No doubt about it, Esprit was a blast! I was apprehensive at first and not certain how I would fit in, but that disappeared within my first few minutes after checking in. As I started seeing familiar faces and girls just as nervous as I was, I knew there was no reason to feel out of place.
Actually, play time was fairly limited since I spent most of my time in the sessions. We would usually head off to the hotel lounge in the evening where there were always a mix of locals and Esprit attendees mingling and talking. It was a blast to go through the lengthy explanation of everything T-related for each of the curious visitors. Based on the length of time we typically talked and the thoughtful questions that were asked, I would guess that these people had a genuine interest in broadening their understanding. The evenings in the lounge were always long and loud, and the occasional arrival of a drag queen in vinyl would always liven things up. I know where I stand in the spectrum...I'm always quite bashful and probably blush 6 shades of red when an outrageously dressed drag queen shows up.
The time at the hotel could best be described as a big extended party. We would gab in the halls, drop in on other girls' rooms to see what was going on, wander into the vendors' rooms to take another look at the wares, and plow through the clothing exchange to see if any new donations had showed up to be snatched (an entire roomful of donated clothes went unclaimed and it all goes to a local women's shelter). We asked each other for fashion advice, loaned out clothes and accessories, shared confidences, and did all the precious things that guys are so sternly forbidden from doing in society.
The paparazzi are no match for all the cameras in action at a T convention. There were enough flashes going off during the week to light Times Square for a month. I'll be the first to admit that T's have a love affair with cameras and I suspect that the 1-hour developers were incredibly busy in Port Angeles during Esprit. I also imagine that there was a sudden run on Nair and ladies' razors, too. I myself brought 3 cameras and I was even using a 4th camera for a little while (that was one of Esprit's disposable cameras that I adopted to take fun candids for the yearbook). I'm still trying to get pictures scanned so you'll have to wait to see what success I had (I'm not a photographer, so don't hold your breath...) The picture-taking and the outrageous poses seemed to never end...after getting a row of girls lined up for a picture there seemed to always be another camera that showed up to snap the scene again. Word of advice before attending one of these things: exercise your smile muscles.
The party on Saturday night was great. The band was top-notch and when you put a whole bunch of liberated spirits in a room with good food, good music, and happy feelings, you can't help but have a grand party. I'm not a dancer, and my dress was not exactly conducive to dancing, but I made sure that I got myself out there at least a few times. I keep telling myself that my missed opportunities are gone forever and it's very empowering to find myself doing things that I've always been afraid of doing. And it makes it all that much better to discover that I'm having fun at the same time...more fun and freedom than I've ever had...that tells me I'm doing something right.
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