No Pepsi Max, a microscope up the nose and bikes

Hello all

It has been a while since I wrote a blog about my life so I just wanted to spare a few minutes and update those of you that care.

My throat in all of it's glory.

Right, I'll start with something that happened on Friday and that is my first foray into voice therapy, designed to turn my voice from masculine to feminine. I will remember this for years but not because it is the start of yet another part of the journey to become female, but rather having a microscope shoved up my nose and down into my throat.

I am pretty oblivious to pain, it takes a lot to make me even get uncomfortable, however, having a microscope shoved up my nose was quite frankly one of the most painful and uncomfortable things I have ever had to go through. It was not only uncomfortable, but it was ridiculously uncomfortable.

So there I am with a microscope up my down and I am then forced to sing happy birthday. Those who know me well know that I am absolutely hate that song, however, I sing it just because it would mean getting the microscope out of my nose.

The results were quite bizarre in many ways, afterall, as you tell by the screenshot on the right it looks like I have a creature stuck down my throat, but nope, it is supposed to look like that apparently. All went relatively well but then came some devastating news.....I am no longer allowed to drink Pepsi Max. It is rare to see me with a drink that isn't Pepsi Max or at least a Diet Coke (depending on where I am and what they serve), so you can imagine the panic that struck me at that point. Infact, it doesn't even stop at Pespi Max, it's any drink that has caffeine in it. If I intend for my voice to become more feminine then I will have to learn to drink other things, so since then I have been on water and orange juice, I suppose it's not that bad but I just miss Pespi Max.

It is yet another step I have taken towards becoming female and at the time of writing I have been on hormones for just shy of five months and I am relatively happy with the results so far. I have much softer skin than I had beforehand, the breasts have now developed to a size where they are noticeable if I wear a tight shirt (I still wear the fake breasts for the time being) and I am far more mild-mannered, taking a long time to get angry.

One side effect I am not keen on though is the weight-gain from the hormones. It was always inevitable that I was going to put on weight as obviously my body is gaining breasts and fat is being moved around, however, I wasn't expecting to put on as much as I have. Last year I lost 3 stone but had put a stone of that back on (which I think is only natural given that much weight loss in that small amount of time), however, since hormones I have put an extra six pounds on, so I have gotten my bike back out after seven/eight months.

I am not a fan of biking as my stamina has never been the best, however in many ways it is proving handy. I now get to work in half the time it used to take and I no longer get severe cramps at the back of my lowers legs when walking, and believe me, not having those anymore is a very, very good thing. It used to really hurt when I walked, some times into my 30 minute walk to work, I would get those cramps within minutes and it was torture getting to work.

But anyway. Other than that not a lot is really happening to be honest. I had a job interview in Aylesbury a few weeks ago for a role that is pretty much the same as what I do at Vodafone, just for considerably more money. I had my interview and fell in love with the location, but alas, it was not to be as I didn't make the second interview stage, with the two "finalists" both having experience in the specific industry to which I had applied. Oh well, at least it was nice to be considered for that type of role.

I still don't know what my future really holds, I still don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life but if you had said to me at the beginning of my time at Vodafone that I would there for four years then I wouldn't have believed you. I think I've now been at Vodafone nearly as long as I had been at every other permanent job combined, so almost four years is some achievement, and it brings a good level of security.

So I guess I will just have to leave it there really. I'm definitely glad that the football season is over as far as Lincoln are concerned as it was doing my nut in. Lincoln didn't get relegated, Man United won the title and Barnet went down, which was definitely long overdue.

I still generally dislike going to football but there is just something about it that makes you always want to go back. I am going to two more games this season, both Man United games and at the latter one (against Swansea) they will lift the title. It will be the last game I attend as a season ticket holder, so that means that it will end relatively well. When I bought the season ticket it was in hope that I would be watching them lift the title at the end of the season, so all in all it was definitely worth it. However, in many ways it was also a huge waste of money. I have only attended seven games (Galatasary, Tottenham, West Ham, Cluj, Sunderland, Southampton and Everton) so far, meaning that at maximum I will have only attended nine this season out of a possible 26 in all competitions, some games I have been able to sell onto other people, but the majority I have had to just take the loss. Although I am pleased it is ending well, it was a huge waste of money.

But anyway, I will leave it there and will hopefully talk to/see you all at some point.

Peace out!

