The Hot MidWest World of Kink and Sex

Things continue to evolve and change in the hot sex and kinky world in Pittsburgh and beyond.

There are bumps, unfortunate downs and other negative aspects. The thing is that it only seems to get better.

People of all types and of all levels of engagement continue to invest their time, energy and many more parts of themselves to make things happen.

With texting, internet and people all over the place talking about about good and bad things, word spreads quickly.

The good seems to build and build. New people come in and learn what they like. They help others. It keeps building.

The legal aspects however seem to stay the same. The laws are so agonizingly slow to change and the older generation seems bent at times on going backwards.

I have a sense that many if not all events will shortly go into a state where one simply can not show up. You have to join hours or days earlier otherwise it is not a legally private event.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh lost its wonderful stable weekend kinky play spot. It was a surprise to the kinksters and not of our own doing. Shit happens.

Pittsburgh has moved on with many different munches, private parties and private play dates. They are listed in various Pittsburgh groups on FetLife.

I am curious about the "swinger" club, DJ's Island. I may go one day to check it out on a more fetish or BDSM like night. If you are capable of establishing relationships with someone very attractive to you, are concerned about coming across creepy and can avoid being a wall flower going alone, I would check it out if that is your thing.

There are advantages to going alone such as paying attention to others instead of yourself and who you arrive with. If you are male and can't connect with people or women at a bar or grocery store, I wouldn't bother going. I would work on getting friends with the sex you are attracted too.

I myself have many wonderful sexy friends and would go with me or I could go alone. I would make a decision based on interest, pricing and my impossible schedule.

Cleveland

OhioSmart BDSM Club is still rocking strong. It is one of my favorite clubs. I can't say enough about it. I am sadden that some people had to leave to deal with life but that is the nature of things.

They have 2 or 3 play parties a month. I wish I could go to them more often. They will also have in May, their amazing Kinko De Mayo event. 

Another wonderful "swinger" club, is Club Eros. One of these days, I hope to attend a fetish night. I checked out their web site recently and they are being selective about single men. I have a sense they are vetting men based on who knows them which is understandable.

Nearby in Akron, there is the BDSM club, Purple Rose Society.  It is amazing what they have done to the space.

Elsewhere

Maryland has an exciting new space called Studio 58. Various groups are using this wonderful large photography space for fun.

The AIS event in Columbus called Winter Wickedness happened this weekend. They have other wonderful events such as COPE (Central Ohio Perversion Excursion). 

The Dark Odyssey Winter Fire event happens in a hotel in DC. Later they have two wonderful cabin/camping events in Maryland, Fusion and Summerfest.

As of late, I have been bouncing around New York, Boston, New Hampshire, Toronto Canada and elsewhere. Each place has different restrictions such as Massachusetts laws that you can't consent to being hit (how the heck do sports work there?). They can have established clubs or people travel by train, car or bus to clubs in other states.

Getting Out There

It doesn't matter the context. One has to invest time and resources in themselves to make connections.
Whether it is sexual alternative lifestyles, business or dating, one has to make connections.

I spent more than a few months meeting people, asking questions and using those answers to understand myself when I entered the kinky world. I was a clueless newbie who only understood things from what I read online, books and my own experiences.

As part of that learning and exploring, I had to watch my own ability to learn. The more negative distractions I have, the harder it is.

Every time I go some place,  I work on keeping my expectations low. It is so much easier to go from low expectations to wonderful exciting fun than deal with missed expectations.

My car could break down. People I was planning to meet couldn't make it. People get sick. Normal every day stuff like job, family and other relationships can take priority. It can also be something more subtle like being upset about something at work or struggling to understand where I am with an important me relationship.

I work to recognize when things are off for myself. I get more careful with expressing myself and I try to express that any missteps in conversations is my issue with being "off" or "somewhat out of it".

I don't beat myself up for spending my time, my money and getting all dressed up if all I do is talk to people or nurse a beverage all night watching and listening to people.

The important thing is to get out there, say hello and be curious. 

Go to munches, go to parties, smile and enjoy the moment. Being seen, engaging to some small degree to learn from others, communicating honestly and not spoiling other people's fun is the best approach.

Many people can sense desperation and needy behaviors. Conversations that are focused around "me me me", what you know and what you are unattractive. Subtle boundary missteps are "red" flags and cause people to exit conversations.

Doors are opened by learning and connecting.

The "real" Fifty Shades of Grey

I haven't read the fan fiction. I have been told it is a tough read.

