My Adventures at the Southwest Leather Conference 2009 – Part 1

Howdy All,

  This past weekend, Jan 23rd – 25th I attended and volunteered for Southwest Leather Conference 2009. The central theme of the conference was “The Fire Within“. Here is a portion from the “Welcome” page within the conference handbook as written by the SWLC Executive Committee:  ”FIRE, it’s primal and elemental. It is a symbol of the sexual and spiritual passion within all of  U/us; Fire, a purification, a healing, a letting go … and so we ask, “how does that fire burn inside of you?” Do you find yourself here for the first time, ablaze with curiosity and want? Have you been here before, holding an ember waiting to ignite once again? May the weekend ignite an eternal flame inside each one of you that will continue to burn well beyond the weekend. Welcome back to the Leather Family Gathering of Heart and Spirit! Welcome to The Fire Within!”

  The event on Sunday that was the highlight of the conference, the “Dance of Souls”, really hit on this theme of “The Fire Within”. I will try to explain what it was like, but it is really something that must be experienced to truly understand it. It was Amazing!!! But first things first. 

  The conference actually start Friday morning, but I had a major “brain fart” and forgot! How could I forget something like this you ask?! All I can say is major brain fart!! I did catch the error early BUT I don’t have a car and where it was located at was a good 3 to 3 1/2 hours away via public transportation. To top it off I was volunteering. By volunteering it reduced the cost of the conference to something I could sort of afford. I had only remembered about the conference at the middle of the month! This is one of my grips for living so far away from the city. I am cut off from the information flow living way out here in Gilbert. Yes, your right, I need to get my ass online, find that info source and plug into it!! What do they say, “Hindsight is 20/20″. But anyway I signed up to do 8+ hours of volunteer work. Well I finally made it out the door at and to the bus stop by 1:30 pm, missing the bus as usual and not actually starting the trip until 2 pm. I had left several message saying I was still coming and on my way and the approximate time I would get there, about 6:30 pm. I ended up taking the wrong bus and having to roll a mile to the hotel, Bus 15 is not Bus 19. But I finally got there around 7:45 pm (the Opening Ceremonies had already begun) and I just about panicking that I got there too late to register and get my badge and information. I was lucky and I was directed to the correct person and got my badge. I went and watch the end of the show and helped clear the room so that they could get the equipment set up for the Dungeon (6000 square feet of bliss). The Play Party was going to happen on both Friday and Saturday nights from 9:45 pm to 2 am. Because I was late I had mentioned that they could put me on the late shift. I was at the curtain making sure that everyone had a badge, that no one had a cell phone/camera and if they did the consequences if they brought it out anywhere behind the curtain and that certain body parts/play toys were covered if they were leaving or going to the restroom. I figured I would serve here Friday and then I would be free to attend the Play Party on Saturday night, or so I thought. 

  What made me mad is I missed a few classes that afternoon that I really wanted to go to, namely either “Blood Rituals” or “Electronic Stapling”. OH MY, what was that face?! These are two classes that one would deem “EDGE PLAY”. All these new terms, I can see the confusion setting in. Let me see if I can find a site that can help with the terms I’ve used above. This link will take you to an essay entitled “SPIRITUALITY AND THE LEATHER LIFESTYLE” by Sloyd. Read it, please. It explains many ideas that this weekend was about, especially the idea around the “Dance of Souls”. If you have time look over his website, it is amazing! Here is another essay entitled “The Grey Handkerchief – Why be tied?” by Sloyd. It is about bondage and it is also an amazing read! 

  I have a little more to tell you about Friday but it is almost 4 am and I’m a bit tired. I will do my best to get Part 2 to the blog tomorrow. There is a party in the evening so I will try to do it early. Please keep checking and I will get the whole weekend on the blog. If I had a laptop I could have done it after each day. Hopefully I will get another one soon, long story as to what happened to the one I had.

  Have a great day and talk later.

Oh My Lord, Have I Not Posted At All This Month?!?

  This is what came to me as I sat down to write this quick entry. Oh I have three different draft entries in the works that if I had finish and posted they would have been sprinkled out nice this month, but I have not finished them and once again it looks like I’ve abandoned my poor blog to the nothingness. Beat me with a leather flogger, oh no wait I’d enjoy that too much!!

