Two Great Weekends (Kinky Geeky Stuff!)

Last weekend my lovely Owner took her took her puppy up to the Maryland Renaissance Fair along w/ our friend, Poet.  We had a great time (despite a bummer ending for Poet).  It’s about a 6 hour drive from our place – nothing too bad.  We rode up together Friday evening, and were at the Fair site bright and early Saturday morning.  Traffic was fine, lines were fine, and the crowed was fine.  The Maryland RenFair is a great location: about twice the area of our Charlotte RenFair and has lots and lots of trees (it’s almost all shaded, and we didn’t even need to use the sun-screen we brought).  We had a great time walking around, drinking lots and lots of beer, and ogling the eye candy.  They have a reptile show and we got to see a really, freaking huge snake.  Shakespeare’s Scum was, I think, our favorite act we saw; we saw their funny versions of Richard III and Romeo & Juliette.  I solved a math puzzle presented by one of the wandering entertainers.  We ate the obligatory RenFair food (Scotch eggs!)… and did I mention the beer?  There was a lot of beer.  They also have a fun, long slide made of polished wood… and a Ren-themed bookstore where I bought a fabulous little anthropology/folklore book about werewolves written in 1930, which cracks me up reading it b/c it is so un-self-critical in it’s obvious Christian bias in that wonderfully naïve way that only a 1930’s “folklorist” could be – like he frequently refers to the MalleusMaleficarum as this definitive, authoritative source of information.  I love reading anthro/folklore work from that era in general b/c it has this Indiana Jones meets HP Lovecraft in a completely non-PC way that, assuming you don’t find it totally offensive, is really quite fun and charming.

Anyway… Shdwkitten at Ren!  Always a source of entertainment.  While I was solving the afore-mentioned math puzzle, Shdwkitten was chatting w/ this guy who complemented her ink, and then found out she was there w/ her husband and a “boyfriend” (sort of) whom she’s also seeing, and then… he starts hitting on her.  And he’s married, but he’s totally wanting to cheat on his wife (who isn’t there) w/ her.  She teased him, and it was very funny.  But then she topped that.  Because later, we were chilling, and she complemented this cute, 21-year-old, muscular guy on his ink, and then they start chatting.  Now, I’m wearing my collar and Ma’am is petting my hair while also hugging Poet, so this guy makes a reasonable assumption and asks, “Are you on Fet?”  LOL.  He turns out to me Roughmeup99 on Fet… and before we’re done, Ma’am bends him over a fence and, right in front of the crowed, God, everyone, and a couple of Japanese tourists who took pictures, she body-punches his back and claws him bloody.  LOL.  It was just a brief encounter, but we all had a good laugh, and we’re hopping to get-together again – possibly at our RenFair in Charlotte next month… *knock on wood*

The only bummer was that Saturday night Poet came down w/ a fever… which developed into strep… which caused him to miss Dragon*Con.  :(

Which brings me to my second amazing weekend: This weekend was Dragon.  For those who don’t know, Dragon*Con is one of the largest sci-fi/fantacy/gaming cons in the nation.  It’s freaking HUGE.  In fact, it’s too huge, which is why I haven’t gone to one in five or six years.  My first Dragon was in 1990 or ’91, back when it was just in one hotel and a few thousand people.  Then it grew to 2 hotels and was cool… 3 hotels was alright for a while.  But now attendance is over 50,000 people and it’s in 5 hotels.  The last one Ma’am and I went to in ’07 or ‘08 was so f-ing crowded that we just didn’t have a good time.  We felt like we were either standing in lines or crushed in crowds all… day… long.  So we both kind of said: Never again.

Never say never.

Sir contacted Ma’am a couple of days before Dragon and let her know he had an extra badge available.  I thought it over… and said, what the hell?  I’m so glad I did b/c I had a great time. 