I will be seeing the movie. I suspect it will be an eye opener for possibilities for many. It will allow main stream folks in the United States to discuss and explore more. This is an excellent.

For me, the reality is that real kinky fun will be either somewhat different or exceedingly different from the movie. It is a reality that I live in and enjoy.

For example, I recently went to a lovely performance about rope bondage in New York City. It was a blast. I got to see two fantastic people do very high end and impossible rope for most people. Most people can not bend like Gorgone and I suspect she spent an hour warming up her body like any athletic performer.

Naka and Gorgone performance in NYC

My advice is that if you are limited in your abilities or time to invest into meeting and learning about the kinky world, you can use a wonderful resource like Kink Academy. It is fair and honest treatment for a few dollars each month.

The videos are wonderful and down to earth. They explain things and can answer a good number of questions.

There isn't any illusion about telling a story, hiding the pauses and the retakes or always using very attractive and impressive models.

They are teaching online what kinksters teach to each other.

Meanwhile I look forward to main stream raising their awareness and possible understanding. The books for 50 Shades of Grey did. No doubt the movie will do more.

Have fun and take baby steps to learn and explore. Build things up to a wonderful climax!

DC GRUE

After coming back from Floating World, running around dealing with day to day life and work, my friend and I headed off to the Washington DC GRUE.

Meet and Greet

We left mid-day and drove down to the hotel, checked in and went off to the meet and greet at a wonderful restaurant in Union Station called Thunder Grill. They had set up a long row of tables and it was overflowing with smiling facing chatting away. We sat down and ordered and talked to the people around us after saying hello and hugging the people we knew. It was a blast.

After a long fun dinner, we headed off to the hotel which was a few blocks away, got into our hotel room and cuddled with the alarm set to get our butts off to the Crucible Club before 9:30AM.

GRUE and Crucible

After checked in and got our wrists bands for attending, no photos and other little things resolved. We walked into the Crucible play space. It is a delightful large space with multiple levels and a side room. There were a variety of places to hang out and chat.

Upstairs people were gathering for the start of the GRUE. I had grabbed coffee on the lower level before heading up. I need my morning coffee and our attempt to get Starbucks had ended unsuccessfully at a closed shop.

Graydancer started the GRUE showing us the normal empty wall and indicating with a smile that the class list would be up shortly. As I had experienced in the past, it did. It was actually overflowing and very diverse.

A woman I meet the night before had expressed interest in a discussion session. I asked her if she was going to do it and she was unsure. I got a piece of paper and asked her to write the title of the class, put my scene name on it and put it up. When the discussion happened later that day, the normal open magic happened and there were many smiling faces in evidence during the session. I think she benefited from it. I sure did.

I was proud of my friend for organizing a rope bottom discussion. She rocks and did well. It behaved to some degree as expected with several doms in attendance including myself. I kept somewhat quiet but did participate since I had combined one of my discussions with this session.

The GRUE was extended by some time, I can't remember and then the closing circle happened. Yet again, it seemed like the wonderful good energy happened and many smiles abounded. It is one of the reasons I enjoy the GRUE.

Play party

My girl friend and I rushed off to shower and change so we can meet her friend's for dinner. She picked a wonderful place with great Thai food but inconsistent service. We chatted and then both couples headed off to the Crucible.

It was a shock to see cars and cars and cars all over the place. The clubs were busy and there was a major sports event nearby. The place was packed. The couple we were with found a space for us and we happily parked the car. Yay!

I grabbed my rope bag and walked off to the play party with my sexily dressed girlfriend. As we got close by, the place was hot with good looking sexy people! It made me smile, we entered and the Crucible looked totally different with the bright lights off, cool music and entertainment lights on. People were talking, laughing and sceneing. Of course, the scenes generated a fair share of whimpers, moans, groans and pleasurable erotic sounds.

After a while, I connected up with a wonderful woman and her boyfriend that I know from Pittsburgh. She suggested a co-topping scene with her boyfriend tied up. It was fun tying him up in a partial suspension and watching her play with him. The comment I loved best during the scene was about how she was more sadistic then him. I knew that would feed into the next scene.

The next scene was tying her up. In both scenes, I was doing a certain about of experiments with my ropes. I didn't quite like what happened with her hip harness and how it interacted with her arms as I suspended her totally off the floor. Meanwhile the boyfriend who had his nipples clamped by her earlier returned the favor. I soothingly told her that the pain subsides over time which it does.

