Thrifty Shopper (Blast From the Past Entry)

There's not much new in my present day life, other than I'm coming down with a cold. :( So let's go back to February, 2003. I am so glad the duplex mode days are over!



February 10th, 2003
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Another therapist appointment today, yet disappointingly, I had to go in duplex mode *, since my mother was home, watching my brother's three-year-old daughter. She was visiting from Florida. Oh well. I haven't been out in girl mode since my last appointment two weeks ago, due to a very bad cold. There was no hope of my voice sounding like anything feminine for that period of time.

Yet afterwards, I countered it with some shopping! First, I went to Bob's Stores to make a special exchange. My parents had gotten me two pairs of jeans that were too big. Of course, I told them I was going to exchange them for a smaller size. What did I really do? I exchanged them for a cute black and purple sweater, a red knit sweater, a pair of women's pants, and a skirt. Heh heh!

Then I went to Selden Thrift. Lilly kept telling me all the outfits she bought for under $100, so I had to check it out for myself. Yup, it was my first time ever in a thrift store. I ended up buying two denim skirts, two pleated skirts, a dark blue sequined skirt, a ruffly black skirt (yes, a lot of skirts!), a multi-colored button-down skirt, a tight silvery shirt, a ruffly blue blouse, and a formal black dress. All for... $45.90! Just can't beat that.

Unfortunately, the fitting rooms didn't have a mirror in them. If one wanted to see how the outfit looked, they would have to walk outside the fitting room to look at one of the mirrors there. I was in duplex mode, mind you... so anyone could definitely see a man trying on women's clothes. I basically forced myself to go out and see what I looked like with one of the dresses on, as well as a blouse and skirt outfit. I gave myself tunnel vision. If anyone was staring or pointing, I was not looking anywhere but that mirror. I know I'm pretty brave (or stupid, it's a fine line), but I thought I was going to have a heart attack by the time I was done!



* "Duplex mode" is a term I made up to signify less-than-complete girl-mode. I may have worn women's clothing with some makeup but not all, and maybe a wig or maybe not. So I may have had beard shadow and/or short hair, breast forms or not. Note that if I dress like this now, I would still look fine, since I have no shadow on my face, my natural hair is long, and my natural breasts are... well, breasts. Back then, well... I either looked stupid or just weird, take your pick. For some reason, I liked to shock people at the time. Go figure.