Tips on finding a suitable storage space (Part 3 - Commercial Unit)

Continuing from my previous post about searching for a commercial unit and arranging for a viewing. You may want to ask the agent or landlord the following questions when you head down to see the unit. 

1. Are utility bills included in the pricing? Some of the prices listed does not include utility fee, so it is important to ask. Usually, they will have a separate meter for each of the room unit and at the end of the month, just need to pay for what you use. Consider this, if you are away for most of the time and you may hardly use the unit, the electric bill should not be too expensive. If not, just look for one that include the utility bills inside the pricing.

2. Are there any other monthly costs involved? Good to check. Some of these units include internet and WiFi or even a refrigerator but they usually won’t add that inside price. However, it will be good to find out.

3. Is the price negotiable? If you are like me and don’t like to haggle over the price. I will try not to ask this question, but if you just want to try your luck, can go ahead, and ask for a price you are more comfortable with. Most of the time, the listed price is just a guide, it may end up slightly lowered than expected.  

4. Is GST included? Depends if the landlord company is a GST registered company or not. Some of the landlords do not collect GST and the price as listed is as it is. If not, you will need to add a 7%.

5. Any agent fee involved? Usually for tenant, we do not bore the agent cost. It is the landlord who will pay the agent instead. But better to find out also. 

6. What is the minimum lease period? The lease term is minimally 2 years, I will usually ask if after 2 years, can the unit still be renewed? However, this is quite hard to say…

7. Is the access 24/7? Usually, if you take up the room unit, you will be given card or pin access to the main door to allow you 24/7 accessibility. 

8. What are other things included in the unit? For commercial unit, they can either be fully fitted, partially fitted or bare. That is why it is important to view the unit physically. Most of the time, the flooring should be carpeted and for furniture, it really depends. Some of the landlords wanted to rent out the unit to those office workers who just need a small mobile office, hence they will have some office tables and chairs inside each of these room units. However, for CDs like us, we do not really need those. You can tell the landlord or agent if furniture is needed.   

9. Can you use the unit for light storage and business? Some commercial units are more suited for office work only and the landlord may not like to have their room units becoming a warehouse, but this is quite unusual. Normally, it is allowed, but good to ask.

10. Can you add additional locks or fittings inside the room? You may like to have additional locks to prevent unauthorized access, so it will be good to ask if you can add a digital lock or do simple fitting in the room. Good to trash out all these queries before committing to the rental.

11. Do you need a business entity for the rental? Usually, for commercial unit, unlike the Work+Store concept, the landlord and agent will prefer to rent to a business entity instead of individual. But this should not be a big problem. I will share how I did my application and share the cost also.

If you are comfortable with the unit and pricing, they will need a 2-months security deposit (which will be returned to you after the end of the lease term, and you wanted to move out) and you need to give your particulars to the agent who will prepare the Tenancy Agreement. At this time, you should have your business entity ready. Even if it is not done up yet, as long as you have given the deposit, you have already reserved that unit technically. 

Now, I will share how to apply for a business entity. 

1. Go to Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) 

2. Go to e-services and click “Login to Bizfile”

3. You will end up in a new page. Under the “For Business” tab, go to “Start a new Business” option and under there, you will see “Business (Sole proprietor / Partnership)". You will see a “Register Now” option. Click on that.

4. It will prompt you to log in, just log in using “For Individual Users” where you need your Singpass to log in.

5. For a start, you need the apply for a new business name, so you got to think of what do you want to name your company. For the “Application for a New Business Name”, you will need to pay $15.00 and the name will be reserved for 120 days. This process should be quite fast unless your business name has some implications. If not, you should get the approval almost instantaneously. 

6. After the approval of the New Business Name application, you need to apply for “Application to Register Person(s) and Business Name". For this part, it will cost you around $100 to $160 and this should last you for 3 years. For business renewal, I believe it should be around $30 per year. More details can be found here. 

7. After the previous step is done, you will need to wait for around 1 week or so for the approval. Once the approval is done, you will get a UEN (standard identification number of an entity).