The flip side is that taking off nipple clamps causes the blood to rush back in. It is a wicked amount of pain in a short amount of time. He removed them near the end of the rope scene with her arms still bound. Both of their reactions were wonderful.

I teased her a bit more with a finger tip circling a nipple occasionally as I unwound my ropes. The nipples are so sore and rubbing them is wicked after removing clamps that accidentally bumping into them is a mind play.

The "After" GRUE & Pancakes

I had paid for me and my girlfriend to stay at the Crucible after the play party as part of a "After GRUE" sleep over. Alas, I was crashing hard around 1AM and like my showers, we said our hellos and went to the hotel for some sleep.

In the morning, we listened to the fun things that happened later after we left. I wished I could have stayed but to do events one has to manage their sleep.

Graydancer's cheap ass pancakes and the rest of breakfast was great. Hit the spot with wonderful kinky company. People were in good although sleep deprived moods.

We stayed around and watched a Lew Ruben style suspension done by Graydancer on DoNotGoGently. It was hot and Cherry Coke took wonderful pics on her non-digital camera. Amazing fun stuff.

After noon at some point, my cute kitty girlfriend and I headed to the car and headed home. What a wonderful weekend.

My Bookend: Floating World 2010

My cute and sexy playmate Raven and I returned from Floating World on Monday. The car ride back was 6 hours of road time plus about 2 hours of stops for food and the like. We had wonderful discussions on the way back.

The Ride Out

We talked about her feelings, what happened and compared them to what she was thinking and expecting on the ride out. The ride out was an anxious one for Raven. Her stomach was flipping, she wanted a degree of security in me and she was anxious she wouldn't fit in or something.

I was really proud of her during Floating World. She was making friends at a huge event. She got into more of her kitty side to the point where a Domme came up with huge smiles and asked if they could have kitty in their pony, puppy & kitty show. She had several play dates with an almost magical impact player, she rocked. Overall the glow in her face after crappy months with an unscheduled surgery was priceless to me.

My one regret of the event with Raven is that my dork level hit. I finished a rope scene and then proceeded to walk the perimeter of the event looking for her doing her impact play scene. Floating World is huge so I did various circles. Well it turned out they did the scene like 20 steps from my scene. My power of observation failed me, I was looking past them always.

My 1st Floating World

Floating world is a huge event. The classes cover many subjects touching on spiritualism, rope, knifes, impact, strap-ons, etc.

When I walked into Floating World last year, it was my first event. I was a complete dork but happy some people were wearing blue jeans. I made some mistakes like walking into the vendor's area before it was open and staying at a hotel in the next town over.

My first class last year had some title I don't remember but the real subject was "How not to be a Creepy Male". It was being taught by a rigger and had about 4 women (who were obvious fans), one guy and myself. I learned some things about attending events related to clothing and volunteering. I also learned some good things about shaving. The rest of the class I have known for years so I just smiled.

Between classes, I went to the vendor's area and started looking at leather clothing. I couldn't break down and buy a leather vest. It wasn't me. On the other hand, I was giddy as I went to Purple Passion (bought their stuff before) and bought my first pair of leather pants. Yay!

The rest of my 1st Floating World was a bit of a struggle. I was definitely intimidated and a bit lost ignoring the clothes and things. I walked into the playspace when it opened the first night and was overwhelmed by impact and fire play. The only rope I saw was done to spread eagle people on furniture, crosses or whatnot.

Where was the rope?

Two nights in a row, I left sometime before midnight. It was fun to meet people but I couldn't shake the feeling I was a misfit at this event. It was a harsh thought.

On the last night, I ended up have a bunch of unspent energy and stayed late. I was surprised. The riggers appeared and showed up doing a set of play across a frame designed and built by Shibari Warrior. It was a blast to see four simultaneous rope sessions in the same frame. I was very happy.

My Bookend

Going back the second time to Floating World was an anniversary of sorts. My divorce officially started a month earlier, I had come out to my father with a phone call during the event and I was very comfortable with the world I had dove head first into. There are moments were it seems bittersweet.

Like night and day, in this event I was rigging instead of watching. It was a blast attending classes, buying kitty ears & tails, buying single tail whips, flirting, teasing, playing and meeting people. I had a very good time.

At last years event, I had asked two different people where they had gotten their boots. The second person had told me about "New Rock" boots and a few months later, I purchased and received mine. There were cool and I wear them frequently. It was wonderful at this event to have them boot blacked. They looked good.

