If you haven’t heard, the economy — especially in the US — sucks. With an overall unemployment rate in the U.S. is 9.6% right now (as of today) and for those who are new graduates, it’s apparently 8.8%. I find it hard to believe and it might be an overall average but doesn’t indicate what it is for various disciplines. I know for K, it’s been a battle. Since she’s been home she’s applied for every job — no matter where in L.A. — that she can find (probably in the order of over 200 jobs in 3 months) and only today got a call back for an interview.

I’m hopeful that this might turn into full employment for her but who knows? At the least, it’s great that she has the interview. It’s been heartbreaking to listen to her as she tries to find work but cannot. As a recent grad, there are no unemployment benefits for her if she cannot find work. The GOP-types (aka deficit hawks) may think that not infusing the economy with funds means a better deficit, I believe it will do the opposite. It reduces the tax base while increasing demand on services. The goal should be to reduce the demand on services and increase the tax base. If more people are working, then more funds come in and the overall tax rate can remain consistent.

I’m lucky enough to be employed and to have a decent salary. It’s enough that I can support us both but it would be tight.

But it would be sweet if she got it.. So if you pray or have good thoughts, offer them towards her interview.

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Oh wow. I’ve been bad again about keeping things up to date, eh? Lots of good things have happened in the last little while so may be time for an update.

Yes, yes. I did succumb to the hype and got an iPhone 4. And to be honest, I love it. I still haven’t had the same issues that I keep reading about. My signal has been pretty good to begin with and I did get a bumper (which has been recently refunded thanks to Apple). I had been waiting, for what seemed like forever, for Otter Box to release their Defender series case. That arrive today and my iPhone is now snuggled into a decent case to protect against my clumsiness. Thankfully, it’s not as nearly as big as my Blackberry Otter Box case nor as heavy. The multitasking OS is awesome now and far more helpful. I’ve become more of an app addict and have found more apps that are useful for me.

And speaking of apps, I started using C25K (Couch-to-5K). I’ve been using this in the last couple of weeks to increase my weight loss. I had lost 10lbs but had plateaued. With my online teaching and the heat index, I hadn’t been leaving the apartment that much. This program has been helpful at pushing my body to burn more calories. Every other day I run/walk (5 min warmup, 30 min run and 5 min cool down) towards eventually running a 5k (this is a 9 week program). Once I do that, I’ll probably get the “Ease into 10K” (10 week program) or “Bridge to 10K” (6 week program). Thus far, I’ve lost an additional 4lbs (see chart below).

Get your own graph at skinnyr

While I still qualify as “morbidly obese”, I’m making progress. I’ve dropped 3+ points on the BMI scale and if I continue at this rate (about 7-8lbs per month, I might break 200 by the end of the year. This would be good for a variety of reasons: better health, top surgery options, better self-opinion of myself. I’ve never been happy with myself when I can barely fit into seats on airplanes and this will help me deal with that better. I’ve lost about 2-3 inches off the waist as well so that’s good.

And I might be flying more (not necessarily more often but rather I may be doing fewer online classes). I’ve gotten a new role in the company. While I’m still an instructor, I’ve also picked up the role of tech lead. This will mean I’ll be doing more specialized classes and a lot of research (which I enjoy and should allow me a more flexible schedule). I’m still waiting to see what happens with the visa (should be hearing on that in September sometime). Although I cannot leave the US until that time is up, I may have to so I can get a new passport. I finally got my birth certificate changed and have sent off for a new SIN number. With the birth certificate and SIN, I could finally get a new passport with my new name.

I don’t think I could ever envision I could be this happy with my life.

Life is good, indeed.

But well worth the wait for the Fall. At the end of August, I’ll be heading out to Los Angeles finally. I’ve begun the slow process of getting rid of what we don’t want/need any more. My forays into Craigslist proved to be without success. People expect goldmines for the price of a pack of bubble gum. So I’ve given up on selling it and decided to give it to charity. I figured if I have to give it up for pennies, it might as well go to helping someone truly in need. I think I might try them (likely Salvation Army since they are one of the few who will pick up in Queens — I know, I know; they have a nasty LGBTQ policy but poverty and helping those in need doesn’t) in a couple of weeks and see if they will come and get the sofa, my old desks, the bed frame (I’ll sleep on the mattresses fine), dining room table and about 6 bags of clothes.