Traveling solo, I arrived Friday evening and joined Sir and some friends in the Point of View Lounge for drinks and a game of Cards Against Humanity (the other game where the rules are made up and the points don't matter).  We had so much fun, and were laughing so much that three ladies from a neighboring table asked to join us.  George (Game of Thrones) Martin was also sitting at a neighboring table.  Unfortunately he didn’t ask to join us, b/c it would have been great to say we played Cards Against Humanity w/ George RR Martin.  (I didn’t see it, but Sir said that Martin was carrying a sign earlier that read, “Be nice to me or Tyrion gets it!”  LOL.)  The card game (somehow) led directly to sexy-fun-time back in our room.  I think it had something to do w/ being gang-banged by the Blue Man Group…?  I don’t know – I just seem to remember that at one time I had like four people biting me.

I had some great roommates, including a couple of our extended-pack members – Bishop & Gwynn.  The way I’ve explained our pack before (and this is just my take on it; I don’t speak for anybody else here): we have the sort of “core” group of pups who recognize Loki as our Alpha in some more-or-less formal, D/s way and we follow his protocols (which I think consist only of “Do what the fuck Sir tells us” and “Don’t like olives”), and that’s myself, Tebow, Soma, and Hunter... then there’s this more nebulous group of other pups who surround us and we also have loads of fun with, and that includes a wonderful couple of non-domestic-canine puppies: Bishop (hyena) and Gwynn (wolf).

Saturday morning, Sir had to do one of his speaking panel things, and an old friend of mine (one who I went to Dragon with back in ’90 or ’91 when we were teenagers) joined us for the day.  After Sir’s panel, we hiked over to the Dealer’s Room – which was huge and sprawling and labyrinthine.  At times I wasn’t sure if we were going to ever make it back out again.  I did drool over some Star Wars motorcycle/replica jackets, but I didn’t find anything that I both wanted and could afford.  (Although later I did buy a used-kilt off Bishop, so that was cool!)  Eventually we got out of the Dealer’s Room and got some food.  My friend and I tried to get in on a Marvel Supper Heroes RPG game but it filled-up.  That was disappointing b/c I haven’t played Marvel Super Heroes in like 20 years.  One slot opened on a classic dungeon crawl game so I let my friend take that… and so I headed back upstairs to rejoin Sir and co.  We went to the FeLife meet-n-greet.  I saw Noir (my Owner's Ma'am's Sir), but otherwise it was a bust b/c they held it right next to the karaoke and it was too, damn loud to meet-n-greet… so we left that to go to LGBT Rainbow Flag Party.  Sir had me on-leash, which always makes me a very happy puppy doggie!  *wags*  But this night it also served a practical function, as Sir was wearing his (incredibly awesome!!!) steampunk Saint Bernard leather-pup hood, which meant he couldn’t see well, so, leashed to him, I was also kind of acting as a seeing-eye-dog.

We left the party before it was too terribly late and went back to our hotel room for more sexy-fun-time.  I got pounced, and Sir and I had some wickedly primal sex.  He was in, as they say, “a mood.”  There was some pretty ferocious biting, clawing, howling, snarling, and growling from both of us; my brain just exploded – flooded w/ stimuli, I couldn’t tell whether I was horny, frightened, raging, exhausted, or super-energized… and there were blood stains on the bed sheets before we were done.  (I actually don’t remember how we finished; I think I actually just passed-out at some point.)  It was really, really good sex.  We woke-up still horny in the wee hours of the morning and somehow managed to have sex again, w/ less snarling and barking, w/o waking our roommates.

I saw lots of great costumes at Dragon... and lots of yummy eye candy, too.  There was at least one really hot Catwoman I saw, and a hot female Jango Fet... and one girl in leather fantasy armor who looked quite nice.  Lots of fursuiters, too, and some of those suits were just amazing.

I left shortly after Sunday breakfast.  I’ve decided that I would like to do Dragon again in the future.  Probably not next year – maybe every-other year – but only for a day!  The whole 4-day Dragon weekend is just way, way too much for me these days.  2 nights and 1 day was plenty.  I drove home Sunday and collapsed, physically and emotionally exhausted.  Fortunately there’s nothing on the calendar next weekend b/c I’m going to stay home and do nothing!  :)

Inclusive-Exclusive Balance… and Werewolf Porn

I always enjoy reading what Race Bannon writes. Recently that included:

“I believe it’s a fact that most gay men would rather play in the presence of only gay men, that most most lesbians would rather play in the presence of only lesbians, and that most heterosexuals would rather play in the presence of other heterosexuals. I think that’s totally natural. Some absolutely enjoy mixed places and I think that’s great. But I contend most kinksters do not”

The rest of the post about the virtues of exclusivity can be found at:

http://bannon.com/2013/07/07/are-we-too-inclusive/

If you have the time, you should go and read it.  It's okay; I'll wait.

