SinSations Leather Chicago Saturday-Monday

Whoever thought that a piss play class at 10am on Saturday morning was a good idea is cruel. In fact, I must have offended the scheduling gods, as both my classes this weekend were first class slot of each day. Perhaps the scheduling folks heard I can teach with glee in the morning, fake it til ya make it baby. I was reminded of Barbara Carellas saying “oh, thank you for yawning- yawning is a sign that you are trying to get more oxygen to your brain, which means you obviously WANT to be paying attention to this class!” And meaning it.After my piss play class, we took Femcar up to my room to shower off, and I got to give some rope ideas to one of her lovers, then catch the 2nd half of Graydancer’s Defining Moment class, which tapped into where I plan on going on some of my own lecture projects I’m working on. After that class, I ended up overhearing him talking with a gent about the fear of escalating kink desires, and he and I ended up having some great moments.Him: But people keep saying make kink your own, there are no rules. Then they say “but you can’t do that!” Which is it?Me: So you know anything about music and DJing?Him: Oh yes.Me: So, you get told that you need to not plug in red wires to red ones, right?Him: Right.Me: And not to turn up the subwoofers too loud or you’ll blow out the gear.Him: Right.Me: Does that actually tell you how to DJ?Erotic energetic exchange, kinky sex, etc… they are all art forms. There is some stuff that is just wrong- but even the wrong stuff can be doable for the right artist (I think of painters- the average painter needs brushed and paint and a canvas, and then they have to develop a style influenced by others and their own vision, but some artists can paint with a coffee cup, body fluids, and a floor, and have it be art). Sometimes you have the wrong audience. You might be the best House or Techno DJ in the world, but if your audience only knows Country music, no one will dance, and you might be booed out of town.He, his wife and I end up hanging out over lunch. And talking. For 4 hours. It’s the kind of in depth stuff I tend to do with students or acolytes, but it was delightful to be a mentor just for mentorship sake. I adore mentoring, I am really good at it, and it’s a good chunk of what I do with students. They say they are hiring me to teach them rope- we end up spending half our time talking about psychology, history, life coaching, non-kink stuff etc. It was really good though, and there will be shared music.Meal times were good at SinSations. Good people, decent food, and people making space for strangers in their life. Vendor row, the 2nd floor of the hotel (we had the entire hotel) was good shopping. I was able to pick up something for Rose, able to schmooze with people, and have a few hilarious moments with friends like Barak. I even got piercing quills for Coral- yum.I met someone new this weekend, Blood Tiger. She and I knew each other through Graydancer mostly, but had tons of other people in common. After dinner, she, Graydancer and I hung out watching the fire play demo, that to be honest having hung out with Michael Sol, Adam Jarvey, and WAY too many burningman kids, I was underwhelmed. I know how much more can be done, especially if it is billed as a special event, not just as a class. Fireballs are fun, but what about exploding ropework, fire cupping, dramatic fleshing techniques, coil patterns, fire breathing, Kevlar glove fire fucking (thank you Cosmic for that idea), etc? I know a lot about fire play, but its not my passion so I don’t teach it, much like piercing- I can do it well, but teaching it doesn’t call to me. So, when Blood Tiger and I started connecting, then talking, then as the room cleared out I threw her up against a wall and started taking what was on the table, I didn’t feel too bad about being focused as we weren’t doing anything to distract from the floor show.We excused ourselves from public space, and spent the next two or three hours laughing at how long it takes to get twenty feet.We finally came back down to the play space, and she ended up connecting with her play date (Barak), and I wandered. I stopped by a few scenes, but the energy in the space was fairly dead, and a lot of “I only know one beat and this is it” flogging stuff. Finally I ran into Scott Smith. Within five minutes I was down on the ground, screaming my head off. Thumbs between my ribs, fingers between toe bones, and more screaming as I was bruised up while to outsiders who don’t do pressure point work, it likely looked like I was screaming while being hugged or put in joint locks. I, being self-aware and full of self preservation, tried very hard not to hit him. I only punched him twice, and ended up throwing my finger into his mouth and pushing down into his soft palette til he teared up and swore- then laughed like a happy child when I took my finger back and said “my bad, really, my bad.” We ended up surrounded by the folks from