I hope to see everyone at Frolicon! My pack is hosting the puppy events:
5/18:
11:30 Pup Play 101
4pm Pup Handling class
7pm Human-pets and Littles Petting zoo
5/19:
11:30 Pup Play 201
2:30pm Pup Mosh
5:30 Ma'am is teaching a class on Scarification
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Human-Puppy Taxonomy: Updated
I know it's been a long time since I've done any serious thinking out loud on ye olde puppy blog, but I recently had a lovely conversation with a guy about puppy play, and it got me in the mood to ruminate again...
I've been teaching or helping to teach human-puppy play classes for 5 or 6 years now at various clubs and events around the South. Over that time I've developed a taxonomy of human puppies, based on one originally began by Sir Loki, but which I've continued to adjust and expand. I wrote about this many years ago (here http://pupemrys.blogspot.com/2012/05/puppy-typology.html ), but I think I haven't published an updated version in a while. So here, updated, are my four types of pups (which roughly also yield four types of pup scenes):
The Slave-Pup
Chad
Helder (HelderHorror.com) summarized Stephen King’s The Shining thus: “In the book, the man in the tuxedo is
revealed to be Derwent, the corrupt playboy, jet-set owner of the hotel.
According to one of the ghost-guests, Derwent is bisexual, and he has a fling
with Roger in Cuba
The Play-Pup
Play pups tend to be the very opposite of slave-pups in terms of discipline. Play pups may be in D/s relationships, but they are likely to be ultra-low protocol, and tend to be relatively disinterested in Leather traditions/history. They may also be uninterested in, or even incapable of, deep puppy headspace.
Many play-pups, I also refer to as "Rave Pups," because they tend to mostly turn-out at rave/disco clubs more than traditional leather bars: young, twink boys who like to go out in sexy pup gear to dance, flirt, and act silly (and sometimes "party and play"). There are a growing number of pup-themed nights at various gay clubs around the country, e.g. Puppy Pound in San Francisco, Arf! in Seattle, and The Kennel in LA.
The Innate-Pup
Leather-dog Brue once said: “[Some] may experience a spiritual awakening, enlightenment or discover an animal spirit guide/totem when they go into pupmode. But for many, being a pup/Dog is who they are, it is their core being or soul… I would make barking/growling noises during sex. This had a tendency to unsettle some people and arouse other people even more. I definitely fantasized about being a dog when I was young. Where others wanted to be the soldier or Indian or whatever when playing, I wanted to be a dog: to romp, protect and be near someone. I remember I used to have vivid dog dreams (running in fields, chasing things, etc).”
Of course this taxonomy isn't anything definitive, and there are any number of other ways you could divide up the human-pup community. However, I've found it to be useful, especially for a Handler negotiating a scene with a new puppy. It can be quite disappointing if, e.g., a Handler is expecting a heavy degradation and obedience slave-pup scene and his puppy just wants to cut loose and be silly. This is not a bad framework for thinking about one's style of being a puppy and what one wants to get out of a puppy scene.
I've noticed that (especially) some slave-pups and innate-pups look down on play-pups and gear-pups as "not real," "fake," "superficial," "not serious," etc. I'm not supportive of this attitude. I always teach that everyone can find his own level to play at. Not every pup has to be an innate pup and sleep in a dog kennel every night. People can get out of pup play whatever it is that they get out of it... and leave the rest. I think this also cuts through the (frankly) bullshit debate over: Is puppy play sexual... or is it all about the headspace, or whatever. Yeah, for some it's entirely sexual. For others, it isn't sexual at all. Bottom line: There isn't one way to be a puppy.
I've been teaching or helping to teach human-puppy play classes for 5 or 6 years now at various clubs and events around the South. Over that time I've developed a taxonomy of human puppies, based on one originally began by Sir Loki, but which I've continued to adjust and expand. I wrote about this many years ago (here http://pupemrys.blogspot.com/2012/05/puppy-typology.html ), but I think I haven't published an updated version in a while. So here, updated, are my four types of pups (which roughly also yield four types of pup scenes):
The Slave-Pup
A slave-pup is someone who doesn't really go into puppy headspace, but is
forced to act like and be treated as an animal while retaining their human
awareness of that degradation in status. Slave-pups are submissives who enjoy being
humiliated by being “forced” by a Dominant to behave like a “less than human”
animal. “Get down on all fours and crawl, bitch!” Along with humiliation, discipline and obedience training are a focus in play with slave-pups. This is where pup
plays started – as a punishment for misbehaving boys in leather bars – but then
it turned out that some of the boys liked it… And so the gay scene (in the US) has shifted away from the slave-pup, and today this form of pup play is more common among het Fem-Domme BDSM. (In Europe, there are still many more gay pups who are into the humiliation and obedience aspect of pup play.)
