Visit sick5! Yay new cool belt from Sey!

• Skin: Acorn light Winter-Black Ice 2 – Curio
• Hair: Urge pitchONYX – Red Queen
• Belt: Stick holder, E – Sey
• Jeans: Dark Jeans – Poison
• Tattoo: Lucky – The Habitat  
• Chocker: Where were you in ‘77? – Rawdolls
• Shirt: TomboyTee – Black – Plastik
• Piercing: Bijoux – Cobrahive
• Pose: Rainy day – Sunflower poses

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i’ve only been here for about 3 weeks, but there seems to be a vibrant and exciting food scene here in london. i’m not surprised, to be honest.  but it certainly makes me insanely happy.

today, i’m sharing some photos from the whitecross street market. every weekday, the vendors set up shop and sell an amazing variety of foods to hungry lunch crowds. the market is on a small side street near my office, and it’s really wonderful. there is amazing chorizo, grilled and served on country bread with roasted peppers and arugula (or rocket, if you’re british). i’ve also spotted thai food and indian curry, a vegetarian table with haloumi burgers and fresh soups, and a cart selling delicious, spicy falafel + hummus pitas. i haven’t tried the burrito truck pictured above because the line is super long, but i’ve heard good things and it’s next on my list. there is a great coffee roaster serving drinks made with square mile coffee (mmm), and a few vendors selling good cheeses and excellent sweets.

my favorite so far is “the roast of sherwood.” amazing roasted pork with fennel, garlic and rosemary, sliced and served hot on a soft bun with arugula and a sweet chili sauce. and if you ask nicely, they will sprinkle some pork cracklings on top for you. unwrap, eat, and you’re in heaven. seriously.

stumbling upon little things like this market is what i’ve really enjoyed about living in london so far.

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also, i was happy to find out that one of my photos was featured on dooce.com’s holiday gift guide for him.  if you are looking for a special holiday gift, you should buy some of the wonderful photos in the simply photo pop-up shop today.

i’ll be back here soon to share a few websites i’ve been enjoying lately. cheers!

After an emotional goodbye with my best friend at Orlando International, I got on a plane to Houston, then on to Guadalajara. What a name! Possibly the best combination of the letter ‘a’ ever. And what a city. Nothing could of prepared me for the size and intensity of it all. Absolutely massive, heaving, loud and cool. A  young hipster-student type scene mixed with a more traditional Mexican feel makes for a very unique place.

When I first arrived I stayed at Hospedarte Hostel which is a fantastic hostel. Relaxed, full of friendly people with a very international feel, it was my perfect introduction to Mexican life. I started to explore Guadalajara with my new friends Inti (above) and Temoc. So much to see and do, I was kept very busy for a couple of weeks.

Getting used to being on my own was hard at first, but it wasn’t really much of a problem because everyone at the hostel was in the same boat more or less, and really friendly. Getting my Spanish started was my first priority, which Inti helped me with, then learning my way around and exploring Guadalajara, which was (and still is!) a lot of fun.

Ok, so yesterday, three friends and I travelled down to Cardiff Airport to just the other side. No, we didn’t miss the airport, or our flights to Hawaii – unfortunately we had none. We actually went to West Aberthaw to an abandoned holiday camp that was originally constructed for the local South Wales miners’ sons to enjoy themselves back in the 1930’s.

Quote from Wikipedia:

“Boys Village, St.Athan opened in 1930 as a summer camp for the sons from families in the mining communities from South Wales Valleys. It offered them a place to play and be free, as well as being close to the nearby beach. Over the ages its usage developed (but not necessarily changed) to be used as a camp for youths and apprenticeships etc as well.

Now derelict, demolition work commenced late 2008. Since then several buildings have been removed or cleared including the fire-damaged Sir Maynard Jenour building, which was built in the 1980s, the recreation building and a few residential and administrative buildings. The swimming pool roof which collapsed many years after the site’s closure has also been removed from site. Much of the debris that littered the remaining buildings has been cleared, partially by looters and partially by the demolition services.”

