This is about a 1/3 of the 180 degree view from the hill about 3 miles behind my house that I jog to a few times a week. My house is somewhere amongst the trees at the far, far left. A simple, but sublime sensory experience contemplating that at the brief, pinnacled respite of a hardy run... 

Babes in Bronco-land, v.2

LaRumba is a spacious but sparsely decorated hole-in-the-wall club (at least by city standards; compared to the options up here it's a freakin' palacial mansion). Very, very cool set-up with an extensive bar and lounge area on one side and dance floor on the other. I met a ton of interesting people there, but I will keep those details to myself except to say that Raven and the rest of the girls were smokin' and Raven's friends were muy caliente, but alas also muy derecho (please pardon the bad spanish grammar). The rest of our stay at the club was filled with lots of drinking and dancing and flirting (and an occasional dancefloor kiss!). From my perspective, the multiple hours we spent there (until it closed at 2) went by in a fun-filled, dizzying flash. Next stop: after-hours party at Markie's.

Markie has a very cozy, chic apartment, with absolutely the best taste in decor I've seen in a while (for however much that's worth coming from a girl with all garage-sale-quality furniture and wall hangings). Not exactly sure how things got started, but a lethal mix of alcohol, ambiance and tres cool company seemed to have set the flirt level to high. I was probably one of the major instigators in the whole thing (although I point some of the blame to that wild vixen Breanna as well), and I take full responsibility for what I can only imagine was an unexpected but perhaps strangely sensual spectacle looking in from the outside. What can I say? - I was drifting in the go-with-the-flow moment (as were several others I might add). Regardless, from my perspective, a not totally wholesome, but still mostly non-XXX fun time was had by all and at no point did I hear anyone shouting for a stoppage in the action... 'nuff said, ok? Hehe :-)

The next day Meli and I hung out with our gracious hostess Tori and mostly relaxed with a combination of football and comedy channel. That night Markie was DJ'ing an 80's party at another club, this one called Tracks. I liked this club even more and it was big too (almost comparable to Manray [RIP] in Boston) - with a section devoted to poppy music (Markie's 80's party) and the other dedicated to rave/techno stuff.

The 80s side was an in-your-face lesson on 80's kitsch. The walls were adorned with pop band posters like Bon Jovi and Flock of Seagulls (ever hear of Babylon A.D.? Hahaha - I had their CD from years ago via my glam metal days!). In addition there was a big screen that continuously played music and documentary video footage of the king of 80's pop, Michael Jackson. Markie spun some mean tunes and most of the night was spent either on the dancefloor or watching a couple of the more entertaining dance participants (I say that making no judgment of quality except that they brought a smile to my face, since I am quite dance-impaired myself). The place was packed by midnight and the 80's side turned into all dance floor quickly. Towards the end of the night Markie EmC'd a little costume contest. The winner, by a wide margin was a drop-dead look alike of Prince ala his "Purple Rain" era.

Once again closing time arrived too soon and unwelcome. After a quick stop at McDonald's we headed back to Markie's, although the energy level was a lot lower this time (you might be a little tired too after 2 long nights of partying!) and things petered out rather quickly. The rest of my vacation was pure relaxation with the family, which luckily allowed me to mostly recover before the flight back east! Before concluding this epic tale of torrid, tantalizing, titillating, tornado-speed t-girl adventures, I will just mention that, in addition to meeting up with all the awesomely cool girls of Denver, I also met someone with whom I was able to share a little more of myself. That part of the trip is going to remain private (she knows who she is), but I am so glad I went and was able to meet this wonderful person, who I now consider a close friend.

These mile high adventures couldn't have happened without the enthusiasm and organizational skills of three fantastic ladies: Tori, Raven and Markie - you guys fucking rock the Queen City of the Plains and I can't wait to get back out that way and do it all over again (if you'll have me, that is)!

Babes in Bronco-land part one

It was approximately 2:50 am last wednesday when I awoke (barely) to set off on my trip out to Denver. My mom, being the Brahman-ish deity that she is, offered to drive me to the airport at the ungodly hour of 4 am, although truth be told, she is normally out the door by 5:30 or so anyways. Not only would I get to hang with my brand new niece and her mom and dad (my brother and sister-in-law) for a week, but I would also be hooking back up with an old friend Tori and a bunch of other t-girls from the Denver area for a weekend of drunken debauchery.