One way to spot a traditional slave-pup: if you ask them how they got their pup name, and they reply, "My Master/Mistress named me."
A “play pup”
is one who enjoys pupping-out as a form of play: like with bondage, gear
fetish, boot-worship, or flogging.
They will “do a pup scene.” It’s essentially a role-playing game. These pups tend not
to go into a deep pup-headspace, and will often talk, laugh and joke around
during a mosh. I think for the play pup it’s primarily an opportunity to
let-lose, be goofy and uninhibited, and… well, playful. As my pack-mate Hunter once said:
“It eliminates the pressure to
talk. I hate talking. I hate vocalizing anything. Hell, I even dislike barking.
In pup mode, I can meet new people and go [past] awkward conversations of,
"Oh, I've been in the lifestyle this long, and my hanky is on this side,
and I'm un-collared at the moment, not due to lack of trying." I just
sniff them, and if the don't freak out, I get scritches.”
Play pups tend to be the very opposite of slave-pups in terms of discipline. Play pups may be in D/s relationships, but they are likely to be ultra-low protocol, and tend to be relatively disinterested in Leather traditions/history. They may also be uninterested in, or even incapable of, deep puppy headspace.
Many play-pups, I also refer to as "Rave Pups," because they tend to mostly turn-out at rave/disco clubs more than traditional leather bars: young, twink boys who like to go out in sexy pup gear to dance, flirt, and act silly (and sometimes "party and play"). There are a growing number of pup-themed nights at various gay clubs around the country, e.g. Puppy Pound in San Francisco, Arf! in Seattle, and The Kennel in LA.
An “innate pup”
is one for whom being a pup is a constant state… like being
a slave, or being a Christian, or being gay, or being a African-American.
It’s a part of who we are and how we interact w/ the world. When I do pup
play (get down on all fours and romp), it’s a matter of letting the hound that’s always
under my skin come forward and take over for a while. For me, pup play is a very shamanic kind of
thing. It’s a spiritual transformation
that is aided by the physical transformation (i.e. the body-suit and hood). Getting suited-up and pulling the hood on is
also a gradual, ritualistic shift in head-space. Mythologists like Joseph Campbell have
addressed the importance of our animal within, and the way civilization and
Judeo-Christian culture has divorced us from it.
Innate-pups are primarily interested in the puppy headspace: a form of self-hypnosis in which one can, for a brief time, really come to think one's self to be a dog, and lose language skills almost entirely. They may avoid moshes because it can be very hard for them to get deep into a puppy headspace in such a public setting.
How might you spot an innate-pup? The tend to be very specific about their breeds and strongly identify with these dogs as a kind of totem/spirit animal. (e.g. I have an Irish wolfhound tattoo, wolfhound knot-patterns on my wedding ring, and a dozen wolfhound-themed tee shirts in my closet.)
The Gear-Pup (or Rubber-Pup)
As a comic book geek and budding pervert, I
discovered (and fell in love w/) the work of Michael Manning, who I eventually got to meet
at Fantasm in 2003. But years before that, I
discovered his comics: which are super-super-HOT! And one of the hottest things he drew were
these amazing images of (often androgynous or gender-queer) rubber/PVC pups. Woof!
Gear puppies come more from the rubber fetishist tradition. Here, the aims are primarily erotic. The puppy gear itself (the hoods, the leashes and collars, the body-suits and harnesses) is a turn-on, and the purpose of pup play is to get one's dick hard and act as a stimulant for sex. Gear-pups often combine their pup play with bondage, edging, breath play, and poppers. The rubber-pup scene is much bigger in the UK and Northern Europe, but it is growing over here. However, as of 2018, I still tend not to run into a whole lot of fellow rubber-pups in the States.
