Hello 
I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.
Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...
What Siobhan did Next
I was going, naturally enough what with this being a bit of a diary, to go into minute detail about the weekend just passed. But then I thought (a) can I really be bothered, and (b) does anyone actually want to hear a second-by-second account of my Sparkle, when presumably everyone else has their own memories of the event?
And anyway, it's apparently more entertaining when I write about my accident-prone adventures, so I'll do that instead 
£20 Shoes
Must just say, that I loved being in the fashion show. Those two dresses were a joy to wear, and I'm made up with them...
...ack sod it, here's two pictures of them that Sally took of me...
So yeah, it was great that there were so many people there — I was shitting myself round behind the screen waiting to come out, but the sight of all those people cheering and all those cameras flashing was enough to make me really enjoy it
The thing was though, what no-one saw while Paris the compere was doing the introductions, was the sight of me running around like a frantic loon trying to find my trainers.
I don't know if it struck anyone as unusual at all that I wore a pair of trainers for one outfit and went barefoot for the other, but it was because the sodding shoes that I bought the day before (the ones I posted a picture of here) broke just as I was about to step out.
So thanks a bunch New Look — I know they're cheapy £20 shoes, but I expected them to last at least a day 
Funnily enough though, I thought the trainers went really well with that skirt, and being barefoot with the green floaty dress was quite fun.
At least I wasn't worried about going arse-over-tit
Traditional Post-Sparkle Girlie Activities
Number 1: Building a wall.
OK, not building exactly, rather helping a friend carry some rather heavy capping stones so he could finish off a wall that he's been at for ages.
Here they are...
They were about four feet long, and weighed a tonne. I thought it rather bizarre that my friend would choose to ask the most weedy guy he knew to help him carry them, I was wondering what was going through his head...
"Hmm, I need some help carrying these big slabs of sandstone. I know, I'll ask my friendly neighbourhood transvestite — he'll be good at that"
Now then, remember what I said at the start about "accident-prone adventures"? You might be thinking to yourself that I'm about to tell a story in which I trip over backwards whilst carrying one of those things, land on my back, and then have a block of sandstone land on my chest.
Well, I am.
It landed on my chest, groin and arms, and I got my hand trapped underneath it while I was trying to get it off me.
I'm going to have fantastic bruises tomorrow.
chmod 0775 /
That would be a really stupid thing to have cron execute every minute on your server wouldn't it?
Genius here decided that instead of going to sleep, she would try and work out the little weirdness that she's been having with setting up a cron job that would make sure the permissions were OK on the source files for this weblog. I want Erin to change the ownership of the files from me to www but I can't seem to get a script that works perfectly from the command line to run as a cron job.
And along the way, I managed to accidently insert that code into root's crontab.
Which was why Erin was down all of last night as I was running Apple's Fix Permissions on her.
Post-Sparkle Analysis
No, not yet. I think we all need to wind down before we even start thinking about what was good/bad about it. I'm just very very glad that it got the reaction that it did. As I looked down Canal Street on Saturday night and saw the throngs (that's throngs) of trannies mingling with the weird straight people (
), there was a little voice in my head saying:
"We done good"
...
Just a quick thought — there above, where I said "can I really be bothered?" — it sounds a bit like I'm being nochalant about the event. I'm not at all, what I mean is that I'd rather have a memory of Sparkle as a blur of fun than a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow (fnar fnar) account of the day.
Ack
OK, apologies 
I was so busy trying out my newly acquired copy of Virtual PC (so I can see what this site looks like on MSIE) that I forgot to manually do the things I was trying to automate last night.
Which is why all of the comments that just came into my inbox didn't show up here.
I'll have to put them in by hand...
Jane
Ouch!!!, Put some arnica cream on the bruised areas (not broken skin though). It'll bring the bruises out quicker. They will look fantastic and really hurt for a short while, but will be gone quicker than without it.
Jenna
"We done good" — didn't we just. My "normal" friends, Helena and Trevor, OK so you can't really call Helena normal coz she loves trannies, thoroughly enjoyed themselves at Via Fossa on Friday night and want to "do it" again soon.
And it's only been several years of trying to persuade them to come out with me! OK, so they were already trannie aware knowing me, but Jo said lots of hen party girls were asking lots of questions and seemed to think having us there made their night, yipee!
I think we're going to hear lots more positive outcomes — maybe next year I'll invite family and relatives.
"I'd rather have a memory of Sparkle as a blur of fun than a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow (fnar fnar) account of the day."
And it's not because copious amounts of alcohol have exactly that blurring effect on memories anyway?