I’ve always wanted to go to a derelict place, anything really! Sounds sad, but the community for urban adventuring is actually very high. “Why would you go to somewhere that looks like a bomb has hit it, where’s the enjoyment in that?” I hear you ask. Well you get some fantastic photos that’s why! The shapes, colours, rotton timber, peeling paint – you get the idea. Great pictures can be created, and you never know when these places might be demolished. Your own slice of history.

Boys Village was great, it was a fantastic experience. In total I took around 130 photos, but as usual, you don’t want to see all of them here as your internet speed would probably crumble into oblivion as it tried to load them up at the same time. I don’t want you to cry that you don’t have any internet speed anymore after visiting this post, so I’ll only post a few photos. We commence!

The text at the bottom says my name at higher resolution, so don’t squint too hard!

I thoroughly enjoyed it with my friends, and by the way, no breaking of the law was involved – you’re able to park right next to it and walk inside as it’s completely abandoned and nobody cares about it anymore. It’s a shame really that places like this fall to ruin, as I’m sure people without properties would like to see some sort of development here, and of course losing history is quite a sad thing. Lost forever, memories and all.

So somehow I managed it again: I haven’t blogged since Oct. 27., in which I declared that I had ended my pattern of not blogging for a month. Hmm. Well, at least this time my defense is better than blogger’s block-midterms. So I apologize for the lack of updating and commenting-but be prepared now, for I’m about to update to the umpteenth degree!

What’s happened since Halloween weekend? Quite a lot, as you could imagine. Let’s see how much I can catch you all up on.

I didn’t actually go out on Halloween (I had been planning on being Audrey Hepburn)-I stayed in and worked on a 1500 essay due Monday for my honors seminar. But I had quite a lot of fun listening to the drunk people on the street below, and getting frozen yogurt with different groups of people wandering in and out of the dorm. It ended up being a pretty nice weekend, even though I was writing a paper. (More proof that being sober can be just as hilarious as being drunk. And cleaner.)

…Since I started this draft It’s actually been quite a while. So, now my memory only stretches back to a few weeks. This is an abridged update. Goodness, I’ve gotten horrible at this!

I went ice-skating for the first time a few weeks ago, while baby-sitting two girls, 11 and 8. I did a few laps around the rink, holding onto the edge very firmly, and almost fell several different times. Those times I almost fell were a bit epic—I’d lose control of my skates, fall backward and forward, and then collapse on the wall, and laugh at myself as I kept going. Near the end I could manage to get around better, but I was done after 7 to 8 laps. The girls themselves were pretty sweet, and utterly fascinated with my iPhone. I’m not quite sure which they liked better-me or my phone.

Midterms have come and gone, and I’ve gotten almost all of them back. I didn’t do as well as I would’ve liked, but am happy with my grades.

I love the area around Madison Square Park. (Not the same thing as Madison Square Gardens.) My chiropractor is located a few blocks from the park, and that’s where the subway station comes out. The buildings are just so beautiful, and the park is so relaxing. I’m also lucky in my choice of chiropractor (Dr. Tammy Bohne), who was a great find, and the first person I went to see.

This last weekend we (meaning eight people from my floor) also took my roommate Traci out for her 18th birthday to the Carlyle Café, located in the Carlyle Hotel. Very, very fancy. Very expensive. We laughed at our own awkwardness quite a bit-there was a general confusion between salad forks, dinner forks, and which spoon to use. I think we hid it from the waiters walking around as best we could. The food was really excellent-I even split some steak tartar with my friend Kelly. The only disappointing thing was the crème brulee. When Traci, who had never eaten it before, went to crack the top, it was soft. No crack, or crunch (and half the reason I would order a creme brulee is just for that)! However as Frasier and Niles would say, the only thing better than an exquisite meal, is an exquisite meal with one flaw you can pick at all evening long.