  

I’m going to approach this by contrasting my two main playgrounds: CAPEX and Dominion.

CAPEX is an education-based gateway group and a huge open door.  We prid ourselves as being the most welcoming group in the region.  We welcome littles and adult babies, old-school leather M/s couples, puppies, rope fetishists, and pretty much anything else… and of any gender or sexual orientation.  (We even have one fursuiter if you count the bunny.)  I’ve always been very proud of that about my home club.  I’m extremely proud that in our 13 years of existence no (rational) person has ever found CAPEX to be exclusive or cliquish.  Kinksters of all types, genders, and orientations have pretty much always left a CAPEX event saying that they were made to feel very, very welcome.  That’s very cool.

Dominion is men-only.  Admission is (technically) screened; you have to get an invite or else get an okay from Master Dan or Sir Loki before you walk in.  While that is rather different from CAPEX… it’s still a great environment.  I have lots of fun there, enjoy the play, and have met some cool people.

The drama factor?  CAPEX has a reputation for “group politics drama.”  It’s true, about every 3 years we have some big meltdown.  However, as I always point out in our defense, it’s not b/c we’re a bunch of drama-queens.  No, it’s b/c CAPEX is a democratic organization that has elections every 6 months and averages around 100 members – so w/ that set-up, there will be drama.  In some ways, this is good.  Namely, I think this why CAPEX has survived 13 years and 3 or 4 meltdowns: there’s a widespread sense of ownership.  This is our group.  And when people start getting burnt-out, there are others who step in and pick-up the burden.  I know of very few "dictatorship" groups that have lasted 13 years.

Because of our rules and procedures, getting someone booted out of CAPEX (which is necessary on rare occasions) is like getting a bill through congress.  Getting someone booted from Dominion (which is likewise necessary on rare occasions) essentially consists of Sir and Master Dan coming to an agreement.  That makes it sooooo much easier to keep out the trolls and the creeps and the jerks.

Sex vs. no-sex play spaces?  Every 3 or 4 years somebody tries to change the rules at CAPEX to allow sex at our parties.  I have always argued against allowing sex (and I always win).  I have nothing against sex… but my view is that CAPEX is an education-based group targeted at new people, most of our members have been in BDSM only a few years, and we don’t screen people coming in.  Not allowing sex seems like a prudent call for such a group.

There’s no doubt, however, that Bannon is correct about pansexual parties being less sexy.  Dominion has much more of a sexual charge and the activities are more sexual.  CAPEX (primarily) is much more of a “pure” S/m party – it’s mostly about hurting and being hurt.  So… yeah, it’s kind of cool to be in the dungeon, get your ass beat by your Sir, taken off the cross, and dropped to you knees to blow him right there in the dungeon.  It’s a bonding experience.  LOL

(And I suppose I could add to this list a third, more exclusive level – our private, usually-twice-a-year Treehouse parties which are strictly invitation only and sex is “not only allowed but encouraged.”)

It’s not, for me a matter of: you must choose one or the other.  I can have both.  Our community can have room for both!  It’s stupid to say that every club/event/party needs to be pansexual and inclusive… and it’s stupid to say that none should be.  Not every group or space needs to be open to everybody at all times and that is okay.  Balance is good.

All of that being said, there is a form of exclusivity that, I believe, has no place in our community.  The we-are-better-than-you bullshit.  I’ve not encountered a lot of this first-hand, but I’m hearing (second hand) about this going on a lot more.  This attitude of our way is the TRUE way.  If you don’t do M/s like this then you’re not a TRUE Master/slave.  If you’re not old-school leather then you’re not the real deal – you’re just a kinkster.  What a bunch of BS!  That’s a kind of exclusivity that we don’t need anywhere.  And I think what Bannon was getting at is that in moving away from that kind of (bad) exclusivity we’ve moved to a different kind of (bad) inclusiveness that isn’t a logical connection.  I can say “M/s is not any better than other kinky dynamics,” and still support a MAST chapter which is an exclusively M/s group… b/c it’s not a blanket rejection (i.e. 'the rest of you aren’t as good as us'); it’s just a definition of what kind of group you have.

