Angie Demaskau - discovering my feminine side

In a past life I was a graphic designer.  After recently receiving a fabulous illustration of me by Renee (thanks again, mwah!), I was inspired to incorporate it into a logo for a bit of fun.  I may make it into a Tshirt!

Had a great trip to Brisbane last weekend to catch up with my friend Nicole who shares my interest in latex fashions and photography.  She has a great set-up, having good equipment makes all the difference. 

For once I packed light (well relatively!!), taking only one outfit - the Demask nun costume.  I am still not sure what appeals to me about this costume...perhaps its the lapsed Catholic in me, or just its strong graphic statement on black and white.  I don't know...maybe I'll have to wear it a few times to work it out!

Anyway soon I hope to post a gallery with a selection of pics taken on Saturday...

This week I caught up with my good friends Lorraine (pictured), Katya, and Cyanne to celebrate Lorraine's birthday.  We had a great relaxed evening with a BBQ dinner, and some celebratory drinky-poos.  I first met Kat & Cyanne through their dressing service (Transfabulous) last April, when I walked through their door, had my first ever proper dressing experience and took some pics.  I still vividly remember the feeling seeing Angie's face looking back at me in the mirror.  Cyanne and Kat are legends in my book, they do so much to support girls here and give so much of their time and effort to helping people.  ( In fact, those people all over the world who go above and beyond to help out our T-community , no matter how, deserve a collective thanks and our support back)

(If you'd like to see more of Lorraine - she too is a Transfabulous girl (www.transfabulous.com)

This memory came back to me as we sat in the dining room; thinking back over the last 9 months or so...god, just to say that sounds such a short period of time, yet it feels longer! 

Anyway, the point of all this is to say thankyou.  Thanks to those of you who have chosen to include me in their lives, in whatever way that works - I very much appreciate it.  To my special friends that have warmly embraced me, and my journey  Thank you so very much.  I love your company and the funtimes we have.

I hope that all of you out there are similarly blessed, and remember the strength and support of those around you can build you up in the tough times, and allow you to soar in the good!

Mwah!

It’s that time of year isn’t it!  It seems that a number of Christmas celebrations coincided with the 17^th of December. Any of these would have been fabulous to attend, however there is only one of me (my feeble attempts at cloning using the office photocopier didn’t work! – at least that was my excuse when I was sprung photocopying my bum….but that’s another story!)

I had one of those manic weeks, having travelled interstate for 4 of the 5 working days.  I was really looking forward to my “Angie-time” where I would have the weekend to myself, in a hotel in the city, and arrangements to go out Friday and Saturday nights to catch up with some of my favourite people.

I must say that after a bit of planning, everything didn’t get off the ground as I had hoped on Friday.  I was booked to fly into Sydney early after noon, allowing me to check in and relax with plenty of time to get ready.  You know……have a coffee, draw a long bath, take my time with my makeup, etc……You would also know what they say about the best laid plans.

Yep.  I missed my flight from Brisbane.  Ten minutes, that’s all it was…and it meant I had 3 hours waiting to get on the next available flight. Fabulous (not!)  That meant that luxurious afternoon to myself evaporated and was, instead, spent waiting, waiting, waiting…..How I “love” airports.

Anyway, getting into my hotel in Sydney, I began to get ready straight away.  No time left to kick back now.  The third Friday of the month is the Hellfire Club night in Sydney, and I was keen to go again.  After going with the girls a few months back, I thought it would be fun to go again.  I had been chatting with a few people during the week and there would be a few people going that I either had met before, or would try to catch up with there for the first time. 

I had decided to be a bit adventurous and wear the latex cat-suit outfit to the club. Now if I was being practical, I would have chosen something a) a bit more appropriate considering the weather in Sydney at the moment = Hot!; and b) less “obvious when walking the 500-600m to the club from my hotel at 10.30pm on a Friday night.  It meant I had to cover up, so an overcoat was a little bit hot but perfect for trying to conceal my rubber outfit!

On arrival, I peeled off my overcoat, and presented my wrist to be stamped as having paid to enter.  The door man approached, stamp at the ready, but he didn’t stamp me.  Instead he said “I think we’ll remember YOU!”  That made me feel great, and very welcome. 

I had barely made it down stairs when I ran into the lovely Tania and Sue who had travelled down from the Central Coast to catch up. They are great company and it’s always great to see them and to have a few laughs.  I ran into a number of other people there too who I won’t name (in case they don’t want me to).  Let me just say it is always good to go out now and run into people I have been introduced to lately and to catch up on what’s going on.  There had been quite some effort go into everyone’s outfits which were great to see – some of them were truly outstanding!

It was a great night and the company was fabulous - even braved the packed dance floor at one stage.  Unfortunately it was a little hard to enjoy for a couple of reasons.  Rubber gets very warm when you dance in it, and the floor was like glass - it was soooo slippery, it was dangerous.

I think it was about 4am by the time Tania, Sue and I left the club, and they kindly gave me a lift back to save me from braving Oxford Street on my own at that hour of the day.  Thanks Girls (mwah!)

After trying to sleep in (woke up at 9am – don’t you hate that, when you want to sleep in, when you can sleep in – you can’t sleep!), got up, had a quick breakfast, a coffee and then set of for town to hit the shops.