This year I stayed at one of the two main hotels. It was so cool to hang outside, go to the hotel bar or go up an elevator with kinky people. It was so easy to talk and be myself.

The only downside is I have some major catch up at work to do before I head down on Friday to the first DC GRUE which will be held at the Crucible.

Plateau

It has been a challenging month or so. My enjoyment and skill of tying rope has hit some major bumps. Last night I so desperately wanted that fun playful erotic rope energy to appear in myself and was frustrated it didn't happen.

I did a scene with a beautiful woman. I wanted us to both have a wonderful high from it. Alas, the rope wasn't flowing from my hands and I was fighting with my technical understanding of it on this woman's body. I went so far as to redo completely the chest harness and still it was wrong somehow.

Doubt is amazingly destructive thing. What was wrong and why didn't that ability to adapt my rope play come out of me?

Maybe I was being too goal oriented? Maybe I was being stupid somehow and making a mistake? What was going on?

My belief is that I have hit a plateau. My mind and skills were not where they should have been. I can rationalize why things happened in many different ways. It wasn't her at all. She was in wonderful state. Very yummy and sexy, oh I wanted that high.

With her permission, I started tying her up again. I was going to forget things and try to get the energy to flow just doing some teasing playful tying. Unfortunately, it got interrupted by someone important to me. I hurriedly explain I had to run off and did so.

Today my thoughts about it and many others things are colliding and swirling in my mind. I wish I knew what I should do as small little aches are felt in my body from an injury as I type this blog entry.

My study of rope and private play came to a stop for more then a few weeks because of work demands, dealing with normal stuff demands and a hurt left arm. My emotions are conflicted from close friend's having difficulty, working to keep connections with my family as I struggle through my divorce, working to keep my new relationships healthy and the normal distractions of job stress, paperwork and paying bills.

Shibaricon is less then 2 weeks away. What happened is bouncing around in my head like a ugly reminder.

I know it is temporary. I have hit plateaus before. I get writers block in my job and eventually work through it. I used to do competitive swimming and would hit the same times over and over until I learned improve a dive, a flip or a stroke. Alas, some plateaus such as the final one with swimming can't be exceeded and reality sinks in.

I wish I could relax and focus on rope in the remaining days leading to Shibaricon but work takes priority. Damn.

Drifting into the 2010 NYC Sex Blogger Calendar Release Party

It still makes me laugh at how things happen in my life.

More then a month ago, I came across reference to a New York City Sex Blogger Calender Release party and it supporting Sex Worker's Awareness. Around the same time, I was fiendishly working out logistics to go to the Connecticut GRUE (Graydancer's Ropetastic Unconference Extravaganza). I looked at the party and it was an evening small window event. My thoughts were not worth the trip for 12 hours of driving or a $200+ hotel room.

I commented on twitter at some point about going to the GRUE. A wonderful lady said she couldn't go to the Connecticut GRUE. I asked why not? Because they saved for this party instead and had to make a choice. This I definitely took note of and would re-examined it. I still couldn't see the value in it.

Life continued as it usually does with lots of craziness in my personal life. Hey, never a dull moment!

Connecticut GRUE

Eventually my life centered on getting the car ready, closing up lose ends and packing for the Connecticut GRUE. When I arrived at the GRUE hotel, I immediately saw familiar faces and other obvious kinky souls. I was happy.

As the story unfolds, I got myself showered and dressed and went to the meet and greet party. I meet new people and thoroughly enjoyed myself being with very positive kink aware sexy people.

The best part for this meet and greet was the number of high caliber bondage rope tops. Twisted Monk, Graydancer, Dov, Murphy Blue and other rope tops were there. I would be watching, listening and learning with a big smile on my face. What a blast!

Apparently Graydancer had an appointment to do a podcast with Diva and Tess as part of the NYC Sex Blogger Calendar Release Party. No doubt that this was important for a variety of reasons. It wasn't rope so I drifted off to another part of the meet and greet to stay out of the way.

Later though, I don't remember how but I ended up talking and teasing Tess and Diva with Graydancer and Twisted Monk starting to wrap Diva up. I struggled with trying to work various cameras but thoroughly enjoyed what was happening.

Tess and Diva are both amazing women from what I have experienced. They both shined as I teased them and as Diva was unwrapped and Tess was wrapped up in rope. This was happening as other crazy fun antics occurred. It was a fantastic moment in time. Twisted Monk and Graydancer are fantastic rope tops. They both engage with positive sensuous style.

