Thanks Jen, Cindy & Jessica!
I only found out today that changing my name won't be as straightforward and simple as it was in 1990. Used to be you could go to the Birth, Deaths and Marriage registry, fill out a form and hey presto new name. I guess terrorism, identity theft, illegal immigrants and frauds have changed all that. Darn. So I have to have an interview, fill out a butt load of forms and then wait up to five weeks for a reissued birth certificate with my new name (but, regrettably, not my new gender - I only get that after the chop). Yeesh. But my boss is OK for me to start full time as Grace without the paperwork. Yay for great bosses!
So I need to start the ball rolling on that ASAP, then once I get it there will be many, many things that I need to get my name changed for - bank, super, mortgage, electoral commission, tax, utilities, will, etc, etc!
Plus there's my whole online persona, I can do that without the birth certificate but it will be an interesting exercise. I have a webcomic with a moderate number of regular readers, that won't be too tough but there are plenty of places my male name is mentioned that I have no control over. At least I'm nowhere near Chaz Bono or Lana Wachowski level of fame so it'll most likely be an utter non-event. I'm not taking a table at this year's Sydney Supanova to hawk my stuff either (our version of ComicCon). Although it would have been fun I'm so glad I'm not, those things are tiring enough without having to deal with openly transitioning at the same time. I'm still going to go along but just as part if the crowd. The comic/gaming world is sometimes not that friendly a place for women let alone trans people...I do know a number of peers who will be utterly shocked but I think most of them will be cool with my change.
Also...I need more clothes, stat!
