Stupid things you've done...

[AndrewMarten]

This isn't a stupid strategy to try to pass, but it's a stupid thing to do:

I tend to shut myself up and avoid being around other people as much as possible, and when I do I wear headphones - sometimes with no music player attached - so I can ignore people and not have to say anything, since any hopes I have of passing are instantly dashed when I say anything. You can't pass if there's no one else to see you, but you can't be outed, either.

But, that's also because of social anxiety issues... 

And, I guess this isn't a stupid thing to do, per say, but...

I make myself wake up two hours before anyone else on my floor in the residence hall so that I can use the shower without being seen going in or out. This way I can use the men's room. :sigh: three more days and I'll be home for winter break, so I won't have to worry about sneaking around just to take a damn piss or waking up before the sun just to shower.

[CodyJess]

I tend to shut myself up and avoid being around other people as much as possible

^ This. I have no friends, I don't go anywhere, I don't do anything.

It sucks, but it's better than being treated like a girl.

[Alexmakenoise]

Stupid things:

smoking

binding with any kind of bandages (cause it only works for about 15 minutes in my case, haha)

drinking bio guys under the table

Maybe stupid? :

I've been shaving my female facial hair on a daily basis since the onset of puberty.  This is because when you shave hair, it grows back thicker.  If I stopped shaving, I'd have a nice manly mustache even though I haven't started T or anything.  I was always hoping this would help me pass some day.  Not sure if it's cunning or stupid. 

[V M]

Is that a Les Paul Black Beauty Custom?

[Alexmakenoise]

Yes, but it's a 2009 Epiphone one.  Still my favorite guitar of my collection.   

[V M]

Looks like a nice one 

[GnomeKid]

Ha... all the comments on faux-hawks make me giggle because my mom attended the trans-whatever conference in philly over the summer (I could not attend because I did not find out about it early enough to take off work) and she texted me when she got there and said "Promise me you'll never get a mohawk" 

Seems a lot of people think faux hawks up their manliness [my mom wouldn't know specifically a difference between a mohawk and a fauxhawk its all the same to her and not many people have actually mohawks so I'm assuming thats what she meant]

anyway.

I can't think of too many stupid things I've done in this whole process. 
I suppose I did used to wear sweatshirts ALL the time summer or not... but I never found it hot or uncomfortable in any way so its not like I was suffering or anything. 
I also suppose that wearing my binder to exercise outside in the middle of the summer probably wasn't the best of ideas, but I never passed out or anything.  [and damn did it make yoga all the more trippy later on when I took the binder off... talk about oxygen highs hah.]

I've always been mad androgenous, and have never gone through a phase where my gender was not brought into question by strangers (or in which strangers have at least 50% of the time assumed I was male.)  I think this prevented me from taking all too extreme of measures until I got older and it started becoming more and more obvious I wasn't really 13 despite how much I looked like a 13 year old boy.  Luckily by the time I got to that point I had my lovely gf[at the time]/best friend[still]  to help me along a bit and find rational/healthy ways to deal with these things [from binding to coming out ect.... I'd be lost without her...]
But I digress...

[V M]

Trans- what ever?

[GnomeKid]

Trans- what ever?

I'm not sure the full name of the conference.

[Lachlann]

Ha... all the comments on faux-hawks make me giggle because my mom attended the trans-whatever conference in philly over the summer (I could not attend because I did not find out about it early enough to take off work) and she texted me when she got there and said "Promise me you'll never get a mohawk" 

Seems a lot of people think faux hawks up their manliness [my mom wouldn't know specifically a difference between a mohawk and a fauxhawk its all the same to her and not many people have actually mohawks so I'm assuming thats what she meant]

Haha. I was in Toronto last month and I had never seen so many faux hawks... I mean I was just walking down the street, so most of them were bio guys. It just seems to be the 'in' thing, hah, even though it's been around since the 80's it's gotten really popular it seems.

[Alexmakenoise]

Haha, I went the anti-fauxhawk route once I they started coming into style.  I gave myself a real mohawk, but always wore it down.  I wanted to show people what a real mohawk looked like for the sake of comparison.

Hope that doesn't sound snobby.  I'm just into the history of music and music-related fashion and I like to educate people.

Didn't know fauxhawks had become popular again.  And I happen to have long hair again.  Hmmm . . . . 

[V M]

I had  a REAL multicolored mohawk back in the day. Sorry all you wanna be punk u do's, Gothlings and other critters. You all been seen before. Crusty sea creatures are hangin' on your ears.