Things you notice working behind a bar

Good evening all,

After a rather interesting evening at work, I decided to write a blog about things I have noticed about it. I work at a pub on the outskirts of Newark (I'm not sure if I'm actually allowed to say their name) part time to earn a bit more money, and I have worked there for roughly a year, and in that year I have noticed certain trends......

1) Regulars think they automatically skip to the front of any queue

At the pub I work there are, roughly speaking, about 40 people who come in on a regular basis, some are a few times a week, others virtually every day, however, a LOT of them seem to think that just because they are regulars that they will get served before everyone else.

Some regulars think that the queue doesn't
apply to them, especially at busy times

One particular example comes when one regular, who comes in a few times a week, saw a long queue at the bar and went at stood at a side bit. He then loudly shouted "I'll have three Carlings please, Kate." My subsequent response was "Yes, I will get those for you once I have served all of those who were here before you." He was not pleased but those who had been waiting were.

It happens a lot, especially those that actually just stand at the bar during the whole time that they are there.

2) People will ignore the recognised "food till" when they see a queue and try and get served for it at another.

At the pub I work at there are five tills, with tills four and five being generally designated as the tills to order food at, however, when people see a queue they tend to go to any of the other tills to order their food. Now, all tills have the same capabilities and most customers know this, and when there isn't a queue at the food till I will gladly serve the customers at whatever till I happen to be at, however, if there is a queue I will tell them that they need to go and order their food at tills 4 and 5.

Occasionally people will moan and my simple response is that there were people who were patiently in the queue for food and that they had waited, so why shouldn't the customer in question?

3) People think that standing directly in front of you whilst you're pouring a drink means that they are automatically put at the front of the queue.

I'm not sure whether this is simply because they are standing in a random place that happens to be where I am stood, or whether it is them trying a psychological thing and seeing if I will think that they are next because they are my line of sight.....it doesn't work with me.

I have a good memory and will almost certainly remember the order in which people arrived at a bar, so simply standing right in front of me to try and get ahead of the rest of the queue will not work, and this is what lead me to write this blog.

Tonight I had a customer wanting to make a complaint about me for "ignoring him". I simply said something along the lines of "Unfortunately sir, when you came to the bar you were actually fifth in line for being served, and I am serving people in the order that they arrived. When you came to the bar you stood right next to where I was pouring a drink, however, standing directly in front of me doesn't automatically make you next." He subsequently walked out.

4) You will ask "who's next?" and the person who is next won't say, but will then complain when you don't serve them first.

So, you don't say anything when I ask
who is next and then complain that I
didn't serve you first?

Occasionally you will walk around a corner or have any other situation that requires you to ask who is next. Everyone looks confused and then one person will say it was them, however, then a load of other people will say in the background whilst I am serving "hold on, it wasn't them." How am I supposed to know who was genuinely next if you don't speak up?

One such incident came when several months ago when whoever I was on bar with had decided to disappear whilst I was cleaning glasses. Whilst this was happening a large queue built up and I walked around the corner to it. I simply asked "who was next" and they all looked at each other before one woman said it was her. After I had served her one of the other customers said "she had only just arrived at the bar, I had been waiting for ages," to which my simply response was "well why didn't you say anything when I asked who was next?" She stood there looking dumbfounded.

5) People just don't listen

The amount of times I have to repeat myself to people who simply aren't listening is ridiculous. or even just the times when the customer has simply ignored what I have said.

For example, if I am taking a food order and they come up with something complicated that requires a message to the kitchen, you have to type it manually, so I will basically say something along the lines of "ok, if you bare with me a moment whilst I type that in,".......and then they just start talking again. Did you not just listen to what I said? I know I can type of 81 words a minute but give me a bloody chance. I have quite clearly just told you that I need to type it in, that isn't a cue for you to simply continue with the rest of your order.

"Do you want ice with that?"....."What do you mean?".......to which I really want to reply "question too hard?" in a really sarcastic voice.

6) People think you're a magician

What some customers think you are.

They have just wandered around the restaurant and seen that every table is taken, they then come to up to me and ask if there are any tables free......do I look like a magician? If you can't find a table after wandering around for 3 minutes, what chance have I got when I can't even see 3/4 of the restaurant. If there are no tables available then I simply can't magic one up out of nowhere.

7) People think you have personally drank and eaten everything that your bar offers

The amount of time I get asked by someone "what's the ....... like?" and I have to say "I don't know, I've never tried it," is ridiculous. I don't know why people think you have personally tried everything.

