The Tomorrow People to jaunt again

This Sunday is going to be the 20th anniversary of the 1990s version of The Tomorrow People.

I’ve been obsessed with the show since I saw that first serial aged 13, but it’s not a fandom I’ve shared with many other people. In my 20s I obsessively tracked down the VHS, the 1970s original series and the books associated with both, wrote fan fiction (the only series I’ve ever done this for) and ran a fan site for a year or so that gained pretty much no interest. I’ve had a few good discussions at sci-fi cons and occasionally on Twitter, but my TP fandom was always very …personal, and Doctor Who was always a much more mainstream fandom.

I was planning to spend Sunday rewatching the 1990s Origin Story and reflecting on 20 years of loving the show, but this evening I got home from the supermarket to discover that two of the co-creators and producers of Arrow and The Vampire Diaries and the writer of Chuck are getting together to remake ‘Tomorrow People’ for the American CW cable network(!!!?!?!?!).

It took me a good hour of giggling and flailing before I even managed to process the news. I haven’t reacted as pessimistically as others have. I’ve wished for another remake for years. I’m already a fan of a remake of this show, and the original, I have no problem with it being done differently again. I genuinely regularly dream that I’m watching the pilot for a new series of The Tomorrow People then wake up upset that it wasn’t real. I watched two seasons of True Blood despite not really liking it very much, just because one of the characters was a bit like a Tomorrow Person. I really will watch anything with telepathy and/or teleportation.

I don’t even have a problem with this being American; The 90’s series was an American co-production with Nickelodeon and an Australian lead, so it’s not that much of a jump for me (although I’d love an international cast - let one of those many British actors in US TV use their natural accent!). I also really like The Vampire Diaries, Arrow and Chuck and actually feel like the show might be in good hands. People who grew up watching the 90s version (on Nickelodeon or ITV) could be TV executives in their 30s now, so this show could have been pursued for remake by genuine fans! I don’t even mind this being on the CW which tends to go for the teen romance angle - both the 70s and 90s versions of the show had prominent ‘teen heart throb’ stars after all. So unless they utterly miss the point or manage to make it completely terrible, or it doesn’t even make it to pilot, there’s a good chance that I’m going to love this show!

This is REALLY not the 20th anniversary of the remake I was expecting - from now on it’s going to be ‘the first remake’!

I saw the gender clinic for my surgery follow up today. That’s going to be the last time I should ever need to see them!

After getting blocked by Canterbury PCT in 2002 and having started out in 1999, it feels good to have finally successfully got everything I needed out of the system. I was extremely nervous and felt very vulnerable when I submitted myself to Nottingham Gender Clinic as nonbinary in 2009, but my psych was friendly and cooperative, understanding and helpful right up to the last moment. I’m regretting not asking for a parting hug rather than a handshake! :)

It felt so good to have seen a gender psych for the last time that I celebrated with ice cream :D

#1: The One With The Stabby Scissors

I made a podcast! (It’s supposed to be humorously inept, or at least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it)

weaklingscum:

Weakling Scum #1: The One With The Stabby Scissors

Remembering ‘The Edge Of Destruction’

Without any preparation, research or re-watching of the episodes, Nat attempts to summarise the plot of the classic Doctor Who serial ‘The Edge of Destruction’, randomly selected by Steven and Josh.

Download episode

Surgery recovery continues

Two weeks since surgery and visible bruising has gone completely, swelling is much reduced and the dissolvable stitches are starting to work their way out. It’s more accurate to talk about ‘scar tissue’ rather than ‘stitches’ now. Right now I’m only on ibuprofen with paracetamol reserved from break out pain (usually when I’ve done something unwise).

Walking any distance becomes painful, I still can’t sleep on my side or front, and I still can’t sit upright in a chair for long periods (it gets uncomfortable after about an hour), especially if I have to lean forward. But things are getting noticeably better every day or two. I’ll be going back to work on Monday.