And now for something completely different:  (SQUIRREL!)

So, we don’t have cable, but I finally got around to watching the new Teen Wolf series.  (Filmed in Atlanta; I recognize some of the buildings in the background.)  Loving it.  I picked-up season 1 and 2, and I’ve been marathon-ing them this weekend.  For those who don’t know me: Werewolves are like porn for me.  Literally.  Porn.  There’s a scene in season 1 where, on the night of the full moon, the hero is handcuffed to a radiator by his best friend… and then his friend brings him water in a dog bowl.  I got an instant hard-on.  (Or I would have if I weren't locked up.)  Werewolf + handcuffs + doggie bowl = sex.  (Well, for me anyway...)  So, a dozen episodes in, and I am insanely horny by now, Ma’am is away for the weekend and I’m not allowed to touch myself, and the only reason that I’m able to obey right now is b/c I’m locked in a chastity cage.  Otherwise I’d be humping everything in the house.  *frustrated growl*

No Safe Word: Human puppies 201

I need to share some cool links to the No Safe Word podcast.  I got to (briefly) meet Sparky last month when he came to our Atlanta Dominion party.  We didn’t get much chance to talk b/c soon he was busy tying-up and ball-busting Leo while Sir was busy flogging me on the neighboring cross.  (Well, it was a Dominion party.)  Toward the end of podcast episode 37, Sparky says Atlanta Dominion was “awesome,” and does some namedropping (or attempts to).  Neat to have a shout-out for our little club.

Now, this is going to appear to be only about puppy play, but even if you’re thinking, ‘that’s not my thing,’ bear w/ me because a lot of this just has to do w/ community organization, leadership, and inclusiveness.

Episode 38 (the most recent one) is a really good interview w/ IPC’s International Pup 2014 Slavepup Axel (whose new blog is also worth checking out).  It’s really good – informative and entertaining.  Where No Safe Word episode 02 was a fantastic puppy 101 talk (listen to it if you haven’t), I think this one is like the 201 talk.  It gets more into the organization of the pup community (hey, “organized pup” isn’t always an oxymoron), and kind of expands into this meta-level conversation around pup-ing: handlers, moshes, contests…  They have a great take on the whole international title holders contests “controversy” thing that was a whole tempest in a teapot last year.  *rolls eyes*

There’s a great conversation in there about inclusiveness.  At one point Axel says some of the Leathermen “don’t think of us as part of the leather community, and we’re really not – we’re really kinksters.”  Someone else (I don’t remember who) points out that sometimes when you say “leather” you mean specifically the old guard gay leather community and sometimes you mean all of these things – to which Axel suggests the term “kink-fuckers” as a more inclusive alternative to “leather.”  Not a bad idea.  I like kink-fuckers.  But am I a kink-fucker or a kink-fuckee?

But there is this question of where and how does our community fit in to the leather community.  Obviously we overlap w/ them… but we also overlap heavily w/ the furry community for that matter.  But it does seem that for both the TNG and the pup community there is a sense of judgmental-ism and exclusivity coming from a certain segment of the leather crowed.

I also loved the throw-away line: a puppy mosh “is basically like a gay bar for pups.”  LOL

As someone who started into the pup thing almost ten years ago, it really does amaze me how much the puppy community has started to grow just in the last few years.  It’s crazy!  For like five years I was the only pup I knew – certainly the only person who identified as “pup” (b/c, for instance, boy Andy would pup-out w/ me sometimes but he didn’t really identify as a pup).  I really think I may have been the only pup in North Carolina for a time.  Now there are contests and moshes and pup-nights just springing up all over (well... not in North Carolina, but all over everywhere else).  We must be one of the fastest growing segments of the kink community.  (Does this finally make me an early adopter?)

Anyway – the No Safe Word podcast is always fun and informative; I recommend it in general - but if you are curious about pup play, I really, really recommend you check out 02 (if you’re new and starting w/ the 101 stuff) and 38 (for a more meta-level conversation about the evolving – and really very new but rapidly expanding – puppy community).  Great stuff!