Hellfire Chicago, his home club, hot gay boys forming a ¾ circle around us, and the other ¼ was Blood Tiger and Barak- a great circle to be in the middle of. In the middle of it Scott asked when I was going to get off my ass and show up at Delta.I’m not sure. Maybe in 2009, but certainly not this year. I’m emotionally not up to it yet, though it was interesting to hear the number of people who said that until Master Z outed my gender stuff during opening ceremonies (he said she 3 times, and with each one audience people said “he” loudly, until I said calmly and loudly- that’s 3 Z- if you do 10 I get to spank you- the audience laughed and he was mortified) they thought I was a gay guy, which, well, I am. Except that I have this addiction to women :)Scott and I went off to try to find FemCar, wandering through the gangbang space, but her mouth was too full to talk as it were. Back to his room to have some really important conversations, then off to find Blood Tiger again. Lots of wandering. Lots of laughs. Lots of cherry popping.On Sunday I woke up to teach my speed bondage class, and it was an interesting mix of folks- I have no idea where my head was though, as I had a shorter temper for 101 I can’t even tie my shoes folks than normal. It is listed as an intermediate to advanced class, and folks attending are supposed to know how to do larks heads and square knots in advance. Sigh. Oh well, it just meant I got to cover FAR less than I usually do in that class, but even the guy with the least skills walked away with 2 ties he could do. Then I stayed on for Graydancer’s Military Bondage class, and he ended up using me for his “working with guys” segment, which was nice, and I thought it was flattery until I realized looking around the room that I was one of the 3 largest shouldered guys in the room. Ha ha. Good class, a few good ideas, and I really have to say, Graydancer screaming “or do I have to pry out your eyeball and scullfuck you” really did it for me (sadly, it was not directed at me).Back to my room to madly pack, talk with the folks at Native American Exotics about having my Service Slut’s pony tack made, picking up a book from another vendor, then back down for a quick lunch, some weird history storytelling, and off to Lochai’s finding your artist in Shibari class. Rope flew. It was delightful. It was strange though in both Graydancer and Lochai’s class to have them defer to me- in their classes. Hm. Not sure I liked it even in the slightest. I come to classes to learn. I’m happy to share info, but I’m there to learn. But it was great to be surrounded again by my rope family.Mad planning for the Rope Theatre (Nawashi Nights) at Beyond Leather, I adore meeting fascilitation. Finally talking with Dimitri Eville for 5 minutes and figuring out that we’ve known each other for a decade through Temple of Atonement and the delicious Alexi Ninetails (plus Mistress Ilisandria DeSade). Then a quick bite out at Denny’s with Graydancer and his delightful date for the weekend (a kinky glass artist, funny enough), before Blood Tiger took me to the airport.I napped on the airport chairs, until my flight was called.“We’ve got 3 broken seats on a full flight- do we have any Vo..”My hand was up and I was over there before the word volunteer was finished.Blood Tiger came back and picked me up, a giant hot caramel apple cider in my hand for her, with a huge grin on her face and bruises still all over. We headed over to Purple J’s place and had a great time hanging out with friends for a few more hours. There was vibrating purple octopus bondage, making Graydancer’s pizza fantasies come true, hot canings, fried zucchini, flat fat cats, and a very woofy bed. Oh yeah, and seeing a certain hot man in the bath tub. By the time I left around 1am, Mistress Simone seems to have talked me into helping organize, if not produce myself, a Midwest BDSM/Sacred Sexuality event for 2009. We love Dark Odyssey, Dark Moon Rising, Paradise Unbound, BLW, Southwest Leather, etc- but there are no all-gender pagan bdsm campouts not on one of the coasts (SWLeather a slight exclusion, but ya’ll are still sw) that we know of. Plus, each of the above have their focus, and what she, Blood Tiger and I discussed was that what each of us wants to run is not quite what any of those is doing.So yeah, I’ve been nabbed into this idea. Friggin Work light.Off for a second night with Blood Tiger, talking until late indeed, and then a quick nap before I was taken back to the airport. I managed to loose my cowboy hat, but I filed a lost and found thingy, and know now where to replace it. I flew first class back home, then had a few hours of book time to myself at BWI before Ninja picked me up.So that was my weekend. Add in good chats and texts with Rose and my Service Slut, catching up with friends, having renewed interest in my books, offers to write more projects, a host of Woo stuff, guidance work, astral body stuff, and some personal revelations… it was a delightful weekend.