You might remember I blogged about her before that she is by far the best musician and performer I have ever personally met. The night I got to Indy, I arrived much later than I usually do. The lady that sets up my travel was trying to be nice so that I wouldn�t have to get up at 3AM for an early morning flight, so she set me up with a flight that left late AM. Grrrrrr!! So I got there later than I liked and then had to jump out my backside to get ready in time to meet Kara. Now that I have got over my phobia of wearing short skirts (ha ha ha) this purple outfit is becoming one of my favorites!
I got almost all ready when I get a call from Kara warning me that she is not gonna dress up. To hell with that, I shaved my face raw and am already made up, she can doe what she likes but I was going dressed! I headed out of my hotel, walking through the lobby to my car when this gorgeous young lady behind the counter gives me a genuine smile and says �Hey, welcome back! Going out?� I chatted a little with her, not much because I�m a little nervous. Would you believe after all this time I still get nervous sometimes? The young ladies that work at the Holiday Inn have always been very nice and friendly to me. Most people will treat you politely but you can tell they are doing it because it�s their job � not these ladies. They are honestly and genuinely friendly and the simple fact that they took the time to say something to me sort of made my day! J
So we met at Kara�s Hotel and jammed in her room for a few hours. On Kara�s last trip to Indy, she and Gina had gone to a �straight� club and met a neat GG (Genetic Girl � AKA a �real� woman) there that seemed to hit it off with them. Well, Kara had invited her to come to our little jam session so we all three had a lot of fun. I wont say much about her because I�m not sure what she would be comfortable with my sharing, but she was a neat person and I enjoyed chatting with her. Stayed out until 2AM � something I usually don�t do on a work night so the next morning was miserable!
The next night, I headed outta the hotel to meet Kara and our new friend for dinner at our usual favorite � English Ivy. Kara once again waited until I was almost done to call and say she was not gonna get dressed up. Oh well, her loss, no way I was washing it all off after I had worked so hard to get ready! J I love this skirt � it is like the ultimate in �girly�.
Once again on the way out of the hotel lobby, the beautiful young ladies went out of their way to chat a little. I LOVE meeting people like them � people that aren�t afraid to talk to �the crossdresser�. It gives me hope that the media has not succeeded in convincing everyone that we are freaks to be avoided and shunned. Had a great dinner as always and then headed to a local bar called �Illusions�. Gina had tried to take me there a few times before, but each time the place was empty. I don�t mean only a few people there, I mean empty of all except the bartender. We figured if it was empty again, we could haul the guitars in and jam some more. Well, the place was NOT empty and they had the Jukebox playing a bunch of stuff we didn�t care for, so we only had a drink or two and then I called it a night at about 1130PM.Third night � I�m TIRED! Two nights of staying out late has sort of taken its toll on me. I used to be able to hang like that but these days I�m too damned old and it catches up to me. Walking up the stairwell in the hotel, I couldn�t help but notice that it made a great reverb chamber, so I grabbed my guitar, took it to the stairwell, and probably irritated the hell outta at least a dozen people with rooms close to the stairs by playing for about an hour!
Called Kara to tell her I was probably not going out at all tonight and she convinced me to go anyway. �Fine damn it, but this time I�M not dressing up!� Met her at Illusions again because they do Karaoke on Thursday nights. I was pretty sure it was gonna be a bad time when I walked in . . . and was delighted to find out I was wrong and we had a ball! The Karaoke was awesome with some truly astounding singers in the crowd, I mean chills up and down your spine singing. Unlike the Metro where I usually do Karaoke when I�m here, you can find a table and a seat, and you will get the chance to sing several times. Kara did a couple of Frank Sinatra songs, and I swear, if you closed your eyes you wouldn�t know it wasn�t Frank singing.
My last day in Indy was a short work day, I was done at about 1PM. With an entire afternoon free, I got dressed up and went shopping! Once again the ladies at the Holiday Inn took time to chat with me on the way out and I was still thinking about how neat that was when I walked by a chocolate store. �hmmm�, I thought, �maybe I can give THEM a smile!� and so I bought a box of chocolates.