Headspace: Puppy, S/m, and Sex

I think one of the ways that I am a little different from other pups (or maybe not – I don’t know) is that my headspace for puppy play, S/m, and sex are all very closely conjoined.  It seems like that isn’t true for other pups I know.  I think it comes from being what Sir calls an "innate pup."

I’m a pain slut.  I like getting ruffed-up.  I love to be bit and scratched.  I like being punched too.  And having my hair pulled.  Now, anybody who has been in the dungeon w/ me when I’m getting my ass beat knows (because I can be a bit loud) that I tend to bark and growl a lot while I’m bottoming.  Part of it is my way of processing pain… and also my way of feeding energy back to my Top.  My Owner hates stoic bottoms.  If she’s beating, bighting, scratching, or cutting somebody and they are just sitting there like a slab of meat, she’ll get board and stop the scene.  I am not a stoic bottom.  When I get hit or bit or cut, I make noise.  The Tops who like to play w/ me and whom I like to play with feed off this energy I’m throwing off.  We like it loud and sweaty and primal. 

That’s why I like my S/m to be more about primal energy that technique.  I’ve played w/ many Tops w/ outstanding technical skill… but I prefer it to be a bit more raw and hands on.  Some toys are cool (I like thuddy toys best) and some bondage is okay (I’m not a huge bondage fetishist, but some is cool – I generally like blindfolds, hoods, and gags)… but if you want to get me going, use your body.  Use your teeth, your fists, your nails…  Growl in my ear.  Beat me, bight me, lick me, scratch me, kiss me, edge me, beat me some more, edge me some more – repeat as necessary.

I growl and bark to process pain and send off energy, but I also do it b/c when I’m in a good S/m scene I tend to get into a non-verbal headspace.  It’s very primal for me.  That’s why I growl and yelp and bark.  I can ride the pain and channel the energy to let the inner animal out… which is also a very spiritual thing for me.  I’m very much into the whole shamanic, animal-spirit thing.  I love to feel the canine inside come forward and take over and the human monkey-mind recedes for a while.  (S/m for me is sooooo far away from the whole, idiotic myth of masochist feel guilt and some weird inner need for punishment.  My head trip is nothing like that.  It’s… empowering.)

What kind of scene do I love?

One of my favorite things to do is to do a heavy S/m scene and then drop straight into pup-mode.  I know this is odd for most other pups who find the two headspaces to be very different.  But when I’ve had a good beating, I am really halfway into pup-space already.  I love if when my Top takes me down from the cross after beating the shit out of me and then pets me, licks me, nips me, scritches me, says “good boy”… helps me into my paws and knee pads… hooks on my leash, lets me have some water out of a dog bowl… and then just keeps me there in pup mode for an hour or so.  I love that!  I can usually drop into a really good pup-space after a good beating.  Let me pup-out for a while… and maybe even let the puppy show his affection and gratitude w/ some yummy, licky, growly, puppy sex.

Ah, yes.  Sex.

I know a lot of pups and Handlers don’t mix sex w/ their puppy play.  I also know some sadomasochists who don’t mix sex w/ their S/m.  For me, these things are all inter-connected.  I like primal sex.  Even if I’m not in pup-mode, I tend to growl, and lick, and nip, and scratch, and drool, and bark, and yelp.  In my head, good sex has much the same impact as good S/m – it shuts out the human monkey-mind and lets the inner animal come out.  I like sex that’s very primal and aggressive.  I like to feel taken.  I like to feel like I’m being taken by a force of nature.  I love that, I don’t know if it’s going to eat me or fuck me, but I have a hard on, so right now I don’t care which. 

An important part of sex for me is to know that I am totally in my partner’s power.  That’s so key.  Just vanilla intercourse has a frankly limited appeal for me.  I really want to be… well, I guess the word is dominated.  Whether that comes in a violent, primal pouncing or in the more traditional form of orders and bondage and humiliation – either way I love being controlled by someone else I trust and surrender to.  Sometimes Ma’am lets her were-tiger out, and she violently devours me.  I love that!  Other times, it’s just her telling me what to do and making me perform for her – like a trained dog.  I like that too.  It makes my tail wag.  :)

So, Option One:  Take me down from the cross after a rough beating and some edging, drop me in puppy mode, leash me, treat me as your pet… and maybe let your pet show his affection w/ some yummy, licky puppy sex.