  Speaking of leather floggings I attended the Southwest Leather Conference (http://www.southwestleather.org) this past weekend in Phoenix. I had an amazing time! I’ll recap the weekend tomorrow as the late nights and early mornings have caught up with me. I would like to think if I had stayed in the hotel this might not have been the case but then I can only imagine what goes on in the hotel room after the play party is over !! Perhaps next year I will get to find out as I will definitely be staying in the host hotel. I’ll explain in more detail what I’m talking about as well as give a recap of my experiences of the weekend.
  Talk tomorrow, good night all.

  P.S. – I don’t count the posting I did on January 1st because I actually started writing it before midnight, when I finished I had to go back and reword the first sentence to better match when it was actually getting posted. But still even it I did count it, I haven’t posted anything for 26 days!!! Way too long, especially with three haft finished posts stilling in “Draft” status! <grrr to myself>!

Just a Quick Hello

  Howdy All – I’m working on my blog posting that will cover my brief trip to Phoenix. It started out good but Monday went to shit fast. Will talk about Christmas and some of the going ons at my sisters house Christmas Day. It was better than last year but I still felt the same “please don’t touch any of the food, ask someone to get it for you” current floating through the kitchen. What is that phrase, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” I’ll explain more about what this means tomorrow.

  Off to bed, I haven’t been feeling very well today.

Sorry, A Few Thoughts, Another Trip to Phoenix

  Sorry I haven’t posted in several weeks, I’ve found that when you don’t do a “Part 2″ a few days after “Part 1″ you forget what the hell “Part 2″ was going to be about! Especially with the way my mind wanders all over the damn place. I’m going to have to go back and read my own posting to try and figure it out.

  I’ve got to get better at posting to my blog, I wish there was a way to show my general Plurks and Tweets that I send out via ping.fm (http://ping.fm). I’m going to have to check that out so that at least you get the general info that I send out. 

  I went to Phoenix again last Thursday on the 4th . I meant to stay for only the one night but as fate would have it I ended up staying until Monday! I had to get the footpads that go to my wheelchair. I had left them at house that I always try to visit when I’m in Phoenix because he is a great guy (We’ll call him B because I’m not going to mention any actual names because I’m not sure how they would feel about being part of this post)and I’m always learning something from him. He doesn’t look his age, let’s just say I hope I’m as active as he is when I’m 70! I was like “No way!” when he told me that. He sometimes has great sex parties, sometime a lot of guys and sometimes not. Lately I’ve seem to be coming on the no guys nights. But B is a great host and always has something even when there is no action. Thursday was quiet, he had been up all night wednesday <wink wink> and needed to get some rest.

  So I was in the other room with D that was staying there a few days. We were checking out the Adam4Adam site when out of the blue I saw a picture of a couple I had been trying to hook up with for over a year! The timing was never right and then their profile was deleted. So I immediately sent them a note asking what was up and how they were doing. Well I ended up going over to their place early Friday morning. Got frisky with the guys (M&C) but a few things came up and cut that short, but I ended up staying until Sunday (Amazing how great stuff can make the days fade away). We talked a lot and I listened a lot (I’m good at listening), I worked on their computer some, trying to get it to run a bit better. They are good, down to earth, no drama guys. I am very glad that I was finally able to hook up with them. Now I hope I have yet another place to visit in my Phoenix travels. 

  I contacted yet another person that I had been after and they said they would be available on Monday to play – Monday, Yikes! But I thought I might be able to swing it as I thought I had someone else lined up for Sunday night. This was also the weekend that I kept forgetting shit at other peoples houses. Like my teeth (that pretty smile comes out and that helps enable me to give great BJ’s),  I realized sometime Friday afternoon that my teeth were soaking back at B’s house in the downstairs bathroom. So I got a ride over to B’s house to get my teeth. Then I get a message on Adam4Adam that I left my footplates in the back of the M&C’s roommates truck (Oh shit, where is my mind?!). So I get a ride from D back over to the other apartment and get the damn footplates. I started to head out to the Sunday visit and I call the guy to chat to make sure everything was still good to go. Well, I should have called sooner as we did chat but come to find out he just wanted to talk to me a few more times before I could come over. Well, Shit!; then someone need to word their email differently because they were coming across all hot and bothered.

