My Driver’s License arrived! It’s got my name on it and an M instead of an F so I am pretty happy with it, plus I look decent, which is way better than my sad old driver’s license photo. I went to the bank today with that and my name change form and changed my name. And then I came home and opened my bank account website and updated it on all the places there (it still has a ms in there for some reason tho!) and I ordered new cheques too. I should get them this week. I really gotta shred my old cheques. I literally only ever use it for rent. But anyway, cheques in my real name will be nice. I also tested my interac e-transfer and because I changed my email address in the bank website, it updated my name in Interac. So people won’t see my deadname when sending me money or receiving money from me.

I lost my business debit card which is a concern, I think I put it in a pocket somewhere but I don’t know where. The pin wasn’t working anyway so I think it’s a dead card, but the account is still active so I gotta resolve that. I also gotta call Visa and change my name there too but I’m having issues finding which number to call.

Paypal was easy to change, they just wanted an upload of my driver’s license front and back. They changed it almost immediately also, which was nice. No more being deadnamed in my paypal! And my paypal me was just Tcuthand anyway so it’s the same.

I have to change my name on my Aeroplan too, so I uploaded my documents and hopefully in a few days I will get my name updated. Then I can buy plane tickets again! Sort of. I think I will still need my new passport to buy international tickets.

I was going to call Indian Affairs to make an appointment for my new card, but by then the office had closed for the day, so I’ll have to try tomorrow. I don’t think I need a birth certificate, I think they just need my ID. I will ask though. But they will have my old Status card to reference.

My birth certificate is still in the queue to be processed, right now they are still doing the beginning of January birth certificates and my forms arrived at the beginning of February. So at least a month still to wait for them to show up I guess, unless they suddenly speed through them. But I’m looking forward to it arriving because then I can go to the passport office and get my application in. It will probably be a long wait at the office but I’ve heard it’s better to go in instead of doing it by mail.

But now I have photo ID in my real name so basically it opens up a whole bunch of things I can change my name in. PLUS gender because there’s an M on there.

It’s kind of intense how quickly I have been doing my transition, both medically and legally. But I just feel some stress and dread seeing what is going on politically about right wing politicians leveraging transphobia for votes right now, so it seems like I should get as much done as I can right now. Also I do like traveling and having an accurate passport is important for me, especially when I am going through borders. ALSO though it just took a really long time for me to decide what I wanted to do with my gender so it feels like I don’t have to hesitate so much anymore.

There was an Indigenous non-binary person named Nex Benedict who was murdered in their school washroom by some cis girls in Oklahoma recently. It’s awful to think that 2 Spirit people are still getting murdered on our own lands. There’s so much hateful rhetoric in the world right now, and it’s fueled by Christian fundamentalism which isn’t even the religion most people practice in North America. But they would LIKE IT to be the one we all follow. Fuck that. Indigenous spirituality had a place for us and that’s the practice I still follow mostly. I hope Nex is with their ancestors being loved the way they were meant to be.