Get Some Tail

This photo of our wolf-dog Thunder and our kittens (Thing 1 and Thing 2) should prove that, here at the Treehouse, the canines are all submissive to the felines.

(Shdwkitten also spends a lot of time playing w/ my tail.)

Beta-Pup Bonding(Bondage)

So Saturday night was a big birthday party for Snow (the wife-in-law formally known as CF).  Sir Loki wasn’t able to make it to the party, but Tebow was free, so he agreed to be my play-date for the evening.  All three of us agreed that it would be good for Tebow and I to have some beta-pup bonding(bondage) time w/o the Alpha pup there being the center of our attention.  Of course, my Owner, the fantastic Shdwkitten, would be there, but since we figured she’d be occupied w/ her birthday-wife, that would leave the bondage-beagle and I free to entertain ourselves… which I was pretty sure we’d manage.

Now, fantasizing about all the ways two beta-pups lacking adult supervision might hypothetically occupy themselves was making me a very horny puppy in the week leading up to the party… that, and I hadn’t yet been allowed to cum this month.  So I was ready to play last Tuesday when -- after I got back from a motorcycle ride -- Ma’am drug me into the studio, bent me over, paddled me, bit me, scratched me, fucked my ass, and then let me shoot.

While all of this is going on, my Owner had a text message buzz through on her phone, so while I was blissfully floating a couple of feet above the bed, she checked her phone.  I wish I could recall her exact reaction, but it was total shock and disbelief.  The text was from Sir Loki, telling her that his boy, Tebow, wants to bottom to her at the party this weekend.  She wrote back: “I thought he was terrified of me.  Or are you just trying to set him up?”  Sir replies: “He is and I am.”

Oh, dear...

So… the weekend arrives.  Since Sir couldn’t make it to the party Saturday and it may be over a month before I see him again, I joined him (and the doomed beagle) at their Friday game night event… which turned out to be a birthday party for somebody else.  At Friday night’s party, I was fortunate enough to discover an un-opened box of oatmeal cream pies.  It didn’t stay unopened any longer.  I enjoyed my oatmeal cream pie and then turned my back for a moment…  I look back again and the next thing I see is the Alpha Pup has chased Tebow into a corner and is trying to wrest an oatmeal cream from his grasp.  I still have no idea what precipitated this desperate combat for the second-out-of-the-box cream pie.  Tebow quickly stuffed the cream pie into his mouth… which didn’t stop things.  Loki grabbed his jaw and tried to force the pup to spit it out.  (Given Tebow’s notorious gag reflex, I think we just should have been celebrating the fact that he got a whole cream pie in his mouth…)  Unable to retrieve the coveted cream pie, Sir pulled out his phone and sent a text to my Owner:  “Tebow ate the last oatmeal cream pie. Show no mercy.”

Tebow and I:  “Sir, that wasn’t the last cream pie; there’s a whole box right there.”

Sir:  “Artistic license.”

*sigh*  The game is a foot.

So despite having every reason to run away, Tebow did show-up to the party the next day – actually, I think he tried to run away and Sir ordered him to go and have fun – and he even came out a few hours early to hang with us. We just chilled for a while.  Shdwkitten put him in-collar for the night, gave him a couple of rules… and shortly after the party started she handcuffed the two of us together… which was pretty damn fun.  We got the party started by making out on the living room floor… to much praise and cheering from our growing crowd of devoted spectators.

Tebow also got a lot of cheers and applause for his wardrobe… which is good b/c he changed outfits like six times.  No, seriously… like six times.  Mind you, I’m not complaining; that boy looks damn good in form-fitting clothing!

So this led to more making-out… first on the bondage bed… then in the hot tub…

Which leads to an amusing side note.  Back in this part of my Frolicon 2012 post I wrote: 

“We had a pretty good play-party going for a Thursday night, and the con was off to a good start.  At one point, CF was talking to a straight friend of hers who glanced over her shoulder and rolled his eyes.  “Well, there it is!” he flatly declared, “The first man-on-man kiss of the con!”

CF turned and looked… and busted out laughing.  “That’s my wife’s puppy,” she explained.

“Oh,” he says.  “Um… that’s cool.”

LOL.  Yeah, after my shift had ended (10:30) I found a very cute beagle-boy and, we were snogging in the dungeon.”

Well, as it so happens this same friend of Snow(CF)’s was at this party… and apparently we once again traumatized him by snogging in the hot tub.  LOL.  CodeMonkey suggested that the guy might be puppy-phobic.

So eventually it was time for Shdwkitten to get her sadist on, so she tied Tebow and I together, fact-to-face, and beat, scratched, and bit the hell out of us both.  I have always loved scenes w/ multiples: multiple bottoms, multiple tops, both…  It just seems to really amp-up the energy level.  Yummy…

I think, not long after that it was bedtime for the beagle and I... which I think involved two more costume changes for him and yet more bondage… and again, I’m not complaining!