  So I turned around and headed back to  M&C’s apartment. I was hoping to just spend the night on the couch, like I did Saturday night. But they had a movie night planned and had a good friend coming over and basically there was no room. So I had to go, no problem, I understand completely! 

  I ended up calling B and asked if I could spend the night. I don’t ever want to come across as a pain for B and I try not to overstay my welcome. I said I’d gladly sleep on the couch. Well later that night D had gone to get these 2 guys. They looked familiar, perhaps from Adam4Adam but I couldn’t place the name’s. Well, I was on the fringe watching them get setup. B came over to me and mentioned that he thought I was going to be on the couch tonight. Ack, we all know what happens when one assumes something, well I assumed it was going to be open play, I was wrong. Here is where I learned another lesson. That not all the guys that come over are there for open play, they might be here only for B or D and that one should always ask before making a fool of one’s self. So I grabbed a porn and headed downstairs. I started watching TrueBlood on HBO, trying to get caught up. Then B came downstairs and said it was ok if I came up. They knew who I was and was ok if I played with them. SWEET! When I got a good look at them I realized that this was yet another couple that I had also been trying to hook up with. If fact I had talk to one or both of them earlier that day. It was fun and enjoyable. I’d love to play with them again some time!

  Now it’s Monday and I’m scanning A4A (Adam4Adam) to make sure this Monday meeting is a go. While figuring out how to get there I get a note saying that something came up and we can’t meet, how about Tuesday. NOPE, SORRY – I’m out of my pills, my clothes smell like something, my beard is scraggly and I have no other place to stay. So I was finally homeward bound: Thank goodness!!

  I had a great time and meet some good guys. The only bad thing is that I spent way more money than I thought I did. I was suppose to see if I could pawn a nice new camera a buddy gave me (Sony DSC-T70). It’s so nice that I’ll be getting that back. I just hate the thought that I have to do that to have some cash for the rest of the month. <Sigh>

Yet another long trip to Phoenix or a.k.a Why I Can’t Seem to Follow my Own Trip Itineary

Oh my Gosh!! I have I not posted anything to my blog since Oct 31st! Well strip me and flog me 10 times, wait I might like that too much. If I wasn’t so tired I would finish this tonight. Heck I ate reheated Chinese and sat down to watch Hellboy 2 and my dad noticed me nodding off 10 mins into it. So I’m off to an early 8:30-9 p.m. bedtime by the time everything is said and done. I have much to tell and lots to cover over the next few days.  No trips planned this weekend! 

  Again, I’m sorry. Please check back and I should have this up by early evening at latest! Thanks all. I will be answering any comments as well.

Pondering – Part 2

  I know, you all want to kill me because I’m such a lazy blogger and now have you waiting for me to finish not one but two previous postings! Well as much as I want to run off and play World of Warcraft tonight (I will end up checking to make sure the long 1.2 GB update did install correctly after I’m done with this posting.)

  I should be writing the conclusion to Pills, Pills and more Pills, but I’m not in the mood to write about pills. But since I’m horny (this is not news because I’m always horny, thanks to testosterone replacement therapy) and this includes sex, well the mention of sex, I’m doing it first. <Grin>

  I currently live in Gilbert, AZ (this is South and East of downtown Phoenix or about 40 miles, give or take) with my dad. I often have to go to Phoenix to visit the Veteran’s Hospital (V.A.). My doctor is located here. I mention this because if you were to drive to the Phoenix V.A. it would take 35/40 mins. depending on the time of day. But if I forget to setup a ride and have to take the bus this journey takes 3 buses and 3 hours to complete. If I have a doctors appointment I can usually set up a call with an agency that will pay for a taxi ride to and from the hospital, but you have to call 24 hours in advance. Most wise people would take full advantage of this offering but as I mentioned I usually have forgotten about my appointments only to remember the night before that I have one. I also forgot to mention that if I have to go in for lab work or x-rays or something that isn’t a doctors appointment. That doesn’t count for a taxi ride and I get to take the bus. So I’ve ridden the bus into Phx. on many of occasions. So when I get to Phx, I’m usually in NO rush (especially if it is some 15 min appointment or something that ends up being short) to turn around and get back on the bus for another 3 hrs. 