We walked around uptown for a while after that, wandering down from 76th St to 59th. It is so beautiful up there, so clean, and so grand. I love Greenwich Village and all its nooks and crannies, but the Upper West and East sides are simply gorgeous. We looked into all the little (and incredibly expensive) boutiques lining the streets. Eventually we reached Bergdorf’s, where we wandered through ALL SEVEN FLOORS. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t like high end clothes-go for the designs, the architecture, and how pretty that store is. The floor that’s entirely for evening gowns is just plain disorientating. There are mirrors and hallways everywhere leading in loops-you could get lost! It was, however, one of the prettiest floors I saw (excepting the Christmas area). And one of the craziest things is, this building is entirely for women’s clothing. The men’s building is across the street.

This week so far has just been a huge effort on my part not to mentally check out of my classes before Thanksgiving break. This is the first break we’ve had since we started school on the 8th, and everyone around me can only think about Thanksgiving. And I have a test tomorrow in Russian!

So, I’ll end this blog post with good wishes for those of you reading this. I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving, and enjoy your holiday. Send me good thoughts in New York, since I can’t go back to Seattle for the weekend. However, it just makes me even more excited to come home for Christmas break!

The new season of Amazing Race has brought back some great and not so great racers from previous seasons. This episode of Amazing Race all-star started out like any other first episode. Amazing Race host Phil spoke with the contestants and then the race began. The first clue was also typical of every other season except the Amazing Race Family Edition. All teams in this episode had to get to the airport and they each had to choose one of two planes to fly on.

As usual Amazing Race added a twist in the first episode that the racers were unaware of at first. They had to choose between two flights, American Airlines and Copa Airlines. While Copa would leave first, it actually would be two hours behind American Airlines. With this being Amazing Race all-star you would think that people would be smarter this time especially in the first episode but a few teams did make a few mistakes.

After a series of clues all of the Amazing Race all-star teams needed to get to Pim's Restaurant and once there they had to quickly grab one of three departure times: 7:00am, 7:15am, and 7:30am. After getting their departure times in the first half of the episode, the all-star teams could go over to small sleeping area. In the morning teams who got the 7:00am departure times opened up their clues to find that they needed to get to Hacienda Yanahurco in Cotopaxi National Park.

The first Amazing Race all-star detour in this first episode was Wrangle It and Recover It. Teams had a choice of either wrangling a wild horse and cut it's hooves down so that it could walk comfortably or they could choose to don a costume and try to find three objects, a sword, button and an epaulette. All of the all-star teams in this episode eventually chose to wrangle the horses.

In this first Amazing Race all-star episode Rob and Amber showed that they were back to win when they continually stayed in the front of the pack and completed the detour first. They then raced to the first finish line in this first episode of Amazing Race all-star and were team number one.

For coming in first place they were awarded a trip for two at Four Seasons Resort in Whistler, Canada. Despite the fact that millions of viewers dislike them, Rob and Amber are the team to beat and all of the teams want to be the ones to knock them out of the race but that is going to be a hard feat at best.

Unfortunately for one team someone had to be eliminated in this first episode of all-stars. Here is how it broke down:

1st Rob and Amber
2nd Danny and Oswald
3rd Teri and Ian
4th Eric and Danielle
5th Joe and Bill
6th Dustin and Kandice
7th Uchenna and Joyce
8th Charla and Mirna
9th David and Mary
10th Kevin and Drew
Eliminated: John Vito and Jill

While this first episode of Amazng Race all-stars was not the most exciting episode that I have ever seen, it was entertaining. It was also great to see some old favorites even if Amazing Race did leave out some great ex-racers that would have been great for Amazing Race all-star edition.

A lot of viewers have posted online that they were upset to see that Rob and Amber were back for all-stars but considering that they were and are the most talked about team and are either loved or hated, how can they expect Amazing Race to have an all-star edition without this team? From this first episode alone they have shown that they are the most powerful team ever in Amazing Race and it is going to take a lot to beat them.

Rob and Amber are two of the craftiest players to ever play the game of Amazing Race and they bring out very strong reactions in people. All-star should be one of the best seasons ever of Amazing Race. I think it's best to not judge all-star from one episode. Sit watch a few more episodes and then decide.

