I did my Technical Test last night for the Broadcast Training.  I walked in, sat down , and totally blew them away.  After about 5 min of a 30 min session, my instructor said, "I think you have it down.  You aren't going to have any trouble here."

He gave me a few pointers on cross fade between music, and some some other more artistic advice, but basically I had passed my test before I even really got started.  So now I have to do 3 on air shows with an Engineer, (the third one I will do all by myself, wit them just looking over my shoulder.)  Then it is the final On Air Test, a one hour show at midnight, so the FCC doesn't kill us if I screw up.

I am feeling pretty good about it, and have been making some decisions about my living and work situations.

Overall, I feel very good about life.

Jayna is a little down today after yesterdays interview.  I wish there were more that I could do to cheer her up.

Hugs
Mila

PS - I love you Jayna!

A picture from the Broadcast Booth during my hands on training session.  That is my instructors hand in the shot.
I had a great time, and go back in for my equipment test on Thursday.
oh my, is that a Bi Plane!!!!!!
This is a pic of the Bi Plane that our friend Maggie Kay gave to me.  Isn't it COOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!!

Hugs

Mila

Look where we go featured :)

www.andreajames.com

Ep 53 is up on Trans-ponder.com

I have an excellent day yesterday. Thursday night Jayna and myself went down to the Bay Area, and stayed with our friend YouTube Sarah. We had a great time, and broke our diet for the night. Back on that today.... On Friday morning we drove into SF and got to my interview with 10 min to spare! Whoot!

The interview went GREAT! I have a second interview, and I think that there is a fairly good chance they will offer me the job. (85.1% sure). They want me to do a writing sample and supply some references before round 2. I was told that they were "very excited to have me come down for the interview" They liked my websites and my job history. They really need Tech Help and office management, a tough combo to find.

I told them my needs and they said they thought they could meet my requirements. We will see what they say on interview #2.

After the interview we met with Viki KolaKowSki, the Alameda Judge who is up for apointment to Superior Court!!!! She would be the first openly trans Superior Court Judge in the US, if she gets the spot. We did an interview which will be up soon on Trans-ponder.com

We then met with Maggie and Sheena, 2 fans of the show. Maggie gave me a gift of a model WWII bi-plane. It is fully functional and could fly. It is Friggen AWESOME SAUCE!!!!
I can't thanks her enough. It is not proudly on display in our house!

We had lunch with the 2 of them and then took the 3 hour drive back home.

It was an amazing day, that I won't soon forget.

Hugs all around.

Mila

I am getting very excited. Tomorrow I will be in SF for an interview. We are going to stay the night at a friends house tonight, about 1 1/2 hours from SF so that the morning communte will be a little less hectic. (I used to live down there and know that traffic can be really bad).

The interview is at 10 am, so it should be a little better than trying to get in at rush hour :P

Hugs

Mila

Hi,

This is just a note to Jayna.

To say that,
You make me smile, and laugh, and enjoy life.
You are so full of energy, and positive thoughts.
You are talented and an amazing artist.
You are beautiful.
You are sexy.
You make every day better than the last.
You are an amazing person.
Pillow Jayna is no substitute for you.

I love you with all my heart, and can't wait to marry you.

Love

Mila

I am feeling a lot better, after a very stressful morning.  I think I took a little of my stress out on a collection agent who was calling my work for one of my co-workers.  I totally went off on them, and told them that "this is a business, and we have a responsibility to our clients, not to tie up the phones with non work related business."  The collections lady hung up on me :P

Felt good.  I hate collection people, especially when they are for someone who is having a really hard time.  Thanks goodness that I haven't had to deal with them on my own personal level in about 5 years.

So a sudden turn of events.  It looks like Jayna has a job interview up here, for more money than the job I am looking at could offer.  I am a little conflicted, but we are both going to do our interviews, and see what looks like the best option.  If she gets this job, then I could stay where I am, and we could keep the house.  It would be nice to ride out the housing crash and have something in the end.

