I got a phone call from J, a friend from graduate school who pretty much single-handedly kept me from self-destructing the last couple of years of school. She's currently in Michigan, completing her PhD, so I never get to see her. Except that she was going to be in Raleigh over the weekend, a mere two hours from me. So yay!

The visit was too short, but it was really great to talk to her face-to-face, and to meet her fiance for the first time.

And, for the first time, she got to see her old grad school friend genuinely happy, without the aid of anti-depressants or other mind-altering substances. Though she may not have realized it, she also got to see a bit of my othergendered self.

When I woke up Sunday morning, the innerboy was complaining that he hadn't been getting his fair share of playtime, so he picked out the wardrobe for the day: the button-down shirt, the white undershirt, the well-pressed (but too baggy) khakis. He put a bit of goo in his hair and admired the hot boy looking out of the mirror at him.

I don't know if J really knew that it was a boyday, but she did comment on my now quite short hair. The boy thanked her proudly, explaining that he'd cut the hair himself. J just shook her head in disbelief. The innerboy grinned hugely in response, just happy to have the day to swagger around and ogle girls amidst the safety of sympathetic friends.

And now for something completely different. Since I can't seem to think of a segue.

When I was in high school in the late 80s and early 90s, Seattle grunge had not reached rural North Carolina. People bought their clothes at expensive trendy stores like Express and the Limited. The style was ultra-feminine and absolutely Not Me. Even then, I was a jeans and t-shirt kinda person. And the idea of spending obscene amounts of money on clothes was just ridiculous.

So imagine my delight when I went to college and discovered thrift-store chic. Suddenly, it was cool to spend less on clothes, rather than more. "You got those jeans for $3? Well, I found this flannel shirt for $0.50!" /me sighs. Good times.

That mindset has lasted, for me, at least. Few things make me happier than buying really, really cheap clothes. Especially really cheap, but good (or at least decent) clothes. Tonight, I went to Old Navy and bought a quite stylish and warm black pea-coat for $13 and a pair of flannel jammies for $3. Coooool.