Every year I throw a bring your own BBQ for the my department (plus partners). I do a bring a steak, bring a bottle just because that way I don't stress about who is going to turn up. If they do we have food, and if they don't we are not wasting anything.
So yesterday was spent playing with the new computer, cleaning the house and garden, taking a Volvo full of stuff to the local tip and putting up a couple of party tents in case it rained.
I've thrown this BBQ for the last 5 years and it has rained every single year. This year was no exception - it came down in torrents (OK not New York / New Jersey torrents, but a lot!) But everyone seemed to have a good time, we ate, drank and were merry. I managed to keep track of what I was drinking so I had much less than I have in the past. I didn't eat too much meat either, I was actually a little proud of myself for not going all out. Until the cup cakes someone brought for dessert came out. I had 1 chocolate, 1 lemon, 1 blueberry and then another chocolate. And then felt really guilty!
We got the garden fire out once the rain stopped a little and it started to get dark got that going to keep everyone warm.
As we are all starting to get a little older people start leaving earlier - in the first couple of years people stayed until 2ish, yesterday most people were gone by midnight, and the last left at 1ish. A friend of Mrs Stace was staying with us, rather than catching a train home, and the three of us chatted away until nearly 2. I knew when we went to bed that it was too late and I was going to regret it, and indeed I do! I'm exhausted! I feel like I have lungfuls of smoke from the fire, and that I need to go back to bed!
Thankfully everything was left quite clean outside, and we can't dismantle the tents until they dry (June next year?) we just have the Kitchen to sort out. Also not really that much of a problem, I just have to get off the sofa to do it...
I guess I had better do that now, my parents-in-law are coming for a drink in half an hour. I hope that I can stay awake whilst they are here!
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Sunday, 26 September 2010
A great night out - sorry long post ahead!
Well I’m sitting on the sofa at my friends with a terribly sore throat, and a ringing in my ears, and more than a little tired after only sleeping for four hours. But I feel great. (OK it’s Sunday morning now and I am sitting on my own sofa ;p) I have a feeling this one may be long… Sorry. (Gulp just counted and it’s getting on for 1800 words!)
Before going out there was a party in the office for a couple of people that left at the end of last month. A good time was had, and it was possibly the last BBQ that I’m going to have this year. It did mean that I didn’t even start getting ready until quite late – and that I couldn’t just get changed, I had to shower as I someone volunteered me to light the BBQ (I have a reputation as a pyromaniac for some reason…), so I smelled a little smoky.
I left to get ready, had a coffee and showered. As I could not decide what to wear I had taken pretty much every outfit I had, plus some things that I had borrowed from Mrs Stace. So I started trying on each of my outfits to try and decide what to wear. I half-dressed when the earth trip switch for the flat tripped. I am now standing half dressed in pitch darkness, and I have a suitcase on the floor open with all sorts of things lying around making moving around difficult. The other problem was being half dressed. It takes me back to something my mum said when I first told them. In the mornings when visiting I would put on trousers and make myself and early morning coffee. My mum commented on that saying surely if I feel I am a woman I would not do this topless. In male mode I don’t have a problem. However, here I was, as Stace, in a skirt and tights but with only my bra on top. I struggled trying to find my jacket that I took with me and struggled into it holding it closed before going out of the bedroom to see what was up with the power. There is no way I could have left the room without the jacket on, and yet 30 mins earlier I was walking in just jeans to ask my friend something.
