What's the difference between outing yourself, intentionally, and being outed accidentally?

I mentioned, in passing, in a comment on someone's story that I came out to someone new - in person - on national comming out day (Who decided that Columbus Day - observed - was National Coming Out day anyway?). I got requests from someone as to how it all went. Since I'm here, you can guess it didn't go poorly.

To be honest, the individual in question I'd only met twice before (During the Prop 8 campaign, out in California), though we'd become a little better acquainted via Facebook... In any event, her FB status said she was coming to NYC, and I commented that I was regularly in NYC. Imagine my surprise when she suggested we do lunch. She's a nice lady... So, I figured, why not? Over lunch, there came a point in time where it was convenient to "out" myself, and I did. Things got silly then - a little. (She was fine with it.) Somehow, things got around to the fact I've been on HRT for two years - and have developed. Turns out we're both "B" cup. (Told you it was a bit of a strange conversation). In any event, she's off to SE Asia for at least a year, but we'll keep in touch via FB and I've had yet another good "outing" experience.

Later the week, I also outed myself to another person I've gotten to know over the past six months or so on FB. (Some fairly long philosophical discussions - She's budist, I'm not...) In any event, after one comment, where she suggested I was a "perfect gentleman" I couldn't continue to pretend and leave her believing that. So - we had a conversation about it - again total acceptance!!!

One of these days, I'm going to out myself to the wrong person, I'm sure. *sighs* But, so far, it's been encouraging.

Now, if anyone has gotten this far, they may be wondering about the teaser comment about being "outed". Last Sunday, I was technically "outed" by my younger daughter, when she called me "Momma Anne" in front of her two friends... But, either they see their friends call their dads 'momma' all the time or they didn't actually pay attention and hear it, because it was a total non- event. (Now, my wife did hear her say it too - and was also worried that our daughter might not have realized it... (We decided to not mention it to her. We don't want to discourage her from calling me Momma or make her self conscious!) (The sleep-over party, 7 13/14 year old girls, was a great success from my daughter's point of view. And, get this, they actually had at least 6 hours of sleep! Crazy, no?) But, that's the accidental outing. My wife's accidentally outed me in the past (using feminine pronouns when I'm pretending to be a guy, for example)... And, has called me by my guy name (a lot of years of habbit to break) when dressed and out (though, she didn't while we were in Disney World!)...

Otherwise, life is fairly booooring here, as I continue my weekly zapping (Electrolysis) and continue to work as a guy and spend most time - outside the house as a guy. Frustrating? Yes. Intellectually, I know that it'll be easier to pass, if (no, I'll say WHEN!) I finish zapping the hairs on my face, lose much of the extra weight and get more practice with my voice. I still find - in familiar places - that I forget to keep my pitch a bit higher and find myself falling into male resonance... When in DisneyWorld, I had no trouble keeping my voice more feminine. I understand this is not an uncommon issue. *sighs* Practice, practice, practice. (That's what they say you need to get to Carnegie Hall. I know an easier way, take the subway! But that's to be an attendee, not a performer.)

If you got this far, thank you and I hope you found it worth your read.

Anne