2 weekends ago was the 12th Raven event Hosted by Jen Bryant at
The Raven which has an Award Winning Restaurant with a Bar & Club. This was
my 3rd visit to a Raven event. Original plan was to stay for the
whole weekend but it turned out that my weekend was kinda double booked (would
have been triple booked if i'd attempted to go to Phil-Con which I realized I
couldn't do). At Raven 11 Paula and I Went to the Saturday Dinner & Dance
Party and Sunday morning Breakfast at the Eagle Diner. This time we went to
Sliders Bar & Grill on Friday night...Fashionably late (as usual...it takes
forever for Paula to get ready) While there we met up with some familiar faces
and made a few new friends. I got some yummy food from the bar (and a few
drinks) everything was pretty good. We had some pretty awesome discussions as
well. We had a discussion with Lisa Empanada (guest writer of this post) about
Straight crossdressers. ...Ok...It kinda came up due to a major Faux-Pas which
I committed. I mistakenly referred to Paula in the
masculine. Something I never do when referring to her
online...you know...where I can edit myself when I make a mistake... The thing
is, I usually see Paula in guy mode. Also Paula doesn't care if she
is referred to in the masculine or feminine. Also knowing we were in
the company of ‘like’ individuals I guess I was a lil more lax. I think it has
to do with the divide of not really feeling like a girl but enjoying her
feminine side. Well...most of it was Lisa asking Paula questions about straight
crossdressers. Lisa is a trans-Girl. She identifies as female and doesn't
really 'get' people like Paula who...are fine living their male lives but also
like to indulge their feminine urges. It was quite interesting hearing the uber
masculine things Lisa did before she became Lisa.
I was also surprised...the whole weekend how many of the
Gurls were married to women. I was told by one that she considered herself a
Trans-Lesbian. She believes if she were born female she'd still be attracted to
women. More of the girls were married to women than I expected. I was kinda surprised I think I'd just grouped trans-lesbians with straight
crossdressers...but...I guess technically that's not true even though..I guess
physically it's true. I'd always thought to myself that if I were born male that I'd be attracted to females but I was born female and am attracted to males...but I lean towards pretty/androgynous males...or males that dress like females...that look like hot chix when dressed en-fem. :D
While we were there I told Paula, "Ok, I didn't really plan
on coming tonight. I came because you wanted to come. This is a meet &
great, so...go meet someone new and make friends." So I had Paula lead the
way & I followed. Paula walked up to a gurl neither of us had met before
& introduced herself. Her name was Charlene...or was it Charlize It turns
out that she was there because we were there. She is on the same meet-up group
that we are in. She noticed that a majority of the girls on the group are way
older than us but that Paula and I were around her age. That gave her
confidence to come out. (Whoot!) She & Paula exchanged email addys and we
all made tentative plans to hang out and see a movie. We hung out with her most
the rest of the night. There were a few photo sessions that happened. Jen was
posing on a pool table and other girls joined in posing on the pool tables.
Even Paula joined in. I took a few shots of Paula on the pool table. Then we
took a few shots in the foyer. Then the party continued at The Raven’s dance
floor. Our new friend took some pics of Paula & I on the dance floor. I
took a lot of pics of our new friend with her camera as well all night. She wasn't ready to have any pics taken by any camera but her own. We left around 1:30-ish AM and picked up my
good friend Jerome from a karaoke party that I couldn't attend due to the meet
& greet. He was my stand in for the night with my karaoke host Dr. Thunder (yes we also do parties). We had a
sleepover at my house where I got a little sleep.
I woke up a few hours later on Saturday morning. I had a religious
assembly to attend from 9am-4pm. Went there and got back to my place around
5pm. Paula had already started getting ready. Jerome was just about ready. I
got the rest of Paula’s make-up on her after I finished up the corset that we’d
started on Friday (which I didn't mention earlier. Made another duck tape
corset, this time w/boning. Paula lost a good deal of weight since we made the
first one and it no longer fit properly.) I needed to put/hammer the eyelets
into the corset that was nearly permanently attached to Paula the night before
(I cut it off of Paula before I went to sleep). I also had to take in Paula’s red
dress, she had gotten it online and it was bigger than expected. My mom helped
with that by pinning it while on Paula so that I could sew it when I was
finished with the corset (yes my mom is also cool with CD’s). I got myself
together as quickly as I could. I wore a women’s pinstriped suit with a Black
& Gold tie, and we were off. We got there…I think around 7:30PM. We were
seated by the fire. Jen’s Official Photographer took a few pictures of us. We
got/ate our delicious meals. I had a Manly Meal of Ravioli…Jerome had Chicken
cordon blu and Paula had a chicken salad…she couldn't eat much in that corset. We
saw some familiar faces from our seats as well. After we were done eating it
was time to Party!
I handed the camera duties to my good friend Jerome while I go
touch up my make up in the ladies room where I met another lovely lady who is
married to a woman. She says when she’s dressed as a girl she feels like a
girl. When she’s dressed as a man she feels like a man. I think she said she
considers herself a trans-lesbian. I put on my lip color and I was off to dance
& have a good time w/o having to worry about taking pics, yay! But, of
course…I was a bit shy to start dancing right away…this looks like a job for
Liquid Courage!!! Had a bit o’ booze. And did a bit o’ dancing mostly w/ Paula.
We met up with our friend from the night before, Charlize (I really need to ask
her how she spells her name), and the 3 of us danced a bit. We put what few
flyers I had for my blog in Jeromes hat. Looked like a press hat after that. And
he was off taking pictures of just about everyone there. At some point I met up
with one of my online friends that had come to the previous Raven event but I couldn't find on that day. I saw the many tattoos and saw the face and it was
them!!! Chris & her Fiancee, 2 beautiful blondes, I had to get pics with
them. I planned on meeting up with them again later but, alas, t’was not to be.
I also saw a GG I had chatted with at Raven 11, Maureen, was nice to see her
there again & it’s so great that she supports her husband’s crossdressing!
I went outside a few times; it was a bit chilly, I was so glad I had decided to
wear pants at this Raven event. I sat with Paula and met a new gurl there. I
think another Straight CD. We had a nice conversation which I mostly forgot
cause I’d been drinking. (I really need to keep a notebook with me at these
events so I could write down names and key things to remember.) Jen came and
then…and then… I called Lisa, Jen. I’d have been wayyyyyy embarrassed if I were
sober (but had I been sober I wouldn’t have made that mistake) But after my
sincere apologies and praising her for her grace & beauty she forgave me
and came over to have a picture with me. (wow…I had been rubbing Lisa the wrong
way a bit too much that weekend) Unfortunately my camera started to act up around
that time (I found out later that it was my external flash) so pics from about
that time to the end of the night were half blacked out. Thankfully it happened
at the end, instead of the beginning of the night. At the end of the night we all
drove back to my place because staying locally for the night could get quite
pricey. It would have been nice to stay closer and go out to breakfast w/
everyone but…maybe next time. It seemed like everyone had fun.
