2012 Year in Review (2)

39 questions about my year (Part Two, 21-39):

21. How did you spend Christmas?
We decked the Treehouse in Griffendor colors (that’s Kitten’s House; last year was mine: Ravenclaw blue and silver), and had some great family and friends up for a day or three, drunk an unreasonable amount of alcohol, and watched the boys cruise on Grinder.  LOL.

22. Did you fall in love?
I fall more in love w/ my fantastic Owner every year!!!  *licks*  (…and this is year 8!)

23. Have any one-night stands?
One… w/ a pretty, young girl at our spring Treehouse party.  Other stands have been more ongoing than one night.  ;-)

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Nothing new.  Ma’am and I have been re-watching Babylon 5 as well as Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes series.  I also watched the first season of MacGyver, which I used to love as a kid, and I’m happy to say that it’s aged reasonably well (i.e. not horribly dated).

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Nope.  Although we do have a new (noisy) neighbor that I could live w/o.

26. What was the best book you read?
I never pick one.

The Fragility of Goodness by Martha Nussbaum

Moral Politics, How Liberals and Conservatives Think by G. Lakoff

Assimilation by Bootbrush (winner in the Best Erotica category  I think my rubber fetish is growing b/c of this book)

Urban Aboriginals by Geoff Mains (I like his take on “Leather,” which he defines as “the culture of the forbidden,” being roughly equal to “modern primitive/tribal”… rather than this very formalized, protocol-heavy thing I'm not into.)

I also re-read Huck Finn this summer, for the first time since high school.

27. What was your favorite new music of 2012?
Lots of new musical discoveries this year – notably Adel and Gotye.  Leonard Cohen came out w/ a new CD, as did Poe and Halestorm (whom we saw live).  I’ve always liked Coldplay, but started listening to them a lot more heavily this year, and they are now one of my favorite bands.

28. What did you want and get?
A leather puppy hood

Ink

29. What did you want and not get?
A (much more expensive) rubber puppy hood and rubber suit

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

Best A-list film:  Life of Pi (But I haven’t yet seen Argo which my Owner said was her favorite)

B-movies:  Best was probably John Carter on Mars.  Brave was also outstanding.  Skyfall was one of the best of all 007 films.  Loved The Avengers and the new Spider-man.

Worst: Crouching Tiger Hidden Vampire… AKA Hypersonic Super-Vampire Ninjas of the Civil War.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Last year’s answer:  “Thirty-six.  Went to Frolicon, and I got a great tail for my birthday!!!  Then I got beat by Loki.”

This year’s answer: Thirty-seven.  Went to Frolicon and got a great leather puppy hood, and then got accepted into Loki’s pack!!!

I have no idea how 2013 is going to top that…

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I wish I was introduced to the Pirate earlier.  He and Ma’am were dating for like 6 months before she introduced me to him… which is really, really odd for us and our relationship – not how we normally do things.  That’s been very difficult for me… but it’s getting better.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept this year?
I need to buy a new pair of rubber shorts since Tebow destroyed mine on our first encounter.  :P

34. What kept you sane?
Woof!  Arf. Arf.  Grrrrr… *panting*

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Lizzy Hale.  She looks like she could throw a good punch.  *drools*

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Marriage equality.  We had a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in my state… but, for the first time, the President came out in favor of it, and it was great to see marriage equality win by popular vote in 4 states.

37. Who did you miss?

Well, I haven’t seen my friend Jay in 2 years now.  (And now that I think of it, he doesn’t have my new email address or phone number… Oops.)

38. Who was the best new person you got to know?
Getting to know Loki better and meeting Tebow!  *Wags*

I’ve also enjoyed getting to know some of the others among their friends and family in Atlanta.

I’m enjoying getting to know The Pirate (Ma’am’s boyfriend) and Mina (Ma’am’s girlfriend).

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
In 2010 I wrote, “In 2011 I want to be less involved in the ‘politics’ of kink,” and then in 2011 I ended up right back on the CAPEX Board again… so that didn’t happen!  (However, I will say that 2011 was a good year on the board – largely free of any stress or drama.)  I was on the Board in 07 and 08, Ma’am was on in 09, then I was back on in 10 (briefly) and 11… but in 2012 I finally managed to keep out of group politics!  Much more significant than that, however, was venturing into a new territory, joining Loki’s pack, discovering new folks and fresh energy which really helped revitalize and re-center me. 

My first 5 active years in the lifestyle (call it, phase 1) I learned a lot, played very hard, and did lots of the grunt-work that our community runs on (set-up, DM-ing, hanging decorations, food prep…).  The next 5 years (phase 2) I was in a leadership role, laying plans, improvising when those plans invariably didn’t work, smoothing ruffled feathers, putting out fires, and trying to keep the train on the tracks.  I still played… but not as frequently.  Then, in June, my community honored me w/ my marvelous tattoo in recognition of my years of service to Charlotte kink.  So now I well and truly feel like I’m in phase 3 of my journey.  The I’ve-paid-my-dues-and-I-ain’t-do’n-no-god-damned-DM-shift phase.  LOL.  No, I’m kidding.  It actually feels more like return to the beginning – a return to fundamentals (entering a new community, negotiating in a new D/s relationship w/ Loki, experiencing new scenes and new play styles, trying to play more… and still taking DM shifts as needed) – but w/ the benefit of all the years of experience.

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

     --  T.S. Eliot

So what’s the life lesson?  Maybe that life is a journey in which you can expect to go through many phases and wear different hats… but you also circle around a lot, too.  Hopefully you grow, learn (and never stop learning)… and sometimes you’re fortunate and your peeps even recognize your achievements.  So here’s wishing all my readers a good journey in 2013.  Keep your tail up!