Happy 10 Days Until Hanukkhristmas! Christmukkah. Whatever. I just thought I'd talk a little about some stuff that's happened to me lately, HRT-wise. While some naughty stuff has happened lately too, I'm not going to talk about it here so I don't have to put the pink tictac on this post.
I guess the most important thing is, yesterday morning at about 11:25, my voice cracked and I lost my entire baritone range! I'd been training my voice from 2011 to hit bass-baritone notes, and I could even hit midrange contrabasso notes first thing in the morning as recently as 2019, because as a kid, I'd wanted nothing more than to grow up and hit Rutland Barrington's bass notes on The Pirates of Penzance. I never got that low, but I was still low enough to sing an octave below Mark Mothersbaugh on most Devo songs. Obviously, I'd been having some trouble with that, post-transition; I wanted my voice to be higher and more feminine. Well, it finally happened. I had a glass of water shortly after my voice cracked, and rather than restoring my baritone, it cleared away the hoarseness and left behind a clear alto voice! On men, my voice now is approximately on the low end of tenor. Still kind of deep for a woman, but certainly better than it was.
This isn't actually naughty unless I post pics (which I'll never do for privacy reasons), but my boobs grew about half a cup size. It turns out, I'm not DDD after all, like I said I was in my 1-year on E post; the usual metric for measuring bra sizes doesn't really work on transwomen because our boobs aren't the right shape or something. From sheer girth, I'm really only on the large end of B. I need a C-cup in order to be comfortable and not constricted. Now, though, C is getting kind of small. It still doesn't constrict, but, well... I'm a growing girl, you know! Why is any of that important? Because it should show you what you can accomplish even starting oestrogen in your 30s and beyond. By all recognised science, I should not have seen this much of an effect... but it turns out that recognised science when it comes to transwomen is really gatekeep-y, the last line of defence of the corporate feudal theocracy trying to get transwomen to reject hormones and live out their lives as men.
Also, I discovered that, if I put my hair into an Ariana Grande-type top-of-head ponytail, I can bring it down over my eyes, put my hat on, and I look... well... like a boy again. Oh well, I had to try it to know. I'll keep my ponytail on the side, I think.
Finally, I discovered the secrets of pickle brine. All those tales of transwomen having an almost spiritual connection with kosher dill pickles are actually true. The electrolytes in that juicy green nectar are exactly what I need anymore to get through the day. I used to get heart flutters and dizziness, but since I've been drinking at least 1/4 cup of pickle brine every day, I don't get those anymore. It's more important if you're taking spironolactone, but even though I take bicalutamide instead, it still helps. OH does it help!! If you're on HRT and you get to feeling kinda weird, I bet you need some pickles.