10/03/2026

Pre-Op Punk

We lost internet for most of the week, finally back!

I went to Cleveland for pre-op appointment. The people there were amazing and turned me onto a ton of great books. They also are doing so much good work for their community. It was an inspiring and refreshing place to be. The Czech museum was temporarily closed so I didn't get to go, but we found a place with vegan milkshakes and a bookshop we will visit later. They turned me onto an amazing book as well and I've been rethinking how we meet the needs of trans people here. Trans people are really on the margins and capitalism and the state are not giving them the basic necessities to survive.

This has messed up my writing groove though, and I've not really been putting words to paper this week. I decided to make Aralise's family tree a bit more complicated and am excited for the implications. She's only a few thousand words from being with her new foster mom, the part I'm looking forward to the most as well. I've been reading a book on daily life in castles and its been horrifying and inspiring in equal measure, just like the way that women were legally unable to do much. I guess that's probably why these assholes want to go back to feudalism.

The pre-op itself went fine and the insurance has approved it. I'm relieved but now I'm anxious that some national bullshit will keep me from getting surgery, like martial law during the elections or something. I'm trying to keep my mind off it and focus on getting everything around for the mandatory eepy time after surgery, but I think if you're trans then you know that sometimes the existential terror of living under neofascists just gets you.