It's a chilly Saturday in February. Luckily New York City has lots of great indoor fun. Yesterday, my friends and I decided to go to the world-famous Natural History Museum in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It's a great place for fans of science, nature, meteors, dinosaurs, Teddy Roosevelt or J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.
"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole […]. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that exactly. You'd just be different, that's all. You'd have an overcoat on this time. Or that kid that was your partner in line last time had got scarlet fever and you'd have a new partner. Or you'd have a substitute taking the class, instead of Miss Aigletinger. Or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrific fight in the bathroom. Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in some way – I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it." -Holden Caulfield.
Apparently, Holden never realized that they have seasonal and travelling exhibits. That Holden, he's such a phony.
Okay, you might be wondering why I'm wearing a yellow arm band. No, I'm not a 4th Reich supporter nor am trying to raise awareness for jaundice. Actually, my friends and I had an idea to spend a cold February playing hide and seek in the museum. It was really fun, and despite the size of the rooms, it's actually pretty challenging to find places to hide. The arm bands were for friends who didn't know each other too well would still be able to identify who's playing the game.
No matter how many times I visit the Hayden Planetarium, I never seen to run into Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Though we did see Paul Giamatti on the subway. But that doesn't count. I see Paul Giamatti all the time. He lives in my neighborhood. He and Bjork. Not together obviously.
The only downside to spending our time at the museum playing hide and seek for grown ups was that we didn't get to spend much time exploring what is an amazing museum. It's one of my favorite places in NYC. You can spend hours and hours and not see everything. It's fantastic. Sadly, the Marine Life exhibit, with the famous whale, was closed. I was so upset. It's not only my favorite part of the museum, but I was also hoping for some blue whale selfies.
Instead, he's me with some Aztec temple model selfies. Not as cool as a blue whale. Ah well, I'll have to go back. Yeah, I took a bunch of selfies, mostly because I was just taking photos while trying to stay hidden, plus I didn't want to bust out my real camera since the flash probably isn't allowed in the museum.
Us doing the Law & Order / Right Stuff walk to celebrate our hide and seek success. It's such a fun game and I look forward to playing again soon. Maybe there, maybe the Met, maybe Central Park when it gets a little warmer.
The museum was fun. While, I'm super comfortable being out as a woman in public, even in really busy public places, the museum still made me a little busy. Mostly, I think I passed pretty well. I did get a couple looks, but I'm not 100% sure they were "tranny" looks and not just looks. I definitely got gendered correctly the whole time with plenty of people calling us "ladies" and "ma'am" or "miss" or "her" and whatnot. So, I felt good. I just being out.
Nice story, I love the active pictures! Not sure you should worry, Faith, about passability. You're very beautiful and well put together in smashing outfits. I'm only getting out in public about once a month, and it's always in Minneapolis. At first I was pretty scared and worried I'd get looks. In fact the very first time in Mpls. a few months ago, I went out with no makeup, all over downtown, two whole days. I did not see a single stare and I was treated perfectly lady-like everywhere. This amazed me because I had to be clockable. Friendly town! Now my makeup is much, much better and I feel great wearing it. My outfits are better too. I'm much more passable than six months ago. Sure, I could have problems, but I just haven't. I've stopped worrying.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Erica! You know, I think I pass, but I can just never be sure so there's always that lingering doubt in my mind. I'm always paranoid that any look is the "look at that stupid tranny look." But you know, there's a school that says if you can go out in public and not be hassled, then you pass. That's probably the more healthy way to look at things. As much as we all stress over passing, the truth is most people don't give two cents about other people and are mostly too into their own lives to notice us at all.
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