I have some great ideas for show, and am doing some research into historical trans figures.  I had a great conversation with someone yesterday about a local trans hero, who drove stage coaches. (F2M)

I am very excited about doing more research on it.  I think I am going to take a break from some of my more adventurous art projects.  I need to trim back and do something that is going to get finished, and not worry about the stuff that is too advanced, or takes too much time for me to complete at the moment.

Thanks for all the supportive comments everyone.  It did turn my day around.

Hugs

Mila

With all the things that are going on right now, job searches, and transition issues, recording shows, and setting up interviews, researching show topics, and drawing comics, and working on websites, and getting my broadcasting tests finished, jayna's thesis, and 3d projects, on top of family issues and fighting weight gain.... I am STRESSED OUT.

I am having trouble coping with it, and I don't know what to do.  There are so many good things coming, and I feel like if I can just get through the next couple of weeks, things will get better.  But I feel the tension, and ti is affecting me.  I wake up early, unable to sleep. I am tired during the day.  I feel really low energy, and am falling asleep all the time.

Sorry for complaining.  I am just so tired, and in pain, and stressed, and I need to vent.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I took the written exam for my broadcasting class and got a perfect score.  100%.  I even got the tricky questions about where my coffee cup would fit on a turntable.... and how to ignore an emergency phone call by putting on my bat-girl suit when the red phone rings, lol.

So I went after  the test and talked with the program director about my chances of getting trans-ponder on the FM radio.  The director said that they had already talked about it with the program comity and that if I didn't screw up in phase 2 (technical equipment) or Phase 3 (the on air test)  then we would have a once a month time slot for trans-ponder, AND a 5 min weekly spot for Brick Sandwiches (on the nightly news report)!!!!!!

Fricken AWESOME SAUCE!!!!!!!!

Hugs

Mila

I spent most of the weekend working on artwork for a new website, and I am once again reminded about just how much work goes into setting one of these things up.  Pretty much since jaynatopia is slave to her Thesis project, I am pretty much at it alone for the time being.  The site is looking pretty nice.  I am working on the frames and the core icon art right now, so it is still a little sparse, but overall I am getting good feedback on it.  I want to get some time to do a little flash animation for it, but there seems to not be enough time in the day to do everything I want to.

Our friend Rebeca has offered to help with color flats for Ocity, so hopefully we can start building a work flow for pages there.  Doing everything myself is too much work.  Jayna has jumped in and helped with Inking, which is a HUGE task, and I thank her for that!

In other news, she is still on her job search, but had a few phone interviews.  I am still hoping she gets the teaching job, but it will be a while before we find that out.  Overall this weekend was very full.  On top of all of the other stuff, I had to prepare my campaign speech for the 2008 remote control elections.  They will be in Ep 50 of Trans-ponder.  That should be fun.

Considering doing another Brick-Sandwich Ep.  We were botha  little discouraged about the Brick eps, after getting some negative feedback, but I think that it is just a setback, and we will get back to the bar soon enough. 

Jayna and I watched some BSG this weekend, and are well into season 2.  Catching up!  She really is enjoying it, and I am glad that I could share something with her.

Well, I better get back to work.  I have my meeting with the Exec Director at United Way tomorrow.  Hopefully I will get selected for their board of directors.

Hugs

Mila

So I was ask today to consider an appointment to the board of the United Way.  It was out of the blue, and I had no idea they were even considering me, but apparently I have been mentioned at several board meetings.  So I have been invited to a meeting to see how it works, and may be joining their board of directors if they will have me.

In other news, our super top secret project is taking shape.  Secret stuff is happening, and secret artwork is being produced.

Soon we will take over the world.

I got some really good feedback on episode 48 of Trans-ponder.