Option Two: Take me down from the cross after a rough beating and some edging… get on the floor w/ me and go primal.  Bight, snarl, pounce, and violently fuck me like a pair of wild animals let loose in the dungeon.  Different scene.  Also lots of fun.

Now, mind you, I also can just do S/m, and I can just do pup play, and I can just do sex, and I can have loads of fun w/ any one of those activities.  I’m just making the point that for me, unlike other pups I know, all three of these headspaces are easily mixed and mingled in my twisted head.

Sexual Disorientation

Most people, I surmise, have discrete boxes in their head.  For most people you’re either in the “straight” box, or the “gay” box, and if you’re not in one of those then you’re bi.

Certainly I’ve not thought of myself as straight in an awful long time.  You’d almost have to go back to college days in Knoxville.  My best-friend/roommate was gay (still is, in fact – gay, not my roommate) and I used to hang w/ some of his friends and occasionally go out to the gay bars w/ him… and at that time “straight but not narrow” was definitely the accurate label for me.  But back then I didn’t even have a concept of my own kinky sexuality.  I mean, I was always turned-on by whips, chains, leather, and latex… but it was all just fantasy stuff then – I had no idea there was a safe, sane, healthy way to pursue all of that.  Once I did get into the BDSM scene, I soon dropped the label “straight.”

Anyway, back to the 3-box approach.  Some folks will say:  Look, if you have sex only w/ people of the opposite gender then you’re straight; if you have sex only with those of the same gender then you’re gay; and if you have sex with both, then you’re bi.  That’s a pretty sound approach, and I can’t argue with that.  From that standpoint I have no issue with being labeled bi.

On the other hand, there’s another way to look at it, which is who you’re physically attracted to, and that’s slightly different than who you have or haven’t danced the hokie-pokie with.  I recall a really interesting study that was done in which scientists showed subjects pictures of men and women while a special camera recorded their eye movement.  When you see someone you find attractive, you’ve iris automatically dilates some.  One fascinating aspect of this is that this reaction is automatic and unconscious.  That means, even if you were super repressed and deep in the closet even to yourself, that this test would still find you out.  (It also, by the way, offers yet more scientific evidence that sexual orientation isn’t a lifestyle choice but something programmed in our biology.)

As I explained once before in a previous post, I’m not, as a rule, attracted to other guys.  I’ve been hanging out w/ gay people for my whole adult life and one thing I’ve noticed is that gay men are always checking out other men.  This isn’t at all surprising; straight men are always checking out girls.  This I also know from first hand experience.  A pretty girl goes by and, sure, I turn my head to watch.  (Of course, if a motorcycle goes past, I turn my head and bark at it… and if a pretty girl on a motorcycle goes by, I bounce up and down and vibrate fiercely.)  Meanwhile, my Owner, who is definitely bisexual in this sense, is quite equally attracted to men and women.  If a pretty boy or girl walks by, her head turns.  (Though usually Shdwkitten is the one turning heads.)  For her, gender doesn’t seem to make a difference regarding physical attraction.  But for me, I would expect, on the afore-mentioned iris-dilation test, my eyes would not react to very many pictures of men… unless they tapped in to some fetish of mine, which changes the whole game.  In terms of physical attraction at least, I’m “mostly straight.”  Guys – good-looking or otherwise – just don’t really get my attention that way.

So what about “hetroflexible?”  Well… I have issues w/ that word.  It bugs me.  It’s just the sound of it.  I’ve always said that it sounds like the yuppie version of “bisexual.”  Like I’m supposed to be wearing a collared polo shirt and slacks, aviator glasses, cut my hair, and be upwardly mobile.  “Look at me; I’m not bi; I’m heteroflexible.”  :P

My Fet profile somewhat begrudgingly says “hetroflexible” mostly b/c I think that will probably be the more accurate-ish descriptor for the primary clientele of Fet.  On the other hand, I was on PupZone long before Fet, and my PupZone account has always said, “bisexual” – but of course most of the guys on PupZone are gay; it’s a different crowed w/ different definitions.

