Charlotte Makes Photos

This past workweek was a busy one.

Work itself had picked up the pace considerably in the last two weeks, which is unsurprising, since as September gives way to October, the machine that is the state lurches back to life and items that were due tomorrow switch to being due yesterday. It’s an annual whipsaw that resists adequate planning since formal approvals also only begin when things are due yesterday.

The other is that I had a number of appointments after work to attend that added time to the day and delayed my after-work errands. I suppose that’s one downside to our “groceries every day” lifestyle!

Tuesday ⚡️

Tuesdays are my longest because, until it’s done, I have a weekly hour-long electrolysis appointment. The clinic is located in the inner-inner-ring suburbs, but the road to get there is subject to heavy traffic.

To make matters more annoying, the bus I take to get there is going to carry a 60-foot’s bus worth of passengers in a 40-foot bus, so it’s slow, crowded, and it’s hard to beat the anxiety of feeling like you’re going to be pinned in the bus for your stop.

In some ways, the hour’s worth of having a hot electrode inserted into each and every hair follicle in hopes of its death is less painful than the ride there. Otherwise, it’s the day I get home the latest, with enough time to have dinner, clean up, and unwind a little before bed.

Wednesday 🦷👩‍⚖️

Thanks to a mix-up at the dentist’s office (another patient with the same name, but different middle name), I had accepted a slot just at the end of my workday on Wednesday after having rescheduled it. This was my quickest day and it did feel good to have my oral health deemed excellent. I was only misgendered once, which is a rare treat at a dentist’s office.

Unfortunately, not even a dentist’s seal of approval or (mostly) correct gendering could break through to improve my mood. During the day while I was in a meeting, my landlord called. Puzzled (but concerned), once out of the meeting, I called them back.

It turned out that due to the timing of my legal name change, the final order of the landlord and tenant tribunal over a rent-and-property-tax matter contained as its first order of business, the tribunal’s acceptance of the landlord’s submission of my change-of-name certificate that ensured the right parties were named.

1. ...filed by the Landlord on ◻️◻️◻️◻️ ◻️◻️, ◻️◻️◻️◻️, identified a legal name change of the Tenant in ◻️◻️◻️◻️ ◻️◻️◻️◻️ have accepted the Landlord's amendment to the Tenant's name change from ◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️ ◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️ to Charlotte ◻️◻️◻️ ◻️◻️◻️◻️.

While they tried to have the tribunal agree to protect my identity, it was not granted for one reason or another, and the orders had to be distributed to every unit in the apartment as drafted. The property manager, who’s an absolute peach was just sick about the whole thing, since it not only indicated my deadname and legal name, but my unit number too.

Even though the other tenants in my building have been unfailingly lovely and I’ve lived here through transition, I see it as one thing to see me pass in the hallway and give a polite hello, but it’s wholly another to know my deadname, legal name, and unit number.

When looking into it, since tribunal decisions can mean money (or legal responsibility or eviction) and identities need to be stable and agreed-upon, I understood, but found it upsetting all the same, since I was only party to the dispute because I didn’t file a response when we were served earlier. From the looks of things, few of us did.

Thursday 💉

Thursday’s after-work appointment was at least straightforward: all I needed to do was pick up a refill of my prescription. Earlier this year, I switched my hormone administration to intramuscular injection which, due to a number of reasons, is only available from compounding pharmacies in Canada.²

While I may switch at some point, the pharmacy I use is in the inner suburbs, where I used to work a few lifetimes ago, near Lincoln Fields. Unfortunately for me, I chose the convenience of a single-seat ride over speed in my bus selection meaning that it took me more than an hour to get to my destination.

Otherwise, it was quick: I showed up and was handed my prescription (for which I pre-paid), and that was it. It was back to the bus stop, where I’d choose a quicker bus than the one I arrived on.

But What About The Photos? 🎞️

The photos are all from this Thursday “adventure” and are almost entirely from the Lincoln Fields area. All I had left in pre-rolled 35mm film was a lonely roll of Rollei RPX 25, which, as I wrote before, is actually slightly-converted Agfa Aviphot 80.

Since I didn’t like the results at 25, I decided to also develop this roll as Aviphot 80. It’s still inky and contrasty, but I feel like it’s better controlled this way.

I would finish the roll on Saturday, since I was treated to a downpour after work on Friday.

1. I’ve blacked out the relevant portions of the text since it won’t be long before the text of the final order is made available publicly in the places you’re expect tribunal decisions to be placed on the internet. ↩︎
2. If I’ve got my facts straight, 2016 was the last time estradiol valerate was manufactured for sale in Canada. It’s still used and usable here, but it has to be prepared at a compounding pharmacy. Although there are many of those around, not all of them prepare injectables and of those that do, not all of them prepare estradiol valerate for one reason or another. ↩︎