Well, what can I say other than Pie is goofy and thank goodness for that cause it HELPS! I guess the other takeaway is that transition is hard, y'all! Something that I've oft struggled with during transition is an immobilizing fear of somehow being isolated from people, mostly from feelings of not being "normal". This feeling gets particularly intense when I'm around cis women, which I feel stems from this want, this need, to finally just belong.

But somewhere deep down, even with the approval and close friendships of cis women, I just don't feel it. That then, quite viciously, flays fresh the wound of isolation once more except with a spike of feeling utterly crestfallen from the notion of being rejected at my core. Like...I finally know who I am now, and yet somehow I can't seem to accept that I am a woman; that I am indeed part of that cohort . I wish that I could be a rock star about it and say I don't care, and indeed that was my coping mechanism growing up, but somehow the fear of being isolated now is far more intense and, as of recently, has nearly gotten me committed. I think the intensity stems from fears of being mostly isolated, with very few friends, and just surviving through that lack of human connection that I craved.

Back in the day when we were first starting out, I remember fervently looking towards the advice and experience of web comickers that were seasoned pros. One bit of advice that I remember clearly, for gag comics, was to always try and be funny, even in your blog posts. The reason being was that the audience was looking to your comic to lighten their mood; content contrary to that would detract from your work/impact. And mind you, this was from a well known, respected and professional comicker!

Often times, when things went awry in life (I always felt that Life in Aggro was an apropos title for the chaotic nature of our lives), I would only perhaps mention it in passing, and if so, only in the blog. I think that after a while, and particularly post transition, I got tired of bottling up those feelings and wanted to be honest with our audience while still attempting to depict the humor of it all. Of course, there is a fear that I might lose any comedic edge I would have gained by having all those bottled up emotions raging underneath the surface. @.@ In addition, there is also this balance point of...how much is sharing too much? At what point does it seem like eliciting sympathy from fans? At what point do genuine reasons for lateness or lack of communication just appear to be excuses, particularly when fulfillment is involved?

Can I be funny and bare my soul? Are they mutually exclusive, or is there a way to straddle that line effectively? It's one thing to do that in a series, but how about in gag comic format? Is something like this, something more heartwarming than outright funny, ruined because of its serious tone? I want to believe that, with the right amount of skill, it can be both...not to say that I have that talent, but it's something that I aspire to.