Anyway, he managed to get the power back on (it seems my coffee killed his microwave – sorry) and then the fashion show began. I tried on nearly every outfit I had taken with me, asking for input. With the help of my friend I decided on a knee length beige canvas skirt (he said that was the one I looked most comfortable in). I matched it with a splash of colour using a turquoise top under the black jacket and then started in the shoes. I tried all 4 pairs that I took with me and in the end I went with the shoes that Mrs Stace brought for the final dance evening in June. Then it was just getting my make-up and hair done and I was ready to leave. I managed to poke myself in the eye with both my eye shadow applicator and my mascara brush… Still I managed to get everything done well enough (considering what I forgot this trip was my hair mouse and wax – when will I remember everything…)
And so we left, me more than a little nervous - walking there was one of the things that I was forcing myself to do. It was dark, and the streets were empty when we started out. We reached the first corner and there was a group of teenagers hanging around. We passed them without difficulty, with a bit of distance between us though, and carried on. We passed a few people on the way, and I started to relax when nobody gave me a second look. I also started to question my shoe size. I take a 39 (euro size wise) in most shoes, but court shoes I take a 40. Or so I thought. I am wondering if I should stick with 39 and just make sure that I break the shoes in - after a few hundred meters they did feel like they were starting to slip a little…
We reached the cafe and suddenly I got really nervous again. This wasn’t passing people in the street anymore, this was going into a packed bar and being spoken to. We walked in, said hi to a few people who knew me from drinking there occasionally, but had never met Stacy, and found a couple of stools by the bar. My friend ordered the drinks and I tried to get comfortable. So far, well I wouldn’t say so good, but I had at least managed not to run away…
The evening was raising money for charity, and the two drag queens who were MC’ing the event come over and said hello. And I did something really stupid… “And so what’s your name?” “, um, Stace!” Christ first time out with people and even I get my name wrong, at that point I did want the ground to open up. But it passed and the evening carried on. Until my friend also ‘him’ed me. And then sat apologising, saying he had promised himself not to do that. So that was two mistakes, one of them from me!
But. I got into a few conversations, brought some raffle tickets, and was having a good time. My friend made me order some drinks. The entertainment was good, as I commented at the time; what is it with some Dutch music that when you hear it on the radio you want to throw the radio out of the window, but in a café with lots of people, and a bit of alcohol, it works.
One of the women that I met was someone who transitioned 15 years or so ago. We had a very brief ‘hello’ type chat, but her parting words were ‘Maak je geen zorg, je zit er goed uit’ (Apologies to those who understand Dutch if I messed the sentence up). Roughly translated: ‘Don’t stress yourself, you look fine.’ That comment put me on cloud nine for some time.
Then came the raffle draw, now I don’t have luck with raffles, and I only had 5 tickets. But I also know how my luck runs and on the day when I’m out in public for the first time, not wanting to draw attention to myself I knew I was going to win something.
And so… When a vibrator gets pulled out of the box of prizes I’m sitting in my seat thinking ‘please, no, please…’ It wasn’t, phew. A few more prizes get pulled, and then there is another vibrator. And I win it. So I have to walk into the spotlight, in front of the entire bar to pick up my prize. Thankfully I think that enough people know that it was my first day so there were not the calls from everyone watching that there could have been. Either that or my terror blocked it all out…
A bit more music and the second draw took place. And what do you know, I win again! A DVD this time. This time the walk to pick it up was much easier. Maybe the more subtle nature of the prize helped, or maybe I was getting more comfortable.
The draw over, and with everything going so well (except someone stealing my stool when I went to the bathroom) when I noticed that the woman who complimented me was outside on her own so I went to speak to her. Now I am not going to put the details of the talk into the blog, I am still working through some of the things that we spoke about. But there are some lighter things that I’ll put in. She commented that provided I learnt to do my hair (getting there, but forgetting the wax didn’t help…) that she thought I was in a good position to be Stace, saying my face shape was soft enough and my voice OK even without yet seeing a speech therapist. It got heavy in places, which are the bits that I am not going to get into yet, and there were tears in my eyes at a few points during the conversation.
It’s the first time I have spoken face to face with someone who has gone through this and emerged o the other side, and it was so great to be able to speak to someone who knows what I’m going through, and the fears that I have. She has a fantastic attitude, from what I saw, and I look forward to seeing her again.
The end of the evening came, and my friend and I left to walk home. On the way to the café I forced myself to walk with confidence. On the way back there was no forcing in there, I was just walking back being me. And even with the wine inside me I managed not to fall off of the heels – which gave the bonus of not breaking my ankle. But, by the time we reached his flat I was so happy to take the shoes off! The balls of my feet were telling me that they had done enough, with one of them slightly blistered. I asked Mrs Stace when I got home if where I got the blister was normal (I was still thinking about the size of the shoes) and to paraphrase she just said ‘Yup, it’s painful – get used to it’.