Note: These
are not exclusive categories, but are like an overlapping vinn diagram. Many pups will fit into two or even three categories. My Hunter, e.g., is part slave-pup, part play-pup, and part innate pup... but he has no gear fetish side at all. However, Hunter calls me 400% pup because I fit very well into all four of these types, and can engage in all these types of pup play, depending on the context. (I think that might be one reason why I often get called on to teach puppy play classes: I understand all these different approaches to puppy play.)
Of course this taxonomy isn't anything definitive, and there are any number of other ways you could divide up the human-pup community. However, I've found it to be useful, especially for a Handler negotiating a scene with a new puppy. It can be quite disappointing if, e.g., a Handler is expecting a heavy degradation and obedience slave-pup scene and his puppy just wants to cut loose and be silly. This is not a bad framework for thinking about one's style of being a puppy and what one wants to get out of a puppy scene.
I've noticed that (especially) some slave-pups and innate-pups look down on play-pups and gear-pups as "not real," "fake," "superficial," "not serious," etc. I'm not supportive of this attitude. I always teach that everyone can find his own level to play at. Not every pup has to be an innate pup and sleep in a dog kennel every night. People can get out of pup play whatever it is that they get out of it... and leave the rest. I think this also cuts through the (frankly) bullshit debate over: Is puppy play sexual... or is it all about the headspace, or whatever. Yeah, for some it's entirely sexual. For others, it isn't sexual at all. Bottom line: There isn't one way to be a puppy.
Monday, January 15, 2018
2017 Year in Review, Part Two
Twenty more questions about my year...
21. How did you spend Christmas?
Saturday we had friends and family over to the
Treehouse. Unfortunately, Hunter,
Daniel, and Cuddles were all unable to make it, and that did make it a little
odd. Christmas day we spent with Poet’s
family, but bailed early to hang w/ Blaze and rock out to loud punk music: the
Stooges, the Ramones… It was: How the
Misfits saved Christmas.
22. Did you fall in love?
I still love my beautiful Owner and my wonderful pack-mates.
23. Have any one-night stands?
Had some sexy-fun time w/ a coupe of one-off guys at the
direction of my Alpha, including his Sir.
(Also spent 48 hours in latex having sexy-fun time w/ my Alpha.)
24. What was your favorite TV program?
We watched Hannibal
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time
last year?
So many new jerks on the public scene, I’ll just name-drop
Roy Moore and Harvey Weinstein as being particularly grotesque.
26. What was the best book you read?
March, the graphic
novel by John Lewis was probably the best new book. Also liked Deer Hunting with Jesus by Joe Bageant. But mostly I re-read a lot of favorites from Dune to ZMM to Doctor Faustus (T. Mann) to The
Sandman.
27. What was your favorite new music of 2017?
Discovered The Go-Betweens and Alice Merton’s “Roots.” Listened to a lot of REM this year.
28. Best new podcast?
Three: The Art History Babes, Unspoiled
(Sandman and Dark
Tower
29. What did you want and get?
An Irish wolfhound and a Spider-man zentai
30. What did you want and not get?
Tickets to Europe (we
decided to delay our trip one year).
Also, a new latex suit.
31. What was your favorite film of this year?
I missed: Logan, It, Get
Out, The Foreigner, Professor Marsten and the Wonder Women… as well as The Big Sick, Three Billboards, and Ghost Story… I missed a lot!
And yet, I did see, and really like: Shape of Water, Bladerunner
2049, Loving Vincent, Spider-man Homecoming, Star Wars: the Last Jedi, Atomic Blond, and Baby Driver… but I think my favorites were Hidden Figures and Coco . (Plus,
Poet and I went to see Close Encounters
on the big screen. Woo-hoo!)
32. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Forty-two. It was
Code Night at the Woodshed and I got to pup out! *wags*
33. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably
more satisfying?
Some of my closest people had some rough times this year. I wish they had it a little better.
34. How would you describe your personal fashion concept
this year?
I got a fuck-ton of neckties from my uncle and a cool new
cap from my Owner.
35. What kept you sane?
“If I were a robot, I would short-circuit and explode… but
I’m human, so I drink.” – Cody Johnston
36. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Either Ana Kasparian from TYT News or Grant Gustin from TV’s Flash (because his ass looks very nice
in that Flash costume)
37. What political issue stirred
you the most?