Once all these are done, congratulation, you are now a business entity owner. You will need to pass that information to the agent who will do the paperwork for you. The agent will input these details into the Tenancy Agreement whereby stating that you are renting the commercial unit under your business entity. Even though it seems like a tedious and complicated process, it is quite simple actually.

Anyway, some may question, what is the draw of going through all these processes to get a business entity, just to rent a commercial unit? One thing is, the pricing of the floor space. Some of the floor space are going for $3.00 per square feet (as shown in the picture), some included the utility fees inside the rental cost. I am getting close to $3.50 to less than $4.00 per square feet for a floor space bigger than my previous unit. For the same price I was paying, I am getting a much bigger floor size. On top of that, I get full privacy and my own room where I can use the electricity without going through the trouble of needing an extension cord from the corridor…

Some may ask, what is the downside of commercial unit? Well, the two months deposit can be quite a hefty amount and the monthly rent is not a typical $100 to $200 per month. But like I mentioned, if you are sharing the unit, the cost will work out to be roughly the same. Another possible downside is, after the lease period, what is next? Will the landlord raise the price? Can you renew the lease? There are uncertainties regarding these questions. Other than that, I cannot think of any, maybe some other CDs can share their views on this.

Can’t believe I wrote so much for this post but I try to be as detailed as possible to help other CrossDressers who are still contemplating between getting a storage space or a commercial unit. Hope that these 2 most recent posts can help you to analyse better. Happy Storage Space Hunting!!! Cheers.

Tips on finding a suitable storage space (Part 2 - Work and Storage Unit)

Guess I am on fire these days as I have been blogging a lot more recently. Let's continue from my previous post about renting commercial units for CDs purposes since it is still fresh on my mind... For those CDs who wish to consider renting a commercial unit, you have come to the right place for information. I will try to be as objective as possible to give you some food for thoughts and consideration.

As mentioned previously, getting a commercial unit can sounds quite daunting initially. Some may ask, do you need a business entity, how much is the cost, do we need to pay for utilities, is there short-term leasing and so on. Let me help you with that as I have gone down that path before. As there are quite a lot to talk about on commercial units, I will focus more on work and storage unit here, then introduce how to search for a commercial unit before focusing on the rest later in my next post. 

For those who wish to have a hassle-free commercial unit without long term lease commitment or the need for a business entity. You can check out the Work+Store concept. Due to the rise of e-commerce, this option is very popular recently; people generally use Work+Store unit for storage of goods and dispatch arrangement or for small businesses such as walk-in store for wares or photography services or conducting of workshops and so on. The pricing for these Work+Store concept varies based on location and facilities provided. For those who are interested, you must check if the unit is solely for storage purposes or suitable for work and storage. If it is purely for storage only, the unit usually comes with lightings and nothing else. 

For those work and storage unit, they come as individual room unit with door lock system that either use keys or security codes to open up. Air condition can either be individual unit or a centralized system, depending on the setup. If you want power points for electricity, some providers only provide corridor power points to prevent abuse or overuse of electricity. Toilet is usually common use type serving the whole level of tenants. Do note that for work and storage unit, they are usually bare unit, meaning the floor is uncarpeted and without flooring boards. There will be no furniture or anything. I think this is good for CDs as they do not need any furniture anyway. To sign up for a work and storage unit, you need to have an idea of what business you want to use the unit for, although a business entity is not compulsory. In terms of pricing, some of these Work+Store units look expensive based on the link below.

http://workstore.com.sg/listings/WorkPlusStore.pdf

Using a 110 square feet unit for calculation, the pricing is $720 (less 25% off is around $540 per month). This cost includes the facilities fee, utilities fee and GST, so no additional fee needed except… you will need to purchase fire insurance depending on what things you want to store inside your unit. The cheapest insurance is around $10 + 7% GST, which works out to be $10.70 additional. There is 3 months free rental, but I will not take that into consideration for the calculation. So, the price per square feet is around $6.50 before discount and $4.90 after discount. Can see that the rate of $6.50 is pretty standard even with storage unit. What is the advantage of a Work+Store unit as compared to a Storage unit? Well, the main thing is, the work and storage unit is like a personal room where you can access easily and have privacy when needed, there is lighting and no need for artificial lights. So, it is more comfortable to dress up as compared to crossdress in a storage unit. The downside is the unit size can be an overkill if you just need like 25 to 50 square feet to really dress up and you do not wish to share the space with anyone else. The smallest unit that I ever get was 80 square feet and I was like paying $470 per month. I have to admit that it was another CD who gave me that idea and I never regret this decision of trying out a work and storage unit. Other additional cost includes 2 months’ rent as deposit (will be return to you if there is no damages to the property) and administrative fee of $53.50, all these are one time payment.