I’m very happy to have apparently avoided all the possible complications I was told to expect! :)

Surgery Recovery

One week ago, I was just being discharged from the hospital after my surgery, and now I’m managing to sit comfortably in a chair! Admittedly the chair becomes increasingly uncomfortable over 15 to 20 minutes, but this is a massive improvement on a couple of days ago.

Everything went perfectly to plan during the operation and so far during recovery. I’ve had none of the possible complications. The pain was absolutely …abdominal for the first few days, but that was to be expected!

It’s still mostly a case of lying down with my feet raised but I’m now able to sit for short periods and walk around the flat without wincing and walking like a skitsy crab. It really only hurts when I’m getting in and out of chairs and the bath now (or when I’m poking my stitches and abdominals).

I’m off the strongest addictive painkillers and down to only Ibuprofen and Paracetamol as of yesterday. This has helped my digestive system and made me considerably more comfortable as a result.

My mum’s gone home now and I’m happily fending for myself after proving myself able to get in and out of the bath without assistance as of Tuesday. It’s really good not to feel reliant on someone else for everything, I think I found that the most difficult part last week, worse than the pain.

Healing seems to be on schedule; my wounds aren’t oozing any blood at all now and the dressings are only providing padding at this point - no more daily salty baths! Back to using all the soaps! My stitches look very neat and regular, although there’s still quite a lot of bruising and swelling around them, both are visibly improving every day. The stitches have been feeling itchy and kind of spiky recently, so I’m wondering how quickly I can expect them to start to dissolve and how long they usually take to have dissolved completely.

I have another week and a half off work to recover. I get the impression that by this time next week I’ll be feeling like I’m having an extended holiday, with a mandatory ban on exercising. I’m not supposed to do any heavy lifting for a few weeks after surgery, so I guess I’ll be having my groceries delivered for a while…

Thanks again for everyone’s messages of support last week, they really meant a lot! Now I’m heading back to my busy schedule of lying down watching endless episodes of Stargate Atlantis, Fringe and Doctor Who! ;)

My Nonbinary Introduction

I just wrote a variation of the following for a closed Facebook group, then decided it’s a shame it wasn’t public…

I’m Nat and I live in Nottingham, UK. I run http://PracticalAndrogyny.com/ and http://Nonbinary.org/ - I’ve been openly nonbinary and genderqueer since 2001 and involved in online genderqueer communities for a year or two before that, but I’ve recently ramped up my visibility by putting my face and legal name against my nonbinary visibility and education activism.

As for my gender, “it’s complicated”, but if pushed I tell people I’m gender neutral, which is my pronoun preference too, and tell people that I’m a person, not a gender. I don’t attempt to ‘pass’ as anything but in practice I seem to be either highly androgynous or assumed to be a teenage boy, despite being 32. I’m interested in creating resources about the practical side of being ‘ambiguous’ to the gender binary.

I have a transsexual medical history, passing through the private system in the late 1990s. Despite having legally detransitioned in 2004 in protest over the Gender Recognition Act not recognising my gender (and for other practical reasons), I’ve just had the experience of successfully getting a change of meds and a transgender surgery funded by the local NHS Gender Clinic (my surgery’s actually coming up on Thursday) while being completely open about my nonbinary gender. I’m interested in advocating for others who’re trying to access transgender healthcare (of any kind) and I have my hands on those ‘incriminating’ G3 Gender Clinic group minutes you may have read about.

I’m heavily involved in my local mixed trans* group here in Nottingham, one of three nonbinary people on the committee and several nonbinary, genderqueer and gender nonconforming members. We run weekly meetings in the city centre, we have a ‘Trans Zone’ at this year’s Pride and we’re currently trying to overturn the decision of Nottingham PCT to ‘red list’ all gender dysphoria medications.

I believe in keeping transgender spaces welcoming to ALL people who transgress or transcend society’s concepts of gender. A lot of my activism is focused on making sure other trans activists remember nonbinary people exist and that we don’t all follow the same neat narratives of ‘passing’, ‘transition’ or even gender dysphoria. I recently advised META Magazine on nonbinary and genderqueer inclusivity and I’m happy with the results.

And now I should go pack my bag ready for that surgery…