So while I’m depressed at being alone (to a degree — whiny, old cat doesn’t count), I’ve had some good things happen. Work wise things are going well. I can’t get into details but there are some changes and it may mean an ok change or a wonderful change. We’ll see. In other work things, there’s a new visa in the works so that bodes well for the long term. So fingers crossed that in September or October I’ll have a new visa.

In other news, I succumbed to all the hype and went for the iPhone 4. I did need to get a new phone since my existing one died a horrible death (closing it caused it to shut down or crash — even on a full new battery). It’s a great phone and I’ve been enjoying it. I think I got the one that actually works compared to the news reports I’ve been reading. I am getting a case for it. The glass front and back make me very nervous. I’m a klutz when it comes to geek gear and this is why I have an Otter Box on my Blackberry. I so need to get one for this thing. Until I get a good case, I’m getting a decent one for now. I may get an armband case/carry as well. I’m going to start running in a couple of weeks to help improve my weight loss.

I got a Body Bugg a few weeks ago to help me track my calorie burned (if you’ve ever seen Biggest Loser, you know what a Body Bugg is). It’s been pretty awesome. I even know how well I sleep each night. It’s been pretty good at helping me keep on track for my caloric intake and output. I still have to record what I eat. I’ve plateaued a bit over the last couple of weeks so I figure running, even 3 times a week, will help break that a bit. Additionally, I’ll have to add push ups and pull ups to my daily routine to help me improve my chest muscles in prep for future plans.

Anyways, to say that life is good is an understatement albeit a bit lonely with K.

I’ve been far more remiss at posting blog entries this year than last. I think it’s because my life has become rather mundane although it’s been starting to ramp up a bit. This year has started off great and seems to be continuing (and potentially gaining speed) to be great. I’ve been hearing rumblings of a new work visa that will keep me here, potentially on a very longer term. I recently got a promotion (yay!) and a little pay bump (double yay!). That, along with a strong desire to finally skewer the remaining bits of debt that I have, have resulted in less stress and a more positive outlook on life. Things will get quiet here soon as K heads to L.A. next week and Bobcat and I stay here — for now. I’ve been trying to avoid buying things and actually have been contemplating selling certain things on Craigslist starting next week.

I have some concerns for the move, particularly how long it will be before Bob and I can go out to L.A. The very last date will be the end of August but I’m hoping for before then (end of June or July). The other concern is Bobcat herself. She ain’t no spring chicken any more. At 16, she’s cranky, whiny and a bit senile. She wasn’t happy about the flight from Toronto to NYC and a flight to L.A. will not be fun either.  If she comes onto the flight with me, she’ll be non-stop meow and worse than a baby crying. But I feel guilty about putting her in cargo. Ya, I know. I baby her far too much but she is my little furrkid.

My transition, such as it is, continues happily. I’m becoming a bear, I think. **ROFL** Hair loss is not an issue for me. I am contemplating moving up surgery to sometime this fall once I’m in L.A. A few of my fellow transmen recommend a specific doctor there and say that he does wonders, even for larger guys. I think once I’m in L.A. and have settled on a new doctor/health care environment, I’ll make a consultation appointment with this doctor to see about how much and how long before I could have the surgery. I have to admit being tired of binders and the constricted feel of it all. And I’d really like to not have to bike long distance with a binder (I’ve done it before but I don’t think I want to continue to do it).

One of the things that I will have to do is return back to a vegan lifestyle, more than like a raw vegan (or at least 80% raw vegan). I want to see if I can completely eliminate all processed food items (save for almond milk and cereal grains) from my diet. Not only will it help me lose the necessary weight for surgery but will generally help extend my life. K and I have become huge fans of The Biggest Loser. (ok. I’ll admit it. Jillian is hot!) These people are incredibly awe-inspiring. I would love to have a trainer again and be able to work out at a gym again but I’m afraid to. Most gyms have strict policies about locker room usage. Being in L.A., especially if the gym is within walking distance, will open up more workout opportunities but I think I’d rather be able to do so with shirt off or with a muscle shirt.

So that’s life in a nutshell at this point.

So I’ve had a busy week. I got my 2nd 15 minutes of fame in my life (my first was when my mom died and some friends did a wine and cheese to raise awareness about violence against women in Canada). This week CNN has been doing a few pieces on what it’s like to be transgendered/transsexual and they wanted members of the community to transmit messages to the world at large. Yesterday I got a ping from one of the editors who wanted more info about me (including phone number). As it turned out my iReport was used as the main iReport for the overall concept (see here: http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=417959). It’s rather flattering. I checked out Anderson Cooper’s interview with Chaz and some of the responses/comments to it. Most people seemed to be saying “Why? I don’t understand..”.

Possibly the only way I know how to answer that is with a question: Explain to me what it’s like to feel completely at home in your gender, where looking in the mirror you think to yourself “Yup. That’s me”.  It’s odd that this is something that has always been part of my life, like a dull migraine in the back of my head but one that I never really examined until I saw that perhaps there was a way to get rid of it. And when I understood that there was a variety of paths I could take, including on that might actually result in me seeing the “inner me”, it was time for a jump. I have not regretted any part of my transition thus far and I still have more to go, along with the challenges associated with them. One of the biggest is surgery. I so desperately want top surgery and I’d like to get it before going on my bike trip next year.

So to that end, I cashed in some stock that I got as a bonus (the government took it’s overly fair share) and the rest will go to wiping out nearly 60-70% of my debt in one fell swoop. I still have more shares left over and those I might use towards surgery itself if I cannot get it covered under health insurance. I’m waiting until I get to L.A. and there I will be aggressively aiming at losing weight. I’ve fluctuated at losing about 10 lbs but I need to shed more. I have to bring myself down by nearly another 90lbs. I’ve let the exercise go by the wayside because of a few life challenges but will be trying to incorporate those again. I’ll also be looking at pursuing a more raw vegan lifestyle.

K and I discussed the move the other night and we decided to sell or donate all larger items (except for the printer, bikes and humidors) or stuff we don’t need. Books and non-critical stuff we’ll send via USPS while critical or sensitive stuff we’ll send via UPS. This makes only Bobcat the issue when moving (she won’t like it but hopefully this will be the last plane trip for her). Once we’re in L.A. we get furniture there. I’ll be selling my Dell desktop and I’ll get a new personal desktop when I’m in L.A. (likely go Apple but not sure yet as to whether to get a Tower or a Mac Book Pro). The thing that I like is that it removes my attachment to things and allows me to purge the things I really don’t use/need. This should, theoretically, make life simplier. As I look around I realize there is a lot of clutter in my life and things I really don’t need. I’ve gotten better at asking myself “Do you really need that? Wait a night or two before buying it, if at all possible”.  Books, in particular, fall under this category. I LOVE to read and I LOVE to learn. Books, for me, have always been the avenue for this. Most of the books I tend to keep are technical books since I tend to use them as reference (I have a heard time reading on my laptop or other computer screen although I’m ok on my iPod — go figure).

Of course, tied in with this stress over the move (exact date TBD) is the stress over the work visa. And it appears I may be getting a new one. This new one should lead me to a green card and then, well… who knows. If we get just get the visa part settled, it would alleviate a lot. Add to that the wait for the new birth certificate. Now that I’ve settled all the uproar over what commissioner they wanted (a commission of oaths), I’m now waiting for the actual certificate to come through. Then I can move forward on a SIN and then — yay! — new passport with a new picture! Gender will still be F for now. Until I have surgery, I cannot get that changed. Once I do have the surgery, I get to go through this all over again…

Whoop.

Dee.

Doo.

HURRAH CANADA!

Women's Team Canada wins gold

It was nice watching Team Canada win over Team USA last night, even if it was on NBC (they really need to improve their coverage). As I watched them play, it brought back a flood of memories when I once dreamed (prior to the explosion of women’s hockey) of playing in the NHL and elsewhere. Today, I’m not even sure if I could join a pickup league. I took a look in Google for teams in Los Angeles and did find the L.A. Blades, a lesbian and gay community team but they have no indication if trans individuals are allowed to play. As I continue further into my transition and yet, still am in the in-between stages of things (since surgery is still lacking), I find team and community oriented sports still lacking in trans support. I suppose that’s why I’ve taken to liking cycling since it is primarily a solo activity.