Okay, I will go...

When Tess said I should come to the release party, I think I expressed I already bought 2 calendars and so on. Something about her smile told me I had missed something and my curiosity was peaking. With an inward thought of "you don't know what you are doing", I said I would be at the party.

You see, I am a sucker for a beautiful woman's smile.

Shortly after wards, I did my googling of the party and did some quick peek of some blogs. With my busy life, I made my first mistake of looking at the events and then making hotel reservations and plans like I would do for a business trip.

In the the few weeks that followed, I realized that mistake and attempted to extend the hotel reservation one more night 2 weeks before. The hotel put me on a waiting list and I was #5. Oops. Well, made a second hotel reservation but a full hotel? What does that mean?

It was wonderful getting pleasant comments on twitter about going to the party.

But I had my doubts about the party. The fact was I wasn't a sex blogger, not a sex worker nor anybody. Little 'ol me was a newbie kinkster going to a very impressive party. With that thought in mind, I set my expectations on helping Tess and Diva and enjoying whatever happened in New York City.

Meanwhile I dealt with work, got a new apartment, bought a pile of furniture and moved into my new apartment. In other words, I moved away from my ex-wife and my kids which is a difficult set of emotions.

On the flip side, I got some more rope work in. I discovered I need to stay away from dark rope in dark play spaces especially on dark clothes. I also spent a wonderful day going "mmmm" from some lovely sensation play I bottomed to on the same night.

Driving to New York City

The Thursday morning before the release party, I packed and drove quickly to New York City. Snagged a speeding ticket and then arrived a the hotel. I unpacked, set up my laptop and got a wonderful surprise.

Tess IMed me with "Can you meet downstairs in 5 minutes?" Oh my, "how about 10?". "ok". Jumped in the shower and dressed in a flash.

The group went off to Essex and I had mentally decided on the road after that speeding ticket I would buy a round of drinks or two. I did exactly that. I met Bad Bad Girl there and others. I discovered at that quiet little moment that I was smiling ear to ear and the fun had started. Good people, good drink and lively discussion was so perfect.

Little did I know that next four days would be a constant blast of fun with difficult choices of whether to sleep, eat or have more fun!

Tess and Diva did an amazing thing. I will be going to the next New York Sex Blogger Calendar Party!

Yummy, my first rope scene

My friends mean the world to me and they surprise me in little ways.

There was a play party on Friday, a dungeon event on Saturday and dungeon time later that day. At the start of the week, I commented to a friend that I would probably skip the play party but I was going to the munch the next day. At the munch, I was a bit surprised when I was announced as a "rope" person like someone else in the room. The smiles were more then the usual ones.

When the subject of rope came up later in the munch, as I commented, I noticed a wonderful smile on a new lady I hadn't met. It made me smile inwardly and re-plan my weekend schedule.

I commented later about the smiles to another friend who I switch with and she said "oh because you are fresh meat". It made me laugh but I doubted it a bit. Maybe she was right partially?

I asked the new lady for a play date for that Friday later. She said she already had one but would take a rain check. It wasn't unexpected but I was a bit disappointed. I stilled loved the energy from the munch. I would still go to the party and let things happen as they may. If nothing happened, I would have good conversation at least and maybe learn something from a scene or two.

The best surprise was when I showed up at the party with a very open mind about roping anything that moved, a beautiful young lady bounced up to me and gave me a warm hug. She commented that the last time we met it was at another munch and I was very nervous. That munch seemed like a million years ago standing with her enjoying the small connection we had.

It turned out that she had spent the night before talking about me with the friend I switch with. No doubt in my mind that my good friend had said wonderful things about me and my rope play. She is a sweetie.

Hopefully I will thank her when she is in rope shortly. On the other hand, she may put some extra zeal into her impact play with me. She and I both get what we need.

Before we could start, there was a bit of drama which I manage to a minimum with the girl's help. I don't avoid confrontation but I do work to minimize or eliminate it.

We went off not to play but for her to be a demo rope bottom. I needed to practice my ropes. At least that is what I thought...

It was wonderfully fun. My ropes were sloppy, dangling but sensuous. I made mistakes. Blew some knots that slipped tighter when they didn't shouldn't. Did either of us care?

She and I were both smiling and laughing. She was being a beautiful lively mild brat kicking, biting and pinching me while bound in ropes. It made me smile as I whispered sweet things about her being my marionette and other things. I couldn't help myself changing it to a scene.

