Flying Back

I’m writing this midway between Washington State and the United Kingdom. Below me is 30,000 feet of air, a jet plane and a sore bottom, in that order. The former is courtesy of Boeing, the latter courtesy of Adreena Angela and her cane. There are as many different approaches to femdom as there are dommes, but one thing is always consistent: If you session just before you fly, expect a caning.

Playing with Mistress Adreena proved to be a great way to both start and finish my UK trip. It was ridiculously hot for my final days in London, making everything very sweaty and sticky. Normally that would be a bad thing, but in certain situations and with the right set of kinks, it can actually be a bonus. I love scent play, so having her damp armpit smooshed into my face was a little slice of sweaty heaven. Mistress Adreena was also careful to keep us both thoroughly hydrated, although my liquids came to me via an indirect and secondhand route.

If you’re interested in scheduling a session, Mistress Adreena’s professional site is available here. At the time of writing, twitter has somehow managed to screw-up her account, but her instagram is available here (source for the above picture).

North of the Border

The family part of my trip has ended and I’ve headed North to meet up with some friends who have flown in from the US. Specifically I’m in Glasgow (just for a day) and then then Western coast of the Scottish lowlands. It has been an eye opening experience. Or, more accurately, an ear opening experience. I never realized just how sexy the Scottish accent is. I’ll talk to random people in restaurants and shops and be captivated by it. I’m usually a quiet introvert, but I find myself chatting to people more just because their accent is so damn attractive.

My social schedule and limited time in Glasgow has prevented me from setting up any kinky encounters, which I’m now deeply regretting. There are a lot of talented dommes here I’d love to spend time with. Miss Marilyn is one of them, and you can hear her fabulous accent in the video series she’s doing for the BBC on kink. I covered the first one in a past post here and you can hear the second video here.

This image is from Miss Marilyn’s twitter feed.  Her professional site for scheduling sessions is here.

Information Leakage

Combing a perverted lifestyle with electronic devices and an extended family visit can have its problems. You never know when some random notification or lurking browser window is going to appear on screen at an unfortunate moment. It’s particularly tricky when you’re used to living alone and browsing random filth whenever you feel like it. Several times I’ve found myself absent-mindedly firing up twitter while hanging out with elderly family members, which isn’t good when 90% of your twitter feed is kink.

My closest call so far was a scenario that never cross my mind as being dangerous – linking my phone to the hire car I have. I was taking my Mom somewhere and we wanted to call someone. So I paired my phone over bluetooth and impatiently pressed yes, yes, yes to all the prompts. One of which was related to importing contacts. I then start scrolling the list to find the family member we want to call. Unfortunately my contacts are full of women’s names that my Mom has never heard me mention. Many of them beginning with things like Mistress, Domina or Madame. All this is coming up on the big touch screen in the center of the car. It was lucky we were stationary at the time, otherwise I might have crashed into the nearest hedge. I muttered something about internet email spam and killed it quickly, but I’ve no idea if she missed the details or decided she’d much rather not know them.

This is Mistress Mara Mayhem, one of the dommes in my contacts. The good news is that she’s listed simply by name, with no D/s title. The bad news is that it’s the kind of unique name liable to attract attention and curiosity if it’s ever spotted. Hopefully my Mom didn’t catch it or think to Google it.

Mistress Mara is based in Chicago and if you’d like to session with her there, her professional site is here.

A Session with Adreena

My UK trip has migrated north, from partying in London to spending time with family in Warwickshire. My opportunities for kink have thus been temporarily curtailed. However, before I left London, I was lucky enough to meet and play with Mistress Adreena Angela.

One of the great things about Twitter is being able to get a sense of someone before you meet them. It’s obviously an imperfect and distorted view, but it has sometimes helped me figure out who I might connect well with. From Mistress Adreena’s feed I got the impression of someone who played with a positive energy and enjoyed tease, denial and the wonderful frustration of intimacy that’s so near…yet so far away. Those are dynamics I love, particularly when mixed with  a side-order of sadism, and the result was a great first session together.

One particularly enjoyable element was her use of extended eye contact. A lot of dommes use this to some extent, but I’ve never played with one who pushes it as hard as Mistress Adreena does. I’m sure it helps that she has absolutely gorgeous eyes. With my adrenaline and endorphins flowing, it was easy to temporarily lose my sense of self in her gaze. In normal circumstances I’d get embarrassed or shy and look away, but ironically the act of submission actually makes it easier for me to maintain eye contact. It changes a challenge into an acceptance.