On the walk home he got an SMS from someone in the café: ‘Tell Stacy that I have respect for her’. What a way to end the evening :)
My friend and I sat talking for an hour or so – about the night, about my life in general. Some bits were again heavy. There were a few more tears followed, but it was a good chat. We gave up at 3:30am and went to get some sleep. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Unfortunately I was awake again 4 hours later – Saturday was not a good day for me, I was shattered!
Any regrets? Yes, I got too emotional – I feel an idiot for the amount of times I either had tears in my eyes, or on my cheeks…
Thanks to all for making the night a good one, and to Dave for inviting me along. I have to do that again!
Before going out there was a party in the office for a couple of people that left at the end of last month. A good time was had, and it was possibly the last BBQ that I’m going to have this year. It did mean that I didn’t even start getting ready until quite late – and that I couldn’t just get changed, I had to shower as I someone volunteered me to light the BBQ (I have a reputation as a pyromaniac for some reason…), so I smelled a little smoky.
I left to get ready, had a coffee and showered. As I could not decide what to wear I had taken pretty much every outfit I had, plus some things that I had borrowed from Mrs Stace. So I started trying on each of my outfits to try and decide what to wear. I half-dressed when the earth trip switch for the flat tripped. I am now standing half dressed in pitch darkness, and I have a suitcase on the floor open with all sorts of things lying around making moving around difficult. The other problem was being half dressed. It takes me back to something my mum said when I first told them. In the mornings when visiting I would put on trousers and make myself and early morning coffee. My mum commented on that saying surely if I feel I am a woman I would not do this topless. In male mode I don’t have a problem. However, here I was, as Stace, in a skirt and tights but with only my bra on top. I struggled trying to find my jacket that I took with me and struggled into it holding it closed before going out of the bedroom to see what was up with the power. There is no way I could have left the room without the jacket on, and yet 30 mins earlier I was walking in just jeans to ask my friend something.
Anyway, he managed to get the power back on (it seems my coffee killed his microwave – sorry) and then the fashion show began. I tried on nearly every outfit I had taken with me, asking for input. With the help of my friend I decided on a knee length beige canvas skirt (he said that was the one I looked most comfortable in). I matched it with a splash of colour using a turquoise top under the black jacket and then started in the shoes. I tried all 4 pairs that I took with me and in the end I went with the shoes that Mrs Stace brought for the final dance evening in June. Then it was just getting my make-up and hair done and I was ready to leave. I managed to poke myself in the eye with both my eye shadow applicator and my mascara brush… Still I managed to get everything done well enough (considering what I forgot this trip was my hair mouse and wax – when will I remember everything…)
And so we left, me more than a little nervous - walking there was one of the things that I was forcing myself to do. It was dark, and the streets were empty when we started out. We reached the first corner and there was a group of teenagers hanging around. We passed them without difficulty, with a bit of distance between us though, and carried on. We passed a few people on the way, and I started to relax when nobody gave me a second look. I also started to question my shoe size. I take a 39 (euro size wise) in most shoes, but court shoes I take a 40. Or so I thought. I am wondering if I should stick with 39 and just make sure that I break the shoes in - after a few hundred meters they did feel like they were starting to slip a little…
We reached the cafe and suddenly I got really nervous again. This wasn’t passing people in the street anymore, this was going into a packed bar and being spoken to. We walked in, said hi to a few people who knew me from drinking there occasionally, but had never met Stacy, and found a couple of stools by the bar. My friend ordered the drinks and I tried to get comfortable. So far, well I wouldn’t say so good, but I had at least managed not to run away…
The evening was raising money for charity, and the two drag queens who were MC’ing the event come over and said hello. And I did something really stupid… “And so what’s your name?” “
But. I got into a few conversations, brought some raffle tickets, and was having a good time. My friend made me order some drinks. The entertainment was good, as I commented at the time; what is it with some Dutch music that when you hear it on the radio you want to throw the radio out of the window, but in a café with lots of people, and a bit of alcohol, it works.
One of the women that I met was someone who transitioned 15 years or so ago. We had a very brief ‘hello’ type chat, but her parting words were ‘Maak je geen zorg, je zit er goed uit’ (Apologies to those who understand Dutch if I messed the sentence up). Roughly translated: ‘Don’t stress yourself, you look fine.’ That comment put me on cloud nine for some time.
