Newbie introduction

[MichelleSeattle]

Hello everybody, I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself, is this the right place to do that ? there is a lot to digest on this site and I am a little overwhelmed, but I am devouring it because my wonderful wife just told me that she is taking me to Diva Las vegas 2017 as my Christmas present !

I'd like to tell you the story of my journey of self discovery that began a few months ago. I'm 49 years old and have been a crossdresser for about 30 years, but just at home and my wife has always supported it. I confessed this to a good friend of mine at work, and she told me that maybe I was genderqueer. I didn't really know what that was, so I did some reading and decided that, yes, that definitely is me - I don't want to be a woman, but I feel like I am both male and female. It never occurred to me that you could be an old, fat, bald guy that partially identifies as being female and that there was a name for it and it even has it's own pride flag and everything.

So, I bought the most girly, sparkly, feminine Hello Kitty case for my phone and took it to work, and one by one when people saw it, I just owned it and said I like it because it's pretty and I am feminine guy and I want to be proud of myself. The amount of support and acceptance that I have received from doing this silly thing from my amazing coworkers floored me. Times sure have changed from when I was young. SO, I started putting it out there more - feminine jewelry, perfume, clear nail polish. I am a server, so I started taking all of my orders with a pen with pink ink in it. I haven't had a negative reaction really from a guest yet, but sometimes women will pick up on my femme clues and start calling me doll or sweetie - I really like that ! I know they probably think that I am gay, but I don't care.

I have showed the pic of me in drag to like 20 of my coworkers and they all still treat me like a normal person. I even got the cutest Betsey Johnson purse and sometimes I stroll into work with it on my arm and hang it up in the breakroom - that has raised a few eyebrows, but I just feel so proud to be me that I don't care. And now my incredible wife is arranging the Diva Las Vegas thing for me and I am so excited, I have never gone out in public before, but I really want to.

I have so many questions. Should I get a big sister and how do I go about doing that ? Should I do some trial runs in my hometown of Seattle just to get used to going out before I go to DLV ? Are any of you poker players and if so can you tell me what card rooms are the most TG friendly ?

Sounds like there is a lot of walking, should I wear more sensible heels, or just go for the high ones and tough it out ? Anyhow, sorry to be so wordy, I just am excited about going and I also am so happy, like I didn't know that I would be, when my feminine proclivities changed their primary orientation from me thinking of them as a fetish or a perversion into one where it's a part of my identity that I want to be proud of.

[annie]

Welcome Michelle.

I'll try to answer as many items as I can, others can chime in as well.

> I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself, is this the
> right place to do that ?

Yes.

> because my wonderful wife just told me that she is taking me to Diva Las
> vegas 2017 as my Christmas present !

Merry Christmas and it seems like you have a winner for a SO!

> Should I get a big sister and how do I go about doing that ?

That's up to you. Maybe Delaney (our Big Sister Coordinator) will comment further. It really depends on how much personal help and one-on-one support you think you need. You can request a Big Sister when you register (watch this forum and the mailings for new attendee registration) or by email at bigsister@divalas.vegas

> Should I do some trial runs in my hometown of Seattle just to get used to going out before I go to DLV ?

It depends on you and how you feel. Many people have had their first coming-out at DLV and with rare exception they report positive experiences.

> Are any of you poker players and if so can you tell me what card rooms are the most TG friendly ?

I play video poker, but not the live kind in LV. When it was open, we used to have people play in the poker room at the Sahara. I might suggest the poker rooms at Flamingo and/or Paris, since we'll have people staying at both and TG people will probably be nothing new to the staff or the other players.

> Sounds like there is a lot of walking, should I wear more sensible heels, or just go for
> the high ones and tough it out ?

Personally, I very seldom do heels anymore, but I'm not everyone by any means. Most of our people will wear heels for many of our activities. I might suggest for someone who does not regularly wear heels for extended periods of times to go easy. Maybe do flats for the daytime activities and heels in the evening. Again, it's really up to you.

Hope this helps.

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Melissa Reed
----------

Hi michelle, welcome. What a wonderful Christmas present. You will enjoy
yourself. And alot of so's come too. My wife comes with me.

We both are lucky to have supportive wives, wear flats during the day,
and I usually get dressed up, and wear heels at night.