One couple recently asked me if I thought the lamb steaks were tasty and my simple response was, and I quote, "I hate lamb so I would have to say no,".....they still ordered it anyway.

8) People think that because you work behind a bar, you drink yourself

Now, I appreciate that this is an easy thing to think of someone as the majority of people in the country do drink alcohol, but I am not one of them, nor will I ever be, and yet people act as though you'd just shot someone.


So there you go, that's 8 things I have noticed working behind a bar, there are probably far more but I can't think of anymore at the moment. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a rant about the pub I work at, or indeed most of the customers, but I was just in the mood to share some thoughts.

So until next time, peace out.

Kate

7 Rules for Watching Live Music

Hello all

I have occasionally hinted in this blog that I, every once in a while, go to watch live music. Whilst I don't object to going to see your favourite music acts, I'm starting to realise that it's just not worth it that much, at least not for me.

I've been to seven concerts, at least those that I can recall, and I can only truly say I have enjoy less than half of those....and two of those were for the same band. I suppose one reason that I don't like going around other people, and more often that not I just stand on my own somewhere. I'm going to go through the seven I have been to and what I thought was good and bad about it, which highlights some of the good and bad points of going to live performances. I will also give you five "rules" of going to watch live music.

One thing I will say for all of these groups is that they ALL performed their songs live, something which you would rarely get with so called more "popular" acts.

All American Rejects - October 2009

The first concert I can remember going to was to see the All American Rejects at Rock City in Nottingham. I had been invited by friends whom I had worked with at Showcase Cinema and it came just a month after I had stopped working there, so it was good for a quick catch up. Upon arriving at Rock City, just three or four minutes before the whole show was due to start, it was quite packed but the group somehow managed to get separated and I ended up on my own at the back. Standing at the back, even in a small venue, isn't great because people moving right in front of you means you often struggle to see.

After a reasonable support act (who I can't even remember), the AAR were on the stage and their first four songs were all of my favourite songs.....the only problem being that they were the only songs I knew, meaning that the rest of the song, whilst not bad, saw me just stood there. I eventually left with a few minutes to go, but it was still a half decent show.

RULE 1 : IF YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO WATCH AN ARTIST, AT LEAST TRY AND KNOW MORE THAN A SMALL HANDFUL OF THEIR SONGS


Rammstein - February 2010

I had always been a fan of Rammstein since first hearing them on the soundtrack for Mortal Kombat Annihilation in the late 90s and when they announced that they were going to play in Birmingham then I jumped at the chance.

After a day spent in Birmingham, I eventually headed to the arena and after a long wait, we eventually got into the arena. About 3 hours after entering the arena and with only one support act (who themselves came onto the stage a full 90 minutes after the doors opened), Rammstein finally took the to the stage. Due to their late arrival, and the fact I had time constraints due to being on the train, I only actually got to watch about an hour of their two hour concert, and I wasn't the only one who had this problem as a lot of people left at around the same time.

Whilst it was awesome seeing one of my favourite bands, I was slightly annoyed that they took so long to get onto the stage.

RULE 2 : NEVER JUST EXPECT A CONCERT TO FINISH AT A CERTAIN TIME, IT RARELY DOES.

Canterbury - November 2010

In 2010 I got REALLY into a band called Canterbury and couldn't get enough of their song "Gloria" and when I saw that they were playing at Sheffield (the nearest that they came to where I was living at the time), it became an inevitability that I would go. I booked a hotel nearby and my room had a delightful view of a multi-story car park.

Onto the concert itself and I struggled to find the entrance to the venue at first, only really figuring out when I noticed a girl just sat about randomly. I sat speaking with her for a while and her dad eventually came and gave us a cup of tea each....I thanked him but didn't have the heart to tell him I don't drink tea (he just gave me a tea, didn't even ask if I wanted one).

Anyway, onto the gig and being second in the line, I got the chance to stand pretty much where I wanted....where I stood was right at the front, even leaning on the stage because there was no barrier separating the fans from the stage. Whilst this provided a decent view (although a bit of a strained neck), because I was right next to the speakers (which were on the stage) my ears were aching for days...it was worth it though.

To this day Canterbury are still probably my favourite band, they were also the first band I saw live twice and I did struggle to think of a rule, but.......

RULE 3 : DON'T STAND RIGHT AT THE FRONT AT A CONCERT WHEN RIGHT AT THE FRONT MEANS YOU'RE ONLY ABOUT 50 CENTIMETERS FROM THE FEET.