In fact, assuming that the visa stuff works out, I’m planning on a L.A. to San Fran trip next year and the year after doing a L.A. to Vancouver, BC trip (Veronique, if you’re still there I’d love to meet up with you and your wife). I miss cycling almost as much as I miss hockey. I suppose some of this has to do with the 3 books I finished reading this week: The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific, Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu and Lost on Planet China: One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation. If  you get a chance to read any or all of them, do so. They are a great way of looking at life elsewhere and not just a tourist way of looking at this. I have to admit that Troost writes how I think when it comes to visiting other places. It’s more than just the places; it’s the people and how they go about their daily lives. It makes the world more connected and real, at least to me.

Blizzard for February, 2010 (Queens, NY)

I know I shouldn’t put too much attachment to hockey and solo bicycling touring but it’s so much darned fun to enjoy both of those pursuits. It never was the winning (although a nice side effect) but more the actual doing and the people that one meets in both. That said, I’ll likely stick to cycling for the near future since I don’t need  a car for it and I do for hockey (returning back to a goalie role would mean having a ton of crap to haul). Plus cycling is far healthier for me. I enjoy the tranquility of travel on two wheels and the sense of accomplishment when reaching a destination. It’s also a tad cheaper than hockey and more flexible although cycling does prefer better weather (I have cycled through a couple of hurricanes but snow is a little more difficult).

Cycling also lets me dream of faraway places. I still have dreams of cycling through the UK, France, to see the Dalai Lama and through parts of Africa. It all is so tempting but I know I will have to put it on hold at one point once kids arrive so I should try to get one or two of those faraway places under my belt at some point. In the meantime, I’ll dreamily ponder what it would be like biking up and down the Western Seaboard and the southern US.

Hilly comes to mind.

At least, there’d be no snow.

I hope.

The Dance of the Fountain..

This week has been a challenging one. Granted last week was fun. I got to stay in Vegas and teach there, which meant that in the evenings I got to enjoy the town a bit. That was good. I won some, I lost some. I think my biggest win was $70, which I used to buy some premium cigars. I think in all I lost maybe $40, which is a reasonable amount. I will say that if you go to Vegas, want a decent hotel room (with a full kitchen), willing to pay around $100 and don’t mind being directly on the strip (but can get a free shuttle to the Mandalay throughout the day/evening to go to the strip) then the Homewood Suites near the Vegas Airport (right across from it, actually) is a place to stay. The staff were amazing (particularly those during the Monday-Thursday shifts). I’ve stayed at quite a few hotels in my time but these guys were the best.

Clean shaven boi

One day I’d like to return to Vegas for non-work reasons and just have fun truly exploring the whole city. I didn’t get to the older part of Vegas like I did last time and I would love to visit some of the more natural sites. Maybe I should plan a bike trip from Los Angeles to Vegas in a couple of years. I did stick to my workouts for the two weeks I was on the road (Toronto and Vegas) and my diet was so-so. It could have been better. I learned that Vegas Portions are a supersized version of American portions, which are, to my Canadian eyes, to big as it stands. Flying back wasn’t fun as Mother Nature had some nasty things in store. I lucked out in that I missed most of it, although I got snarled in the after-effects. I had ended up on a single stop over — Vegas to Los Angeles to NYC. The Vegas to LAX part was packed but LAX to JFK was really empty. Either way, I managed to get upgraded to business class and it made the flight kinda better. I certainly didn’t have as much inspect as I had when traveling from Toronto to NYC (they’ve added in at least two more search options). Interestingly enough through all my travel I never got challenged on my passport. My picture doesn’t match my face any more and, to be frank about it, I suspect it’s a white male privilege thing. The beard and simple moustache should have thrown up markers since my gender didn’t match but that means either no one was threatened, didn’t care or didn’t notice.

Upon arriving back, I decided to shave the beard (leaving the pencil thin moustache). It was kinda shocking to see my bare face again (I left a little on the chin). K did a double-take after I had shaved it and, I think, still trying to come to gripes with the new face. Heck, even I am. It was funny that when I had the beard, I could have sworn I saw my uncle P looking back at me. As hard as life has been in the past for me, I will say that it was my mom’s siblings and her mother that centered me enough to become the person I am, even if it wasn’t what they expected. I’m a rather self-centered child (a side-effect of being an only child growing up around adults, I suspect — not an excuse but more of an observation).

