Another great article

i really enjoy reading the articles by Jack Rinella, they are insightful & generally have something relating to my life in them somewhere along the line. Do any of Y/you see any parallels to Y/your own lives?

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Diversions By Jack Rinella The folks in Houston are seeing less of my good friend Travis, of hook fame if you remember that column, because he has returned to playing the trumpet and has joined a jazz band. That doesn't mean that he's left the scene. It means, in his words, that "Now I am playing in a large jazz band and a small jazz combo. It has added an awesome `balance' back into my life." I recently finished my sixth book, "Philosophy In the Dungeon," which gave me some time to return to doing carpentry in the garage. Almost a year ago I began to build a bunk bed/cage for Patrick. Over the past winter Philosophy and teaching college took over my life (not a bad thing) and so the project languished. With no book on the horizon for now (though now will probably only be a few months) I am starting to build a bondage box. In the meantime my garden is flourishing like a jungle, so I am spending more time doing those kind of chores than I am in the dungeon. What gives? How the Hell does this relate to Leathersex? Simply put there is nothing so important as to live a balanced life. For a guy as cerebral as I can be, leaving the books and the keyboard can be a very healthy thing. For someone as horny and sexually active as I am, spending time in non-erotic activity is more than just a diversion. It restores my soul. Now I'm not going to say that a healthy sadism-induced orgasm isn't a good thing that restores one's soul, since it is. Instead I am going to remind you that living a healthy life means that one addresses life in a holistic way, considering all the aspects upon which life touches. I write that knowing full well that for most BDSM practitioners, play is just a once-in-a-while diversion, that work, family, and television take up a lot more time and energy than flogging and the like. I think it will be ever thus, except for those of us who live our lives on the kinky frontiers and the SM edges of existence. I can't say much about Travis' trumpet playing but I do know that the hours spent on the bunk bed were enriching. Building the bed took planning, purchasing, and a lot of work. Look at it this way. I had to choose the lumber, cut, glue, drill, bolt and screw it. I had to test it for strength and fit, sand the boards to a smooth finish, stain and varnish them, and polish them to a fine finish. It was a long, slow process. I was continually reminded that what the wood went through was the same as what I go through, that life is the process of building, fitting, sanding, and polishing. In fact woodworking seems to have a lot in common with sadomasochism. At least I think that if wood could think, it would think so. Can you see how our edge-play games cut and sand us? Can you see how being part of Leather community makes us fit, rounding off our rough edges and gluing us one to another? The balancing part of diversions consist in the fact that various activities use different aspects of who we are, consuming different kinds of energy and invigorating us in different ways. For that reason, as an example, we are urged to eat a balanced diet from a number of different food groups, told to exercise different muscles with different routines, and educational institutions demand general studies as well as those tailored to one's major. Good scenes have a certain balance as well. Like the building of a bunk bed, they demand some planning, a great deal of choosing, and a process that requires a wide variety of skills and processes. Believe me, a good flogging takes a lot more than just good flogging. There is an imperative, as well, that when we do play we do so as balanced players, not off kilter in some way. The complement to that, of course, is that dungeon play itself can also be a balancing event. I am reminded with a scene that I had with Travis. Being under his whips for a half hour or so really cleared my head, allowing me to vent off frustration and doubt. The pain of the floggers restored my connection with the purely physical and very primal. Of course, I'm probably struggling to say the same thing about woodwork and gardening, both of which are very physical and therefore grounding activities. Modern-day careers have divorced us from the earth. Even things as physical as sports often become a spectator form of recreation. You know, vicarious only works for so long. Our city living has removed us from the tempo of the seasons, the flow of life seen in crops and in animal husbandry. More often than not we are less and less creative in the workplace, an excel spreadsheet replacing the actual making of a product or the planting and harvesting of produce. Have we substituted standing and modeling for intimacy? I hope not and certainly can't judge another's public play. On the other hand the hide of a dead cow is no substitution for living flesh. Balance, of course, means that there is a place for dressing up and getting naked, though they are probably not the same places. Processes, either vocational, domestic, or recreational, have a natural rhythm and a wonderful variety to them. Just as there are many different steps to husbandry or carpentry, there are many steps to a fun scene. Here the variety and pacing of some vanilla activity can remind us nof the need for the same in the kink that we enjoy as well. The work of carpentry, as an example, reminds me that relationships take work, that just as sanding is a slow task, so is loving well. Rush the sander or use sandpaper that is old or the wrong grade and you have a mess. Take it slowly and evenly and the wood glows, the relationship prospers. Like any good project, some things need to be left to the experts. I am in the long process of adding a bathroom to the house. I'm not about to do the rough plumbing myself, just as I won't use a bull whip. Both are beyond my levels of expertise. I make it a habit of buying high grade wood and good power tools, just as I won't play with substandard toys or skimp on safety. Diversion, you see, can teach me a lot that is very applicable to what it is that we do. Think about it. Our kinky organizations needs accountants and cooks just as much as they need someone to teach needle play. I trust the diversion of this column was helpful. Have a great week.

This is the end of the article, any thoughts?