The pricing of the work and storage unit does not look super attractive as compared to the storage unit despite all the perks of having more privacy and comfort. This is where it can get interesting when you start looking for a commercial unit. You may want to check out commercialguru website to find something that is able to better suit your needs.

https://www.commercialguru.com.sg

I will guide you through the search. First, on top of the blank, there is BUY and RENT, this should be a no-brainer that we are looking for rental. After that, you can select the price range that you are comfortable with but be prepared that you are not looking at $100 to $200 price range. Depending on your comfort level, go for $500 to $750 if you okay with that pricing. The price is a bit steep but if you are considering sharing with other CDs, the price is quite reasonable. Next, the size that you want. I guess we must be more practical here. We cannot look for a 1,000 square feet unit when you are just looking for somewhere to store your CD stash and to crossdress. Anything below 500 square feet will be good, you can set your smallest size that to something that you want, maybe around 100 to 150 square feet. There are 4 options under the “Commercial” drop down menu. Usually, the best will be Industrial area, followed by Office. Please do not have the mindset that industrial area is all dirty and messy, or that they must be big. If you set the parameters correctly, you will find a lot of small units, ranging from 100 over square feet to 300 square feet that can be quite nice.

All thanks to WFH (Working From Home), a lot of these industrial or office units were left vacant. Thus, it is a good time to look around. After you have found the units that you are interested, do not be afraid to go for viewing. Just arrange for an appointment and go down and view the unit physically. Usually, for those units that are between 100 to 300 square feet, they are rooms that are partitioned from one big unit or floor area (usually around 800 to 850 square feet). There will be a common area or corridor connecting all the rooms, this is the usual set up for industrial or office units.

I will continue the rest of the procedure in my next post as it can get a bit too technical. Cheers.

Tips on finding a suitable storage space (Part 1 - Storage Unit)

I have been wanting to do this blog post since my very own episode of storage space hunting. Hopefully this post can help my fellow CrossDressers who are having troubling hiding their CD stash or clothing in their home, to find a nice place to hide their CD stuff and possibly dress up. As this topic can be quite technical and can be quite lengthy, I will split this into a three parts postings. 

Singapore is not a very big country; most of us do not have the luxury of owning our own penthouse, studio apartment or private property. Unless you are still single and above 35 years old, you can probably get your own singles unit of 2 room housing. If not, it is highly likely that you are staying with someone else in your house, they can either be your parents, your siblings, your spouse, your children or if you rent a unit, maybe roommates or landlords. The bottomline is, having your own living space or privacy is not an easy feat in Singapore. 

When staying with others, if you are sharing a room with siblings, not sure if you face the problems of someone rummaging through your stuffs and belongings. If you have the privacy of your own room, good for you. However, does your parents have access to your room and may want to help you tidy up your room once a while? For married couples, do you have place to keep stuff that you will not want your better half to find out? I guess these are the typical problems faced by a CrossDresser, having a private space to hide their female clothing and other CD stash such as make-up boxes, wigs, heels and etc... (of course unless you come clean with your spouse or family members about your CrossDressing habit and they accepted it, then it is totally no issue at all...)