I was going to brave the Christmas shopping crowds to buy some new make-up and try and find a new outfit to wear out for dinner.  I had a great time, and bought heaps of new make-up, especially loving the new eye shadows and lip glosses from both MAC and Napoleon. The staff at MAC in particular were fantastic (David Jones Store, Sydney City).  In fact while I was at DJ’s I headed downstairs to the general cosmetics area, only to find myself in a huge crowd of people.  For a moment I thought there must have been a sale of some sort, then I noticed the security, then I saw why all these people were milling about.  You see there was a celebrity in the store.  Kim Cattrall (aka Samantha from Sex & the City) was in-store meeting and greeting as well as signing copies of her book. She looked fab-u-lous and from my vantage point, appeared charming.

Try as I might, I had no luck in the outfit stakes.  Found some great gear, but not in my size unfortunately….and no, before you think it…this time it was too big for me!

Once again, two groups of girls came together that night for the evening’s dinner and night out on the town.  Following the success of the last combined event, we had once again decided to do dinner and the pubs of Newtown.  We had 31 people at the dinner which was just fantastic.  The venue at Yai’s Thai was great as we had the whole upstairs private room to ourselves, and the staff looked after us fabulously.  The food was good and inexpensive.

After dinner we moved on to the Newtown Hotel, which was absolutely packed for more drinks and a chat.  After a while though the smoke in the venue really began to get to me and some of the other girls, so a few of us set off in and ‘advance party’ for the walk to the Imperial Hotel.

I can tell you, those of us in heels were v-e-r-y glad to finally reach the Imperial – that long downhill walk was just about the end of me! Taking up positions in the front bar, drinks were quickly ordered, introductions made, conversations started and the music was pumping….Had a great time there with everybody.  Heaps of laughs with Lisa & Jo, Stef, Cyanne & Kat, Allie, Sara & Helen (from Melbourne), Julia, Angie and Caz (also from Melbourne), Paris.  Thanks to Lisa and Jo for indulging me in my love of dancing! The downstairs dance floor at the Imperial was great….and congrats to Kat and Paris who absolutely wiped the floor with all comers in the pool table challenge.  They finished the night undefeated!  I decided that getting home with the sun fully up was probably not going to be the best look for me, so I jumped a cab with Cyanne, Kat and Allie who kindly dropped me off on their way home…and I collapsed into bed for a much needed rest!  Until next time……

(For some pics of the night, look at the Gallery STG Xmas)

Recently I caught up with a girlfriend, Stephanie, who had gone fulltime just a month or so ago.  We have only met up a couple of times at the Sydney Transgender Group nights out, and always enjoyed her company.  It was therefore great to be able to catch up with her for dinner and a chat.  We went to a great little Thai restaurant.  It was fab to be able to sit down to a dinner in a busy restaurant and to feel perfectly comfortable.  The food was great, and Stef and I had a great chat about all sorts of things – just great.  Finished the night at the Taxi Club, which was ok – not really my thing – but hey, it’s friendly and open.  Stef and I had one last drink and each put $5 into the machines expecting it to be gone in about 30 seconds (as per usual!).  What happened next is, for me anyway, a complete surprise…..everyturn was a winner! It was weird, some sort of Tranny Karma…I have never won anything before, now as Angie, we came up trumps!  We didn’t win enough to retire on, but was satisfying none the less.  What fun!

Friday night saw me step out on my own for the first time.  I decided to go to the second “Transvision Camp”, a TG themed event at Arq nightclub.  Never been to Arq before, although had heard of it.  Great to see Chantelle, Joanne and of course Lorraine – loved your company girls!.  Also great to put a face to the name Layla.  The shows were great.  Apart from my recent jaunt to the Imperial, I haven’t seen any shows before.   Some of the girl s look so incredible.  Anyway it was great, and even got to say hi to Steven Elliott, director of “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” who was there enjoying the show.

Anyway, was a great night – can’t wait for the next one!

Sorry its been a while....have been a busy girl!  Some of you know that I was excited recently to be travelling up to Queensland to catch up with my good friend the fabulous Nicole Tristan (aka Nicci Tite) and her girlfriend, the gorgeous Ness.

After our recent get together at the Hellfire Club here in Sydney, we agreed that I would go up to Queensland one weekend to stay and take a few pictures.  Nicole has a fantastic set-up for taking pictures and I knew that this was an opportunity too good to pass up.  It would be great to have some pics taken without having to run up and hit the self timer button! Soooo  much better.  I, in turn, would be able to help out by taking some shots of Nicci!

Not sure what to leave behind…I packed for choice….I must have looked like Ivana Trump (of course without the style, the wardrobe or the bank balance) going through the airports….so many bags for such a short stay!

We had a relaxing day at the house, and took out time setting up the shoot.  Late in the afternoon we dressed, emerging in our rubbery fetish finery.  Nicci looked amazing! (She always does, and has been very generous with advice for me which has been useful – if not a little damaging on the purse!).  We spent the next 11 hours shooting over 900 pictures! OMG, we went a little overboard!!!!  Exhaustion finally took its toll, and we called it a night (was actually light outside when we did)