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Good grief!

i can NOT wait for vacation time to be OVER! i get a break from my kids, i will be moving shortly after i go back to work & two weeks after that the kids will be going BACK TO SCHOOL!
my parents are due back from the southern states tomorrow, so is house cleaning duties today, oh joy & bliss, just what i live for, cleaning house!
part of my problem is the kids had a sleep over last night which means they didn't go to bed till midnight or so. i haven't been sleeping well lately, so of course last night WOULD be the night i could have gone to sleep at 9 & slept right through till this morning, but noooooooooooooooo, that is the night they won't go to bed! (two of them at any rate, the other one was complaing cause he wanted to go to sleep & the other two wouldn't let him).
will this summer EVER end???????????????
it is way too hot, approaching 100F PLUS the humidex--not very comfortable in any way, shape or form! especially when you work nights so have to sleep during the heat of the day!
ah well, off to clean the bathroom (ick!).
Later all
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Pushing Limits

A question for anyone involved in a power based relationship but this was intended particularly for those seeking a TPE relationship. I believe that slavery in particular but submission in general is enhanced by pushing a slave's limits. I do not mean that with a slave who has suffered severe trauma from rape that the Master then re-enacts a brutal rape scene. There is no intent her to engage in what has been described as domineering behavior, only dominant behavior. I am talking about a slave or sub who is reluctant to do something that her Master/Dom wants her to do. Pushing her to do it, I believe, enhances and develops her submission. Now suppose you have a totally submissive slave, at least in all areas where her Master wishes to go. She resists nothing he wants to do simply because their limits are totally compatible so there is no need to push. Would this be enjoyable? As a Master or Dom, do you like pushing your slave/sub and if you don't have something to push, would you seek to find something? As a simple example, would you enjoy flogging a slave whose pain tolerance was far higher than your strength could reach?This really also touches on the things that produce the altered state of consciousness that we call subspace or Domspace. I know some slaves/subs can go there more easily than others and with a wider variety of stimuli. One slave I talked to can go there purely on psychological stimuli. Does it help the sub to know that the Dom is enjoying it too? Suppose the Dom was bored to tears by whatever he was doing, would the sub enjoy it anyway?

If the Dom were bored with what was going on, it is my feeling that He would find a way to improve upon it--make it more interesting. It has been my experience that there ARE no two people who are so thoroughly compatible that they can't find even a small bone of contention.if the Dom enjoys sending the slave (i'll use slave since that's what i am & it simplifies things a bit) into subspace then by all means send her there sometimes. If He doesn't then He has the right to NOT send her there, whether it's for His own selfish reasons or health or what have you.As for a slave who has reached her upper limits, is there such a thing???????? i don't think so! If she has reached what is considered to be her upper limits then stop with whatever the higher tolerance is & go with something for which she has a lower tolerance. she has a high pain tolerance--try mental games, bondage, sensation play, etc.

If a Master is to have the power and responsibility for a slave, He must love her more than Himself. This is what makes a Master a true Master. What would we be without our slaves? Lonely and unfulfilled, to say the least. A true M/s relationship is the ultimate symbiosis, each one nourishing and tending tothe other to form a whole and complete being that is greaterthan the sum of its separate parts. Without the love and need of one another, the relationship would be weak and flawed, the power is restrained by love and fed by that same love.

i got this off of one of my elists, if anyone would like to comment, please do.

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My Trip to Vegas--May 2005

Someone has brought to my attention the fact i didn't really tell you anything about it, lol. oops, sorry about that.
Most of these photos were taken from a car.
It was my last day there & i wanted to get as many photos as i could & still spend some time with my Master at the time during those last few precious hours.
It was blazing hot there, in the high 90'sF & low 100'sF, so W/we didn't particularly like going out in the heat of the day any way, lol.
i had a blast during my 4 1/2 days there & am looking forward to going back at some point in the future.







The Planet Hotel & Casino









An Outdoor Escalator!













The Mirage Hotel & Casino




Freemont, the older (oldest?) section













Caesar's Palace






Wynn's Las Vegas, newest hotel at the time.














This says it all: Las Vegas Centennial 1905-2005





Roof of the Freemont Sidewalk.









Light show on the roof at Freemont.










Moving pictures on the Roof of the Freemont Passage, celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Las Vegas.







Out front of Treasure Island








Much closer shot

This is a distance shot of Treasure Island.

i had a great time while i was there, my vacation just wasn't LONG enough! lol

i hope to be able to get back there again some day, not soon, but some day.

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Hi

Hi E/everyone. i'm Breathes_girl, & proud of it!
W/we are currently living separately, but will soon be going 24/7! wooooooooohoooooooo!

i have been kinky for 20+ years, but only active in the lifestyle for the last five or six years. i volunteer at local events, am a member of several online communities & just love my kinks, while they love me back *huge grin*.

The last few months have been difficult as W/we had to move from O/our apartment & the *person* W/we thought of as a friend, who was going to let us bunk with her, decided, after LESS than a week that W/we couldn't stay *shrug*. So W/we ended up moving to separate places for eight months, but soon that will be remedied.

That's all for now, more as i come up with it.

Breathes_girl