Technically, the best option will be to get a storage space since it become quite popular in the recent few years all thanks to Working From Home (WFH)... Storage space is gaining traction in Singapore especially the recent years with many companies setting up within the last 10 to 15 years. We got StorHub, Extra Space Asia, Space Next Door, Lock+Store and many others. You can check out some of the storage space using the links below. 

https://www.bestinsingapore.co/best-storage-providers-singapore/

https://thesmartlocal.com/read/storage-spaces-singapore/

Space is scarce in Singapore and storage space is extremely good business. For CDs, it is definitely a godsend as it can definitely help to address the conundrum of having a proper and private space to store our CD items. In fact, some of the CDs I know use the storage space as a secret place for them to dress up. That is killing two birds with one stone, having a secret hideout to store all your CD stash and a small personal area to crossdress. In my initial stage, I was using this as an option. However, I did not really do my homework and I was just thinking of cost. So, I rented a 25 square feet storage space in a secluded area (good thing that I drive) for around $100+ per month but the storage place is not air conditioned and the lighting works using motion sensing. It is definitely good to store my CD stuffs but not really conducive to crossdress… 

For those CDs who are considering this as an option. You will need to take the following into consideration.

(1) Location of the Storage Space – Is it easily accessible? If you drive, then it is less of an issue but remember this, the more time you take to travel to your storage space, the less time you have to dress up. And also, if it is more out of the place, that means you can have greater privacy to dress up without the fear of other people accessing their storage space unnecessarily…

(2) Size of the Storage Space – How much space do you need? I have to forewarn you. This can get really addictive, at least for me… Space is never enough. If you just want to store clothing and other CD stuff and crossdress when you book a hotel, then a locker size will do just fine. If you want to storage space to be like a mini walk-in wardrobe style. I think you will need at least 25 square feet and above. 

(3) Facilities and amenities – Is it air conditioned? Air condition is a MUST. Trust me on this one. How is the door like? Is it shutter down type or normal door type? For me, the door type is better as you can somehow “lock” yourself inside and crossdress without the fear of busybody checking out your storage unit. Generally, you have to provide your own locks. Do you need power point for electrical power? Most storage units do not come with their own power socket. Some CDs may want a basin or toilet nearby for washing and cleaning up of make-up or even showering, but this can be quite tricky for storage unit. However, the easiest way is to use wet tissue, make-up removal and some cotton pads then go to the nearest toilet to do a final wash up. However, shower units not commonly found in these places.

(4) Costing per month – How much are you willing to put in per month to maintain this space? I will not advise you on this, to each his own. For me, for the price I paid, I feel is not worth. You can see from 2 different perspectives. (A) Overall amount you paid per month VS (B) Price per Square Feet or Square Metre. I have gotten an extract from a quote that I inquire from a popular Storage Space provider who got air conditioned units to rent out. If you look at the promotional or discounted price, the storage space unit is actually still quite expensive. Let’s do some math here. For an 81 square feet unit (7.5 square metre) with air condition, we are paying like $526.44 per month. That works out to be around $6.50 per square feet. If you want cheaper and choose a non-aircon unit, I got one that is around 29 square feet (2.7 square metre) that goes for $189 per month (not including service fee of 10%), that works out to be still around $6.50 per square feet. Of course the pricing will varies with the location, for those more "ulu" storage space, like the one I used previously, it will cost around $228.74 (not including service fee of 10%) for a 39 square feet unit, that works out to be around $5.80 per square feet...

However, for these storage units, they usually bundle with more discount (such as giving a few months free rental) or give better promotional price if you sign up longer lease term with them. So, if you factor those in, you may end up paying slightly lower price overall. However, I feel that the cost per square feet will still be steep regardless… 

Most CDs do not need a large space to store their clothing and CD wares and if they want to crossdress, they can just find a few other sisters and book a hotel for a dressup staycation or crossdress in the storage unit if it is big enough. Hence, they will go for the smaller units that suit their needs and this is why storage space units are more popular with crossdressers here. 

There are other crossdressers who choose to rent a commercial unit and share with other crossdressers to even out the cost, thus they do not need to fork out so much each person for the monthly rentals. I guess when it comes to commercial units, a lot of us may have a lot of queries and worries. I was in that predicament too last month, but having gone through the trouble and landing myself a good unit. I have to say, it is not that difficult or scary after all… I will share how to source for a unit, what is needed and also the costing. Stay tune for Part 2. 

Harassment and Unwanted Attention

Recently, I have decided to take 2 weeks off from my CD social media and soft delete (closed) my blog to cool off and lay low as I was getting harassed and unwanted attention on these channels. Actually, I wanted to take some time off my alternate life as the recent episode of moving my lair really set me thinking... Is it a sign from heaven to stop me from CrossDressing and to focus more on my normal life? Anyway...