Then came the raffle draw, now I don’t have luck with raffles, and I only had 5 tickets. But I also know how my luck runs and on the day when I’m out in public for the first time, not wanting to draw attention to myself I knew I was going to win something.
And so… When a vibrator gets pulled out of the box of prizes I’m sitting in my seat thinking ‘please, no, please…’ It wasn’t, phew. A few more prizes get pulled, and then there is another vibrator. And I win it. So I have to walk into the spotlight, in front of the entire bar to pick up my prize. Thankfully I think that enough people know that it was my first day so there were not the calls from everyone watching that there could have been. Either that or my terror blocked it all out…
A bit more music and the second draw took place. And what do you know, I win again! A DVD this time. This time the walk to pick it up was much easier. Maybe the more subtle nature of the prize helped, or maybe I was getting more comfortable.
The draw over, and with everything going so well (except someone stealing my stool when I went to the bathroom) when I noticed that the woman who complimented me was outside on her own so I went to speak to her. Now I am not going to put the details of the talk into the blog, I am still working through some of the things that we spoke about. But there are some lighter things that I’ll put in. She commented that provided I learnt to do my hair (getting there, but forgetting the wax didn’t help…) that she thought I was in a good position to be Stace, saying my face shape was soft enough and my voice OK even without yet seeing a speech therapist. It got heavy in places, which are the bits that I am not going to get into yet, and there were tears in my eyes at a few points during the conversation.
It’s the first time I have spoken face to face with someone who has gone through this and emerged o the other side, and it was so great to be able to speak to someone who knows what I’m going through, and the fears that I have. She has a fantastic attitude, from what I saw, and I look forward to seeing her again.
The end of the evening came, and my friend and I left to walk home. On the way to the café I forced myself to walk with confidence. On the way back there was no forcing in there, I was just walking back being me. And even with the wine inside me I managed not to fall off of the heels – which gave the bonus of not breaking my ankle. But, by the time we reached his flat I was so happy to take the shoes off! The balls of my feet were telling me that they had done enough, with one of them slightly blistered. I asked Mrs Stace when I got home if where I got the blister was normal (I was still thinking about the size of the shoes) and to paraphrase she just said ‘Yup, it’s painful – get used to it’.
On the walk home he got an SMS from someone in the café: ‘Tell Stacy that I have respect for her’. What a way to end the evening :)
My friend and I sat talking for an hour or so – about the night, about my life in general. Some bits were again heavy. There were a few more tears followed, but it was a good chat. We gave up at 3:30am and went to get some sleep. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Unfortunately I was awake again 4 hours later – Saturday was not a good day for me, I was shattered!
Any regrets? Yes, I got too emotional – I feel an idiot for the amount of times I either had tears in my eyes, or on my cheeks…
Thanks to all for making the night a good one, and to Dave for inviting me along. I have to do that again!
Saturday, 11 September 2010
A weekend away
After getting back from my vacation last week I had a few days of rest and relaxation that were seriously interrupted by a cold (three hours back in the country and it started, is that really fair?) followed by a weekend away with the company I work for.
On the Friday before we were supposed to leave I actually called my boss to say that I wouldn’t be coming, but his phone was turned off. Seeing as I was not simply going to not turn up I packed my rucksack with lots of Paracetamol and nose spray to keep the sinuses open.
We reached the small port in the north of the Netherlands and found that we were to travel to the island where the party was organised by speed boat. Very exciting and a lot of fun – though really cold in the middle of the sea! The pilot was having some fun swerving from side to side and doing a few circles when someone decided to side on the rubber side of the boat.
As soon as we arrived the group was split in two. Half the group did an afternoon sailing on a clipper, and half did a beach games afternoon. I was in the second. We started with Jellyfish ball (literal translation) where you fill a hessian sack with wet sand and have to get the sack into bucket of the other team. That’s the rules in completion and I am still in pain, and have cut up legs now :) Think British Bulldog with goals...
Whilst the team lost I did at least manage to get the sys admin manager (natural enemy of a developer obviously) into the water towards the end, and it was us two that spent most of our time hanging onto the sack to make sure the other could not run away with it. It was fun, though painful – and with the cold I wanted to throw up after just a few minutes.
Next up beach five a side football, though with the tide coming in it turned into water polo after a while. And finally beach volleyball. I love the game, but am completely useless at it. I think I cost the team more points that I won.