Broadcasting school is going great.  You may soon be able to hear trans-ponder on FM radio!

oh, and Jayna did a naughty video, that she is now refusing to put up on the web. (not that naughty, but still, I want to see the whole things and don't want to wait till I get home)

Hugs

Mila

Howdy all.  I figure I better jump back in the frey and get a post up before my slacking gets the best of me.  When I say slacking, it certainly isn't because I am not doing any work, I am more slacking in the writing department.   Art wise, there has been some serious movement in the right direction.  My Flash animation is moving along nicely, and I have completed the background artwork, and 3/4 or the main character.  I finished a few items for jaynatopia 's site, including a 3d can of soda.
 it was a lot of fun.  Got a few pages of artwork done on OCITY, that Jayna has inked!  I have to get to color soon, but I am sure that can wait till I have some other stuff done.  I think today I will start work on some mock adds for Jaynatopia, in the 1950's style.  If you all have any ideas let me know.

We are getting a lot of good feedback about trans-ponder.com as well.  I am hoping to get a Pillow Jayna flash object started sometime this week..

Wow, I am a workaholic. I got to stop drinking the workahol and get back to work.

Hugs

Mila

On Tueday at around 11:00pm, after recording a podcast, I realized that my phone was missing.  Since my phone is my alarm clock, and I need it to wake up for work the next day, Jayna and I spend about 30 min looking for it.  We call it, as any smart person would do, but unfortunetly, it has been set to vibrate.  Funny enough, I know it is in the house, because my blue tooth device can still  call out.  A day later, tearing the house apart, and putting away anything loose, we hear a beep.... then nothing.  As if the phone were crying out.  But it was so muffled that neither of us could pinpoint it.

Jayna accused em of opening a pocket dimension and putting my phone in it.  How else could it be that lost! 

I even moved all the chairs and couches. Nothing underneath, or in the seats.  Was it in my pants, NO,  in the laundry, NO.
Were the heck could it be!

Though triangulation I figured it had to be somewhere near the center of the house, and since I had been putting away DVD's, I decided to look in the cabinets.  Then suddenly I heard a vibrating in the cabinet.  Could it be inside.  I tore out all the DVD, to see an empty vibrating cabinet.

We eventually discovered that it was in buried deep in the mechanics of the couch that was touching the cabinet, and that it was stuck in a piece of lining, so therefore, could not fall to the floor, even after lifting the couch off the ground.

I have my phone back now, and am quite happy that it is not lost in a pocket dimension.

So my co-worker started to complain about tiny itchy bumps all over after going to a bonfire.  Everyone though it was poison oak, but no, she has chicken pox.  So there is a red alert for anyone who hasn't had them around here.  Artists are freaked out, and teachers are even more freaked out.  Not me.  I had them when I was 10, and am fairly sure that I haven't had enough exposure to get a relapse.

Wish me luck here!  2 week gestation and all.

Got more work done on the comic last night, and started on a surprise YouTube video that I hope to finish soon, with the help of jaynatopia

Hugs

Mila

I found this picture on my phone and wanted to prove that I had in fact met a Dalek, and the Doctor had it under control.

Oh, also I got a bag of Oranges today from a co-worker.  They looked kinda oblong, instead of round, but I didn't think anything of it. Turns out they are some kind of Crossbred Lemon Orange Hybrid.  Discovered this after I bit into one.  Taste the Sour Goodness.

Hugs

Mila

Okay, so after a long conversation with jaynatopia, I decided that I will open my Livejournal to the public again, and not be afraid of "the ex" trying to use things against me.

Things are a happening around here.  Almost 2 new pages done on OCITY, and they are looking Sharp! (ouch!).  I am very excited to be getting back into the comic business.  It has been a dream since my childhood.

My old (pre-transition) friend Jimmie Robinson (Bomb Queen, Evil and Malice, Amanda and Gun)  contacted me on myspace last night.  Jimmie seemed well informed and happy to chat again. "hey Girl, how's it going!"

I am happy that I can gain back that connection, Jimmie is a really cool person, and a great artist.

Can't wait to get off work and work more on OCITY.

Hugs

Mila

Different color Background, and a little highlight.  Which do you like better?