My boyfriend and I went into the city a couple of days ago for a bit of exploring, and we stumbled upon the Myer Christmas window display. Myer is a large Australian department store (similar to Nordstrom and Harrods?) that has dressed up its windows with elaborate sets, puppets and stories each Christmas since 1954. My Mum used to take me and my sisters along to see them when we were younger, but this was the first time in years that I have re-visited them.

This year, the windows told the story Olivia Helps with Christmas, narrated by Dame Edna.

It was the day before Christmas. Olivia and her family had been out all morning, busy with last minute Christmas shopping. Olivia was exhausted yet there was still so much to do…

We ate some vegetarian dumplings for dinner (new favourite food!!!) and later encountered a very familiar sounding craft store…

Bisous,

It’s been interesting re-reading Hunter Davies’ book recording his walk along Hadrian’s Wall in 1974 to see how things have changed since then.

First stop is Wallsend. In Davies’ book, Segedunum fort is still covered by terraced houses. Now the fort has been excavated, and an award winning museum stands beside it.

Later on his wander thrugh the suburb of Benwell, Davies tops to see the Vallum gateway and Temple of Antenociticus. There’s a great explanation and pictures on the Roman Britain.org website. Nowadays they look pristine. Davies complains about the rubbish chucked all over the place. Looks like the kind of place that I’d love to go and spend hours poring over but husband and children drag me away after five minutes. Thank heavens we’ve all got cameras now: they’d have something to keep them occupied!

Unbelievable!  I can’t say enough…so here goes with all the photos of the weekend – okay not all of the photos, but many.

Got in late Friday night to Tampa to stay with some friends of my Fast Runner Friend (aka FRF) – it was dark, they had a fantastic spread of shrimp (my favorite), veggies and dip (my favorite), humus (my favorite) and bread (my favorite).  They also had some fantastic wine they had recently purchased on a trip to The Biltmore Estate…(speaking of wine – let’s go to the beginning of the trip… on our 45 minute flight – when Simon (flight attendant) gave us free “cocktails”.  You know – those little bottles have a lot more booze in them than you can imagine.)  Back to the story – it’s the first day and so far I’ve downed 3 glasses of wine.  Hmmm…this can’t be good.  Oh well.  The next morning I woke up to this:

That is not typical for where I’m from.  But a lovely way to wake up. 

After breakfast FRF’s friend drove us to Pass-a-Grille, FL to this lovely spot -

then we ate at this fine establishment: 

Fantastic  food – fantastic views – what more could a girl ask for?  (probably more wine)

You get the picture right?  It was amazing!  After lunch we decided we better go to St. Pete’s and get our  numbers and goodies.  Here’s a shot of our swag!

Not too bad – usually I end up with a shirt and sore thighs – nothing else.

We spent the evening in St. Pete’s seeing the sights:

and visiting the starting line:

those folks know how to prepare for a women’s race. (there were 90 additional toilets along the course!)

Then we checked into our room: (please take notice of the size of the bathroom and consider my back is against the wall while taking this pic)

If you click on the photo you can go to their site.  Don’t let the pictures fool you – it was tiny – very small – adorable – and I’d stay there again in a heart beat.

We prepared for the morning. I asked my FRF what she was going to be wearing…

FRF is tiny – she can get by with showing her mid-section.  She’s also fast!  She finished 22 minutes ahead of me – and was done with lunch, having a drink, getting a massage - not really.  But she is fast. (men like her too – remember Simon & the wine? – men helped her everywhere we went – I was invisible to many – and that is cool with me – it was fun to watch them checking her out – she was oblivious to it)

After spending 4.2 seconds checking out our room - we went to have dinner (more wine), site seeing in art galleries, then off to bed.  (in the middle of the night FRF hit her mouth on the sink while getting up from the toilet – OUCH!  I slept through the whole thing)  

It was 70° and 80% humidity at 6am.  The entire race was amazingly beautiful.   The weather was warm and I ended up with a few blisters (have pictures – refuse to show) and tired legs, but overall the best. 

We got one of these after we crossed the finish-line (the center comes off to be charm on a necklace -  so smart).