  Most gay folks somewhere in there lives have ventured online in the search or friends, partners, FB (that stands for Fuck Buddy – for those that are straight and  don’t know what I’m talking about (like straight folks don’t have FB’s – Right <wink><wink>) Usually a FB is someone you meet to have sex with on a regular/irregular bases. Usually it’s just sex and you don’t really talk about much else. But I’ve seen variations on this theme. But usually if you start to see them more and learn more about them, I think you’ve both moved on to another category. I could be wrong, I’m only speculating. Using some of my own adventures as fodder here. So through various websites I’ve gathered several contacts (alright, fine Tricks (people you usually only see for sex and usually only once – my definition). Sometimes these Tricks are really cool people that you get along with well or you had a really good time at their house, etc. Then the move to the Buddy, Friend, FB or some combination of the afore mentioned groups. Well I have at least one that is in the Friend/FB (almost more the Friends with Benefits since I can always spend the night and that he like to feed me (hehe..in more was then one) category. Every time I go to Phx. I try to visit them. Why you ask? Because sometimes it just the older guy (he had a younger guy living with him but sadly that unknown to me was coming to an end, but that still doesn’t matter) or sometimes it’s him and a few other guys and sometimes it’s many other guys throughout the night. I always have fun there. I can just be …. hmm ….. whatever I feel like being on that day, given situation. The good new is that I was able to visit him, bad news was that he wasn’t feeling so well. So we fooled around a bit and then it was off to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I should have been crashed out because I was at the Rainsbow’s Festival (this was like Gay Pride, with out the parade and the gate fee to get into the Gay Pride events area – It was free) for most of the day. Eventually I drifted off but I kept waking up. Which was also annoying because I was supposed (notice “supposed”) to walk in the AIDS Walk that was happening the next day, early. Finally I woke back up and decided to get up because I had a bunch of papers, magazines, t-shirts and other junk that I had gathered from the festival. You see all I had was my backpack on my wheelchair and that had clothes and stuff in it for the weekend. The bad part was I popped in a video on the downstairs T.V. (I wonder what kind of video this was, I’ll give you 3 guesses and the first two don’t count.) I was sitting on the couch packing my bags and the next thing I know is it’s 2 hours later, my friend is still asleep and the video is finished. Only thing is I got nothing done, I notice from a flyer that I told my friend the wrong time that the walk was suppose to start. I decide not to make a fuss over the walk and just let him sleep since he wasn’t feeling good the night before. He finally got up not along afterwards. We ate some breakfast and he took me to the bus stop. I was able to watch them coming back from the walk. While I didn’t want to do the walk, I wasn’t real upset because I had gave my donation and the walk/roll in my case is just to bring more awareness to the issue for those who don’t think it is still around or needed anymore.

  Now I usually try to setup two meetings if I possible can. One with my friend and perhaps one with someone new. Well as it is sometimes the case with online services/people, they flake out. This person flaked big time, I had again spent so time at the festival and they basically strung me along until I really was too tired to catch the bus but didn’t want to spend $50 bucks for a hotel. So I chose the in between street and stayed at The Chute. These could be affectionately called an “All Night Men’s Health Spa” (That’s what they called the one in San Jose, CA. That’s why it was still open when most of the one’s called Bath Houses were closed down long ago.) Anyway, call it what ever you want. Here because it was the weekend, you only get a 6 hour window unless you renew for another block of time. Sadly I was so tired and pushed off checking in because of this. By the time I got there it was dead, it’s alway dead when I go or so it seems. That I laid down to watch the video, next thing I realize, poof, its 10 mins before I’m suppose to check out. Oh shit, so much for my shower. So I wasn’t in the best of moods when I finally hopped on the bus to go home. Here I was glad for those free shirts they gave out at the festival. But I was still tired and <cough> horny. Not one of the better weekends, but I have only myself to blame as I gave the 2nd person way more time to try and get ahold of me then I’ve ever given someone in the “new” category. I will never do it again as I ended up spending more money that I had planned on spending. See that’s another reason I try to make the plans ahead of time. This way I can stay over at friends houses, I might get lucky and have some fun and I don’t have to spend a dime on any hotel costs. If I can make it two nights in town, all the better. But I now will yet again change my rules regarding new contacts.