This shot of Mistress Adreena shows off those beautiful eyes as well as some of her equally impressive tattoos. For sessions she plays out of her own well equipped space in London. If you’re interested in a professional session then her site with the contact process is here.

Heading to the Old Country

I’m flying back to the UK tomorrow for a fairly lengthy vacation. Blogging may therefore be a bit erratic over the coming weeks, depending of factors such as jetlag, partying, proximity of family members to my laptop, etc.

I do have some kinky play lined up, although not as much as I would have liked. If I’m in LA or NYC for a few days on my own, it’s pretty easy to schedule sessions with different dommes. In the UK I have to coordinate with multiple sets of friends and family, none of whom expect me to be disappearing for a few hours to get beaten, pierced or peed on.

On the plus side, it’ll be good to see the country again before Boris has a chance to wreck it. I’ll be spending a decent portion of my time relaxing in the beautiful countryside of both England and Scotland. I’ve no kinky plans for that section, which is a shame, as British ladies and outdoor pursuits can have some interesting kinky possibilities.

I found this in an old tumblr archive. A bit of research got me to this photoset featuring a model named Natalie, shot by the photographer Cannizzaro aka The Booted Cat.

Happiness

This Swaddle article makes the case that BDSM can make you more successful at work. As one dominant woman in the article says…

I began to notice that especially on days after we had engaged in a play scene, I would feel more focussed, composed and clear-headed. It was almost as if the satisfied feeling I felt in bed, in that position of power, flowed over the next day. I feel like I know more about myself — my mind and my body.

I’ve blogged on the concept of flow in the past (for example here), but reading the Swaddle article made me wonder if something more basic could be at play. Is it simply that being happy makes people more effective?

I know when I’m feeling happy at work (from kinky play or any other reason) I’m more likely to engage effectively in discussions and do a better job of selling my ideas. On the flipside, if I’m feeling unfulfilled or down, I’m more likely to get hung up on pointless arguments and trying to win the debate at all costs. Being effective in my work is often as much about knowing when to let something I disagree with slide as it is about doing the right thing. If I’m buzzed and flying on endorphins from a great play session, then I think I’m smarter about picking my battles. Not looking to work for emotional fulfillment actually leads to smart decision making and hence a more productive work life.

In summary: I should be able to claim on expenses for my kinky play with pro-dommes. It’d be a net gain for my company. I look forward to trying that argument out with my boss. I’m guessing it’ll have to go under the “Miscellaneous” section on the expense form.

Talking of happiness – here’s a very cheerful looking lady. Hopefully the man destined to wear that interesting funnel gag she’s holding is equally happy with the idea.

Governess Inka

I’m continuing the corporal theme for just one more post. I love this image for the contrast it presents with most online erotica. Mistress Inka is sitting in a comfortable chair, in a regular room, in a dress that not only covers every inch of her body but obscures even her shape. Yet it’s still wonderfully sexy.

I also think it’s also another example of how loose the link between kink, culture and personal experience can be. This has a real Victorian governess feel to it. I’m guessing nobody reading this had a governess, and certainly nobody had a Victorian one. Yet the image and dynamic still works. Certain archetypes persist, drawing on underlying desires that we may not even be aware of. The image uses an idea from the past, but that’s really just camouflage to sneak in its kinky themes of punishment, control and desire.

Image is from this tweet. For the watermark, I assume it’s associated with Sissy Manor (main site here). Mistress Inka’s professional site is available here.

Nobody Cares (extended edition)

I had some great comments on my last post about approaching a professional playspace. Thanks to Simon, Hank and Chris for those. The encounter Simon described made me laugh…

I once visited a Mistress in her premises in London and as they were on the 3rd floor I got in the lift. With me in the lift was an older lady probably in her eighties. When I pressed for the 3rd floor she smiled at me and said “here to get your bottom smacked are we?” to which I could only reply with a wry grin.

I’m pretty certain all I’d be able to manage in those circumstances would be a wry grin as well. Little old ladies with a sense of humor and unencumbered by the need to stick to social conventions are scarier than any leather clad domme.

I still maintain my claim from my previous post that 99.9% of passersby neither know nor care about people entering a playspace. However, that does leave 0.1%, who are probably local to the area and might realize what’s going on. However, it’s unlikely you’ll bump into them and even if you do, the most you’ll probably get is a knowing smile.

