Happy New Year!

I know it is a couple of days late, but Happy New Year! I spent about 10 glorious days in Erie, PA with family and friends. Now it is back to the old grind.

I had intended to write about my Christmas (it was great), but then something extraordinary happened...

Let me back it up a bit. My brother invited me to go to a New Year's Eve party downtown with some of his friends. I know a couple of them quite well, and had at least met all but two of the rest of them. I was really excited to have something fun to do. On a normal night I am quite happy to sit at home and watch movies, but NYE is something different. I got all dressed up (not as dressy as some, but probably right in the middle somewhere between the slinky gowns and jeggings on display) and headed to the hotel to meet up before dinner.

There was quite a bit of buzz in the lobby and later in my brother's room, about an interesting group of people attending the party. Nobody knew exactly how many ladies there were in the group, but everyone in my party had seen upwards of three at a time at various times. You may ask what caused such a stir amongst the fine folk at the Avalon. I'll tell you:

In our town of about 100,000, at a party with about 400-500 people, there were at least 10-15 Transgender women, all of whom appeared to be over 40 years of age! Upon surveying the party, it appeared that there were more Transgender women than there were African Americans or Latinos!

I did my best to educate those in my party for whom the distinction between Drag Queen, Transvestite, and Transsexual, and a boy in a dress is more than a bit difficult. My superior knowledge comes from a number of sources, primary amongst these being To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. I may have quoted the beginning of this scene almost word-for-word. The information is invaluable.

Break it down, Noxie:

I was actually really impressed with the majority of my fellow party-goers. They pretty much took it in stride (not bad for a town just north of redneck) and a particularly tall lady (with enviable legs) in a Heidi Klume ST&S* red dress was having the time of her life and gamely posed for photos with about half of the people there.

I can only take this to mean that 2011 will be a very interesting year!

*Short, Tight & Shiny