In a series of astonishing developments, it appears as if I am going to be the first T woman to renew her Electrical License in the State of Oregon. It all began when...
I was in a Home Depot looking for some electrical parts, when a many asked me if I needed some help. After some reluctance, I allowed him to help me and he readily got me sorted out. During our conversation, he mentioned that I could get my expired license back because they had changed the law to make it more favorable to people who'd allowed theirs to expire.
Previously, I would have needed to re-test for the license; a process that I considered too daunting because I was one very fearful of dealing with the State of Oregon. So, now all I really have to do is take 24 clock hours of Continuing Education, and pay my $100; all to the tune of close to $500. This is going to put me in a huge financial hole, but what the hell, I can live on body fat for a while. :)
I am really aprehensive about getting murdered by some Red Neck, but then, who knows he might bite off more than he can chew?
So, please, anyone, please pray, think happy thoughts or what ever for me. I am really scared.
Oh, and why am I doing this? Well, I am not making it on what I get in disability income, and I am told I can easily make $2000 a month signing off on projects.
Gwendolyn Brown
Comments
disability income
If you are on ssi disability with medicare you could lose your benefits if you make too much income. I am disabled and looked into going on disability and it costs more to work sometime unless you are paying for health insurance through cobra from an employer. If you are disabled it is much more expensive and harder to get health insurance for common everyday issues such high blood pressure, diabetes and allergies.
Good Luck in whatever you decide,
Jenna from FL
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
Tell them you're not from California
And all will be fine. Oregon civil servents hate us more than life it's self. You'll make points like you can't believe. I can see it now, " I just talked to this Caliifornia thing and you have no idea as to what they wanted. A house for more than it was worth. God, I told them to go to hell."
Licence granted, no questions, Good Luck, Arecee
Licensing
License testing usually has very little to do with the trade and everything to do with making sure you know how to pay your taxes.I relocated to a State that didn't have Licensing because of that and the protectionist mentality (I do pay my taxes).The only issue I ran into was getting insurance because they want to make sure you know what your doing.I simply provided ten years of paystubs and that solved that.In your case receiving the license should make getting insured easier.For one million two million coverage I'm paying around five hundred a year but that may vary in your state and by trade.I chose to go on my own because of the housing slowdown figuring that even if I work less I make more.Another expense you may want to have is yellow pages advertising for me that's 52.00 a month with a business card sized advertisement.A good idea if you choose to do that is to look at the yellow pages first and to choose a name that puts you as the first business listed. As for the rednecks I plan on telling them I wasn't TS until I started Tilesetting and that I think it might be something in the grout.You may wish to come up with your own explanation but I figure my idea might help open up the trades to Ts's and women.Amy--"May your pen never run out of ink and your brain out of ideas"
Drywall Humor
I had a friend in the building trades out here and she blamed it all on sheetrock dust. :) Yours is even funnier. "Something in the grout," is even just funny to say. And TileSetting. LOL.
Brandi are you out there reading this? Haven't seen her in twenty years. Never could imagine what she might have looked like as a guy, all six-two of her was pure female from waist-length red hair to size fourteen AA feet. :) And she had this ingenue quality. The worst problem she had on the job after transition she claimed was the other rock hangers wanting to do the heavy lifting for her. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I plan on using humor
as much as possible on the job to help me thru transition.Plus I figure being self employed that limits the amount of people able to discriminate against me.I know thru watching a tv program that there is at least one other TS Tilesetter so if she can do it so can I.There is also a TS finish carpenter that I heard of thru a group I was in.I have also met women on the job but unfortunately not as many as there should be.I plan on transitioning as soon as I've developed enough of a reputation for quality work in this area hopefully less than six months.I'm fairly small and have been on hormones for a couple years so I have offers of help unloading tile on a regular basis I figure why turn down a good thing(LOL).In the program the setter said she did lose some customers but that those were replaced by others.It's always nice to hear of other sisters working in the trades and I hope you get to hear from your friend again.Amy :)"May your pen never run out of ink and your brain out of ideas"
Transgender Oregon
One thing about Oregon law is that a Transgendered person is legally insane. The Law says we are profoundly delusional. Apparently there is some new in Oregon that deals with it being illegal to descriminate. Ah, we'll see how that goes.
I am going to persue this through to get my license back and then I'm going to think about what I'll do with it. I could do some light installations but as far as Attic crawls, heavy drilling, and overhead work, the price is waaaayayyy too large the next day.
Had I to do it over again, I'd just say that I'd always been a woman, just very much a tom boy. LOL
Many Blessings
Gwendolyn
PS I laid about 800 sw ft of foot square tile in my then family room, kitchen and bathrooms. Gawd that was a lot of work; used white grout because it was pretty; shoulda used black. You have my respect.
That's crazy
That Oregon considers you insane when they're all ex tie die wearing lsd users.I do understand what you mean about the next day price as I have two ruptured discs in my neck and my knee's aren't what they used to be.800 feet of tile is a lot especially if it was over wood flooring and you had to lay backer board first or bad concrete.I'll be rooting for you to succeed.Amy "May your pen never run out of ink and your brain out of ideas"
TS tradeswomen
Maybe I've been watching too much HGTV, but now I can imagine a new show about a team of transsexual contractors that fix up houses. "These ladies remodeled themselves; let's see what they can do for your home."
You are soooooo bad! :)
Well, at first I did not want to do anything that reminded me of my old life. It's been about 5 years. I had three broken vertebra and several smashed disks and was not expected to recover.
Amazingly, I think I have gotten back to at least 50% of my former strength, and when the Doc told me to lose weight, I did. It seems the more weight I lose, the less my back hurts. If I could get down to my pre-trans weight, it might feel pretty good!
For the longest time, I would not wear pants at all. I still don't like them and find that I can change panels wearing my mini. :) But still, there are times when a girl must yeild for modesty's sake.
It would be sort of fun to remodel a house but my role would require a few good men to help. :)
Gwendolyn
I like your idea but
how about Ts contractors remodel houses and we remodel them.I could go for the extreme makeover and think of the added challenge we present for the doctors.I'm no Ms.Frankenstein but I could use a few procedures.Amy--"May your pen never run out of ink and your brain out of ideas"
Extremely Extreme Makoeovers?
I get it!
>>
Remember veiwers, we use an all transitioned crew to totally remodel a home AND totally remodel the occupants.
* * * *
“Well, you said in your dream home you wanted something to make life easier for the wife and you, Tom. Tina, you said men had it easier than women.
You got your wishes. The new home is completely automated, we even is installed those robot floor cleaning machines and lawn mowers. You also got the usual master bathroom, cheff’s kitchen, spa, pool and yada yada yada.
As for you personally, Tom and Tina, Tom you never need return to work as we’ve given you an extreme body makeover, Tina got one as well. Now Tina is the man and will have to work his ass off in that construction job you hated and you are the stay at home mom or soon will be. You’ll want to give up Tina’s feet and soul killing Hooters waitress job soon anyway as you got Tina pregnant before we swapped *things* around, Congratulations Tom and Tina, it's twins! I mean Tammy and Tim.â€
>>
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa