I have issues

"Whoa! Jennifer's writing another post after only a few days? What's happened to her?!"
I know, I know, shocking, isn't it; me writing again so soon. But I just wanted to vent a little, and maybe explain a few things.

Many years ago, all I really wanted was to wake up one day as a girl. To look like a girl, sound like a girl, be perceived as a girl... More than money, I wanted to be who I didn't know I was on the outside. I never thought of myself as being a girl in a boy's body. I never told my parents that I wanted/needed to be a girl. I felt that that was just something you didn't tell anyone. I mean, how many straight guys tell their friends "Yeah, so, I need to be a girl. Y'all want to go get some lunch?" That just doesn't happen, and that's exactly why I stayed silent for so long; I didn't want to be more of an outcast than I already was in middle school, and I didn't really know anyone at first in high school (transferred school districts). It was one of the millions of secrets that I would keep for years.

When my parents found out, well, my dad just didn't talk to me for a few days, and my mom was asking "Why? Why would you choose such a difficult life?" I understand that being a young woman in this day and age isn't always fun, and could be pretty bad at times. But all I said was "Because it's who I am." It didn't really hit me until then that this was exactly what I wanted: to BE a girl. Not a guy, a girl. A young woman. My mom later went on to tell me all the challenges I would face even presenting as a cisgender girl, let alone being a trans* girl. Did it sway my judgement? Obviously not.

But now I know a bit of what she was talking about. Only a little, but enough. Being a girl is a LOT harder than being a guy, and I'm speaking from experience. It doesn't always seem like I'm trying to impress people, but in reality I am; I don't want to appear to be a slob, I want to be perceived as a pretty/beautiful girl (doesn't always work, but I try). Yes, I put on makeup (occasionally), do my hair (and get frustrated when it doesn't cooperate), agonize over which top works best with which pants, and which combination flatters my figure the most, shave my legs... Pretty much everything that other girls my age do. Except I'm still learning, while they've had years of, well, practice, to get it all down, while I was thrown into it 6 months ago. So don't blame me for slipping up every once in a while, though I have made remarkable progress for not having done anything "girly" before coming out, save for a few times at church camp.

But there's another thing. Even though I have tiny boobs, they're starting to get kind of annoying. I mean, I'm glad I finally have boobs and all, but, well, they get in the way. It's painful to sleep on my stomach now (which is pretty much how I've slept for years). And worst of all is probably when I'm eating: I have a tendency to lean back in whatever I'm sitting in when I eat, AND I like to wear v-neck shirts... Let's just say it's really awkward to fish food out of your bra in the middle of lunch. I'm not saying I do that, but... Well, it sucks. Food and boobs do not work well together, especially when an open-necked shirt is thrown in to the equation. And speaking of equations...

A month ago, I took the AP Calculus exam, which I'm pretty sure I bombed. REALLY wish I had been studying for months in advance. Now that the end of the school year is literally a week away, we don't really do much in any of my classes, but that doesn't mean any of us, especially me, are in the clear yet. See, I'm on the verge of failing about half of my classes this semester, and I AM failing this semester's English. Ironic, since I'm writing this, and I hope to one day (hopefully soon) make a living by writing scripts (and maybe even novels). Plus, I have the most relaxed English teacher in this school (I'm pretty sure I went over this in the last post, but I'm saying it again, regardless). Last I checked, my semester grade is at less than a 50%. He says that he'll pass me if I can get this one research paper done and turned in (I was gone for nearly a week that the class was working on it), but....... I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what to research, I don't know how to put it all together... I'm lost, and it's too late to ask for help.

Well, overall, things seem to be going just great!... I wish I could say that, but I would be lying if I did.