To my American friends, happy Thanksgiving, 2009, a day early. To friends around rest of the world, happy November 26, a day early. Holiday or not, I hope everyone enjoys the company of friends, family and good food.

This is vlog entry #3 – a (mostly) Thanksgiving themed video that is bit experimental in presentation. In a departure from grainy phone video, this one was recorded on a standard resolution video camera and features a few basic but fun visual effects.

In vlog episode 3, I discuss:

• My low-key Thanksgiving Day plans
• A Thanksgiving meal that does not include the traditional turkey
• An inquiry into who plans on coming out to friends/family this holiday season
• Meeting up with an old school friend who I came out to at my class reunion a few months ago
• My love of horror and slasher films
• Long-term plans to (hopefully) incorporate my feminine side with my creative interests in film/video and the horror/slasher movie genre

Thanksgiving
I was initially just going to do a Thanksgiving Day post without a vlog attached to it, but decided on a Thanksgiving themed video blog instead. As stated in the video, it’s just Mrs. H. and I this year – no extended family gathering. Honestly, it feels so good to just enjoy a nice, quiet holiday together sometimes. There will be plenty of family gatherings to attend this year. They’re fun, but can also be a stressful, too. I’m sure many of you can identify. Every few years, my wife and I like to spend Thanksgiving by ourselves and just relax. Do you and yours ever do the same on Thanksgiving or any other holiday typically associated with extended family gatherings? Tell me about it.

Coming out
Crossdressing being a social taboo, it is something many (most?) choose to keep very private about. I was that way until just last year when I came out to my wife. Do any of you plan on coming out to your wife, girlfriend, friends, or families this holiday season? If so, why did you choose the holiday? I’d like to hear what your plans are in that regard and how they turned out.

Christmas tree & decoration weekend
Putting up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving is pretty typical for many. I forgot to mention it in my video, but the fabulous Mrs. H. and I will be setting up our Christmas tree and putting out the seasonal decorations. Mrs. H. will be handling most of the decorating herself after I reassemble our artificial tree. She’s very good at it and really enjoys the process. It doesn’t do much for me – the actual activity decorating, that is. I like decorating myself (as in en femme, of course), but I don’t exactly have a flair for seasonal decorating or much interest in taking care of it, personally. Thankfully, there’s no need to because my wife does a fantastic job.

Who takes care of the decorations in your house? Is it a pretty mutual activity, or does one do more than the other? Do you use an artificial tree or prefer a nature-made real pine?

Horror movies
What a strange, mismatched topic to include in a Thanksgiving themed video blog. Then again, the topics covered in my previous vlogs were also varied to some extent. The point in my video blog series is sharing ideas, information, and just plan chatting about whatever. I do enjoy horror/slasher films and felt like chatting about it. In some ways, I’m sure that breaks a few stereotypes of “what crossdressers are in to”, and I really like that. People need to rid themselves off the stereotypes. Anyone who thinks they’ve got me all summed up because I crossdress is an idiot. I am many things – we ALL are. I am not defined by just my gender expression, but rather the sum of who I am, and that encompasses a plethora of things.

Lights, camera, action… WHOA!
What did you think of the presentation of this particular video blog? I had a lot of fun ideas, but time constraints greatly limited me to what I could include in it (in terms of visuals, sight gags, and additional supporting imagery).

On the technical end, I was very unhappy with the harsh lighting (for vanity reasons). It wasn’t until after reviewing the footage that I realized how terrible and unflattering the hard shadows made my face look. With some reluctance, I completed and published the video in spite of my unusually rugged appearance. The photo to the right (taken shortly after shooting the video) shows my face in softer, better light (click to enlarge). In the future, I’ll probably go with my phone camera again. Thought it lacks picture quality, it’s simple, effective, easy to work with, and requires a lot less preparation, set-up and time consuming postproduction work.

Some feedback on the technical end would be appreciated, if you have any to offer. What worked in this video and what didn’t? Were the visuals fun, or just distracting?

Sorry about the annoying hum noise
My apologies for that annoying damn hum sound in the audio. I was completely unaware of that while working on the video because it was not present in the (cheap) headphones I used during editing. Only after uploading the video to YouTube and listening to it on another computer did I realize there is a rather annoying low-spectrum hum present on the vocal track. Unfortunately, my time is up and the video is posted. YouTube doesn’t allow video replacement – I’d need to delete the video and re-upload it as new, which I really don’t want to have to do. The hum is rather irritating though, so I may just fix it, delete the old hum-video, and re-upload it anyway. Let me know if you heard the hum or not. Maybe I’ll get lucky and everyone will be listening with cheap headphones and not notice. lol
UPDATE: Hum noise fixed!

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. Eat well, but don’t over-do it. Enjoy the company of friends and family, and remember to be thankful for all that you have. :)

Just a reminder
I have no control over the suggested videos offered after mine finishes. I do NOT endorse any of them.

Related content: My YouTube Channel

Update, November 26, 11:15 AM (EST)
Our Thanksgiving chicken just went in the oven. I decided to take a photo just before it went in. This thing already smells amazing! Mrs. H. prepared it yesterday. In an hour or so, the whole house will be filled with the mouth watering aroma of Mrs. H.’s chicken dinner. Oh, the terrible wait for what will be an awesomely delicious meal!

I’ll post a “finished cooking” photo later in the day… that is if I can tear myself away from the fixation I’ll have on getting this baby into my mouth! lol

I hope everyone else’s Thanksgiving (or just plain Thursday if you’re not in the U.S.) is going well so far. :)

Update, November 26, 3:29 PM (EST)
My wife and I just enjoyed our masterfully prepared Thanksgiving meal. Yes, we eat dinner early. Along with the chicken, there was Pureto Rican style rice and beans and pateles (don’t know if I spelled that right). Hours were spent in anticipation of delicious food and it took mere minutes to become completely stuffed. Here’s how the bird looked just before cutting it up:

I feel bad for those who are subjected to dry, flavorless turkey prepared by someone who doesn’t know how to do better. That used to be me years ago. My wife’s Thanksgiving turkeys always turn out juicy and delicious, and the meat falls right off the bones. Her Thanksgiving chicken is no different – filled with flavor, and no knife needed as the meat just falls apart because it is so juicy. I hope everyone reading this ended up with turkey (or chicken, like us) that was on the juicy side rather than dry.

I’m very stuffed right now, and after a brief rest, I’ll need to put in some extra miles on the treadmill. The extra miles are well worth it through. That was one outstanding, amazing, delicious, and a zillion other descriptive words for mouth-watering bliss, meal!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! From Mrs. H. and I. :)

Update, December 18, 2009
I took the video offline. I was never really happy with how it turned out in the first place. The visuals were kind of fun to play with, but the video on the whole was somewhat of an eyesore to me.