I thought it rather bizarre that my friend would choose to ask the most weedy guy he knew to help him carry them
Possibly because the equally weedy NRT is at work?
Just had an odd conversation with J: just as he was describing the stones and your presence (though not the accident — a guilty conscience, perhaps?), I opened this entry and saw them for myself.
Possibly because the equally weedy NRT is at work?
Ha! Honestly, I think you're probably stronger than me
I think we're going to hear lots more positive outcomes
True Rachel (good to meet you at last BTW )
What I think the underlying thing about Sparkle was, was not just that it was a lot of fun, but it was as if our community was Coming Out — it was the interactions with the rest of The Village that was the great thing. It's what I'm seeing in most of the emails filtering through The Angels mailing list at the moment, and it's what anything else we do — either next year or whenever — has got to be about.
copious amounts of alcohol have exactly that blurring effect on memories anyway?
Becky, I don't think I was half as drunk as you on Saturday Which is a turn-up for the books Having said that, Friday night was a different story. I counted up what I drank: 2 bottles of wine and at least a bottle and a half of champagne — and then Kim was wondering why I said the same thing to her five times?
I hope your friend was/is extremely grateful.
Jane, he fed me venison-sausage sandwiches I'll gladly get physically injured for that
It'll bring the bruises out quicker.
Jenna, I think I'll go for the longer-but-hurting-less approach if that's OK
"True Rachel (good to meet you BTW ) [D" — You too, and you've got a mean hug, girl, and a soft Irish brogue to die for!
"And it's not because copious amounts of alcohol have exactly that blurring effect on memories anyway?" — How could you suggest such a thing, Becky.
Siobhan, thought of suing? Don't fancy your chances much, though.
LOL
BTW — just thought I'd mention that I just worked out how much that stone block weighed ... a quarter of a tonne.
(You'll have to excues me here — I'm just playing for sympathy)
That dress again
(via flickr.com/people/si08han) 
Someone (I can't remember who) pointed out that all transvestite photographs seem to have a radiator in the background. Not wanting to disappoint, here's one that Nicki May took of me
Just goes to show some days are better than others...
One day your a raising catwalk supermodel 
and then next your a labours mate having nasty accidents 
...have you filed the compensation claim yet?
Ok post sparkle analysis — My only public comment I suspect too...
It was fanstatic, come next year, be amazed, bring your friends, neighbours and countrymen/women.
Siohban was brillant in the show 
and this is a great place to say thank you to her for agreeing to be part of it — thanks MWAH (or however its spelt)
nicki may
ekkk! just seen the raditor comment...doh...
Ill keep it in mind for the future.
nicki may
Nicki, I was only teasing *hug*
George Memorial
(via flickr.com/people/si08han)
A friend of mine just brought this round. She made it for me as a memorial to Georgie. It's beautiful
(via flickr.com/people/si08han)
Look His tongue is sticking out 
just signed up for this gravatar thingy, does it work?
Sorry taking up space on Erin, i think
nicki may
Ack, only a couple of bytes honey She's got Gigs free still
Of course, you should really join us on Flickr too, and add stuff to the Sparkle Flickr 2005 group
Hackie Hackie Hackie...
Right. Dammit. All this "your comments look stoopid on my PC, Siobhan" malarky that I've been enduring for the past Godknowshowmanymonths should finally be OK. I've taken my usual code-axe to the CSS, but this time (yah-huh) I had a copy of Windows XP running in Virtual PC to check things against.
One question: How do you people use that thing?! It's ghastly, horrible, and sucks more than Edgar-J-Hoover.
(like the pun?)
We're used to it! I have to admit, the first time I tried using OS9 I was busy shouting "Where's your file tree? How do you minimise things? Why's the keyboard all funny?"
You get used to anything eventually...
Mel xxx
Fabulous dress, pleased you enjoyed the weekend and the trainers looked pretty cool . Your arm looks nasty hope theres no damage hon
A shameless test for a new blog. Still, we all start somewhere. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the weekend. The rest of us stayed at home, fretting over the fact that we weren't there.
And I'd love to see more of the outfits you wore.
Selina Morse
And I'd love to see more of the outfits you wore.
Well, I should be going to pick up the big black skirt either today or tomorrow, so pop down sometime later on this week hon
that skirt is fantastic!
How disgustingly vile.
Heydrich
You look fab in the photos, them dresses look very good.
That scrape looks extremely nasty, I hope you haven't done yourself anymore serious injury either. I hope your friend was/is extremely grateful.