But hey, ya never know, someone may come up with something new and interesting

So keep rockin' it out, even if it's classical stuff.

Don't give up

[Alexmakenoise]

And that's one of the reasons why I love being a skinhead (non-racist). There is no need to worry about a hairstyle because I have almost no hair in the first place. 

I've reached a similar point after playfully going back and and forth between hairstyles for years.  Except that I have wild long hair instead of no hair. 

Are you a SHARP sort of skin, or old school / traditional, or something else?  Just curious, since I've known plenty of non-racist skins throughout the years.

[Silver]

I've reached a similar point after playfully going back and and forth between hairstyles for years.  Except that I have wild long hair instead of no hair. 

Are you a SHARP sort of skin, or old school / traditional, or something else?  Just curious, since I've known plenty of non-racist skins throughout the years.

It says "Traditional Skinhead" right under his avatar picture.

[insanitylives]

I've reached a similar point after playfully going back and and forth between hairstyles for years.  Except that I have wild long hair instead of no hair.

Define "long"... Can't really tell by your avatar what you mean by that
"long' to some people is 'short' to others.

then again, i have skewed ideas of "long", since I was the kid who had hair down to their butt (and I was blond *shudder*)

[Jeatyn]

I've had a faux hawk and a real hawk a couple of times. Actual mohawks are such a pain in the ass, they look ridiculous when you wear them down and it's so much effort to make them stick up.

[Radar]

Yes, but it's a 2009 Epiphone one. Still my favorite guitar of my collection.

What other ones do you have? Also, I'm curious what brand strings you use.
Post Merge: November 22, 2009, 03:50:06 PM

I also suppose that wearing my binder to exercise outside in the middle of the summer probably wasn't the best of ideas, but I never passed out or anything.  [and damn did it make yoga all the more trippy later on when I took the binder off... talk about oxygen highs hah.]

Many top runners and cyclists do something sort of like this. Instead of wearing a binder they train in very high elevation places which have less oxygen. Then, when they race in a lower elevation they get the oxygen boosts.

[Nathan.]

I've had a faux hawk and a real hawk a couple of times. Actual mohawks are such a pain in the ass, they look ridiculous when you wear them down and it's so much effort to make them stick up.

That's the reason why i'll never get one, just too much effort for a lazy person like me. They look cool though 

[Alexmakenoise]

What other ones do you have? Also, I'm curious what brand strings you use.

Guitars:

Takamine classical (nylon string, my first guitar)

Peavey Predator (heavily collaged by now, got it in high school)

Squire P-Bass

Gibson SG (This one's been through a lot.  First, the neck broke off.  But it was a clean break, and a luthier reattached it perfectly.  Then it was painted by a locally well-known mural artist and tattooist.  Then a 1957 PAF Humbucker was added to it.  Then I put a Bigsby tremolo on it.)

Grestch Synchromatic (about as old as my mom, same model was called a Ranchero during some years)

Mosrite Bluesbender

Harmony acoustic Martin-copy (made in China circa 1990 after the original company shut down and sold their name to a succession of Asian companies)

Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty


Strings:

I like to use really nice strings (Martin or something like that) for my Gretsch.

Otherwise, I go for whatever's reliable in terms of quality but not expensive.  Like Boomers. 

With electric guitars, I'd rather restring the whole instrument every time I break a string or change the tuning than buy expensive strings.  My opinion is that this makes a bigger difference in the guitar's durability in the long run, and makes it stay in tune consistently.  So I have a lot of cheap electric guitar strings lying around.

I've only restrung my bass once because I don't play it that much.  I used Fender strings.

With the Harmony and the Takamine, I just get whatever I can afford at the time.  Those guitars are worth next to nothing and will never sound great, no matter what strings I put on them, so it doesn't matter.

Like I said, I don't care that much about brands of strings.  I'm a lot more focused on what I do with the strings in order to make sure the guitar stays in tune and to do everything possible to prevent the neck from warping over time.
Post Merge: November 22, 2009, 08:45:21 PM

It says "Traditional Skinhead" right under his avatar picture.

Oops.  Then that to my list of "stupid things I've done".

[tekla]

A vintage Gretsch Synchromatic, 'tis to lust for.  The old archtops have a tonal quality that can't be touched.  Part of that is the wood, and it's getting real hard to find good wood anymore, but the varnish and finishes gave them a different quality over time, kind of like the legendary mess up with the forerunners to the Telecaster.

For stings I use whatever the star's guitar tech's been given that he doesn't want to actually use.  I got a stack of them at work.