Barbie

I’m not much of a movie goer these days, nor do I watch a lot of them at home. They are just not a big interest to me at this point (I don’t watch a lot of TV shows either, for that matter).

However, there was one of the two big summer movies this past summer, and it wasn’t the one about the nuclear bomb. And the appeal was a qualified one; it wasn’t necessarily the movie itself, but it was what I could wear to the movie.

And if the title hasn’t clued you in yet, yes it was Barbie.

I had a Satur-Dee morning Triathlon in Springfield, Illinois (there are about 27 Springfield’s in the US, not including the one in the Simpsons, another show I don’t watch), which is about 90 miles from where I live. As 90 miles to drive the morning of a Triathlon is a bit too far, I arranged a hotel room for the Fri-Dee night before. For crossdressers, an unaccompanied night in a hotel room is like magnetic North, drawn to the opportunity to dress and do something (the business trip is the salve for many a CD).

At first, I scoured the internet for showings of Barbie in the Springfield area, and found a showing and started my planning. Fortunately I received a better offer; my GG friend Michelle, a true Barbie look-alike, was available and wanted to go also. I quickly booked tickets at a theater near where we both live for Fri-Dee night and arranged with Michelle to dress at her salon.

I had a choice of three dresses; a pinkish dress I found a few days before at Goodwill, a redder Guess dress I bought at Clothes Mentor while shopping a month or so earlier with Michelle, or an older mauve dress that Michelle really liked–on her–that I found a couple of year’s before when we were at Plato’s Closet. You don’t need to ask. Yes, I get a big kick out of seeing Michelle wear something I own, and the feeling is mutual when she sees me in something of hers (and also fun to fit into a lot of the same clothes of someone who is drop dead gorgeous).

I arrived a bit earlier than when the movie started so I had time to try on the new pinker dress, and shoot some pictures of course. I then changed into the dress and heels I was wearing to the movie, while Michelle tried on the pink dress. Eventually she changed into the mauve dress and her heels and we headed to the movie, with each of us having a red feather boa to accessorize. 

The theater had been renovated so the seats were the fancy recliner seats, which was both good and bad. Good because they were comfy; bad because they were too comfy, because one of us might have dozed off for a bit. Also, because it was very hot outside, but pretty cool in the theater, reclining in the chair with a fairly short dress meant I was kind of chilly, and the feather boa didn’t offer much in the way of keeping me warmer.

Michelle loved the movie; I thought it was so-so. I enjoyed the overall message, and REALLY enjoyed some of the Barbie outfits (the old, “hmm, that would be nice to have”, although I don’t seem to have Margot Robbie’s body or looks). A couple of weeks later I saw it again, this time with my wife (and definitely NOT in a dress), and her opinion was the same as mine.

After the movie, we sat outdoors at a local soft-serve ice cream, enjoying our cones and talking about some of Michelle’s past life that we had never talked about. That made for a nice capper to our evening. I headed out for the drive to Springfield so I could get some rest before getting up early for the Triathlon. 

As to the race, I did pretty well, second in my age group to a guy I’ve talked with a bit, who is a level above me in racing (if he’s at the race, I’m racing for second place). We were talking after the race about the third place finisher, who neither of us knew (or so I thought).

As Springfield is the capital of Illinois, and the motto of Illinois is the “Land of Lincoln”, Abe Lincoln is a big deal around Springfield. For those unfamiliar with US history, Lincoln was the16th US President, who preserved the Union during the Civil War and was assassinated shortly before the end of the war.

For the awards ceremony, the organizers had a podium, and one of the racers in the Olympic distance race (I did the shorter sprint race) was an Abe Lincoln look-alike, who wore a tuxedo top for the race. He finished HIS race, and then came to pose with other racers for the age group awards. It’s a fun picture to get.

My surprise came about an hour later. After a return trip to my hotel to shower and change for the ride home, I was driving when I got a text from one of my college roommates, saying it’s a small world. He then added the third place finisher was a friend of his. I texted back the first place finisher and I didn’t know who he was, when my former roomie added the kicker, “you had dinner with him a few years ago before an Illinois basketball game.”

The friend has posted the picture on Facebook, and my friend saw the photo, and then texted me.

A small world indeed.