Mio's manly misadventures

The haircut in March

I have cut my hair short a fair amount of times in my life, for the majority I have cut pixie cuts. During my time where I was in the most denial about feeling like a boy though, I grew my hair out long and klad it in so many big ribbons.

There have always however been a haircut I have wanted to try at least once, but I was too scared going to a hairdresser and showing her a boy-picture of what I wanted to look like after my one attempt when I was 14.

Due to circumstances, I couldn't cut my hair at my usual hairdresser, a story I will tell later. So I went to a new lady. Picture in hand and my courage shaking in hand. I had almost saved my hair out to a near perfect length for this particular cut; which had taken me a year. Maybe another half year of it growing out from this cut, I would have the ideal length to cut the hairstyle.

Moving onto the actual haircutting...

When she finished cutting, my hair went from Deku fluffy cute cloud waves to it belonging onto a 2010's meme site.

I cried when I got home.

I warned my two irl meetup friends that I refuse to allow them to see me with my haircut until it has grown out for at least 4 months, it was too darn embarrassing and shameful. I stopped covering my head with my hoodie two weeks ago when the summer heat was hitting too hard.

One year of length until I stop looking horrid. My hair is also going to take two years to grow out to the desired length of my dreamcut, to which I have decided that I will save up and travel to the big city to get it done right.

And if you think that story isn't so bad... That is ⅛ of what happened. The rest will come with drawings to explain the nightmare I went through that day with the hairdresser.

My very first binder

As much as I wanted the story of my first binder to be exciting and thrilling; I have to buy a new one with a different model. To put it short: I bought the very wrong model for someone with J-cups.

This too, will have a drawn example, so future me knows what I did wrong.

I am now saving up to buy another one, double as expensive. My eyesight has gotten worse, but I kind of need the binder more, my eyes waited a year so they can wait another three months.

You thought you were slick when coming out

You were not. Apparently two of your TTRPG players had missed the news and message you put on your general discord chat back in December.

One was left shocked when you mentioned something about it, as they had missed it.

The other was confused until they asked what everyone was talking about, and then apologized profusely.

Mio, you probably should've done a better job.

That friend you had for several years and spent a lot of time with, was writing things behind your back. They were being transphobic, which confused you greatly as they had been the most supportive friend of yours to your face.

Two others were extremely upset, especially your brother who was ready to end that friendship out of the anger he felt for you. However, since that friend still loved you and you them, you wanted to fix this whole mess. Despite the things you read that he had written, you didn't want to give up on them right away without working on it.

So you told them that they could ask any questions they wanted and you would answer them. You even answered some questions beforehand that you thought they wanted to know or have explained.

The day was extremely rough, and you were fighting your fear and anxiety. You had a feeling that nothing would change their views, but giving up before trying was wrong.

After all those years and nearly every day spent together for some of those years, it couldn't be over just like that. I mean +500 hours together on fall guys in two years, that friendship is for life.

Harsh things were said.

You felt like throwing up.

You kept your patience and never insulted nor got angry at them.

After a week of them being temporarily disabled from the discord and you having no contact at all, on the condition from your brother that they could come back after reading up on trans topics as homework, they came back into your life.

You technically didn't get that apology as per the second condition, but you decided not to bring it up. Your friend admitted that them being kicked for a week was deserved.

Now you talk again almost every day as before. They are good at correcting themselves without you mentioning it; when they accidentally say she. In fact, they are the best at it out of your friends except your transfriendincrime A. They makes good jokes with you about how things will be when you fully transition.

You are happy that you didn't give up on them. You are happy you fought that anxiety and gut wrenching fear. You feel lucky to have them as your friend.

They do not fully understand what everything means and why, but they accept you and you are their precious friend back.

That the next apartment he would move into has mold in the shower and it will fuck with his lungs for two years.

Memory to forever stick

Me: "What do you think of Rion or Orion?"

Friend 1: "It's cringe bro lmao"

As I was quite liking those names, I asked another friend about it and told them that someone else called "Orion" Cringe.

Friend 2: "To be fair, it is cringe."

Multiple Finnish names

As I am Finnish and Swedish, I can legally change my name to one of either origin. Now... I transferred between a lot of schools in my life, so I have had a ton of classmates.

My requirements for my new name was:

Cannot be a name of someone I knew.

Cannot be difficult to spell, I suffered from this a lot with my birthname.

Cannot have easily-mean-nicknames.

Cannot be cringe.

Not a cool or lame name.

I have had a ton of Swedish classmates with all common names for my age, so I decided to look for mainly Finnish names. I ended up finding a ton of names that I liked but had something negative related to it.

After a ton of back and forth, I decided to try with Matteo for starters. It isn't Swedish or Finnish, but a lot of boys in Sweden are named Matteo.

I ended up not vibing with it as it felt too cool for my standards, I can't really rock that name, it's a popular-kid-name.

Being nicknamed "double T" for two weeks was sick though.

How I picked my name

I decided to speedrun it, so I downloaded a bunch of free mini visual novels where you pick your own name. Having the characters actively call me by trial names made it a lot easier than trying it out for weeks before going onto the next one.

I am no longer a man without a name, for it is now Mio. Yes, Mio is a masculine name here in Sweden and Finland. Yes, Mio like "Mio min Mio" the story, which is why a lot of boys are named Mio around my age in Sweden. I recommend picking that book up, written by world famous author Astrid Lindgren.

Unexpected nicknames

Seeing as Mio is only three letters, I didn't expect it to be given a nickname by anybody other than potentially M or Em. Which is still not that far off in length.

So of course I have been given nicknames by my friend group whether I wanted it or not.

Fuckboy

Stingray

Twink

I didn't even have a nickname outside the family until I changed it to Mio. Now everyone won't stop calling me Stingray and Fuckboy.

Bonus: My brother thinks I should switch my middle name to match too. So instead of switching it from Wictoria to Wictor (to honor our mom) he thinks it should be something like:

Max Power [Lastname]