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09 March 2010

Leaving Blogger...

I'm not going to stop blogging about my transitioning... I'm just moving my site over to Wordpress.

So if you want to keep following my blog, please change your site feed or bookmarks to reflect the new home: http://transitionallife.wordpress.com/

I look forward to seeing/hearing from everyone over there!

Changing Name at the DMV

Went to the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles today to get the name changed on my license now that I have the certified copies of the decree. And I have to say that this was probably the best experience I have ever had at a DMV office. Seriously.

I went into the office and up to the lady at the counter who gives you a number and any papers you need to fill out and she seemed to be in a fairly good mood, surprising for any DMV employee. She was quick and efficient, another surprise for DMV... I got the paper I needed and moved along in the line to fill it out. The guy behind me got his number and the lady told him he could join the line "behind the gentleman in the brown." I was wearing a brown button up shirt over a plain white tee today. The line was moving fairly quickly as well and I reached the front of the line in a short amount of time. I was called up to the counter by a gentleman, probably in his late-40s, early-50s, who seemed pretty nice. When I told him what I was there for and gave him all the papers he was going to need in order to prove I was who I said I was, he looked at the papers, blinked and said he was going to need someone to help him. He further explained that he hadn't been working there for very long and this was a new one for him. Very nice the entire time. Got another gentleman to come over and run him through the process. The second guy looked at the papers and asked if I was changing gender marker today as well (told him no as I haven't had surgery yet...) and told me what I would need when I was ready to change the marker. Got everything squared away in the computer, paid my replacement license fee, and headed over to the photo station. That was the part that took the longest. Had to wait for the operator to come back... When someone did come over to start processing photos, he was a really laid back kind of guy. The type of person who is the stereotypical surfer, right down to the speech. Cool guy. He got my new signature for the card and took the picture. Interesting difference between my photos... As Amber would say, in one photo I look like a complete dork and in the most recent one, look like I'm ready to kill someone. I'll post photos once I have my permanent card. Anyways, while we're waiting for the photo to make its appearance on his screen, he asks me "So, dude, how much is a name change now? It used to be $99 but I heard it really went up..." Told him how much and he responded with something about the type of timing I had, with a dude thrown in somewhere. Cost went up at the beginning of this year... What can I say? I've got great timing... Not...

So, a great experience at the DMV was had today. I was sort of nervous about how this was going to go as I've heard some guys having issues with getting records changed. Perhaps I've just found a really good area to live with people who have experience with transpeople...

04 March 2010

Name Change!

I have taken yet another step on my journey to become who I am inside. Today I went to the court for my name change hearing. Everything went very smoothly and it really wasn't much of a hearing. Didn't even see the judge, which was kind of nice. I had some anxiety prior to the hearing that I think was mainly due to the thought of having to go up in front of a judge like I did in California when I changed my last name about 5 years ago. I absolutely loath standing up in front of people and talking... My words always seem to desert me at the worst time and I stumble over the simplest things I am trying to convey. I tend to avoid that type of situation at all costs. Once I realized I wasn't going to have to stand up in front of the judge, I relaxed and felt pretty well prepared. Had to have a certified copy of my birth certificate and I realized the night before that the name on my birth certificate didn't match my present name... Probably a good thing I thought to bring my name change judgment from my last name change to clear up any confusion... Pretty packed in the court room today too. It was interesting to see what people decided to wear to court. There were people dressed up like I was with slacks and nice button down shirt and then there were the people in older blue jeans and everyday clothes. There was even a couple getting both of their names changed wearing the same color schemes; faded blue jeans and orange pullovers. Thought you were supposed to dress nicer than everyday clothes for a court appearance... Oh, well...

Anyways, I am now officially Emmett Liam and should be receiving my certified copies of the judgment within 5 judicial days. Kind of wonder what the difference between judicial and business days are...

In other news, I contacted Strohecker's Pharmacy after mailing in my script almost 2 weeks ago and then not hearing from them at all. The pharmacy tech looked me up and told me that they just needed to verify my address and get my payment information from me and they could get everything sent out to me. Irked me that they hadn't contacted me at all (how am I supposed to know when my script got there when I mailed it in? ESP?) but relieved that it is on its way. Hoping that it will be here by tomorrow. I used the last of my cream this morning so I have no more T until my injectable gets here. Really glad that I get to go back on the injectable. The cream wasn't bad but seemed like a little bit of an inconvenience for me. I didn't like the mess and having to remember to apply it every day. Plus it seems to work a little slower than injectable... I just prefer injectable in general.

That's all the fun stuff going on in my life right now. Catch y'all later...