Despite that I am sharing my personal stuff on my blog, I am still quite a private person in general. I shared my experience and my CD journey "publicly" as I hope that my blog can some day be a resource for fellow CrossDressers. By sharing my stories and thoughts, I hope I can relate to other CrossDressers and some of their encounters or predicaments that they may be facing while on their CD journeys. I hope to reach out to them, letting them know that they are not alone and what they are experiencing, someone else had gone down that path before.

Back to my recent unfortunate events... Ever since I started posting photos of my make-up facial shots on social media, I became more cautious of what I post online and who I approve as friends or followers. My rules are quite simple, I only add or approve requests from fellow CDs. I written it as a rule on both my social media accounts but yet I am still getting requests from men who are friends of friends with some of those CDs that I have approved or added. 

As a rule of thumb, anyone with a profile picture of a man, or with user name that sounds like a man. I will not approve the request. For those with profile picture without head but dressed in female clothing, or even if the profile picture is a woman or potentially a CrossDresser, I will still have my reservation due to the rampant use of FaceApp or photoshop to edit their photos. In this internet and social media age, it is hard to trust people online. Only for those that I feel potentially safe, then I will approve the request. And for those who cannot understand my basic rules that I only accept requests from CrossDressers, I will just block them. In fact, I blocked quite a lot of those who tried to add me as friends because I do not feel comfortable sharing my photos with them. Who knows what they wanted my photos for and I feel that it is intrusion of my privacy. One of the thing is that I do not want people to leech my photos and pass it as themselves.

Even though I shared my CrossDressing photos in social media, it is more for other CrossDressers to see and admire. I do not get a lot of likes but that is perfectly okay as I just wanted to share it with some of my CDs friends whom I never met. However, there were times when the friends of my CD friends, mainly guys, who will see my photos and then try adding me as a friend or try to send me a message. I am okay if other CDs comment or like my photos but I never feel comfortable having guys liking or commenting on my photos on social media. Some guys can claimed that they do crossdress but never have any photos. That does not hold as people can claim whatever they want on internet and there is no consequences or repercussions. However, for CDs like us, showing our faces, even though covered with make-up, can still run the risk of been outed. That is why I have to be extremely careful when it comes to online stuffs. 

I believe other CDs also have their own fair share of harassments or unwanted attention, maybe others got more interesting encounters to share. I will just to share some of the messages that I received over the years on my Facebook. 

Case 1: Gloves Lover

There was this guy who is a gloves admirer but I just block him, and he messaged me privately that he will block me in turn. Well, not sure which part of "Accepting on CDs" does he not understand? Good riddance, that is very much what I wanted, guys off from my profile. Thank you very much. 

Case 2: The one who cannot keep his private private...

This was the most recent episode and the one that really pisses me off. This guy was on my friend list somehow. I guess I got deceived by the profile picture but I just keep him there as he "seems" quite harmless initially. There were frequent "Hi"s but I just cannot be bothered to make small talks with people who I do not feel connected. Just a fortnight ago, he sent me picture and a video of a private part, not sure if it is his anyway. 

To be honest, I feel quite indifferent to it as what he has, I also have. But what irks me is this type of disrespectful behaviour. People do not run around showing others lewd pictures or videos, let alone someone who is a total stranger to you. Imagine in real life, having to show your private this to a lady when they are both not even close, he deserved one BIG FUCKING TIGHT SLAP in face. 

Anyway, it was this incident that set me on a social media and blogging shut down frenzy. Not that I am afraid or offended but I just feel so tired of having to block, ban, ignore all these attention seeking pricks and wanted to "disappear" for a while.

I have already set my privacy on my social media accounts to private but still I am getting requests like once a while. I was also contemplating on moving my blog to a more private and secure platform and only friends whom I shared my password are allowed to view and read. I guess for worst case scenario, I might just delete my social media and this blog for good... Just wondering how is Isabelle and Gin or other CDs managing this... Or maybe I should be more specific like this CD, who was previously on my Facebook friend list...

Oh well, does feel good to rant it out. Hopefully this can help me to continue blogging, sharing and CDing. Cheers.