After we ran we drove  to Pass-a-Grille (again), went back to lay on the heavenly beach and eat at Brass Monkey (again) - it was just too good.  After a bit of sun and food (and beer) we drove back to Tampa – ate more food, took Tylenol, laid around, and spent the evening packing our swag to fly home. 

If you ever have a chance…if you ever have a desire…if you want to get away…I highly recommend this:

It’s worth it.

Now - time to do laundry, clean the house, catch up on work, and pack to leave for CO tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

Run on Friends!

I went on a long walk down from Capitol Hill the other day during a temporary break from the rain.

I had to walk carefully to avoid all the puddles and slippery leaves, but I managed to see

some walled fortresses,

some impressive natural feats,

some rule-breakers and some rule-followers,

some signs of perseverance,

some runaways,

some hula-hoopers,

stickers,

and other such ephemeral art.

How was your afternoon?

If you have an hour or so to spare, I highly recommend this film, The Home Project, which you can watch online for free. It definitely left an impression on me. I’d like to know what you think.

*title from a song by Jon Brion

**click images for full view

Originally I was planning on doing this post this weekend as the culmination of a weeks worth of play and events, but as a few of you read earlier this weekend threw a wrench into the current set of gears so we could go back to the older familiar ones.

It appears this past Friday marked one of the last days as me in the dedicated role of little boy for some time to come. It also ended up being one of the few times  I was given a sexually oriented task. I was told by Mommy to play with some of the dildos we have but not to climax. After I was to use a plug and keep it in until she came home from work before my shower. I did the first part with little trouble and looked forward to staying plugged all day for her. My body, on the other hand, didn’t want to keep either of the plugs I can fit. They’re the black vinyl ones you can get almost anywhere.

The problem was the stem. It’s only a little smaller than the widest point on the plug so it slid out easily. I’ve had no trouble with bullets for extended periods so that’s the only thing I could think of. I suggested and she approved moving on to another toy, the Smartballs by Fun Factory. Originally we had gotten them for her, but she could never really feel them while they were in so I decided to try them.

It was a bit of a stretch to get them in, but once they were I was comfortable and enjoyed the bit of rattling I felt when I walked or when I was sitting and bouncing my leg like I do so often. I loved it so much I couldn’t wait until she made me wear them out in public. That was, until it came to removal time. They came out easily enough, but here we are 3 days later and a particular aroma is still clinging to them.

After much talking with @thursdays_child over at Sex and Shoes [I think the site is down, sorry] I’ve decided I’m going to fork over the money for an Njoy Pure Plug. It definitely seems like the best choice for extended wear. I’m even considering foregoing the MP3 player I want for Christmas in order to get it before our next tax return and our major toy shopping. Given the Smartballs are slightly larger than the medium plug I could start with that easily I think, but I’m considering going with the small instead so that she can use it once she gets adjusted a bit more to anal play.

All in all, it was a great experience being given that sort of task so maybe when she is in one of her more dominant moods in the future there will be more tasks like that.

When I was a kid, growing up in southern New England, we would take vacations “up north” and visit New Hampshire.  Naturally, this led to ascents of windswept Mount Washington – the most respected peak in the northeast.  At 6,288 feet, this is in fact the highest mountain in New England.

But this blog post is about a different Mount Washington, one that’s a bit smaller, but more of a foothill than a singular peak.  Along the western front of the Cascade Range in Washington state is another Mount Washington.  Ours is a bit more difficult to find information on.

Yesterday, I got a late start.  Once I stumbled out of bed and finished the morning routine, I went to REI and got a pair of winterized pants (to be the subject of a future blog post) and then headed out in want of a trail.  Because I had taken such an unusually long time to get started, I went to Exit 38 – the first “real” hiking available after Si.  From here I parked in the Twin Falls lot, just as the last car was leaving, around 1 or 2 pm.

The trail starts with a short but steep warm-up, then dumps you onto the Iron Horse.  You pass a sign almost immediately, on the left but aimed at people walking in the other direction.  About 200 feet down the trail is a small, unmarked trail to the left.  I’ve passed this a few times before, never thinking much about it or where it might go.  Yesterday I decided to find out.

