Applied Theology

2023 was… not my worst year ever, tbh. I'd say it was positive on average but with high variance. The good days were great, the shitty days were miserable.

Just gonna do a roundup/braindump of stuff since my last DW posting. None of this is really new to anyone following me on other socials media tho.

I've been on amlodipine for five weeks now, and it might be helping with the headaches? It's hard to say for sure though, as their strength fluctuates a lot anyway and it could just be several light days in a row. Had a contrast MRI but apparently it didn't reveal anything too interesting. May find out more at my follow-up with the neurologist in a few weeks.

Progress on booking surgeries remains stalled. I can report that as of October I am Officially Trans, i.e. I have an actual diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a thing I skipped as not worth bothering with for the first two years of my transition. Unfortunately the psychologist who issues it is now two months late in sending me the actual goddamned fucking letter I need to get a bottom surgery date so that's starting to really piss me off.

Also had a consult for facial feminization surgery (FFS), which I'd been waffling on even considering but after talking to the surgeon, do think I plan to go ahead with. However it's really fucking expensive and not currently covered by my private health insurance in Ireland, even though it is covered for employees in literally every other country. I have bitched about this to Relevant Internal Decision Makers and apparently no one knew about the gap and I have been told it's on the agenda for upcoming benefits discussions. How long will that take? Fuck if I know, but now I feel really reluctant to move forward with it until there's been some movement there, because I'd feel really stupid paying €38k out of pocket and then six months later oops hey insurance covers it now!

New Year's party was great, but I came home with COVID so that kinda took the shine off. Still had a blast.

And I posted some of my favorite 2023 looks over on Tumblr (I'm too tired right now to repost/reupload all of them here, but they should be visible without logging in.)

Good news: Not fired! In fact, promoted. So that was a nice way to start the month.

Meg and I took a short Dublin stay-cation. Got a room at a fancy hotel, relaxed for a few days, ate at Chapter One again (which got a new chef over the pandamic, and I don't think I like this one as much as pre-covid but it's still a superb experience). Really our first time together out of the apartment since 2019, and it was nice and relaxing.

A more substantive vacation is upcoming: we're headed to Vienna in late June for almost two weeks. It'll be our first trip to the continent, and I have opera tickets.

SPECIFICALLY, we're seeing the complete Ring cycle at the Vienna State Opera House, a thing I have wanted to do since I knew what it was. Four (non-consecutive) nights of Wagner. It's going to be grand. I'm already working on outfits.

Bad news: Had to pull our offer on the house we went sale agreed on back in (sighs heavily) fuckin November. Sellers were really dragging their feet on getting some architecture compliance issues we wanted and we finally got a report and it was… not good. Specifically we found out the large extension (which was the main thing giving the place so much square footage that we were willing to overlook a LOT of other flaws in it) had been build completely over the drainage area, blocking off maintenance access and making it difficult or impossible to inspect or even verify the city sewage hookup.

Yeah that was a deal-breaker. So we're back to square one on the house hunt.

( And now, selfie break. )

(x-posted to Tumblr + Cohost)

This has certainly been a month.
( Cut for length. CW: see tags, plus surgery talk (non-explicit). )

Once again, kinda forgot to post here. Twitter remains my main haunt (for my sins), and life is pretty busy, especially now that we're house-hunting in earnest.

The housing situation here kinda sucks, especially in the price range we're looking, but we'll make something work. My main priorities are (a) having a decent home office and (b) keeping my commute under half an hour, preferably by foot/bike or mass transit, because I really, really do not want to own a car. (Also then I'd have to get an Irish driver's license.)

Job situation is still stable. We're supposed to be in the office 3 days a week, but I frequently drop to 2 and no one really cares.

( Photos and personal rambling below the cut )

Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately.