Being Bodil

Tweetlol

Posted on the 18th of March 2009 at 17:19 by Bodil

Just to let you know where my creative efforts have gone lately, I’ve released an alpha version of my Firefox extension for Twitter users, Tweetlol. This is the first time I’ve done anything at all on the Firefox/XULRunner platform, and I find myself pleasantly surprised–it turned out to be far less complex and obtuse than I for some reason expected.

Tweetlol was written in frustration, as with most software I write; this time, I was experimenting with Twitter clients, and finding I really dislike those desktop clients sitting around just being in your way, and why are they all developed for Adobe AIR anyway?

I thought having one as a Firefox extension would be nice, so I looked around a bit and found one called Twitbin, which was pretty sweet. Except it turned out it was slow. Horribly, wretchedly slow. Admittedly, my tolerance for things that slow down my browser is extremely low, but I still think Twitbin was a bit unreasonable with my resources.

So I looked around some more and found Snowl. Which was a bit faster, even though it was a bit odd and lacked a lot of features. So I ran Snowl for a while. And it got really slow, once tweets started accumulating in its never-ending database. So I went back to Twitbin, which had gotten an upgrade in the meantime and was even sweeter. And even slower.

So, finally, I said “fuck it” and wrote my own. And here you are. Please try it out and let me know what you think.

Going Raw

Posted on the 4th of March 2009 at 21:19 by Bodil

The past week, I’ve been experimenting with eating a raw food diet, after hearing one too many people extolling the diet’s virtues on the internets. I’ve learned a few things from the trial I didn’t quite expect. Most importantly, that raw food is actually edible–that is, it’s obviously edible, but I didn’t expect to really like it. After a week of fresh fruit and vegetables, I can tell you it tastes amazing. It sounds unbelievable, but I’d actually never tasted fresh maize before starting this trial. Whatever I choose to do after this, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stomach boiled maize again.

I’m now trying to decide whether I should keep it up. The advantages I’ve heard the raw foodists talk about are definitely present even after just one week on the diet: my digestion has improved noticeably, which is a blessing; I feel less tired in the morning, which is definitely a blessing; my brain seems to be working better, in the sense that my thought processes are clearer and I feel more creative. The only benefit I can’t testify to myself is the added physical energy: it’s definitely there, but I’ve also just kicked my nicotine addiction again, and that tends to work miracles on my physical health too.

Another advertised advantage was weight loss. I haven’t seen any of that yet…

The disadvantages: it’s really expensive compared to a simple vegetarian diet (which surprised me; I expected the opposite); it’s inconvenient in the sense that I need to always make sure I have food prepared to bring to work with me, because the raw food in the cafeteria at work wouldn’t sustain me even if it were of decent quality, which it is definitely not; it’s inconvenient in that there are basically no restaurants or takeaways in the area which can serve me a decent meal I can eat, which not only reduces my social options, but is also a problem when I work late and don’t have any time to spare for my own cooking.

And, of course, the best argument against a raw food diet: brie.

What to do?

Hair Tips for Trannies

Posted on the 2nd of March 2009 at 20:31 by Bodil

I won!

That is, I got my hair extensions, and they work! That is to say, today, three weeks after I had the extensions attached, they’re wobbly and need tightening urgently, but even so, my hair is my own, and it looks good. So good, in fact, that when I look in the mirror first thing in the morning, I see a bleary-eyed girl with bad hair, not that person who’d be of indeterminate gender if not for the obvious androgenic alopecia I used to see.

In fact, as a result of this, I’m going to declare myself a 10 on the Bodil scale, which represents how many out of 10 random people you pass on the street will fail to clock you as a tranny. I don’t think anyone has completely clocked me for several months, but after the wig came off, I haven’t even noticed any edge cases. No more a tranny then, but simply a woman with a bad and unfortunate case of testosterone poisoning.

As well as freakishly small breasts. Which is going to be my next, and final, project. This project will consist mostly of how to raise money for a boob job in the shortest time possible. Suggestions are welcome. Surprisingly oversized donations, also.

