A quick update.

First I just want to thank everyone for their incredible responses to the previous two posts! I really appreciated everyone's willingness to share their own hair removal horror stories in the comments on Almost one year ago... and I'm glad everyone enjoyed the humor in A Public Service Announcement: Crossdressers and Halloween. So check out those posts if you haven't already. I really enjoyed writing them and putting them together, and I have to thank my awesome wife for her help taking the pictures and reading drafts, and another friend who also helped with the editing.

This week has been crazy busy for us, and in addition to Halloween parties, and getting ready for Halloween parties, we have had some last minute non-Halloween events added to our social calendar too. And of course, you know, our jobs were still in the mix too. So this has put me behind on reading and commenting on blogs, but I fully intend to catch up, and I just wanted to say why I've been a bit absent from blogs this week! Our last party is tomorrow, and I hope to get a write-up of all the excitement plus pictures done either late Sunday or sometime on Monday.

Halloween has turned into a big deal for me because its partially become a holiday about legitimizing playing dress up. Having this blog has made it even more fun than last year for me as well. The end result is that I can go outside and not get asked a lot of questions. Er, that's not exactly true, I do get asked questions, but most of them have been pretty good natured. But I did want to share this article a friend saw a few days ago and forwarded to me: Can a boy be a princess for Halloween? Its actually a bit personal, because it rhymes with some of my own experiences. I asked my parents if I could go as a female cartoon character for Halloween once (I was closer to 10, although I don't remember exactly what age I was...). Unlike the kids parents, mine said no, and I didn't bring it up again. I picked another costume easily enough, but it did hurt. And their reasoning was similar to the some of the worries those parents expressed: They felt I would get picked on even more than normal (I was most often on the receiving end of bullying growing up already...). I think that was actually the last Halloween I went trick or treating though. My other costume wasn't a "success". The few costumes I've pulled together in adulthood haven't been a "success" either. Actually, the first costume I've felt good about since was my costume last year.

To this day, my parents still don't know about my interests expressed on this blog, and I intend to keep it that way. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't go well, and I don't want to find out. That's also why I don't want to say what character I wanted to go as, so please don't ask about that. And hey, if I ever find a suitable version of that costume (and I haven't!), I promise you I will be wearing it the next Halloween, and if I'm still doing this blog, I will post it here!

One last point. Several readers have mentioned wanting to hear from my wife. My wife is actively involved in this blog, and usually reads all the comments and posts in addition to taking the pictures, and proofreading drafts. This is one of our "together" activities as a couple, even if I'm often the more enthusiastic participant. I have asked her about doing a post on the blog, and its something I think she is willing to do, but it will have to wait at least a few weeks due to real life.