I LOVE my new shoes but they are NOT going to help me keep a low profile and are hardly �mall walking� shoes, so I start raiding all of the shoe stores looking for some just like them but with shorter heels. Would you believe I couldn�t find any? It seems there are no happy mediums � it�s either old lady 1 inch heels, standard three inch pumps, or really cute 4 inch heels. Well to heck with it, I love them, and so will just deal with it if they draw attention. 
I continue shopping when I see this stunning woman walking along, very well dressed, and wearing heels every bit of 4 inches. We traded eye contact and I was kind of set back a step. You should have seen the look of confidence in her eyes. She was awesome, she knew she was awesome, and she owned the world. Here I felt a bit awkward in my heels, and this young lady literally exuded confidence while she strutted in hers. SHE wasn�t making any excuses, or trying not to draw attention. She was wearing killer shoes and clearly didn�t give a damn what anyone else thought about! She inspired me and so I stopped looking for shoes and stopped worrying about what attention they might be attracting! Dang it, I love em, their gorgous, and I would walk every bit as proud as she did! OK, I tried to have that much confidence. Let�s face it, she was young and hot, and I�m old and not. Lol
Came back to the hotel and found the lobby area PACKED with young people, with folks standing around outside the door. I got more than one or two looks on the way in and tried to remember the example of the woman at the mall that had walked so proud and confidently as I walked past them. Stopped at the counter and gave my favorite ladies the box of chocolates. They both looked a bit surprised so I tried to put a lot of confused thoughts into a few words and told them that a lot of people are polite, but few are genuinely friendly as they had been. I felt a bit awkward with so many people standing around and sort of rushed to the elevator.
On the way to dinner, I stopped and asked the ladies if they would mind my taking their picture for my blog. They both agreed and so here they are � TA DA!
Went to dinner at English Ivy alone and had a decent meal but just wasn�t into it and so headed back to the hotel. It�s a Friday night, my flight doesn�t leave until 2PM, so I should have gone out but am just kind of bushed. Found the lobby pretty much empty and stopped to chat with the girls again. I have very vague memories of being so young, it seems like a whole world away sometimes. I really enjoyed it but I�m sure I bored the hell outta these ladies for about an hour. It was really cool. They told me they think we are brave and that it�s kind of neat that we are different. They asked a few of the usual questions and seemed concerned that they might offend me. I assured them I thought it was neat as hell to talk to them and that I liked the chance to show that CD�s are not freaks. I bragged about having been married for 20 years and I was asked about Gina, who they have seen come visit me at the hotel several times. They seemed pretty surprised when I told them that Gina has been married 30 years! LolWell, it seems they didn�t have a bad opinion of CD�s to begin with, so I didn�t have any convincing to do. THEY on the other hand, convinced ME, that there are some real neat people out there
I showed them my blog to make sure they were comfortable with my posting their pic there � no worries. Funny thing, while looking at my MySpace site, I suddenly realized just how many pictures I�ve been taking, and I�m suddenly embarrassed! It started as a way to make sure that I would have happy memories when I get older but has apparently become something of an obsession. About a year ago I caught myself looking at a 1995 picture of my Jamie Austin makeover every time I started to feel fat and old:
I would look at the pic and thing to myself �Wow, you looked so cute and yet you thought you were ugly! Sure wish I�d taken more pictures back then.� Well, the thought hit me that when I�m in my 70�s, I might look back to today with the very same thoughts and wondering why I didn�t take more pictures so I would have memories of being attractive. I bought a digital camera and started taking it with me when I traveled, and it�s developed into a obsession, and it only got worse once I started blogging! Now I catch myself thinking �Damn, wish I had my camera so I could put THAT scene in my blog!�
So now I look at my Flickr page and see that in the last year I have gone from having 3 or 4 pictures to three or four hundred. I guess I�m a camera whore now! lol Oh, and if you have the urge to go to my flickr page, count my pics, and then come back and tell me that I have a lot more than four hundred there, don't waste your time - I already know that Damn it! LOL
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