Now, some people get really bent out of shape if you don’t classify them by their chosen label, but that’s certainly not me.  Words mean what we use them to mean.  There is never a “What does X really mean?” only “What do we mean by saying X when we use it?”  That’s one reason why I really don’t care what you call me; just don’t call me late to dinner.

Busy Summer Highlights

Just time to do a quick recap on recent events.

So, the first weekend of the month, Shdwkitten and I went to the beach to visit her parents.  We didn’t manage to squeeze in any mini-golf due to rain (wolfhounds love mini-golf!), but we did go fly a kite on the beach which was almost as cool.

On the 3^rd of July, my lovely Owner took me out to Charlotte’s UpStage along w/ two of her paramours.  We thought it was our usual kinky karaoke night, but there was actually an open mic thing at the bar that night, which brought a lot of vanilla people into our crowd’s usual Wednesday night hang out.  It was all cool, but there were a lot of “who are those people” looks from both sides of the room.  We had fun, geeked-out about comic book movies and obscure bands, drank a lot, and stayed out until 3 AM.

The next day was Independence Day, and I had to drive in the pouring rain (on like 4 hours of sleep) to Atlanta for Sir’s 4^th of July bar-b-q.  It was totally worth it.  I was there early along w/ Nitro and Master Dan (AtlantaRubber), and it was nice to spend a couple of hours just chill’n around the kitchen table drinking rum & coke and munching on potato chips.  Eventually we had like ten other guys arrive – almost all of them puppies, so thanks must go to Sir’s husband for opening his home to all of our craziness.  We didn’t break anything, but we did manage to dump half the water out of the hot tub.  Got another 4 or 5 hours of sleep before driving home (while eating cookies – b/c wolfhounds love cookies!), crawling into my kennel, and napping the day away, because…

The next day was, for Ma’am and me, Domination at the BoilerRoom in Asheville along with Noir and SanguineSnow.  This is a TNG, heavily geek-themed, kinky bar night that brings out a pretty fun crowed.  The costumes may range from leather and latex to Ewoks.  (No shit, Ewoks.)  Haven’t seen any fursuiters yet, but I’m waiting.  I got to watch Noir do a great scene w/ Sanguine and Shdwkitten… and later there were two hook suspensions.  Very cool.  The only downside was the girl who got hooked was wandering around the bar afterwards w/ blood on her.  She could have easily pulled on a shirt or a jacket or something, but no…  I’m not really blood-phobic, but that bugged me.  Common courtesy, people – use it.

Other than Domination, we also just really had fun hanging w/ Noir and Sanguine.  Discussions covered what we like and don’t like in evolutionary psychology, how we all want to see a Saturday morning cartoon called Cathulu Babies, to how hot Shdwkitten looks… and let the record denote the very important fact that another beautiful woman wants to fuck me w/ a strap-on.  *Wags*  (Wolfhounds love sexy women w/ strap-on’s!)

The next weekend, which was this last weekend, my ex-girlfriend and her husband came down from Michigan for a visit.  This was a definite highlight of the summer.  We haven’t seen her in about five years… which is unfortunate b/c she’s a good friend both to me and my Owner and her husband is also a really cool guy – and doubly unfortunate be/c they own a liquor store, a tobacco store/humidor, and a head shop… so when they visit they bring the best gifts: like two bottles of wine, a MASSIVE bottle of 1800 Silver, and some Johnny Walker double black (the smoothest scotch I’ve ever tried), along w/ various other things.  We spent a lot of time happily discussing religion and politics - the two subjects you're never supposed to discuss in polite company.  We also went spelunking (and my Owner hit her head on a rock), went hiking (and my Owner slipped and fell on a rock), and dropped in on my favorite pub up in Blowing Rock (where nothing bad happened to my Owner).

Since it’s a 12 hour drive back to Michigan, our guests had to leave after breakfast Sunday… so Ma’am decided to take her hound back to Charlotte for Up-Stage’s bondage brunch.  We hung w/ our peeps, Ma’am got hog-tied, and I got somebody to show me a simple technique for putting the rope away after my Top is done.  Still need to practice; wolfhounds aren’t great at tying knots.  We’ll leave the fancy knot tying to Saint Bernards.