NYC Blizzard (Feb 2010)

For the rest of the week, I had been battling a rather nasty head cold. All I can say is “Thank the gawds for the inventor of Nyquil!”. This stuff knocked me out for two days in a row, giving my body enough time to recover. And since this was an off-platform week for me (plus we got pummeled by more snow) it was great. As it turned out, K had a “Snow Day” on Wednesday. She squealed like a little kid when she saw all the snow falling. And more so when she began playing with it (making mini-snowballs). I treated her to some vegan hot chocolate and vegan marshmellows with a bit of not-so-vegan chocolate liquor mixed in. It was an awesome way to spend the afternoon as the sky fell down to the earth. It also allowed me to catch up on my Hulu queue and finally clear that out as well as get through the 3 NetFlix videos. The Beautiful Daughters one was particularly good. As a trans guy, I’m pretty privileged in many ways but the most important way is that I blend in a lot easier and am accepted far more than many of my trans-sisters are. This is probably part of why there was no issue with traveling between Canada and the US thus far. This video, which documents the first trans women version of the Vagina Monologues, is absolutely beautiful and shows some of the same difficulties that many trans women face that cis-gendered women face. And then some. If you can get the video and haven’t seen it, do so.

In other news, I’m hopeful that this year will be a good year for work. Some of my discussions with my managers seem to indicate so. The visa still looms large ahead of me and performance reviews are soon. I think I did well last year and I’m hopeful that it will be reflected pay wise. In the meantime, the company issued bonuses and let’s just say, the gov’t will be pleased with their cut of it (I hope I can get some of that back at tax time since that amounts to an overpayment). But my credit cards were also happy. I paid off my “cigar card” with part of it and paid off half of another (that one will be paid off completely in March). So life seems to be turning around a bit in regards to finances and such. Perhaps my dream of getting my top surgery done in 2011/2012 isn’t that far off now… eh.. we shall see.

For now, I have a cat to feed and a woman to romance a bit..

I’ve been lazy and busy at the same time for the last little while. I sometimes go through a non-desire to write and the most recent time period was it. I’ll admit to being a little bit of a WoW addict of late. (Yes, that is the first step to healing). But it is a cheap escape for me and the puzzles do exercise the mind in many ways. I think I’ve gotten a little bored with work. The excitement is down and I think I’m getting a little worried about the visa situation. I’m still waiting to hear. I think if it does fail, I’ll head to BC (Vancouver) and ride out the year there. It’d suck but, one does what ya have to do.

I have gotten a little bit excited about a new site that I’m helping out on: ButchFemmePlanet. Coming in at the ground level, it’s re-energinzed my non-work related geek to poke at vBulletin more and to do a little work on VeganBodybuilding site (I’m the admin there too). I have to say that BFP definitely feels like a breath of fresh air and has a good community feel about it. The community feeling is important to me. It adds to that sense of belonging and purpose that we often want in life beyond our partners. Anyways, it’s refueled my desire to re-learn PHP, go more advanced and get beyond that. I’ll be investigating into some things I could do to improve the blog a bit but we’ll see.

The NaNoWriMo failed for me this year. It was that whole bored/lazy thing. I dunno why but the idea I had at first fizzled. I used to have such a creative mind but now, not so much. It’s made me wonder if some of that is the T. My emotions and how I display them have certainly changed. I find I cannot cry any more (things that would have me sniffling barely get a whimper). It’s a very hard thing to come to grips with. It doesn’t mean that I don’t feel for them, it’s just that I cannot show it like I used to.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. This has never been a huge holiday for me largely because we never visited family and associated meaning with the holiday. When I learned the true history of Thanksgiving, that it wasn’t as “Rockwellian” as we’d believe, it lost it’s importance to me even more. It’s shocking how everyone here talks about how it’s for family and such — and then I see a lot of the grocery stores open (albeit with shortened hours). It is a commercialized holiday to the Nth degree and that really does suck. For us, we didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving but rather our 3rd year together. We first started dating on Thanksgiving in 2006 (although online) and it’s been an amazing 3 years. Certainly we’ve had bumps and bruises along the way but I have found that we’ve gotten closer and love each other more now than before. It’s an awesome feeling. I made a pure vegan dinner — tofurky, vegan dumplings, potatos, onions, carrots, gravy and a vegan wish bone — that we thoroughly enjoyed. And then we watched Bruno. That has to be the weirdest movie I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised that it made it to theaters and that lawsuits of one sort or another didn’t prevent it from airing. There were some parts that were just downright funny and others that surprised me that the audience didn’t kill him.