So much has gone on the last few days, and I am happy to be alive, and with my sweetheart.
This weekend was a great relief as we cleaned the house, and are finally have a cleaning plan :)
We saw our friends down is Sac for lunch, and Ryan and his best friend exchanged gifts.

All relative coolness resulted.

Today is my Sonogram to look for scar tissue in my pelvis.  I am nervous about how the doctors and nurses will treat me, and I think it has to do with a rather rude conversation I had with a nurse when I set up my apointment.

We are podcasting tonight, so I will be speaking about my abuse on Trans-ponder.com.

Listen in :)

I'm not too chatty today, due to my nervousness, but I can say that I had a great weekend, and I feel very empowered in my personal relationships.

Hugs

Mila

I got a letter a few minutes ago from a long time friend who I had lost touch with.  We had exchanged a few e-mails in the last few days, getting back in touch and sharing what was going on in our lives.  I felt really good, because this is someone whom I had shared a lot of good experiences with, and whom I respected greatly.  It is someone whom I wished to get back into my life, and I hoped we could be closer friends now that I had dealt with my GID.

"...I don't think we can be friends.  There was a person named *** and I really liked him.  We got along great and we could talk for hours.  I cared about him a lot.  Whether he was just a facade you had to create before you found out how to be who you *really* are or whether he is who you will always be and who you must eventually reconcile with ... he is the only reason I know you.  And you don't want to be him anymore..."

I guess I was wrong to assume that someone who sought me out would do it for good reason, apparently this was just an issue of closure for herself and had NOTHING to do with wanting to keep me in her life, or any sort of respect for me.  I have heard of people doing this with ex's.  Seeking them out to gain closure when they have some internal struggle with an issue.  It just seemed wrong to HURT me to solve her internal problem.

Honestly I thought that the comments in the e-mail were not only hurtful, but later down right discrimination, especialy the " who you *really* are" comment, as if I were some made up person.

I have lost a few friends along the way of my transition, and I'm sure I'll rant about all of this on tonights Trans-Ponder podcast, so be sure to listen in.

It seems that this week is destined to be filled with transition related rejection and pain.  (I got "Sir"ed on the phone this morning when calling in about changing my name on my passport)

Well, the good news for this weekend was that Jayna and I got to see our doc in Palo Alto, and got the green-light for Orchi's in January.  Jayna and I had a great time down there and there was a lot of relief when then the doc told me that the surgery I had when I was younger was not as serious as I had been lead to believe.  He said that I should still get the sonogram to check for scar-tissue for SRS, but that the area he was going to operate on was not high enough up to matter.  He will be taking his time with me though to make sure that he doesn't cause any problems later.  He said I had a little  "extra cordage" that needed to be sealed off, but that was the only problem he could predict.

I have my sonagram on the 11th, and am waiting for the results of my XY karyotype test.

I Have a great day

Okay, so it has been a week and a half since the diet began, and I am doing really well.  My hunger level is down, and I am eating less.  I have only lost about 4 lbs total, but that is not so bad when you think it has only been a week.

Jayna and I have had a great week, and were fabulous at TGDoR.  I will rant on our show about HRC's visit there, but this blog is not the time.

Last nights show went really well, and I am happy to have some good stuff to put up.  We interviewed this guy who found out all kinds of information on Transgender bible references. It was really cool.

Tomorrow is Turkey day!  Can't wait for Jayna to take the stove and run with it.  It will be nice to have some help in the kitchen :)

I had a strange day at work today, as we have a new employee who has my old name.  He was hanging out in my office, and chatting, when my boss came in and asked him something. I had this sudden flash of thinking that my boss was talking to me.  I did manage to pause and not react.  It was just a really surreal moment.   A few minutes later I got a call from my old dentist, who doesn't have my new name.  Both strange, and unnerving.  Well, I am off to spend time with my wonderful girlfriend, and my new family out here in CA.

Thanks for listening

Mila