It ascends steeply to the summit of our MT WA, as a sign two miles up the trail announces at a small trail junction.  At first, the trail is covered in gravel, which thins out to dirt and fallen, decomposing leaves.  Eventually you start to cross small streams – many of them are probably seasonal – and hike past some waterfall vistas.  If you have a water purifier, there is much to drink.

At about 2,000 feet ( the trailhead is at 1,200 ) the trail becomes covered in snow.  It’s not an immediate transition, but rather there are splotches here and there, until about a mile further, when the change is complete, and the ground is blanketed in white.

Most of the trail is through fairly dense woods, but, every now and then, there is an exposed view.  You’ll pass many cliffs, some of which face openings, others simply hidden by trees.  As you get higher, the wind gets more and more extreme – yesterday the gusts hit 40 to 50 mph.  Much of this is because there’s so much open space to the west, allowing stronger currents to build up, with little shelter.

Unfortunately, I did not make the summit.  The sun set before 4:30, and I had to leave time for a long rush back to the trailhead.  I got to about 3,000 feet above sea level, above the Owl Hike Spot.  There were great views, though I never got to see Chester Morse Lake, let alone Rainier, which would be visible from the peak on a clear day.  This, however, is not the season for clear days.

The trail is unmarked, and virtually undescribed.  I’ll have to come back with more time, and reach the summit.  In the meantime, I was able to find these two trail reports:

• Hiking Snoqualmie: Mount Washington
• Mt. Washington | Hiking with my brother…

I know I’m overdue to chime in on here.  As he has mentioned, there has been a shift in things around here.

When we first met, we had discussed the fact that both of us were switches.  As our relationship progressed, it seemed that he was more a Dominant with submissive tendencies while I was a submissive with Dominant (aka stubborn and bratty) tendencies.  So, we had settled into a traditional Mdom/fsub relationship.  But, of course, we can never do things traditionally in our household so, even though he was the Dominant, he stayed home with our kids and I was the breadwinner of the family.  I can admit now that there were many times where this situation did not sit well with me but I didn’t feel comfortable enough with taking on a Dominant role.  His sexual experiences way outnumber mine so I felt intimidated that I wouldn’t do as well as other lovers he had.

Prior to our move, things were not well – lots of stress, little to no sex – so, once we were finally done getting everything moved in, we were both frustrated.  When I get frustrated and stressed, I tend to withdraw, which made things even worse.  Once I did start to get my sex drive back, I kept leaning towards teasing and torturing him.  Eventually, this spawned a turn towards a Mommy/little boy relationship.  I’m not a harsh Mistress by any means, hence the Mommy role.  It was a pleasant experience for me because he is such a responsive slut and thoughtful little boy.  We even started looking at harnesses and new dildos for me to use on him.  I thought to myself that I finally had gotten the control in the relationship that I had wanted.

However, while this relationship was developing, conversation had sparked between myself and one of my friends on twitter.  We actually ended up doing a bit of roleplaying the first night we really talked.  The interesting twist to things was that we had done a Daddy/babygirl RP.  So, yes, I was engaging in one side online and the other in real life with him.  It caused a bit of strife in the first couple days but we talked through it and decided that this would be the best course for now….until today.

This post was actually going to take a different slant except a couple things I read today shed some light for me.  I have been lurking and following bad bad girl’s journey into a new D/s relationship and her post today struck a chord with me.  I have been reading a daybook on simple living and one of the entries I was catching up on talked about answered prayers.  Most people don’t think about the fact that, if your prayer is answered, you then have to take responsibility for what comes of it.  Also, most of the time, what you actually ask for is not what you are needing (i.e., asking for a soulmate when what you need is the self-confidence to be the person to attract your soulmate).  Through discussion, I realized that, when I wanted more control in the relationship, what I really needed was a greater sense of appreciation and validation from him.  I think the past couple weeks have been some sort of cosmic test/reminder/kick in the tail of where I fit in and what my role is.  So, we are back to our old arrangement of Daddy/babygirl.  But, all in all, I learned a valuable lesson – I finally see how a polyamorous arrangement would be beneficial for us.  I have a deep-seated need for affection and attention from my childhood (long story for another day) – so, while the relationship I have with him has been very good, it’s not quite enough for me.  I realize that statement sounds a little greedy and maybe I am.  We already have been in talks with a female friend, who we both agree would be a good addition to our relationship as we both would be involved intimately with her.  But now, our definition of our ideal poly relationship has expanded to include a male play partner for myself.  He has stated that he would allow me alone time with my partner but he would also want the option to be involved in our play at some point.