And somewhere in all of that I managed to take the FZ6 into the mountains for some cycle-therapy.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

This weekend is Atlanta Dominion, 1763’s all-male play party.  And next weekend Pup Nitro is coming to CAPEX to teach his super-sexy breath play class, and the whole puppy pack will be there.  If you’re in NC, you should join us.  See you there, maybe?

Yes, I’m still here.

I have not jumped ship on the mass exodus from Google Blogger.  Haven’t yet seen the point.

I started blogging in 2003 on Livejournal.  It was (and still is - the archive is still there) a locked blog where I used to share my thoughts w/ only about 15-20 people who could read it – all friends I actually know in the real world.  The blog dealt w/ kink stuff, but that was only about 25% of it.  Mostly it was about books, travel, movies, games, music, mythology, comic books, art, philosophy, motorcycles, and anything else I felt like essaying about.

In 2003, everybody was on LJ.  A few years later FetLife started.  I never liked Fet. (1) It’s all fetish community based, and surprisingly many of my friends aren’t kinky.  (2) It’s too busy and too “networky” for my taste.  I’m not much of one for social networking and tend to have a rather slight online presence in general.  I blog mostly as an essayist and memoirist – Fet seemed to be more about “chatting” and hooking-up.  The online equivalent of small talk at a kinky bar or party.  If I want to do that, I’ll go to an actual freaking bar or party.  (Like I am tonight – it’s kinky karaoke night at the Up Stage!)  (3)  I never liked the fact that you can’t “lock” your Fet and restrict who can view it, and at that time I was only interesting in sharing my blog w/ my friends.  (4) The ads are annoying.

However, as the years went on, more and more people left LJ and moved over to Fet.  Finally, it came to feel like nobody but yours truly was left on LJ anymore.

So I decided to try something new and, last year, started this bolg on Google.  This was new in two big ways: (1) It’s public.  Anybody can read this.  That, in turn, affected change (2):  It’s mostly about being a kinky human-puppy.  Since it is public, I’m not as comfortable making it really about me in a memoirist kind of way like the LJ blog was.  Instead, it’s mostly restricted to one interest of mine (w/ occasional tangents onto other topics).  Thus, someone reading this gets a pretty good look at Pup Emrys in the kink community but sees only peripheral glances of me in any other context – which is what I prefer since most of you reading this are strangers to me.

After building-up the blog for a few months, I did finally relent and create a nominal presence on Fet – mostly just to make it easier for people to get in touch w/ me, and to direct people to this blog.  Why Google Blogger?  Well, I do like the easy-to-use format.  It has more features than LJ.  It’s not chit-chatty like Fet and doesn’t have annoying ads.  And most of the other leather-pups I was getting to know last year were already on blogger.

“Were.”

Recently, as most of you probably already know, Google “changed” its terms of service for adult content blogs.  In fact, so far as I can tell, it wasn’t a change at all, but they reiterated something that was always there.  Which is:

“Adult Content: we do allow adult content on Blogger, including images or videos that contain nudity or sexual activity. But, please mark your blog as 'adult' in your Blogger settings. Otherwise, we may put it behind a 'mature content' interstitial.

There are some exceptions to our adult content policy:

Do not use Blogger as a way to make money on adult content. For example, don't create blogs where a significant percentage of the content is ads or links to commercial porn sites. No incest or bestiality content: we do not allow image, video or text content that depicts or encourages incest or bestiality.”

Despite the fact that it says, “we do allow adult content” (obviously; why else have the “adult content” warning label) it looks like many pups and kinksters interpreted that otherwise and decided to jump ship and take their blogs elsewhere (which is fine w/ me – I’m not partisan here).  But the policy looks to me to come down to: ‘We allow legal adult content as long as you aren’t making money off it.’  Okay, I’m cool w/ that b/c I don’t want to make a buck off my blog and I sure as hell don’t want anybody else making a buck off my blog (i.e. through ads).  So, for now, I’m still here.  Now, who knows – Google might suddenly delete me at any moment, but that seems, to me, unlikely.

P.S.  I hate Facebook.  To me, its format is even more annoying than Fet is.