She was my little puppet since I was constantly moving, connecting and reconnecting with her and rebinding parts of her body. Several times she almost got lose as I watched with a wicked grin and then at the last moment pulled on the rope binding her wrists and knotted it off again. It wasn't a mistake that the knots were within reached of her lovely hands.

Even when undoing the ropes and letting them accumulate into a mess on the floor that hampered later rope removal, I was connected to her and enjoying the rope and her. I was feeling a rush I had felt many times before and I was expecting it to end.

When she was lose and a bit dreamy looking, I got worried she would fall. For a brief moment she sat down but then started working on the rope mess on the floor with me. With a wonderful smile, she said hurry up so she can have a cigarette and do it again. I lit up like a Christmas tree with a big smile.

We came back down and I started roping her up again. Instead of a partial suspension, I did something else. She was much quieter this time and then I added one and later two surprises. At some point, the world disappeared and was annoyed when the music came on too loudly.

I untied her partially. The control and other needs of my mine were in full force. Her feet and legs were bound awkwardly. She was holding onto the ring above her head with a rope blindfold. I forced her hands free and all she knew was she would was falling. A split second later she was in my arms. I whispered some things and we were quiet.

The rest of the evening was a blur. There wasn't a place to sit together at first upstairs but we ended up together later. Touching and staying connected. The rush I was feeling was more then I expected.

I made sure she was okay as she drove away and then I went to get my stuff and say goodbye. Several other women came up and said they wanted to be tied up. It made me smile.

She is a wonderful new friend.

First, first, first ...

It has been a year of many firsts. A staggering bewildering array of firsts.

One of my firsts was ending my marriage. The short version of this classic tragedy is my marriage after many years had diverged. My wife's path to happiness was making me more and more unhappy.

There came a point where life was just there. Life was paying bills, work, running to the hospital, helping friends, fixing fences, birthing animals, freezing my butt off in the middle of nowhere, repairing cars, doing paper work and so on. Mind numbing in its constant and relentless in its need to be addressed. Nothing much really changed if you stepped back from it. I worked at work. I worked at my wife's farm.

My kids are fantastic. They are growing up so well. I am blessed. As they slowly turn into wonderful adults, my parenting job disappears. My focus turns elsewhere and inward. I didn't like what I was seeing.

I communicated my frustration. I ran faster and faster so it would work. The numbness grew over the last several years.

I had starting exploring online and was surprised at the healthy online BDSM community. As I explored, my feelings of being isolated disappeared. I needed this world.

Eventually another first occurred when my partner and I attempted to find a new balance. We went to Midori's wonderful Rope Dojo I in New York City. Fantastic time. Very cool and educational instructors. My smile grew but my partner's smile faded.

She tried. I really appreciated it. She said to play with others. As I started to explore, she continued her explorations. I love her spunk and love for life and supported it. She also had some luck connecting with people online.

The sad part was the New York City weekend at the Rope Dojo was just us being hotel mates. She didn't even cuddle and watch a movie with me. She spent most of her time online.

Shortly after that time, she ended the marriage and I cut loose. My comfort zone is fairly large and the flirting that made my partner jealous wasn't an issue any more. With a huge smile, I jumped head long into my new world.

My partner heard that FetishCon would be a good event to attend.

When I visited the local dungeon in Pittsburgh and joined, I tripped over an ad for Floating World. When I looked it up, it seem much better then some fetish model convention. This would be my first event.

Meanwhile I downloaded all of Graydancer's Ropecasts and started listening to them working backwards. Fiendishly writing down notes as I drove to work each morning. My online education was slowly being filled by a real world education.

In a short five month period, I had done many firsts:

• Joined FetLife
  
• Went to Floating World.
  
• Attended several area group munches (meet and greets)
  
• Attended several dungeon play times.
  
• Attended one play party.
  
• Attended COPE or Central Ohio Perversion Excursion
  
• Attended the first East Coast GRUE or Graydancer's Ropetastic Unconference Extravaganza

During this time, I had augmented my wardrobe. Bought lots and lots of hemp rope. With my first purchase for Midori's Rope Dojo coming from Twisted Monk. Many wicked toys from the JT's Stockroom had also been purchased, some my ex-wife kept.

My expectations were very simple to start. Meet people, learn, explore and smile. It is amazing and I love this world very much. The people are fantastic and normal to me. I have no doubts that others disagree but I don't care.

Oh yea, one more first. This blog entry!!!!