This was to be a major milestone for me from it's very beginning: passing through airport security and flying as a woman. The security thingy was the major concern since as I mentioned in a prior post, I had purchased my ticket under my old name several months ago (at the time I didn't realize how quickly the change over would happen). Luckily, my brand-spanking new driver's license, WITH the sex field clearly marked "F" had arrived in the mail only days before. I had also gotten a new social security card, work ID and credit card (yay for me!). I also brought along my old license and a certified copy of my legal name change order. For this occasion I had donned my new zebra-patterned tunic over my maroon hip-hugger pants, along with my biker boots and a light make-up job. I was fully prepared to parry any bureaucratic, legalistic or chauvanistic attacks the Man could throw at me!

That's certainly not to say I wasn't sweating a bit as I approached the ticket counter to get my boarding pass and check my luggage. After fumbling and mumbling my way to trying to explain my name change to the poor airline person and finally just shoving both my photo ID's into her lap, she gave me my ticket and sent me on my way with no hassle whatsoever. Next was security. Being the quick learner I am, at this point, with ticket already in hand, I decided to take the easy way out and show the guard my old ID. Worked like a charm - no problems! Being so early, it was also dead at the security gate and so I breezed by quickly. Whew!!!

Half a day later, but in human time, only a couple hours later, I arrived in Denver (via Chicago) to see my smiling sister-in-law and her snoozing daughter awaiting me. My huge suitcase (a girl has GOT to have outfit options you know!) even arrived after only about 5 minutes and we set off into the environs of the strange and flat uniformity of residential and strip mall architecture that so dominates the western suburbs of Denver.

On to my niece! What a total sweety, outfitted with an innocent, dimpled smile like her mom and a sometimes blank stare of absent wonderment like her dad when I start talking politics to him. And as would be expected of a two+ month old, she's as light and tiny as a mini-schnauzer-sized, heroin-addicted Lara Flynn Boyle, complete with a wispy mane of rust red hair and a body covered in wrinkles. Needless to say, I fell in love on the spot. I am an aunt! Can't wait to start buying her little outfits. That will have to be later though because through gifts and loans, they already have a full closet's worth. Not gonna bore you with the details on my stay with my family - suffice to say it was thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable and oh so needed! Lots of good eats, home-brewed beer, baseball and discovery channel and a good dose of low-key outdoors as well. My kinda vacation...

This life of ease, however, was scheduled to be interrupted for a couple days over the weekend as Tori and her merry gang of buxom babes was to have a 2 day party and club extravaganza, sort of in my honor I guess, although I get the distinct impression these girls do so on a regular basis with or without me, hehe. Anyways, back to the adventure:

On Friday evening my brother was kind enough to drop me off downtown at Tori and Cassandra's apartment (they are engaged to be married btw - congrats you two!!!) where I could get all vamped up for the evening's festivities. The plan was to have our own "school girls' night" at a club called LaRumba, called LipGloss on Fridays.

So Tori and I donned our plaid skirts and headed over to Markie's place to meet up with the rest of the gang for some pre-club drinks (Cassandra was working but would join us out later). By the way, if you've never had Fat Tire beer - check it out - local microbrew that tastes fantastic. I made Tori stop on the way and picked up a twelver and a small bottle of vodka for Markie. A few beers later (mixed drinks for everyone else) and a few girls larger, we piled into two cars and headed for LaRumba just down the street...

Hey - I'm back! Quick pic of Denver area friends Tori and Meli on my recent trip. Full descr. to come... 

go west young woman

Busy packing away a little portion of my meagre wardrobe for my imminent flight out to Denver. Now that I have all the proper documentation I'm going to be flying for the first time as my true female self. The one wrinkle in the ointment (ya, I know I'm mixing my metaphors mf, what of it? :-) is that I purchased the ticket about 4 months ago and as my old, male self. But I called the airline and they said as long as I have documentation of my old name I should be fine. Although I'm sure there's a decent chance I'll be singled out for a search and a prod because of how I look. Regardless, it promises to be an adventure!

Talk to y'all late next week! Peace and safe travel to all,

Dana

ps: for any cool girls in the Denver area: I'll probably be hitting Lipgloss/LaRumba friday night. Some fun Denver girls I know plan on a "school girls" night out, so it should be fun...