NorWesCon, Friday, Shocks and Slides.

[elfs]

Omaha, Kouryou-chan and I all made it to NorWesCon on Friday. We missed out on Thursday, sadly; the kids were tired then. The place was packed and busy, full of lovely men and women in all manner of costumes. We got there just around dinner time, so after saying hello to Edd Vick and a few others we wandered over to Jack in the Box, which was Kouryou-chan's pick. The food was as awful as ever: even Kouryou-chan regretted the decision.

After dinner, we ran into tabbifli, and Omaha and she sat down to talk for a bit. I took Kouryou-chan to Kinderfilk, which is filk for and about kids. We sang Never Set The Cat on Fire and Little Fuzzy Animals, along with some others, one of which I must find on CD. jenkitty was also there, and I convinced her to sit next to us. We also learned (and this utterly shocked me) that Heather Alexander underwent hormone therapy and is now Alexander James Adams. It's, uh... I'm still processing that.

Be a bug!
Hosted on Flickr!. Click to enlarge.

Afterward, I took Kouryou-chan to "Be A Bug!" in which she and I got to make bug-eyed face masks. Becky, the woman who led the craft session, basically admitted that it was an excuse for her to make stuff; the kids just got to come along for the ride.

After that, I foisted Kouryou-chan off on Omaha so they could go to the dance and I went to the "Writing a Sex Scene" panel, which was more on "How to deal with it when your parents find out you've written a sex scene" panel. It was kinda fun.

We went home after that. It was late, and Kouryou-chan was showing signs of readiness to fall over.

Comments

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

Just curious, is there any story or reference behind "Never set the cat on fire" or was it just random sillyness? I know the song, but not much more about it.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

I am given to understand from friends in the transgender community that the correct exclamation is "congratulations". Given that we are talking about Herself and her Heir, perhaps the phrase is also "welcome".

[omahas.livejournal.com]

The correct "exclamation" is different for different people. Not everyone is able to process a change as great as this as quickly as some people. The correct response is to allow someone to process change at their own speed.

[jenk]

Yes ... I think that is why it's been mostly metaphor and faerie-tale on the Heatherlands forums, to allow people to go at their own speed.

This has been a topic of discussion on alexanderfans (formerly HeatherFans) for a bit too.

[damiana-swan.livejournal.com]

I think in cases like this there are different kinds of "correct responses".

Alec is very concerned that his community be able to process this at their own pace, and is willing to help with that whenever it's useful and possible.

However, that being said ... the processing bit is the inner response, and it is an important one. IMO the outer response, particularly given how much joy this has brought into his life, really *should* be "Congratulations!", accompanied if need be by "it'll take some time for me to get used to this, but I'm really glad you're so happy".

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[jenk]

His voice is deeper than Heather's, tho it doesn't have the power Heather had yet. Time is on his side there....

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[maellenkleth]

...and sometimes, you're just plain surprised, neh? ^_^

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[damiana-swan.livejournal.com]

I had a chance to talk with Alec a bit about it. Becoming Alec has been his dream for, well, 40 years now, and there's a palpable joy within him about his new life. He's also very masculine, and even though his voice is still settling into its new register (he's essentially a high baritone now) it's obvious it's going to be very nice.

One of the things he is hoping to do is to serve as an example to others--not just in the trans community, but in the world at large--that you can make your deepest dreams come true, no matter how impossible it may seem.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

Frank Hayes has released a cd titled "Never Set The Cat On Fire" which has both those songs on it. Or was it a different song you wanted on cd? I was one of the kinderfilk panelists, I can probably help you figure out at least the title & artist if you remember anything about the song you want. :)