My CD Journey (Part 12) - Of Sweat, Blood and Petrol [Moving my Fortress of Serenity]

I was working on another blog topic when this thing happened, so I decided to blog about it first. Weird title to start off and I was still contemplating if this episode warranted as part of my CD journey. But seeing how this event can be quite relatable to all those closet Crossdressers like me who are renting a place to stash their CD stuff, I decided to share this journey with them... So here goes...

One fine day, just out of the blues, I got a call from my Work and Storage space agent asking me to relocate to a new premises that is nearby my current storage location. I had been considering of moving over to this new place as it is a  newly renovated building. Me been me, I am always looking for a bigger and nicer space to setup my ideal Fortress of Serenity to CD. 

However, after setting up an appointment and viewing the new place, I was much disheartened with what this new place has to offer. The aircon system is a centralised, which is different from my current storage space that utilizes individual aircon unit in each of the room. There is also no power socket in each of the room, this is to prevent people from abusing and overusing the power utility. There is only power point along the corridor and in order to use electricity in the room, one must use a power extension cord, lead from the corridor and into the room. In this way, the room door cannot be closed properly. The lightings in each of the unit is not as bright as my current storage space, so there is very little motivation to move to this new premises. 

I told the agent that I will not consider the new place and wanted to stick to my old one. This is where he broke to me the bad news... the building owner is going to take back the whole building, so like it or not, I have to move my lair out of the building before end of the year...

This news came as a shock to me as I just upgraded my lair in April and coming to half a year later, I have to move again... I was really devastated as I spend so much time, effort and energy doing up my current lair. Even though I was constantly thinking of upgrading, but never did I expect it to be so soon and the worst part is, since the building owner wants back the building, that will technically mean that I have to move to other locations. Imagine the trouble of moving all my stuff and stores...

To some who might not understand the whole situation, if you remembered from my previous post about my secret lair, I practically "split" my storage space into 2 section. One section is for my CrossDressing activity, the other section is my front façade where I put my personal stores such as books and other items to give others the impression that I am renting this unit for business storage. For my CD stuff, I got one "detachable wardrobe", one big Toyogo box, one "detachable shoe rack", one 5 tier plastic drawer and a couple of medium size boxes. To some, that is a lot but I have to admit, that was the least of my worries. It is my "business" front stuff that is my headache because I am quite a hoarder unfortunately and I store quite a lot of things that I cleared from my house in order to free up some living spaces... This is the part of the store that got me really perturbed as I got 4 tall shelves filled with items to the top... You can see where I am going with this... 

In the past, when I upgraded my lair, it is all located within the same building and on the same floor, so it is quite easy for me to move as long as I can get a trolley to load up all my things including my open shelves. But now, I was totally thrown into disarray as the only option I have is to move out to a new premise and moving is not going to be easy...  

After receiving the ill news from my agent, I was distraught and upset as I see my current lair setup close to my ideal place for my crossdressing. Nonetheless, there is not much I can do except to look for a new place to set up my new lair. I contacted my agent to view the other properties under the same company but the conditions of the other premises are quite rundown and the cost per square foot is not cheap. In fact, I am paying like $4.5 per square foot with my current storage space and it is not like this is in a prime area...

I was thinking, since I am going to move, then might as well do some proper planning and scouting for a cheaper yet bigger space. In my mind, I got a few options...

Option 1: Find those aircon storage hub and rent maybe 2 units (one for my personal store, the other for my CD store). Thoughts: Not really as cheap as I thought and the environment is not conducive to CD, so might take a few months or maybe years off CD.

Option 2: Take up the offer from my agent to move to the new premise. Thoughts: Might not CD as much but still can consider as a proper space to CD. However, I feel that the area is smaller even though the agent offered me a unit that is quite similar to my current storage size... 

Option 3: Look for a new office or work space and convert it into my lair. Thoughts: Privacy issue and more troublesome as I need to set up business entity for rental and so on. The floor area and setup might not be ideal...

So, you can see my dilemmas here... For 2 weeks, I did intensive searches, messaging other properties agents and arranging for viewings... This has not been an easy process but it is quite an experience for me. Thus I will share my experience and blog about how to look for rental properties in another blog post to help other CrossDressers who may be facing the same predicament as me...