Bowling for Soup - November 2011

Growing up I had plenty of bands that I loved but one of the main ones was Bowling For Soup, who were known for their rather immature songs, and admittedly when I went to the concert I hadn't actively listened to them in years. The thing about getting older is that you stop finding things funny that you found funny when you were younger.

During the set of one of the support bands I also got hit in the eye with a drumstick, which put a bit of a downer on the thing straight away, and it didn't really improve as I was listening to songs from Bowling For Soup that I used to love, and whilst not awful, they certainly weren't great, or at least not as great as I had remembered.

Because I loved them growing up, I will always have a soft spot for Bowling For Soup, but I wasn't listening to them regularly before this concert....and I haven't listened to them regularly since.

RULE 4 : JUST BECAUSE YOU LIKED THEM WHY YOU WERE YOUNGER, DON'T JUST ASSUME YOU WILL LIKE THEM WHEN YOU'RE OLDER.

Canterbury - February 2012

Oh yes, it's Canterbury again and you know what my only complaint about this concert was, it was photographs. I had gone to the concert with my friend Charlie and her boyfriend at the time. Afterwards Canterbury were in the foyer signing autographs, mingling, taking pictures etc, and I jumped at the chance and got pictures with Scott Peters (drummer), Mike Sparks (joint lead singer) and Luke Prebble (joint lead singer) and all was good at the time....that was until I looked at the pictures later and the picture of me, Charlie's boyfriend and Luke wasn't really a picture, more just a fine example of blurriness...so instead I will share with you the picture with Scott (please note this picture was before I started to become Kate).

Again, I loved the gig, and I would seriously recommend Canterbury, they are four of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet.....but the rule.....

RULE 5 : IF YOU WANT PICTURES WITH YOUR FAVOURITE BAND MEMBERS, MAKE SURE BEFORE WALKING OFF THAT THE PICTURE ISN'T BLURRY

Blink 182 - July 2012

This was a brilliant night, a night I can't even put into words. I loved Blink 182 when they were immature but I grew to love them even more when their songs gained a far more serious tone. When I saw that they were coming to England I didn't even hesitate getting tickets for their gig, especially as I thought I had missed the chance when the split up several years ago.

They had All American Rejects as their support act, which is always a very good thing, and finally gave me a chance to watch their set properly, and heard my favourite songs again.

It was an unbelievable concert and unlike all the other concerts I had been to (with the exception of Canterbury) I knew every single one of their songs, so I was able to sing along and I had a great view of the action (as you can tell from the above video), and you'd think that I wouldn't even have a rule based on that, but unfortunately I made the mistake of planning to walk home.

I had moved to Newark and decided to walk the 15 or so miles back after the concert so hadn't booked a hotel or left in time to get any method of transport, so in other words, if I was to get home and not spent any money I had to walk really. I got a grand hotel of a mile from the arena before I realised that I really couldn't be bothered, so I ended up walking back into Nottingham and trying to find a hotel. Only one hotel had a room and it was the Jurys Inn.....they wanted £70 for the night. I had no intention of paying that so started to wait for a train....the next train was five hours into the future....I got bored after 20 minutes so phoned a taxi and got home on the same night.

The real annoyance is that had I left the concert a mere five minutes earlier then I would have been able to get the final train home. Oh well.

RULE 6 : PLAN TRAVEL/HOTELS PROPERLY

Yellowcard - March 2013

Rule 1 certainly applied here. I went to the Yellowcard concert on a bit of a whim. I hadn't heard anything from them for years and then stumbled across "Hang You Up", loved it, and then noticed they were a few weeks away from a UK tour, so I got tickets for their Manchester concert.

After travelling across and a three hour spell that was filled by talking to two girls, I got in and got a seat right at the top of the room on a comfy couch. I REALLY enjoyed the support act (Set It Off) but I didn't really think much to set it off.

Even now I still only know three Yellowcard songs (Ocean Avenue, Sing to Me and Hang You Up) and they only actually sang two of those. I was sat there bored for most of the time, but as I had a train booked I couldn't just leave early.

Luckily they finished early enough to allow me to easily make the train and to go to the local shop to get some food, but much like Rule 1......

RULE 7 : DON'T GO JUST ON A WHIM, GENERALLY ONLY GO TO SEE BANDS YOU'VE HAD A LONG TERM INTEREST IN AND NOT JUST A FEW WEEKS.