After a (unfortunately poor) meal we had a party with a live singer, who whilst not my cup of tea did get the party mood going.
Next morning we went back to the mainland on the clippers, and a few of us helped the crew with the sails (damn is that hard work!) before chilling and sleeping in deck. I don’t know many people managed to avoid sun burn on that 4 hour trip (as opposed to 45 minutes on the speed boat) and there were more than a few lobsters in the office on Monday :)
Whilst writing this I’ve been watching the BBC breakfast program, and I have to say I can’t believe the drivel that they are putting on to fill the time. There are some good interviews, and stories. And then there was a 10 minute discussion of an article in one of the papers about where the best place to buy a prawn sandwich is. Were they really that desperate for filler?
Then there was the story about the tax mistake in the UK. The tax office seem to have dropped the ball quite seriously there – both with the mistakes, and the way they are handling it. I think the worst was the radio 4 interview with the head of the tax office saying that he didn’t feel he has to apologise, and there were no mistakes on the part of the employee’s or computer systems of the tax office. To me that says that it was deliberate... I don’t know the in’s and outs’ but I though the whole idea of PAYE in the UK was that this type of mistake should not happen.
Right, time for breakfast and getting ready for my first run in three weeks!
Oh, one last thing... Whilst browsing the blogs my virus scanner popped up with a warning that a virus was downloaded when visiting one of the pages. I don’t think that it infected anything, but I’m now running a scan to make sure. Be careful out there people.
On the Friday before we were supposed to leave I actually called my boss to say that I wouldn’t be coming, but his phone was turned off. Seeing as I was not simply going to not turn up I packed my rucksack with lots of Paracetamol and nose spray to keep the sinuses open.
We reached the small port in the north of the Netherlands and found that we were to travel to the island where the party was organised by speed boat. Very exciting and a lot of fun – though really cold in the middle of the sea! The pilot was having some fun swerving from side to side and doing a few circles when someone decided to side on the rubber side of the boat.
As soon as we arrived the group was split in two. Half the group did an afternoon sailing on a clipper, and half did a beach games afternoon. I was in the second. We started with Jellyfish ball (literal translation) where you fill a hessian sack with wet sand and have to get the sack into bucket of the other team. That’s the rules in completion and I am still in pain, and have cut up legs now :) Think British Bulldog with goals...
Whilst the team lost I did at least manage to get the sys admin manager (natural enemy of a developer obviously) into the water towards the end, and it was us two that spent most of our time hanging onto the sack to make sure the other could not run away with it. It was fun, though painful – and with the cold I wanted to throw up after just a few minutes.
Next up beach five a side football, though with the tide coming in it turned into water polo after a while. And finally beach volleyball. I love the game, but am completely useless at it. I think I cost the team more points that I won.
After a (unfortunately poor) meal we had a party with a live singer, who whilst not my cup of tea did get the party mood going.
Next morning we went back to the mainland on the clippers, and a few of us helped the crew with the sails (damn is that hard work!) before chilling and sleeping in deck. I don’t know many people managed to avoid sun burn on that 4 hour trip (as opposed to 45 minutes on the speed boat) and there were more than a few lobsters in the office on Monday :)
Whilst writing this I’ve been watching the BBC breakfast program, and I have to say I can’t believe the drivel that they are putting on to fill the time. There are some good interviews, and stories. And then there was a 10 minute discussion of an article in one of the papers about where the best place to buy a prawn sandwich is. Were they really that desperate for filler?
Then there was the story about the tax mistake in the UK. The tax office seem to have dropped the ball quite seriously there – both with the mistakes, and the way they are handling it. I think the worst was the radio 4 interview with the head of the tax office saying that he didn’t feel he has to apologise, and there were no mistakes on the part of the employee’s or computer systems of the tax office. To me that says that it was deliberate... I don’t know the in’s and outs’ but I though the whole idea of PAYE in the UK was that this type of mistake should not happen.
Right, time for breakfast and getting ready for my first run in three weeks!
Oh, one last thing... Whilst browsing the blogs my virus scanner popped up with a warning that a virus was downloaded when visiting one of the pages. I don’t think that it infected anything, but I’m now running a scan to make sure. Be careful out there people.
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