So, there will be more exploring and an adjustment period while we settle back into our roles but it should be an interesting ride.

–

This is where I chime in. I have to say first off I’m glad to have my babygirl back. I’ve missed her a great deal despite enjoying my role as of late. We both learned a great deal from this time reversed. I learned I really am a bit of a wanton whore. Go ahead, get the ‘duh, obvious’ out of the way. I’ll wait. *tick* *tock* *tick* *tock* Done now? Ok, as I was saying. Aside from a really spiked interest in anal play and being tormented/tortured at night in bed [and I hope both continue...damn did I sleep good those nights], I realized how often I openly sought validation for my actions from her. I plan to keep that in mind and offer it to her without her being quite as pressing [read annoying, I'm sure she does] as I was. I also feel I have a better handle on myself, to the point where a short bit of notice and some play to help me along should make it easy to briefly flip the switch as it were. That way when she does feel like being Mommy again, or beating me with the flogger and what not [yes, open invitation] to get out her aggression, there won’t be a tug of war for control. If I go much further I might as well start a post of my own, so I’ll end with this. I’m happy to have my girl back after my time with Mommy and I’m going to make sure she doesn’t forget that anytime soon.

…………………

this weekend, i…
+ watched an impressive marionette show on the street
+ saw some good art
+ attended a barn dance-themed party, in london, where we drank asahi beer (how’s that for international??)
+ spent some time with good friends
+ did a lot of walking and exploring
+ browsed in a very cool shop, where i had a perfect cappuccino made by gwilym davies of prufrock coffee (who is the 2009 UK and world barista champion … really interesting guy)
+ spotted street art from elbow toe (i thought it looked familiar — also spotted in brooklyn last may)

hoping your weekend was a good one, too! cheers.

November is best known for Thanksgiving, but Veterans Day is celebrated on November 11th, the anniversary of the end of World War 1.

Which is a good lead into one of the best educational sims I have ever seen The First World War Poetry Digital Archive (More Pictures – Link to website) built by a group from Oxford University.

The link will take you to a starting spot, where you can get a free WW 1 uniform or a nurses outfit. This is not a RP sim so you don’t have to dress up. I decided to dress as a soldier anyways. I know a female on the battle field is not historically accurate, but what the heck. The region is very sound heavy, so make sure you can hear things. There are a lot of  historical recordings, many of which you hear as you click on objects.

Follow the arrows to the “This Way To The Trenches” sign and click on the object there, and you will be teleported over a build of a trench. As you fly over and pass through a biplane dogfight, you hear a description of the history of trench warfare. When you finally land, you can follow the trench or try and run across the battlefield dodging mortars and mines. Click on the soldiers and hear personal accounts from the trenches.

This is a truly awesome use of Second Life that is immersive and educational, and everyone should check it out.

Meanwhile,  on the boards was a request for links to recreations in SL of US historical places. The list assembled on the NMSUA website is already extensive, and worth trying some links.

The first link is for a place I knew existed but never visited, an SL recreation of the Vietnam Memorial Wall (More Pictures). The place takes a while to load as the wall plates are in high definition so as to show you the list of soldiers killed in Vietnam. If you never been to the real wall in Washington DC, this is a good substitute. Turn on your video and see images, songs, and a robot voice reading all the names on the wall, something you don’t get at the real wall.

I had a feeling it was going to be a good weekend.  (It was FANTABULOUS!)  When Friday night rolled around, I found myself quiet and alone.  In those eerie moments – the silence before the storm – a familiar sensation was percolating deep within me: elation.