Anyways, online blog buddy DolphynGyrl wanted to know what 5 things we’re thankful for this holiday season so here are mine:

1. I am thankful that I finally found my path in life, even if it took a few years.

2. I am thankful that I have a job I love (yes, I do still love my job)

3. I am thankful for good health of friends and family

4. I am thankful that Bobcat is still around, cranky as ever.

5. I am thankful for K being in my life. Without her, life would be lonely and very plain.

Or at least my manager. A few months ago, while running between flights and having to lug my laptop out for security checks, it dropped and caused some damage to the case. It was enough that it required a repair. Long story short, the expenses finally got approved because my manager believes in her staff that work for her. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s not enough to work for a great company; it’s the people that truly make the difference. Every day that I’m at my company I’m in awe of the knowledge and kindness that I get from colleagues and my manager.  Her actions reminded me how much I love working for my company, not just because the I love our products and believe in them so much but because the people are so awesome and humble. I told her I owed her a dinner for this but she said that she owed me one for all the times I’ve been flexible when they needed someone to fill in at the last minute. It capped a day that had been somewhat depressing but was ending on a good note.

On Thursday, while in Baltimore, I went to the local cigar store to unwind and won a hat as part of an event they had on. While relaxing, I connected my iPod Touch to the wireless and found out that the Matthew Shepard bill got approved by the Senate (I know that some may not approve or understand but as a trans individual, it adds a little more protection for someone like me). I think it shows more and more that what’s in the government, albeit slow as most large governmental organizations are, are good people and try to help where they can. It gives a little bit more of hope to me that ENDA might yet pass in the full form rather than a water downed version as was previously thought.

When I finally got back to NYC, I noticed a large envelope from Ontario. I was hopeful that it was my newly modified birth certificate. Apparently something isn’t right with the forms and the provided documentation. So before I go fully ballistic, I tried calling them (this morning, in fact). Unfortunately, their computers were down so I’ll try again tomorrow.

One of the nice side effects of teaching at home is that I tend to not spend as much financially. I just can’t go out to the store and buy things. I just don’t see the “things” out there. But one down side is that I tend to become a bit of a home body and my body tends to become a specific shape (round). I remember when I used to bike to and from work a few years ago. I was able to keep my weight down without being super skinny. I actually liked being “stocky” and was ok with being a few pounds overweight (for my height I’m supposed to be about 110-125 lbs — I really am big boned and find I look best around 140-150) but didn’t want to be obese. A side effect of traveling is the food that often ends up being eaten, even if a vegan (e.g., fries and the like). I’ve been a horrible vegan and have done a few slips over the last few months.

I don’t know why (perhaps it’s the T kicking in more) but my cravings for salt have gone to huge cravings for dead things. While it’s been mostly fish (I suspect due to heritage and early childhood experiences) I’m afraid of a slippery slope effect. I need to get back on track. My schedule for Oct/Nov/Dec has too much of a mixture for me to focus long enough on getting back into shape. But starting January I’ll be home, if my schedule sticks, for 3 months (except for one week in Toronto) starting usually at 9am CST (that’s 10am for me) with an occasional 8am CST start (9am for me). I figured if I could find a gym close enough that was open early enough it might be an option for me to go early in the morning (say 5-6am to beat the business rush). I know enough about fitness and training that I should be able to do this on my own — it’s just will power and consistency. Because I will have 3 months where I could get into a rhythm and turn it from an occasional thing into a more permanent activity and habit this could prove well at helping me lose some weight before we move out west. It would also help for when I get ready to have surgery (weight loss for larger sized FTMs is often a pre-requisite).

Now, while I have great idears reality may slap me in the face. I found one gym that is 24 hours M-F and has early hours on Sat/Sun. The one challenge will be, of course, the change rooms. It’ll be winter so I can’t really just dress in gym clothes, work out and leave. Most gyms I know won’t allow people to keep their bags/jackets near them when they work out and lockers are often inside the change room area. I doubt that this gym will be “trans friendly” but who knows. I may luck out. I just have this feeling that I won’t be able to use it in the winter or I will have to come dress in my gear and have minimal ID/cash on me. I’m still trying to figure out how best I could do this. Have any other trans individuals dealt with this?