It was a great party!  Happy birthday (again) to Snow, and thank you to your crew for the awesome party.  Thank you (again) Sir for sending us your beagle-boy for a day.  Thank you (again) to said boy for being my play-date; I couldn’t have wished for better company.  *licks*  And (always) thank you to the lovely Shdwkitten for being the best Owner a wolfhound could hope for.

Gay leathersex just isn't as shocking as it used to be

Mapplethorpe exhibit opens in LA... w/o protest this time...  in contrast to the Smithsonian exhibit of gay & lesbian artists which closed last year under threat of pressure.  It's curious... it seems that if the work is about sexual/homoerotic content then people are becoming okay w/ that... but the exhibit last year that was of "vanilla" work that just happened to be by gay artists drew protest...  Is it that people are becoming okay w/ gay people making "gay" art, but want artists otherwise to stay in the closet?  Or maybe it's just the difference between LA and DC...

More at:  http://www.artnews.com/2012/08/28/l-a-x/

Yesterday...

...I met someone named Lennon McCartney.  :-)

Burn Out

No Dragon*Con… but I’ve had a couple of rather lazy self-indulgent days spent almost entirely in my hammock reading, writing, petting the bio-dogs, watching deer come and go from the pond, and streaming Pandora.

So… I had mentioned in my last post that I enjoyed the Atlanta Dominion party last month.  Picking up on that (and tentatively related to my theme of being lazy and self-indulgent) there was something that came-up while I was at Dominion that prompted some thoughts which I figured I would share here.  Tebow mentioned that he was feeling the rut of “we volunteer at everything so we never just go play” (or something to that effect).  Putting aside the fact that we expect such whining from Tebow  :-P  I can certainly sympathize w/ this one having been there and felt that.  So here are some general thoughts for pups, Handlers, Tops, bottoms, Masters, and slaves for avoiding the burn-out trap.

First, for the new peeps and pups coming into the scene (and I guess by “new” I here mean less than 4 or 5 years active in the lifestyle), you need to acknowledge that there is some legitimate expectation to “pay your dues.”  I volunteered at CAPEX almost every month for many years, have been on the volunteer staff of several other events (including Fantasm and Frolicon), and served on the CAPEX Board four times.  Now, I still frequently will help out in some small way or another when I go to an event – and I don’t mind doing so – but the fact is that my dues have been paid, and if I decided to go to an event and not lift a finger (unless my Owner or the Alpha Pup tell me to) then I’m not going to feel too bad about that.  This is a community that runs on new blood.  If we don’t have a steady stream of new folks coming in and picking up the work load then the community won’t survive.  That’s just how it is.

Now, there’s another side of this coin:  For us old peeps and pups (which I suppose means being active for 6 years or longer), we need to learn to back off and let the newbies get involved… and not breath down their necks and try and armchair quarterback them.  Here’s one of life’s simple rules: Don’t give advise unless your asked… and when asked, keep it brief.  Nobody likes a know-it-all… even if they really do know it all.  And here’s some more unsolicited advice for you:

• The way you did it is not the only way to do it… nor even the right way to do it.
• Yes, the newbies will screw some stuff up.  Let them.  That’s how they learn.  It’s not the end of the world, folks.
• There will be community drama; don’t feel like you always need to get into it.  It’s okay to not give a shit.  (Now, there’s a flip-side to this one is: Sometimes it’s not “drama” – sometimes it’s serious.  We do have some genuine predatory monsters in our community, and against them I feel like the “elders” have a responsibility to take a stand.)

Now… by saying that newer folks need to “pay their dues” I don’t mean that they need to volunteer at every damn event.  As they say, when your hobby starts to feel like a job, then you’re doing something wrong.  For many years, I watched people burn themselves out by volunteering at every single event – often month after month.  I’ve been on the alert to avoid that myself.  I’ve always said, “I don’t want to become _____.   I really liked _____, but he (or she) never comes around anymore b/c he worked himself to a nub, got burnt-out, and left.”  Know your limits, and know when you need to take a break before it’s too late.  A couple of years ago I resigned from the Board of CAPEX just a few months after I was elected, partly b/c I realized that I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing – it wasn’t fun at all.  (There were other factors, but that was a part of it.)  If I kept at it, I knew I was just going to grow to resent the club and the community, so I resigned and went back to just having fun.  It’s all about balance.

These days I rarely do much CAPEX volunteering.  Sure I still might carry some equipment from the truck or stack-up chairs or something.  Hang signs.  I don’t mind.  But my Owner has told I’m to stop helping out and just go have fun for a while.  (Sometimes service-oriented puppies need their Owners to tell them to stop.)  (And sometimes Owners need their pups to let them know, “I’m starting to feel burnt out; is it okay if I don’t volunteer at this particular event, but just go play?”)

