Day 2 of the CD gathering started quite early as a few of us, e.g. MSR, WeiEr, Jace, Abby, Katie, Rachel and myself were already awake by 7am. We discussed if we should head out for breakfast. Some decided not to go out as their make-up timing was scheduled around 8:30am to 9am and it will be quite tight for them. The rest of us decided to head out for breakfast as we feel that we should have ample time. Jace volunteered to drive us out as she is also driving a 7-seater car. Based on Joyce’s recommendation, we drove to Melaka Raya area to get breakfast. However, when on the way to the breakfast, Joyce messaged us saying that one of the Make-Up Artist (MUA) Yaya will be there at the villa by 8:15am. When I checked the schedule, I realised that the 3 of us who was arranged to have the make-up done by Yaya were all on the car out for breakfast. Not wanting to affect the make-up schedule, we decided to buy back breakfast instead of having it outside and we arranged for Micky to have her make-up done first.
Make-up session
Since there were so many participants (13 of us) for this CD gathering, Joyce arranged to have a total of three Make-Up Artists (Yaya, Jeslyn and also Joyce herself) to do the make-up. Each MUA will have around four CD sisters under their care. That can speed things up as doing make-up for each of us can easily take up to 1.5 hour to 2 hours per person. Three make-up stations manned by the various MUA and were setup side-by-side. Once the make-up was done for anyone of the CD, the next CD who was scheduled was already on standby to minimize downtime for each station. The list of CDs and their Make-up artists are as listed.
Yaya
- Micky Micky
- Rachel Meng
- Jace Jace
- Francesca Koh
Jeslyn
- WeiEr
- Katie Shaya
- Abby
- Felicity
- Ashe
Joyce
I was arranged to have my make-up done up by Yaya. The make-up that she used for my face as base is quite light, much of the emphasis was placed on the eye part where she used eye shadow, eyeliner, two layers of fake eye lashes and also double eyelid tape. Throughout the make-up session, I was asking Yaya about why she does certain things so that I can try it next time when I CrossDress. After my make-up was done, I proceed on to my bedroom to get change.
Traditional Costume Theme
The theme for this year CD gathering is traditional costume. This theme came about because we felt that if every year the theme is confined to evening gowns, then there is no creativity or novelty. However, having said that, there is a limit to the amount of traditional costumes that Joyce has in her studio. That been said, we were informed of the theme way ahead so that we can plan what we wanted to wear as traditional costume or we can search inside our stash what we have that can considered as traditional costume.
For me, I decided to wear a black cheongsam as my traditional costume, I also brought along a set of SIA sarong kebaya as a backup in case. MSR initially wore cheongsam but seeing that quite a lot of us are wearing cheongsams, she decided to change hers into a set of Nyoya Kebaya instead. WeiEr worn a set of RuQuan (襦裙), which was a type of costume worn by women during the Tang dynasty and that really stands out. The rest of us decided to be more “conservative”, so most of us worn cheongsam as our traditional costume. There was option of wearing HanFu but too bad I did not managed to get it during the recent 11.11 sales…
Just realised that I did not managed to do a full body shot of my black cheongsam but seeing my selfie below, you can see what I was wearing.
Individual Photoshoot Session
By around late noon, at around 3pm or so, the make-up for all the participants were done. Really tough of the MUAs, a great job well accomplished. Once the make-up was done, all the CD sisters were busy taking selfies and wefies with one another, really quite a fun session.
After a short break, Joyce proceeded on with the individual photoshoot session for each of us in our traditional costume. I am really looking forward to share the individual photoshoot photo once it is done.
While the photoshoot was still in session, at around 6pm, dinner arrived. Joyce arranged for caterers to have a small buffet spread for us. Learning from the experience last year, she indicated to the caterer not to have big pieces of food e.g. large pieces of curry chicken, but more of bite-sized items or finger food so that it is easier for us to eat without spoiling our make-up… You can see the fabulous spread of food from the photos.
Bonding Game and “Pillow-Talk” Session
After my photoshoot session was done, I decided to do a change of clothes to a one piece dress suit. This one piece dress was quite similar to the one that I wore last year, just that it is white in colour instead and the jacket is ¾ sleeve instead of a full sleeve.