  So there you have it, not quite as juicy as I made it out to be. Sadly one of the worst planned weekends I’ve put together. The best weekend I can’t really write about here because of some of the things I did. If I left one of the main parts out, it wouldn’t flow right. Perhaps later, perhaps not, we will see. 

  I’m sorry it took me so long to get this posted. It’s been collecting dust in my blog innards for a few days. I will try to finish Pills, Pills and more Pills tomorrow. Even if I have a doc appt like I think I might..hehe. Yeah, I think I forgot another one and yes, earlier tonight I was checking to see if I can visit my good friend. 

  P.S. – I forgot to mention that I live on a tight budget because I’m trying to pay off all my bills before I attempt to live on my own again. This is why I live with my dad. I need a job, a car, most of the bills paid off and then some place to live. I usually only have a doc appt or need to go into Phx once a month if I’m lucky. I can’t host (that means I can’t have any overnight guests at my dads house) and I live so far away from the city that NO ONE wants to drive out to Gilbert because we live SO far (Lazy Fuckers) that this really is the only way I get to let my hair down and have some fun. So this is also why I try to make the most out of each visit to Phx.

I’ve Gotten Behind Again – Updated 9/30 – Ok 10/1

More to come tomorrow 9-30 – sorry folks that as the title states, I’ve gotten behind in my posting. Which I could say I’ve been playing to much WOW but that isn’t the case. I’ll fill in tomorrow. Talk tomorrow.

  So here it is 9/30, I got lucky in that I placed this title in the wee morning hours of 9/29 so that later in the day when I my tired ass remember that I was to update this post, I thought. “great yet another day has past and no blog entry!”, when in fact I got lucky and realized that today that earlier when I went to bed it was the 30th and after several hours sleep, I’ll get up and it will still be the 30th and if I’m diligent <cough><cough> I’ll still be able to get the post in by the 30th…are you getting this, are you still following me?? Well that’s good because I’ve lost myself a few lines back.  Hehehe.

   ** Off Topic comment – Sweet, Autosave is my friend!! My browser locked up while this posting was saving. I wrote everything down again but I just saw a comment that there was an autosave version. Yeah I don’t have to retype everything back in. Ok now back to the reason why no postings. **

  So why didn’t I keep up with the Blog this week, well I had a doctor appointment in Phoenix on the 24th (that was Wednesday). I don’t get to Phoenix that often so I always make the most of it because I don’t have a car. So if I didn’t call for a taxi ride (Care Directions (http://www.aaaphx.org/HIV+CARE+DIRECTIONS ) covers the cost of a taxi ride to and from Gilbert to the VA) But you have to call a day in advance, easy right! Well dummy here doesn’t always do that. So if I forget then I get to take the bus into Phoenix (Phx from now on). It takes 3 buses and 3 hours to get to the VA on 650 E. Indian School Road. I don’t mind much as my route take me through ASU and Mmm Mmm those young hot things are so good to glance and a daydream but so are the other men that come and go on the bus. I do especially like Loloma Station and the interesting dance of the “I’m available for you to take me home for (now I’m guessing here) said price or free (but I’ll rip you off blind and take anything in your house that isn’t nailed down).” Now mind you the guys that are out on this walk are rather cute, but I just get the “Danger Will Robinson, Danger” from some of them and “You too damn much and I don’t pay for sex (ok, so I did once, it was on accident and I prefer to forget that rather odd experience). Any way, I was able to take a taxi up to the VA. Well I lined up visiting my friends that I always try to visit when I go to Phx.