It’s something every fucking week: the Russian investigation, the Muslim ban,
Charlottesville, Roy Moore, pardoning “Sheriff Joe,” openly violating the
emoluments clause, taunting North Korea like a child, more/bigger
mass-shootings, stories of sexual harassment & assault, the most insane tax
bill ever, the Puerto Rico disaster, and the mountain of open racism and
bigotry!
38. Who did you miss?
Hunter. Not like I
didn’t see him at all, but we had to cancel 3 or 4 of our scheduled
get-togethers.
39. Who was the best new person you got to know?
I don’t know. I met a few new people (Neil, Blaze , Chad
40. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017:
This one is really hard b/c while 2016 was largely just shit
for most people I know… this year has been, in some ways, tougher… or at least
it feels like the year everybody is picking up the pieces and trying to keep
everything from just completely blowing up.
On the macro/political level things have never been worse in my
lifetime. And while last year sucked, at
the end of it I knew where things stood, but this year feels really shifty,
shaky and uncertain. I don’t know… I
worry more than I used to – about my job, my house, my friends, health, the environment... L
I guess the lesson is:
Hold on to your butts.
Friday, December 29, 2017
2017 Year in Review, Part 1
20 Questions About My Year
1. What did you do this year that you'd never done before?
Sued someone (successfully) in small claims court. Took my Kitten to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in
concert.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you
make more for next year?
“I want to try this project whereby, in 2017, I revisit some
of my favorite/most influential books and documentaries more or less in order
of how I encountered them from roughly 1993 to 2003.” Largely successful!
Resolution for 2018: This
year I slightly took-up meditating again.
I’d like to keep that up and also get back in the habit of doing yoga
once a week.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Bishop and Gwynn. Plus, Oberon was born at the beginning of the year, and, at the
end of the year, my German friend is having a daughter any day now!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Uncle Joe
5. Did anyone close to you get married?
No, but R.M.
got engaged.
6. What places did you visit?
We didn’t go to many places this year, but we went to Brookgreen Gardens ,
the Knoxville Zoo, and the Asheville
Nature Center
7. What would you like to have next year that you lacked
this year?
I need new latex and zentai suits
8. What day from this year will remain etched upon your
memory, and why?
Kitten’s pain ritual.
Also: Spending the day in Asheville
with my Alpha this summer – I really enjoyed that – and going hiking with him
in the mountains with him. (Technically
that’s two days w/ Hunter.)
9. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
We won the “Most Spirited” float award in Charlotte Pride,
and I think I had something to do with that.
10. What was your biggest failure?
It wasn’t exactly a failure, but CAPEX did a puppy workshop
and mosh w/ an internationally known guest, and I tried to help promote
that…but none of the local pups or Handlers came out for it. That kind of sucked.
11. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope.
12. What was the best thing you bought?
Oberon
13. Whose behavior merited a celebration?
Every woman who was a silence breaker and #MeToo – and everyone
who participated in the Women’s March on Washington
14. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Easily Donald Fucking Trump.
I don’t even know where to start…
Also: the arborist we hired to take down a dead tree, took
our money but wouldn’t do the job, and we had to sue him in small claims to get
our money back. He was such a chauvinistic,
immature, vulgar, lying jackass!
(Basically: Donald Fucking Trump on a smaller scale.)
15. Where did most of your money go?
Oberon.
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Oberon… Frolicon… The Pup event we had at CAPEX…
17. What song will always remind you of this year?
Brand New’s “Play Crack the Sky.”
18. Compared to this time last year, you are:
Beta to a wonderful pair of omega-pups (which is exactly
what I wrote in 2015, funny enough)
19. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Quality time with Hunter.
A lot of our scheduled time together this year got cancelled for one
reason or another, so he missed the CAPEX camp-out, pup class, the Halloween
party, Treehouse Christmas… None of it
was his fault; it was just that kind of year.
20. What do you wish you'd done less of?
House painting.
Actually, it wasn’t too bad. We
did a lot of repainting at both my mom’s old house and the newly acquired South Tower
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Frolicon 2017
For you to preview and
okay...
Frolicon is our favorite con every year, and this was one of
the best Frolicons I’ve had in years!