After a few viewings, I found a unit that I feel suits my needs in terms of the floor space and layout. The location is still reasonable and the pricing per square foot is cheaper than what I am paying for now. Without much hesitation, I accepted the offer from the agent, signed the Tenancy Agreement and gotten the keys for my new unit...

For almost a week, I was disassembling and packing all my belongings in my old stores, making frequent trips to and fro my new space. I did not really have the time to unpack my stuff as I was just dumping them inside my new unit and rushing to pick up my boxes and items from my old location...  After multiple trips and an exhausted body, and all the sweats, blood (through accidental cuts) and petrol that I used to ferry all my wares to my new lair... I finally completed my move and it has not been easy... Just to share a quick overview of my wardrobe and clothing in its new environment. 

My new lair is still a work-in-progress as I am still trying to lay out the vinyl floorings over the carpeted floor and I really need to do some housecleaning to clear up some of my stores and stuffs. Looking forward to complete my setup and sorting out my stuffs so that I can start CDing again. At the end of the day, this is all worth it as I really love my new premise and I am making plans for it to become a sanctuary for me to CD and possibly do photoshoot. Hope to share more pictures of my completed lair soon... Cheers.

Mistake when buying my breast forms...

Isn't a standard size made the same regardless of user?, I thought to myself. Shouldn't all D cups made the same... That was my naïve thinking without understanding the concept of proportionality of the female breasts in regards to her size...

My topic for today is about the blunder I made when I got my 2nd breast form. As from my previous post, "My CD Journey (Part 9) - Breast Form and Fake Vagina [Key to Voluptuous Figure]", which talks about my journey towards the exploration of breast form for a more feminine figure. I venture in further and got myself another breast form but I do not think it warrant a new chapter of my CD journey as it nothing significant actually. Back to the topic on hand...

Just a little more details to recap about the first breast form I gotten, I got it around June 2020 during the TaoBao anniversary sale and have been using it since. However... as it was my first proper and branded breast form, and without any prior knowledge, I chose one based on the size I deem fit for most of my costumes and clothing. My CD friend, Cecilia, recommended me a D size cup as she felt that it will be more proportional for me and my big build. So I gotten the Eyung Gen 7 breast form, size S, D cup. The specifications of the breast form are as below. 

Not knowing that the S means small and L means large, I ordered the S size based on the shoulder width dimension, which is typically around my shoulder length of 42cm. The S size for the breast form is around 44cm and L is 49cm. So not wanting something that is oversized, I go with my instinct of choosing a S size. I really love this first breast form of mine as it looks really nature and really made me feel like a lady. However, after a few uses, maybe because of my rough handling when removing (I remove it like how a guy will take off t-shirt) or because I ordered the size that is too small. There were signs of tearing around the sleeves areas. It started on my left sleeve but I managed to avoid the tear from propagating by trimming it. But still, another tear occurred on my right side and it is hard to stop the tear from growing. I tried sewing and gluing but none worked. You can see my repair works below. Even though it looks like I managed to arrest the split but it just grew each time I wear the breast form.

Left with no choice and with persuasion from Cecilia, I went on to buy my 2nd breast form, the Eyung Gen-8. However, this time round, before the order got through. The customer service from Eyung (TaoBao) messaged me to ask about my height and weight. He (or she) advised me to get a XL size, D cup. Not really thinking much and checking the specs because I had the impression that all D-cups should be made the same, I took his/her advice and gotten the recommended size. That is where the problem lies...

After I gotten the new breast form, I was thrilled. I tried them on and was more careful when removing it so as not to damage it like my previous breast form. Much to my satisfaction, I was able to slip in and out quite easily. However, I did observed that it is heavier and because it is an XL size, the neck cuff is a bit loose and it looks quite awkward... I did not pay much attention because I am still having the idea that the XL size, D cup should be the same as my previous S size, D cup... I tried on some of my costumes and find that they were a bit tight but I did not think much about it...