Your going to have fun, and meet alot of new friends. Their are alot of
planned events, or you can do what ever you have on your bucket list m
don't worry, you probably won't get a second look, I've never had a
problem.

Just own it. Melissa


----------
(This posting was entered by Melissa Reed, an external user of MyDLV.)

[Michelle V]

And one more Michelle. Welcome

[annie]

> And one more Michelle. Welcome

The name Michelle (Michele) appears to be the most common first name we've seen throughout our history. Counting both spellings, we've had a total of 10 Michel(l)es attend during recent years. I believe that six is the most we've had in any given year.

[Michelle V]

At least in our case we can choose our own name

annie wrote :
> > And one more Michelle. Welcome
>
> The name Michelle (Michele) appears to be the most common first name we've seen
> throughout our history. Counting both spellings, we've had a total of 10 Michel(l)es
> attend during recent years. I believe that six is the most we've had in any given
> year.

[annie]

> At least in our case we can choose our own name

Uh, not always!

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Susan Bane
----------

Love the story Michelle of Seattle. Thank you for sharing.

The more I experiment and go out, the more I realize that most people
don't care. Example; today I went out to get some Christmas decorations.
Stopped into Micheals, then Hobby Lobby and Finally Target. I had a
little makeup on, pullover turtle neck shirt, jeans, white tennies, and
a red vest. Underwear was all there including my breast forms. I felt
liee one of the girls.

I got an occasional glance, but mostly smiles.

Maybe the world is changing.... I do find it's the woman are more
accepting .... And I think the males feel that we will rub off on them,
and they will become infected. hee hee hee

Welcome

Susan


----------
(This posting was entered by Susan Bane, an external user of MyDLV.)

[MichelleSeattle]

Thank you all for the nice replies. I wish more of you were not external posters so that I could connect with you. I am devouring everything on this website because I am so excited about it. The funny thing is that I probably never would have been interested in doing something like this if my wife hadn't suggested it, but now that she has, I have never wanted to do anything more in my life. I sit here for hours looking at all the pics from DLV years gone past and it makes my heart well up to see all of my brave sisters putting it out there. I don't have a lot of money, so I am going to have to work my butt off to make this happen, but I am going to. Every day is a new experience for me as I put my femininity out there because I want to be proud of who I am, and I totally am. I'm thinking maybe I should go by something other than Michelle if it is so common, I haven't used that name in a while anyway. I was using the name Sissy in some internet circles that I run in, but that seems kind of fetishistic or something. But it's a real name, I mean didn't anybody see Urban Cowboy LOL ? So anyway, I just want to thank all those who have come before me in this DLV experience because I think it is going to be life-changing for me and I can't wait for March to be here.

[annie]

> I wish more of you were not external posters so that I could connect with you.

This forum is gatewayed to Yahoo, email, and a couple of more elusive places and the identity of the posters is lost to one degree or another in the process. We're always willing to do a reasonable number of exchanges of email addresses between consenting people and some will post their email on line.

> I don't have a lot of money, so I am going to have to work my butt off
> to make this happen, but I am going to.

I can give you a few hints on how to help keep DLV affordable, and others can chime in if they wish to.

My primary suggestion is DO NOT PROCRASTINATE on such things as air travel and hotel bookings! Prices are usually lower, sometimes much lower, well in advance and often skyrocket as the date approaches.

Do take advantage of our special hotel rates. (Thanks again, Cami!) This year we actually held the announcement a couple of days in order to verify that the rates were indeed real and bookable. These have been known to sell out, so again, don't procrastinate.

If you think you may be tight on cash, please plan to limit, significantly, the amount you'll spend on gaming. On last year's survey, about 1/3 of the attendees reported "frequent or occasional" gaming with most reporting at least some time on the tables and/or machines.

You can save on local transportation by not renting a car and sharing as many taxi (or Uber/Lyft) rides as you can to and from various activities. I've personally found that I enjoy DLV (and Pinkfest) much more without a car and the savings easily covers a Monorail pass and occasional taxi rides.

> I'm thinking maybe I should go by something other than Michelle

You can change it if you want, but personally I think it's a nice name. You do, of course, have the option of "trying on" names to see if they fit.

> I was using the name Sissy in some internet circles that I run in,

IIRC we had a Sissy at DLV in one of the recent years. My late aunt was "Cissy", a homophone, as was the older daughter in the TV show Family Affair.