  I spent Wednesday night there, spending the night is always fun, sometimes there are extra guests and sometimes not, it make for hot fun either way <drool> <pant> <pant> and I just really wasn’t in the mood to come home on (read ride the bus for 3 hours), so I lingered. My friend said it would be cool if I stayed another night but that I’d have to leave early because they were heading out to the airport to fly to San Francisco for the weekend. Those luck dogs were going to Folsom fair on Sunday but got to town on Friday. I just can’t wait to hear what interesting adventures they got into or found <G>. His roommate L. was coming home later that day (Mmm thoughts ran through my head). Was nice just to hang out and watch TV and help out his roommate with a task and getting his mail setup so that he could send out email. L. did show up later that night and I stayed up and chatted with him. I had ulterior motives on my mind. I wanted to get fucked! Well we had some flip flop fucking hot fun!! It was well worth sticking around for! I love that place!! So off I went early in the a.m. I tried to find another buddy, but was tired and after a bit just wanted to go home and sleep. I got home Friday afternoon and actually rolled home the two miles from the bus stop. I was timing myself to see how fast I could roll the miles in and surprising I rolled a 14:40 mins for 1st miles and 14:30 for 2nd mile. Not bad for not having the faster “travel feet” as I call them. You see I’m in a wheelchair and those are the foot rests that I don’t always take with me. But I’ve now learned that it is best to have my feet rests with me as I never know where I might be rolling to.

  The weekend I was still sleeping and recovering from my fun “weekend” in the middle of the week. I still had a happy smile plastered on my face, I don’t get fucked that often. We won’t go into the detail of why that doesn’t happen that often. 

  So I hope this makes sense, as it is 4 a.m. and I’m really tired now after my 3 hour workout. Take care and I’ll read over it tomorrow. Enjoy.

Out of Town – Updated 9/18

Sorry – I was out of town this past weekend. I will give some humorous tid-bits tomorrow when I edit and add more info. I would do it tonight but it’s late and I’m bushed. Talk more tomorrow.

 

 It’s now the day after tomorrow. I did a great workout yesterday. I haven’t sweated like that in a long time and it was good. But I came home and 30 mins later I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I fell asleep at the computer. I think it was 1:30 a.m. before I finally made it into bed. So this is why we are posting my weekend adventures late.

  My plan was to go to Phoenix Saturday and visit a older guy and his boyfriend and then on Sunday visit another guy that I have talked to for awhile on Adam4Adam but we never had the chance to meet. I went on line Friday to check and make sure they were still home and that Saturday meeting was going to happen. While online I was chatting to someone that I had talked to before and nothing ever happened. You see, Gilbert is South and East of downtown Phoenix, maybe 30 mins tops via a car. But some people think that is too far to come and get someone, which is fine. So when someone says they are going to come get me and it’s midnight I always think. “I’ll believe it when your ringing my doorbell.” They had said that, well I went to take a shower thinking they will not come. Well they called my bluff. I forgot they didn’t live but maybe 5 minutes from where I lived. So I figured, I’d go over there, have some fun and then they would drop me back off in the morning. I can pack my bags and get all the stuff together that I’ll need for Phoenix and head out on bus. That WAS the plan in my head.

  In the morning it seemed they had found another place to go, so we got dressed and I figured they would drop me off, well I wasn’t really paying attention but it finally dawned on me that we were heading into Phoenix and I was going with them. I didn’t realize that they had included me as being with them when they were talking to whomever. So here I head into Phoenix, unprepared (no rinse out), no hat, no gloves, not enough meds, the one set of clothes on my body, no water, etc. So all day Saturday we were at two great guys that have a house in Phoenix as well as one in California. I was able to call and get ahold of the guys and was dropped off at there house as the two original guys were heading home. Come to find out the guy from California and the guy who hosted Saturday night actually knew each other. The guy Saturday night always seems to get other folks coming over. Sometimes they just show up on there own and sometimes he’ll put out the word. They are some of the finest men that I’ve seen. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d even send them anything online. I just so wish I was better at names and could remember everyone’s name. I hate forgetting names!! I had fun but missed out on a few things because I was unprepared. Sunday I met up with the guy from A4A and he was a great guy that I will want to see again. Especially when I’m not so tired and unprepared. 

  So I learned a valuable lesson, that is to never leave the house unprepared, whether it is just a local over night trip or an all weekend trip, to always have all my stuff with me. So that if in the future an overnight trip because an all weekend trip. I won’t be caught with my pants down, so to speak. But even unprepared it was a blast and I was the Pig I usually am! 

  I’m hoping I get out a new posting tomorrow. Good night!