A Blog About Transitions…in Some Ways

(This blog is the English translation of this week’s primary blog, which was originally written in Spanish.)

This week was weird. My work was busy, at least busier than it usually is, and I was stressed and sleepy. Very sleepy. The one-day weekend didn’t help either. This weekend was much better thanks to the two days, and I rested, but the truth is that I have any ideas for this blog. This week was a vampire and it tried to kill me, so I can’t function very well right now. The problem is that this blog is a Spanish post (as you can see), and so I should write something with substance. At least a little substance. So, well, let’s talk about something. Something important? Probably not, at least for others, but something anyway.

I got the results of some background checks in the mail this week, which is very exciting for me, because with them I can apply for a name change. In Colorado, changing your name requires background checks from the FBI and CBI (the Colorado Bureau of Investigation). Now I can apply with the courts (plus a few forms and a lot of money, but that’s how it is) and set a date for a hearing, pay even more money, and eventually change my name.

Being trans has its own quirks. I’ve been my own name, Eris, in the real world for months, at work, with my family, with my doctors, dentists, neighbors, etc., and I hardly ever use my birth name anymore. But, well, obviously all my credit cards, bank accounts, investment accounts, student loans, IDs, they all contain my birth name and the gender that I was assigned at birth. I’s a change that I need to demonstrate, with documents (and so much money), because… I don’t know why. To show I’m serious, I guess. I heard a joke a few days ago: “How many trans people does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it takes six therapists and fourteen forms to prove that the light bulb wants to change.” I laughed, but that joke isn’t funny.

I don’t talk much about my transition here, because I’m a private person and this place is not the right space for that issue, I think. I mean, I suppose I could talk about gender neutral language in Spanish or something like that (although I hate how it looks: neither latinx nor latin@ are elegant solutions), but most of the time I just prefer to talk about topics more closely related to language learning. Being trans is a part of my true self, but it’s not the whole of me, you know?

Now then. I made myself a little uncomfortable after that topic, but I’m still excited, even though I can’t apply with the courts for a few weeks, and there is going to be a wait between when I file the paperwork and the hearing date (and another wait after the hearing also), but the process is already started. I can’t wait.

Well, it isn’t that normal normal of a topic, but that’s enough, so let’s see the numbers for this hard and very long week.

Tuesday 11/10

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 3% of La Gran Cacería, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Wednesday 11/11

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 3% of La Gran Cacería, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Thursday 11/12

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 3% of La Gran Cacería, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 4 episodes of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Friday 11/13

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 3% of La Gran Cacería, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 4 episodes of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Saturday 11/14

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Daniel San GMR, 1 episode of Kiwillius, 1 episode of La Zona Cero, ~120 minutes

Sunday 11/15

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Writing: 1000 words written, ~90 minutes

Monday 11/16

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 3% of La Gran Cacería, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 4 episodes of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

• Total Duolingo: 140 XP, 0 minutes
• Total reading: 1/10 books read, 450 minutes
• Total watching/listening: 18 YouTube episodes watched, 420 minutes
• Total writing: 1000 words written, 90 minutes
• Total speaking: reading out loud, 150 minutes
• Total Time: 16 hours 0 minutes

A normal week, if you look at these numbers. Despite the hustle and bustle of work, I was able to read and watch every day with no problems. I’m still between youtube or Netflix series, but I can easily fill a day. I’ve been on a break from Kiwillius’ channel, and I’m still on that break, but he uploads a series of Paper Mario: The Origami King every now and then, and I want to keep up with that series. Maybe I should return to the channel for the next long series.

Little by little I am going through La Gran Cacería, and after this week, I’ll have maybe a week and a half before the end. I’m going to read the next book after, I think, although I received a recommendation recently for a series called Memoria de Idhún, a fantasy trilogy that is originally written in Spanish. It looks good, and I would like to read more books that are not translations, so I may be going to take a break from The Wheel of Time soon and try Memoria de Idhún. Maybe, I’m not sure.

This coming week is not going to have a main theme, and then it is going to be Thanksgiving. Sounds… well, this year it sounds a bit sad, but I’ll have a four-day weekend so I’m not complaining. Until then, TTFN.