THURSDAY
I drove down w/ my omega. My lovely Owner, her
boyfriend, my Alpha, his boyfriend, and his Sir were all already on site.
(Did you get all that?) Actually, when I walked into our room, Alpha was
naked and in hypnotic bondage. His Sir is a professional erotic
hypnotist. Personally, I have always had a HUGE fantasy-fetish for
mindcontrol/hypno/brainwashing, so watching him control Alpha through hypnotic triggers all weekend was incredibly, fucking hot! Wolfhound was so envious! Also fucking
hot: my Alpha didn’t waste any time before he had me on the floor
worshiping his feet w/ my tongue and mouth. I was in beta-puppy heaven.
No special costumes Thursday night: just leather pack vests
and jeans. We went out to dinner: My family, three of our friends,
another pack-mate of ours, and two friends he brought… and Nitro.
Unfortunately, it was karaoke night at the restaurant we choose, so we had to endure
some painful sounds. Ug.
Back at the con, we went to some show… I can’t even remember what the hell it
was b/c I was back on the floor worshiping my Alpha’s feet the whole time – w/
him occasionally slapping my face to keep me in submissive headspace.
He’s been training me to fetishize his feet for about a year now, and the
training is really starting to take root: I see/smell his naked feet and I
start drooling and getting hard. I ended up back in our room for some
sexy fun w/ Alpha, his boyfriend, and his Sir. Alpha did the most amazing
job of staging a different kind of sexy-fun scene each night! This night
he reduced me to a brainless sex-animal. He started by getting me sucking
his alpha-cock. I should pause to say: I’m locked in chastity and at this
point it had been 144 days since Alpha had let me out to cum. Yes… 144
days. So obviously I was already a very horny wolfhound. So, I’m
sucking his alpha-cock and he spits on my face. I’m sucking cock and
feeling this huge, warm gob of spit slowly sliding down my face and eventually
reaching my mouth… fucking heaven! That sent me into such a
sexed-up subby headspace! For the next several minutes there, I couldn’t
think of anything but to obey and suck cock at Alpha’s command!
Seriously, if 10 strangers walked into the room and Alpha said, “Suck each
dick,” it wouldn’t have occurred to me to question or hesitate. My Alpha
put me to work rotating among sucking him, his Sir, and his boyfriend, until
they all got off (and I was left horny and frustrated, of course – locked in chastity
like good betas are supposed to be). That will probably go down as a
lifetime memory of one of the hottest sex scenes I’ve ever had! And it
was only Night One…
FRIDAY
I pulled on one of my latex body suits and my rubber puppy
mask, inserted my tail, and taught my Puppy Play 101 class w/ my Alpha and
omega playing on the floor in pup mode. Alpha managed not to hurt himself
or knock anyone out of their chair this year. Actually the class went
very well. We then did family photos in the dungeon sans Owner b/c she
had something else she had to go take care of.
We checked out the venders’ room before it was time to teach
Puppy 201. Both classes were well attended and, in fact, this was the
best 201 class we’ve ever done. Lots of great audience
participation! We received a lot of complements. Off-duty the rest of the night, I put on my black
Spider-man symbiote costume, and we tried to find some room parties but
failed. So we mostly hung out downstairs. Where were all the room
parties this year?????
Eventually, we ended up back in the room for Night Two of
sexy-fun. This time, Alpha had gotten me to beg for him to have sex his
Sir and not me. (Alpha can pretty much get me sexed-up enough to want whatever he tells
me I want, and at this time it was a matter of convencing me how much better it
would be watching him fuck another man.) So after begging, Alpha did have
sex w/ his Sir and had two orgasms, while I, his beta, sat on the floor and
watched, throbbing helplessly in my cock-cage. Alpha then allowed me to
sleep on the floor beside his bed, a frustrated but helpless little
cuckhound. *wags*
SATURDAY
We had to get an early start today b/c we co-sponsored the
Petting Zoo at 10am. There was a great turn-out! Lots of pups,
kittens, two or three lizards, a donkey, a horse-girl, and a hucow. Alpha
was the best Hnadler for us all. After that fun, I went to go spend time
w/ my lovely Owner. We wandered the venders’ room… until it was time for
her Endorphin Soup ritual. Alpha joined us, along w/ his boyfriend, and
my Owner’s boyfriend. I can’t really explain much about the ritual,
except to say it was very powerful and everyone involved was touched by
it. I was incredibly proud of my Owner! She amazes me.
Alpha and I had to run directly from the ritual to our puppy
mosh. Fortunately, my omega and Alpha’s Sir got everything set-up and
started. The mosh was fun and, once again, we had a good turn-out.
Now we were, finally, completely “off-duty” for the
rest of the con. I spent some quiet time w/ Ma’am while Alpha had some
quiet time w/ his Sir… and then I went and relaxed in the hotel’s hot tub w/ my
little omega. (My life does not suck.) We got out of the spa, met-up w/ Alpha and his Sir and,
after dinner, went down to the hypnotist show. The show was okay if a
little schlocky – basically the same show I’ve seen many times at Ren
Fair. The kinky stuff Alpha was programmed to do by his Sir was more
interesting. From there it was back to our room for more sexy-fun
time. Alpha chained me to the bed, removed my cock cage and beat me, bit
me, and edged me until I, finally, after 146 days, came HARD!
Eventually I came back to earth. Locked back in
chastity, I put on my rubber shorts and harness, we put the omega pup in a
straight jacket, and we went out to find room parties. We found
two. Drank, talked, reveled… Once, I let the omega wander off in
his straightjacket – Alpha fussed at me. We found him. At some point we
ended up back in our hotel room, and once again Alpha allowed his beta to sleep
on the floor at his bedside. *wags*
This little summery of events just doesn’t do justice to the
fun we had (and several important thing I’m omitting b/c they are
personal). My Owner was just awe-inspiring in her strength and always
looked beautiful. Hypno-controlled Alpha was oh-my-gods sexy. Omega was
not only all cute and adorable, but indispensably helpful in his service to me
and Alpha. Very good boy! And I love Ma’am’s boyfriend, Alpha’s
boyfriend… and meeting Alpha’s new Sir was delightful. Wonderful,
wonderful time with my family!
P.S.
But I’m not done! I have a post-credits
sequence. Few days after con, Alpha joined me for a date-night in Chattanooga , TN.
Summery: great sex, erotic hypnosis, transformative
ritual, brave and lovely Owner, wonderful chosen family, so much love,
successful classes and moshes… and more great sex! Woof! Wolfhound
is happy.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
2016 Year in Review, Part Two
Twenty more questions about my year...
21. How did you spend Christmas?
We spent Christmas home at the Treehouse this year; Ma’am
was road-weary and wanted to stay home.
We had a lot of great friends and chosen family come visit us between
Christmas and New Years including Poet, Cuddles, Hunter, Daniel, Randolph, and
more!
22. Did you fall in love?
I still love my beautiful Owner and my wonderful pack-mates.
23. Have any one-night stands?
Sex was very good – again – this year! Starting
with a really hot hook-up at MAL and continuing on though some very sexy scenes
with my Alpha, and along the way there was sex with a rubber boy in a vac bed.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Jessica Jones and Stranger Things were really impressive
and I finally got to see Avatar … but
I think I might have to go w/ Outlander as
number one b/c – Scotland !
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time
last year?
One jackass doctor; one lying sociopath in Tennessee ; the lazy, narcissistic,
pathologically lying, racist, man-baby who is our President-elect – and his
cabinet of horrors! (Too much hate in 2016!)
26. What was the best book you read?
Read lots of Scotland
stuff: Scottish history, travel, Rob Roy, Robert the Bruce… Outside of that, I
gobbled up both of Glen Wheldon’s books on Superman and Batman.
27. What was your favorite new music of 2016?
Leonard Cohen and David Bowie’s final albums were both
really good. We’ve also listened to a
lot of electro-swing this year.
28. Best new podcast?
I enjoyed binge listening to Now Playing while painting the kitchen ceiling. Also shout outs for Code Switch and StoryWonk’s Story
and Star Wars.
29. What did you want and get?
A second latex bodysuit…
and I wanted to get my Alpha into a sexy, latex bodysuit, and I got
that, too. (And even the omega got a
spandex bodysuit. Yay!)
30. What did you want and not get?
A president-elect who isn’t a narcissistic, misogynist,
islamophobic, racist man-baby
31. What was your favorite film of this year?
What a good film year!