Although I’ve never had a problem getting into a space, taxi drivers can be annoyingly curious. Particularly when they’re picking up a solo guy from a downtown hotel and taking him to some random suburban or industrial location. My standard cover story is that I’ve a friend whose an artist and I’m visiting her at her new studio space. After all, talented dommes are artists in their own domain, and their spaces are often located in the kind of buildings artists use. Maybe when I’m old and have ceased to care, I’ll just tell them I’m visiting someone to get my bottom smacked.

This is one of the more unique looking industrial style playspaces I’ve seen, as featured in this tweet from Mistress Adreena. Lot’s of exposed brickwork, some ironwork on the right and a big a bondage frame on the left. Not to mention of course the beautiful Mistress Adreena in the center! I believe this is located in Amsterdam.

Speaking Up

I like twitter, but I’m not very good at it. I struggle to condense my thoughts to tweet sized chunks. Take for example this thread started by Lady Pim on submissives speaking up mid-scene. I think it’s an interesting topic, but I got fed up trying to write a response in short snippets. I figured I’d just write a post, and so here we are.

The first thing to acknowledge is that it’s genuinely difficult for submissives to know how and when to speak up. Most don’t want to be accused of topping from the bottom or second guessing their domme. Part of the joy of D/s is relaxing into the moment and telling your inner monologue to take a break. So making judgement calls about how and when to communicate an issue can be a hard mental gear change to make. Submissives shouldn’t beat themselves up for finding that difficult. As the old joke goes, that’s her job.

The other thing to internalize is that doing a scene always involves a degree of risk on both sides. If you stop and talk about every potential issue, no matter how minor, you’ll never get anywhere. If you let things play out, then there’s always a chance of going past a point of comfort before you can do anything. Both domme and submissive have to accept and deal with that risk. Obviously nobody should deliberately violate boundaries, but if you’re exploring new territory then occasionally you’re going to inadvertently wander across one or two.

Experience and practice are obviously one answer here. Playing with the same person repeatedly is another. I’d also say that chemistry is a big factor. When your respective styles and approach to kink aligns, then it makes it a lot easier to communicate. The better you understand each other the more communication becomes about the shared task (of her beating your ass) and less about presentation and parsing motives. I’ve played with super talented world class dommes who I just didn’t click with, and it made in scene communication so much harder, as I just couldn’t read their intentions easily.

I’ve some further thoughts, but I’ll save them for a follow-up post. Apparently I can’t shrink my verbiage to a single post, let alone a single tweet. I’ll finish this post with a picture I particularly like from Lady Pim’s twitter feed. Once the gag goes in you better practice your grunting and hand signals if you want to speak up.

Lady Pim is a pro-domme based at the Ritual Chamber in Toronto. You can see her professional page here.

Revisiting an Old Friend

Last night I was lucky enough to revisit an enjoyable but somewhat neglected activity – butterfly boarding. Looking back over my past posts I think the last time I did this was almost eight years ago. I’ve done a lot of play piercing since then, but never in that particular way. I know Ms Savannah Sly is always a fan of sharp pointy things, particularly when they’re going into my delicate bits, so it felt like a perfect opportunity to revisit it with her. Much fun was had by all.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, butterfly boarding is a type of CBT where the cock and balls get pinned around their edge to a board. It’s psychologically pretty intense and can create a lot of interesting physical sensations. As the cock expands or contracts then it pulls again the needles, setting up one of those awful/wonderful masochistic feedback loops of pain -> arousal -> more pain. Of course Savannah was also happy to add her own variation on that loop by gently pulling the boards or rocking the needles. Add in electrical stimulus via conducting loops at the base of the cock and I was pretty quickly deep into subspace and flying high. I was a good boy, Savannah was all around me and the rest of the world simply didn’t exist.

For anyone interested in the technique then we did snap some photographs. Obviously, these are close-up shots of pierced genitals, so don’t click the links if you’d rather not see that. Here’s a top shot, front shot, back shot and head shot. In hindsight, I should have shaved beforehand. The random stray pubes don’t really add much to the visual composition. The black cords visible around the base of the cock are for the electrostim device.

I really don’t want to see my viewing numbers plummet to zero, so I’ll not finish the post with a full on shot of my dick. Instead let me share something a lot more visually appealing – this is a shot from Savannah’s twitter feed. You can see more shots like this at her Only Fans Site.