At around 6:30pm to 7pm, Joyce was done with all the individual photoshoot. She continued on with a quick shower and went on with a quick change into a Nyonya Kebaya to get ready for her last two parts of the activities for today, which is the bonding game and personal sharing session.
The bonding game was designed so that the CrossDressers who took part in the CD gathering can get to know each other by their names. Each of the CDs (with Joyce as the game master included) took part in this game. The game starts with the first person calling out their own name, then come with a certain action or gesture, then point to the next person. That person appointed will have to say the name of the previous person, repeat the action/gesture of that previous person had shown, say out her own name, comes up with her own action/gesture, then point to the next person. The third person appointed in line, will repeat the name and gesture of the 1st person followed by 2nd person, then say out her own name and comes up with her own action/gesture then she will point to the next person and so on and so forth. All the action or gesture must be unique and non-repeated. This will continue until the last person. Luckily, there is no forfeit or punishment for this game as it is more for us to bond. When someone forgets the name or action, the rest will try to help her to remember. It is quite a fun and exciting game as it is like a brain teaser and a test of memory.
After the game session, it is time for the “pillow-talk” segment where we began to share about our crossdressing journey, how we began crossdressing and so on. This sharing session is really soul-baring as we revealed our inner most secrets and feelings and also the intimate details about how we started crossdressing and so on. As the sharing goes, I realised that most of us started with either a lingerie, or clothing, or even make-up from our mothers, sisters, cousins or even aunties. The sharing session does touched the sensitive part of our inner emotion or hidden memories. I can sense and hear from the voice of some of those who were sharing that they were trying hard to control their emotion so that they would not break down during the sharing.
I do empathise with the hurt and pain, that feeling of guilt and shame that engulfed them as they shared about their sad experience and sorrowful encounters. That stigma that our society casted upon the CrossDresser community, the degradation with those piercing and judging eyes that despise us crossdressers, branding us like lesser human or someone with a mental disorder, the suffering and agony that we faced. That is why quite a lot of us chose to keep our CrossDressing likings, “hobbies” or secret from others. It is really a deep session as we all get to understand each other, our beginning and our struggles as we uncover and reveal our most private thoughts, feelings and memories.
After the sharing, it is was around 10:30pm or so. It is quite late already and Joyce has to take her leave to go back home. It is really a tiring day for her as she has to wake up early, go and get some light breakfast for us, then come to the villa and do make-up since 8:30am in the morning. She continued on with the photoshoot in the afternoon and then facilitated the game and sharing session at the end of the day. She really stretched herself, not just doubling up, but tripling up as the Make-Up Artist, the Photographer and also Facilitator, all by herself. It is really not easy and tough on her but she still push it through. Words cannot expressed how much all of us were appreciative of what she did and put in to make this gathering so successful.
End-of-Event
After Joyce left, some of the participants contemplated if they should head out for another drinking session. Jace has to leave early on Sunday morning as she got something on back home, so she decided to rest early. Felicity was not feeling too well because she had an eye infection, so she also decided to rest for the night. Only Micky decided to head out for the night. WeiEr decided to just chill and watch TV at Level 1 while the rest of us decided to go up to the entertainment room at Level 3 for a Karaoke and dice-playing session.
We opened up three bottles of red wine that Joyce bought for this gathering and we had a toss while enjoying each other’s’ company before the night ends. Some were enjoying a game of dice, Katie was busy doing her manga drawing while the rest of us just chill and relax, enjoying the music from the Karaoke system and chit chatting. It is really an enjoyable and memorable moment.
Before the night ended, I decided to do a last change up to the black sleep gown that I brought with me and took some selfies before calling it a night. With a heavy heart, I changed back to my male clothing and started packing as we will be checking out of the villa by 11am tomorrow morning and head back home to Singapore. After packing, I removed my make-up and clean my face before heading to bed. It has been a long day for all of us, I believe that all of us had enjoyed ourselves and this has been a memorable gathering like last year. Good times always passes by so quickly, before we know it, the event has come to an end… Cannot bear the fact that today has ended and tomorrow is where we bid farewell to each other… 😢
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