Jungle Book, Captain America Civil
War, and Arrival were all A+
films! But my very favorite is Kubo and the Two Strings.
32. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Forty-one. Spent the
weekend in Chattanooga
with Hunter, John, and Daniel, and Daniel’s son had a psychotic break and
cussed out the people living in the ceiling.
33. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably
more satisfying?
Less psychotic drug users in Chattanooga !
Seriously.
34. How would you describe your personal fashion concept
this year?
I got a really nice, second-hand leather vest in Glasgow , Scotland
35. What kept you sane?
36. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
It could be Tom Holland’s Spider-man, but he might be a touch
too young for me. So, the winner is Catriana Balfe’s Clare Randall – two years
in a row for a strong, smart feminist protagonist. (But Tom Holland does look very nice in his
Spidy underoos.)
37. What political issue stirred
you the most?
Oh, god – oh, god – we’re all going to die.
38. Who did you miss?
Timm. Wish he could
have joined us in Scotland .
39. Who was the best new person you got to know?
I don’t know if I got to know any new people this year…? Except online.
40. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016:
Fuck 2016.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
2016 Year in Review, Part One
20 Questions About My Year
1. What did you do this year that you'd never done before?
Visited Scotland ,
got a doctor fired from our local hospital, marched with Cuddles in NC Pride,
and pissed off my friend, Daniel.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you
make more for next year?
“Do a new comic book review each week [and] write a couple
of adventures for a new game system my friend John is developing.” Nope.
Resolution for 2017:
I’d love to try a do-over on those resolutions… But really, I want to
try this project whereby, in 2016, I revisit some of my favorite/most
influential books and documentaries more or less in order of how I encountered
them from roughly 1993 to 2003. So I’m
going to re-read Dune, Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance, Jung’s Man
and His Symbols, etc., and re-watch The
Power of Myth and the Day the
Universe Changed…etc.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Sir Alan. We also
lost a lot of celebrities this year, from Alan Rickman to Leonard Cohen.
5. Did anyone close to you get married?
Andy.
6. What places did you visit?
7. What would you like to have next year that you lacked
this year?
Well, I didn’t lack a motorcycle this year, but I would love
to have a newer one next year.
8. What day from this year will remain etched upon your
memory, and why?
All seven days in Scotland (good), and the night they
kicked us out of the ER then rushed Kitten into emergency surgery the next
morning (bad).
9. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I was a helpful puppy for my Owner and for Poet. I got the asshole doctor who almost killed
Kitten fired from that hospital. I’ve
helped Poet clean and fix up his house to sell.
I tried to be a good tour guide puppy in Scotland . Helpful puppy was helpful.
10. What was your biggest failure?
Maybe not as helpful to one of my best friends whom I
inadvertently pissed off and then there was an unfortunate period of months
where he wasn’t really speaking to me. That was sad
11. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I think I did okay – everyone else was in and out of the
hospital!
12. What was the best thing you bought?
Ma’am’s awesome sweater-coat, “Shadow Roses.”
13. Whose behavior merited a celebration?
I’m very proud of my lovely Owner. She began this year after
a brush w/ death feeling very afraid and unsure of herself… by the end of the
year I had seen her really conquer her fear: refusing to hide in the closet, bite
her tongue or “roll over and take it.”
14. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Max’s (now ex-)boyfriend who turned out to be a nasty piece
of human garbage. …Oh, wait, that’s the same thing I wrote last year. How about a certain asshole ER doctor who
sent my Owner home to die? Those are two
men I wouldn’t mind seeing bad shit happen to.
15. Where did most of your money go?
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
17. What song will always remind you of this year?
I really liked the song “Lost Boy” by Ruth B, “Let’s Hear it
for the Dogs” by the Proclaimers, “You Want it Darker” by Leonard Cohen, “Dairy
Queen” by Power Bottom, and “Speak When You’re Spoken to” by Spook School
18. Compared to this time last year, you are:
More afraid for the world… and also more of a whisky
drinker.
19. What do you wish you'd done more of?
More time in Scotland . If we had one more day I would have loved to
see Loch Lomund and Castle Dumbarton.
20. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Trying to keep the lives of my loved ones from either ending
or just going off the rails.
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