The Funeral, and More

Posted on the 25th of January 2009 at 14:27 by Bodil

It’s about time I summed up the last month. It’s been quite eventful, but I never seemed to be able to get around to blogging about it. I’ve been quiet for five weeks, which I think is a personal record, and not in a good way.

First of all, I’ve quite possibly solved the hair problem. Those five weeks ago, I went to see somebody who specialises in hair extensions and wigs, and ended up ordering a hair piece which they claim should be able to cover the troublesome areas well. I’m still waiting for the thing to arrive, but I’m hopeful it’s going to work out. Hope, because my wig is starting to fall apart–it’s served me well for more than six months but is starting to show its age.

Then, there was Christmas. Nothing has changed much in Kristiansund, so I feel I’d be repeating myself if I went into too much detail about it. Spent ten days there, had some fun with friends, a lot of time with my family. My mother still refuses to call me Bodil, which makes me sad. She goes on about how it’s going to take time for her to get used to it, but it’s obvious she’s not actually trying. My father, on the other hand, seems to manage well–I get the old name and gender a lot there too, but in his case I can believe it’s just because he’s not used to it yet. He’s the only one in my family who’s actually called me Bodil to my face so far. My brother is a lost cause.

Great fun with friends. Not so much with the aborigines, most of whom are at the level of thinking a good blow to the head with a club is the best form of courtship. I had to dodge a couple of swings from some of the more persistent males. There’s a lot of sexual frustration, apparently, in my home town, and from my hormone-starved vantage point I’m having a hard time relating to it.

I got back to Oslo in time for New Year’s Eve. Spent it with friends. Worked a bit. Office Christmas party in the middle of January, as usual. Worked some more. Then, the funeral.

The funeral was awesome. If you were there, thanks for making it great. If you weren’t, I’m sure you had a really good excuse. Right?

The funeral is just a huge blur. I remember getting there, having dinner with the very few people who arrived early, and then once the place started filling up I was rushing around between the various groups of people–colleagues, friends from one group, friends from another group, etc–trying to spend time with everyone. There were about fifty people there in total; I was running around quite a bit. “Do you really know all these people?” was a question I was asked quite a lot. I’d answer “yes, well, mostly” and stop for a bit to wonder at it myself.

But I enjoyed myself tremendously, and from the feedback I’ve had so far, so did my guests. And thanks again to my guests; you’re all wonderful.

If you’re feeling a bit confused about this post right now, let me explain: The funeral was for my male identity–more properly, a wake in a good way. Nobody actually died.

Although, three days layer, the Wicked Witch finally died. This was also not necessarily an event to be mourned. The replacement seems to be working out well so far. Congratulations to the Yanqui nation for possibly doing something right for a change.

Laser's End

Posted on the 17th of December 2008 at 19:02 by Bodil

I went for a bit of lasering today, for perhaps the last time.

Well, probably not the last time, because there will likely be some maintenance necessary, but this was the first time I’ve had the luxury of wondering if I should cancel the appointment because there just isn’t really any beard left. The last of it, except for a few stragglers which don’t really show anyway, fell out after the last treatment in October, and has not been showing any signs of coming back.

In fact, this time I even went as myself, rather than pretend to be male (which has become increasingly hard these last few months). I’ve had to do this in the past, because I can’t wear makeup on the area to be treated, and there’s always been something that needed covering up before. Today, I wore no makeup at all, and looked no different from what I usually do (except a bit shinier, alas). Also, burnt hair would pop out of the dying follicles during treatment and just hang there on my face, grotesquely, making it pretty much impossible to pass. Today, this only happened once, and it could just be wiped off afterward. Redness after treatment was easily covered up with a bit of foundation. No problem at all.

And no hair left–at all. So I guess, after two years and twelve treatments (I think–I’ve lost count, actually), I’m finally done.

Let me take a moment to thank the people at the laser clinic, to whom I owe most of my ability to pass. They’re great, wonderful people who are awesome at what they do, and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Now, to start worrying about the rest of my body…