It was only recently when I tried on one of my cheongsam that I realised that I can no longer zip up to the top. I panicked and I tried on the wedding gown that I gotten previously, I also cannot zip to the top... Initially, I thought that I had put on so much weight these days because of Working From Home that I cannot fit inside these costumes. I blamed myself and started to do intermittent fasting to bring my weight down (fact is, I did put on some weight but less than 5kg).

I was complaining to my CD friend, Cecilia when she told me to try out my previous breast form with my these "ill-fitting" clothing. It was after I took her advice that I made a dawning discovery, I could still fit inside that cheongsam and gown. It was then I realised that the problem was with my breast form. After examining the Gen-8 breast form specifications in detail, I noticed that my new breast form was about 15cm bigger than my previous version... That really explains a lot...

It has been quite a blunder that I made and I learned from it. Seeing that the 11.11 sales is coming, I am still contemplating about getting another new breast form that is more fitting... In the meantime, continue with my weight loss programme to get to a more beautiful figure. 

Lynda Carter and Wonder Woman

Apologies for the hiatus as it has been an extremely busy period for me. Work has been mounting and this ever changing pandemic has been making it much worse. Can't tell you much of my job but just like to apologize to those visitors who came by my blog to have a look only to find it inactive for close to half a year already. Another reason for not updating is my lack of topic, my mind was quite blank to decide what to write as not much been happening on my CrossDressing front as I have moved to a larger storage space in April. I guess getting space upgrade is so addictive as I get to plan and decorate the place to make it more personal and conducive for CD. I was planning for my next topic about my favourite CD outfit such as leotard and so on, then a thought strike me to write about today's topic, Lynda Carter. Well, why did I decide to write about Lynda Carter and how is it related to CrossDressing? I will explain later about my sudden interest in her.

For those who may not know, Lynda Carter was the actress who played Wonder Woman in the TV series back in 1976 to 1979. In 1972, she won a local Arizona beauty contest and gained national attention in the United States by winning Miss World USA 1972, representing Arizona. In the international Miss World 1972 pageant, representing the United States she reached the Top 15. Not only is she beautiful but she is also quite talented. 

Back to my sudden interest in Lynda Carter. Well, one day, when I was looking through some YouTube videos, I happened to come across some video clips of Lynda Carter Wonder Woman series. I was quite memorized by her and her outfit. The corset type body hugging leotard just accentuate her assets and beauty. For me, that costume really caught my eye as I love to crossdress or get female clothing that are rather uncommon or unconventional, not those type that you wear out but I prefer those more interesting ones, e.g. cheongsam, uniforms and leotards. These are not what other crossdressers will wear out in the open on a normal day. Apologies to all Gal Gadot Wonder Woman fans but I feel that Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman is more appealing. That costume is a display of sensual and beautiful but at the same time, power and strength. 

There is something about Lynda Carter that really attracted me, she is like the embodiment of a true lady, her conduct and the way she dresses. Going through some of her photos, you will see that she would wear a pair of glossy nude pantyhose underneath her Wonder Woman costume and she paired her other dressings with pantyhose also. Truly a refined lady. 

All these really got me interested in Lynda Carter, so I decided to get a set of the Wonder Woman costume for myself. However, due to the popularity of Gal Gadot Wonder Woman, it is quite hard to find the older version of the costume. I managed to find a couple from Etsy but they are custom made from US and quite expensive, but thank goodness for TaoBao, I was able to get something quite similar. To complete the costume, I tried getting the red boots from other sources as the one from TaoBao is more like Zentai or skin-tight garment material. 

I managed to get one from Ezcosplay but they are not as good as the ones I saw on Amazon. However, the problem is... Amazon does not have my feet size... The woes of been a large size CrossDresser. After getting my costume, I decided to do a cosplay and got some shots. The issue I had was the tiara. The tiara that came with the set is made of fabric with elastic band and I feel that it is too big. I also got a Wonder Woman wig and I find myself a bit hard to pull off the looks. In the end, I change to my straight long wig that I always used instead. However, I am not really happy with the result. All is not lost, I managed get some advices from my other CD friend and she recommended me some metal tiara and bangles to complete the looks. I ordered them on Amazon and they arranged safely at my lair. Just need some time to dress up again. Not sure when will be the next time. Oh well, just stay tuned. Cheers.