But solo, I faced a dilemma.  Go it alone or call Vinny?  There were several stops to make across town, live music here, party there and who-knows-what-else along the way.  I’d told Vinny that we were moving on to Phase 2 of the video project, so we weren’t going to be filming anymore.  Funny how things change.

He came over right away.  We started with some serious conversation about our project and terms of collaboration (for example: no more driving like a maniac and I’m the boss, dammit), over salad and a martini at Observatory.  Delicious.

The night was a whistle-stop tour of parties and events around the industrial SE area.  We got killer footage and I ran into a bunch of wonderful friends.  I could tell Vinny was happy to be out with me again by the dopey grin that never left his face.  By the time he brought me home, I was too drunk to care that he ran most of the red lights along the way.  (Don’t worry – I lectured at him about it the next day.)

Saturday, it continued.  The evening kicked off with a break-dancing competition at a community center near my place.  It seemed like an ideal opportunity to show Violet what it was all about, so I called my buddy Rene (who loves dancing), because I knew he’d be going too.

“I’d appreciate it if you did NOT bring Vinny to this,” he said.

“I’m sure Vinny will track me down sooner or later,” I replied.

You just have to expect it at this point.  If there’s something happening, we’re gonna go shoot the hell out of it.  Vinny showed up just in time to catch the last few rounds of the battle.  Then we made what was supposed to be a brief stop back at my place.  We regrouped, cracked a beer, stepped out the front door and found…no car.

Where did it go?

“My car just got stolen?!”  Vinny was beside himself.  “The camera was in there!”  That was even worse than losing the wheels.  It made me feel sick.

We looked around.  Right then, a police car passed by – not a typical occurrence in this residential area, but whatev.  Vinny ran after it and flagged the cop down.

“I think my car was just stolen,” he told the officer, at which point the officer gestured to a car not-so-neatly parked in a neighbors’ front yard.

“That car?”

“What the…?”  Vinny was still a little confused, but soon the fog lifted and we realized what had happened.  He’d left the e-brake off and the car had rolled down our street, across Stark and on down the hill to the neighbors’ front yard where it knocked down some hedges as it stopped, popping both left tires in the process.  HA!

Fortunately, another friend was in the neighborhood, so he swooped us up and the night proceeded according to plan.

The end…for now.

Cute deer accessories from Cobrahive <3

The picture is taken at Bentham Forest

• Deer accessories: Deer Antlers, Hooves and Tail – Cobrahive
• Skin: Skye (Chai) Electrocute – Pink Fuel
• Hair: Green II (pitch) – Maitreya
• Dress:  Mys Dress (black) – *Crazy*
• Pan Flute: Skream  
• Fingertape: Luck inc

Some images we took in our first visit to Madpea Circus. We were there only for a short time, so we couldn’t properly explore and read the backing stories. But we’ll be back, this is an amazing place.

The House of Freaks

Sorry, can’t find the LM now, but it’s in the Showcase

Okay, I’ll admit it publicly.  I am a nerd.  One of my missions when I came here to Peru was to find a Dungeons & Dragons book in Spanish for the sheer novelty value of it.  I also have a friend who owns a game store and he wanted me to scope out the inter-continental competition.  My friend Romy told me that she used to play similar games and that the place to go was called Game Zone, in a mall in Surco.  At long last, I set out to find the place, and was moderately disappointed.

Game Zone

Game Zone did have Dungeons and Dragons stuff, but it was all old and in English.  They had one copy of the new version I was looking for, and it was also in English.  I asked the guy if they printed it in Spanish and he said yes but he didn’t know when he would be getting any in.  For those of you interested, they also sold a very limited selection of board games both English and Spanish (Settlers of Catan [sp], Risk 2210 [en], Carcassone [en]), Magic cards, Mechwarrior, and Lego.  Lots and lots of Lego.

Also in the same mall I found the following:

Paintball Shop

And my personal favourite (someone tell Scotty for me!):

I wonder if Scotty has something to tell us