Another trick that has helped us, is that Ma’am and I will talk before an event about expectations.  Are we going to volunteer?  Are we going to just hang-out or are we going to play together.  Will she just put me in pup mode and let me play at her feet… or is she going to beat the hell out of me?  Sometimes it’s important to talk beforehand and get on the same page as far as expectations.  In the past we had some let-downs because we’d go to an event w/ her thinking we were going to do a heavy pain scene and me thinking we were just going to hang and chat… or visa-versa.  I remember one party where I wanted to pup-out, but all I communicated to Ma’am was that I wasn’t up for a heavy pain scene.  She took that to mean that I wanted to be left alone to chat w/ folks, so she proceeded to ignore me the rest of the night.  Mia culpa.  So, yes, all that jazz you hear about communication – make it honest, and make it clear – is true.

Glancing back over this, I realize that just about everything I said, I tuned-around and contradicted it.  But that’s kind of the point.  Balance.  Finding the happy medium.

Old Friends... and lots of booze

Yes, I’m still alive.

Haven’t been available to post much lately.  A few weeks back we were inundated w/ houseguests.  Then I had an assignment from my Owner that kept me busy for a week… then my seasonal job started up again last week, and getting re-adjusted to working for a living left me whipped out when I got home each day.

But now I have some time.  My Owner gave me permission to go to Dragon*Con w/ my amigos… but my motorcycle chain is having some kind of slippage issue (not a happy puppy!) and my car is older than cuneiform, so I’m kind of stuck at the Treehouse this weekend.  Oh, well…  Truth is, I haven’t enjoyed Dragon as much in recent years since it’s gotten so freaking big.  I think the first one I went to was summer of ’91, when it was in just one hotel.  Now it’s like 5 hotels and so crowded that it’s hard to enjoy… especially if you’re already not a big crowds person.

Let me go back a few weeks to the houseguest inundation.  I have a little group of very close friends (chosen family, really) w/ whom I go back to Jr. High School.  They’re sort of my vanilla pack (well… mostly vanilla b/c Max is part of it, and he describes himself as a closet sadist… to which I have replied, “Does this closet have a glass door!?”).  I kind of brought us together waaaaaaay back when I was 13 or 14… and my rather highly developed sense of loyalty has kept us together all these years.  I’m a pronounced introvert – INTJ – and don’t make lots of close friends… but the people I do bond w/ I have a tendency to be pretty devoted to.  It’s a puppy thing.

Now… among this little group would be one German.  I befriended him when he was over here as an exchange student – we got to be so close that I think he ended up spending more time at my place than w/ his host parents.  He now lives in Potsdam, but travels a lot on business b/c he works for the UN… so he gets over to the States about once a year or two.  Well, a few weeks back, he was here for a conference in DC, and he arranged to stay a few extra days to hang w/ us.  So my lovely Owner and I drove up to DC and stayed w/ him (free of charge… thank you United Nations) at a very posh hotel just a couple of blocks from Capitol Hill.  So while he spent his days in meetings, Ma’am and I took in some of the sights.  (This was an improvement over the last time he was in DC and Ma’am and I picked him up and we left DC as a huge, freaking snowstorm came in and buried the city.  We barley got out in time.)

We drove him back to our place and were joined by Max and his boy and another really old friend of ours.  One of my other best friends from since we were in the seventh grade is now in Naval Intelligence and has spent the last two years stationed at Pearl Harbor.  He has a month off at home before he ships out to Tokyo for the next two years to spy on the Chinese, and by a great stroke of luck he happened to be back home at the same time as the German’s conference… so we were able to assemble a part of our “pack” that hasn’t been together in over 10 years.

My Owner’s wife joined us from Atlanta, and we had a crazy great time at the Treehouse for three days and two nights talking, drinking, talking more… staying up until three or four AM… drinking more… and, oh yeah, we did a little hiking too w/ the bio dogs.  As usual, our conversations ranged over science, politics, philosophy, books, art, Shakespeare, role-playing games… and occasionally degenerate into some kind of techy computer talk that I lose interest in. (The German’s MS was in artificial intelligence.  His PhD was in neuroscience – I’m okay w/ the neuroscience; it’s the computer programming stuff that makes me want to go mow the grass…)

It really was an awesome few days… followed by moving the party from the Treehouse to Atlanta.  Max, Jake and I went out to the Eagle for their Black and Blue night.  (No, surprising as it may be, the German and the guy in the Navy are both straight… although from the way the German dresses, you would be fooled; he could be a contestant on “Gay or European?”)  

I said hey to a few people I knew, but mostly just enjoyed listening to Max and Jake be extreeeeemly catty about the other patrons.  LOL.

The next day was the Atlanta Dominion men-only play party.  Lots of fun.  I got tag-teamed by my Alpha Pup and his Handler, and had some great marks the next day.  :-)

And the Beagle tried on a sport-bike suit, which is such a fetish of mine!  *panting & drooling*  (Still having fantasies about that… er... I'll be in my bunk!)

Well, I know most of my peeps are at Dragon or on their way (except for the one who’s back in Germany now), and thus too busy to read any more of my ramblings.  Have a great weekend, and post some pictures for me!

Barry Schwartz: Our Loss of Wisdom

This TED Talk  is quite good...