Over the last few weeks I’ve realised I need to have a place to express myself that excludes forcing it onto friends, and more importantly, shares it with people interested in topics I am interested in. This is mostly trans related subjects – opinions and discussion. I’m completely open to other people’s opinions and I find it helps to challenge, qualify and define my own. I find, when discussion is limited to friends on Facebook it prevents the potential for my opinion to be openly discussed, as most people who have an opinion seldom share it when they are intimately held responsible for them. So this is where I’ve chosen to share my activity.
Since this is my first blog I suppose I should write a little bit about myself. Hmm, well my name is Catelyn Lochel and at the moment I’m employed as a baker. Baking is a passion of mine, although I have always had a keen interest in news and advertising media. I love reading, writing, and illustration, and I usually spend all my spare time doing one of the three. As time goes on, I’m intending to shift into the industry, and hopefully one day, gaining employment in graphic design specialising in page layout. I’ve always been acutely observant of how society interacts with itself (who it accepts, who it rejects, what provokes it, how it changes, etc.), and for that I largely attribute to silently observing from an outsider perspective while presenting as an accepted member within it. I’m talking about cautiously refusing to fully embrace who I am. I’m not going to get into details, but during my youth I had enough specific reasons to feel ashamed of myself. Through my teens and twenties I tried countless ways of socially tolerated, and (at particular times) non-socially tolerated forms of expression, and yet they all made me feel like I was denying myself, or it was met with incredible scorn, respectively. In 2010 I had reached a point where I was ready to give up on it all. A friend recognised this, and helped me through the process of accepting myself. I spent most of 2011, in therapy discussing my past and dealing with the present, and in 2012 I’ve decided to actively face transitioning and stop hiding who I am. My sexuality is something I don’t discuss unless it’s relevant. Some of my closest friends don’t even know, and they are close because they know it isn’t relevant.
Umm, what else? I enjoy playing videogames when I make the time (mostly Role Playing Games). Music taste is generally based on creativity and overall emotion. I’ve listed a wide range of artists/groups before, but it really doesn’t come close to defining what I like. Reading is usually non-fiction, and centred around social interest. Occasionally I read fiction and when I do it often has surreal elements.
That’s about it. I hope this helps you get an idea of who I am and what I’ll be using this space on the web for.
Cate <3