying it at the range. as it turned out, they had one box left of the american eagle ae22 ammo i liked so much last time i was at the range.

cabela’s is a huge sporting goods store, and when i say huge, it’s bigger than any walmart i’ve ever shopped. hundreds of firearms and accessories, hunting, camping, and clothing - i could barely see the other end of the store. they even had a gun library and museum. next week, they’re having a gun show, featuring yet even more guns. i would have stayed longer but i started to have a panic attack of some kind, so i had to leave. perhaps next week, i can convince my hubby to come with me, and i’ll be able to hang out longer and browse a bit.

to me, this comment posted by thebewilderness on march 18th at @ 9:57 PM (sorry, i don’t seem to have the ability - or have the expertise - to link to the specific comment) demonstrates the heart of the issue.

Transperson are so deeply committed to gender constructs that they are willing to alter their bodies to conform with gender constructs. Personhood, ungendered, is a goal of radical feminism.

first, many transpeople are not willing to alter their bodies. some are, some are not.
second, many transpeople i know are not committed to gender constructs. some are, some are not.
third, this assumption must have been made without actually asking any transpeople if they are, or are not, committed to gender constructs. because if one did actually ask even a small number of transpeople how they felt about this, one could simply not conclude that transpeople, as a group, are committed to gender constructs.
forth, i am a transperson. many people i know, who do not know i’m a transperson, have called me a radical feminist, because they perceive that i reject gender constructs. and i do this in my daily life, in my behaviors, in my words, and in my appearance. because i am forced to function in our society and pay my bills, i will admit that in some small areas, i do conform to some gender constructs. but then again, i know of several radical feminists who also would say the same thing. we all do what we must to survive in this world.

and finally, for further reading, i offer amananta’s post here, who is clearly a talented and articulate blogger, whose work i’ve admired for years.

granted, i always get quite a few hits from people searching for “shemales” on google, but jeez, this is certainly a new world’s record. usually it’s a toss up between pink pistols and shemales. today, there’s no contest.

*update*
today (3/21/08 @ 6:42 PM PDT), i’m up to 70 hits for “shemale”, and 10 hits for “post op shemale”. and really, what’s up with the “post op shemale” thing? isn’t that a contradiction in terms?

i came across this post in my travels. there was a time i would have lent my voice to the topic, but i just can’t seem to find the strength. i no longer can find words.

i’d like to thank maia for writing it and little light, Lisa Harney, belledame2222, drakyn, queen emily, and arrogantworm (and others whom i’m sure i missed) for sharing their views, as they have summed up mine better than i could have ever done.

i’m now going to watch the 5th episode of transamerican love story, and lose myself in fantasy and a vodka and limoncello.

via sf station, i came across catwalk ‘08:

a new elite modeling competition that caters to the Transgender Community (male to female). The time has come for a modeling competition that embodies, class, beauty, style, fashion at its best! Its’ purpose is to encourage and empower the TG community to excel in the fast evolving world of fashion and unique marketing.

my initial reaction was mixed, but if i lived in the area, i’d be interested in attending the event. as it is, i’ll have to wait for the coverage, and the impact it has.