Here we go.

1. For the vast majority of my childhood, and in fact into my late twenties, I had a horrible fear of Malificent, the witch queen from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. It stemmed from a re-occurring dream featuring Maleficent turning my mother into a dove and taking her place in my house. Terrifying.

2. I’ve had a stutter my whole life. It comes and goes but I would never – NEVER – wish that it was gone.

3. Pink lemonade is my favourite (non-caffeinated) cold drink.

4. I once was on stage with Penn & Teller when they performed here in Toronto. YEARS ago. They came out onto the street at intermission to pick people from the house to help them in the first bit of the second half. I got picked. My friend didn’t.

5. I read books over and over again – it’s like going on vacation to someplace I really enjoy but am also very familiar with. Dune by Frank Herbert is a book like that. Pattern Recognition & Spook Country by William Gibson. Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett. Anything by Iain Banks. Or Iain M. Banks.

6. One of the nicest, most moving, most considerate gifts I’ve ever received was a purple magnetic letter Q. It was given to me by Woody Harrelson & his family.

7. I have scars that are older than me.

This would be the point where I would tag seven other people. The fact is, I’m not even sure if there are seven other sex bloggers who read this blog. So, I’ll just leave this at this. A little piece of meme.

From the article:

“In a corner of Istanbul today, the man who might be described as Turkey’s gay poster boy will be buried – a victim, his friends believe, of the country’s deepening friction between an increasingly liberal society and its entrenched conservative traditions.

Ahmet Yildiz, 26, a physics student who represented his country at an international gay gathering in San Francisco last year, was shot leaving a cafe near the Bosphorus strait this week. Fatally wounded, the student tried to flee the attackers in his car, but lost control, crashed at the side of the road and died shortly afterwards in hospital. His friends believe Mr Yildiz was the victim of the country’s first gay honour killing.

“He fell victim to a war between old mentalities and growing civil liberties,” says Sedef Cakmak, a friend and a member of the gay rights lobby group Lambda. “I feel helpless: we are trying to raise awareness of gay rights in this country, but the more visible we become, the more we open ourselves up to this sort of attack.”"

Here’s a link to the full article.

I cannot even begin to understand this. Heartbreaking and maddening.

Last night I spent about an hour refining a list that Rita Seagrave had sent to me a while back, bouncing my revisions off of a couple of like-minded folks to see if there’s anything I’m missing in the system. I’m still not finished yet, but once I am I’ll post it here for uploading. I’d be very curious to see what people think of the system.

Thinking about TESFest, now.  Worth it? Can I afford it? Can i get the time off? How would I feel about it, so soon after Shibaricon? Also, Dark Odyssey has an event towards the end of September I wouldn’t mind attending.

Decisions.  Choices.

So I was just in Vegas, and before that NYC (somewhat explaining the lack of Enthusiasm, recently), both places for work. I feel like only now am I sort of coming out of it, and back to normal. Amazing what sort of energy that sort of thing can take out of you.

On my last day in Vegas, I received a package at my hotel from Seattle which I’d been eagerly expecting. Opening it up while sitting in a coffee joint on the casino floor I found three lengths of new Twisted Monk rope. That’s it, in the middle. A sort of dark, red-purple wine colour. Gorgeous. Funny enough it’s only the second order of rope I’ve bought from Monk. Seattle, you know, it’s a ways away. To the right of it, the rope I bought from Gargoyle Toes in Montreal. To the left, some of the natural hemp I bought from the Toronto Hemp Company and treated myself.

Hopefully some more colour pics will follow.

One wonderfully submissive partner. One curious and wonderfully caring fiancé. One camera.

Four pieces of rope, one suede flogger, one steel reinforced paddle.

One hour and forty-five minutes.

A first.