A lot less, but I got lucky... My GT said that while the SoC provided a good guideline, they simply don't apply to everyone. She emailed me a pre-intake life history questionnaire so that we wouldn't have to waste any time on tiny details, and I wound up emailing her back 8 single-spaced pages (12 pt., Times New Roman, 1" margins... you know, APA format if you don't count my single-spacing).
I always said brevity isn't my gig.
She also knew I'd seen a counselor at my university's counseling center for three months at the start of last year, specifically for trans-related issues. Though the counselor at the school was simply a Master's candidate in the counseling program, she was phenomenal (and free!) and I got to work out my early transition issues with her, long before going on HRT or seeing my GT for the first time.
After my first session with the GT, I went in for our second appointment and told her that I'd had enough of the screaming voice in my head telling me it was time to start. I was a month from my 33rd birthday and I desperately feared increased masculinization (though I hadn't changed at all since 20, save a few wrinkles and white hair). Also, I knew I had three months of intense concentration ahead of me as I had to work, take a class, prepare my thesis proposal, run the numbers, write the thesis, and defend it, all while researching and applying to graduate programs. She smiled at me and said it sounded like it was time for a letter.
I nodded in vigorous and enthusiastic agreement.
The endo I went to is usually booked one to two months in advance, but thanks to a fortunate cancellation, I was on hormones three weeks later. Though the hormones she prescribed those first three months didn't work (she even told me not to count them because of how bad my numbers were), the placebo effect of taking those pills gave my mind the calm I needed to do what I needed to do that semester. And though I didn't start a functioning HRT regimen until December 22, I still have the satisfaction of knowing that I began taking hormones on 9/21/2010, 3 days before my 33rd birthday.
Now my actual birthday, 9/24/1977, contains numbers all divisible by 3. That means if you add up the numbers, the sum is divisible by 3. 9/21/2010 also contains numbers all divisible by 3, so the same rule applies. Likewise, if you add up all six numbers (9+9+21+24+1977+2010) that sum is also divisible by 3. Being that I was 3 days from my 33rd birthday, add 3 and 33 to the mix and you STILL get a number divisible by 3. I've noticed, all my life, that most everything having to do with dates or numbers is intricately tied to the number 3, and I don't even try. It follows me.
Perhaps the universe is telling me that my timetable was planned all along...
