Birthdays and bad boys

It’s my birthday today, but last night I was invited to a small party to celebrate the 50th birthday of another NY spanko friend. As these evenings go, there were about two hours of talking and eating before any action took place. But eventually people started pairing off and heading down to the basement “dungeon,” where there was a whole array of toys and several pieces of equipment to use.

At one point the birthday girl was “ordered” to assume the position on a spanking bench and everyone (no pressure or anything, lol) took turns giving her 50 spanks. I happen to think the idea of the birthday spanking is kind of goofy but, as I recently posted on FetLife, I like the spankings and I certainly like the attention, so I’m not stopping anyone.

By the time midnight rolled around and the clock ticked over to MY birthday the party was winding down — therefore, I managed to escape a “round two” of birthday spankings. Rad did the honors this morning, spanking me 48 times plus one-to-grow-on, right in front of the living room window while our cat Pip stared at us in either disgust or disbelief. Or maybe he was just thinking about sushi.

Back to last night — I invited my musician friend C. to attend the party, as I was hoping to introduce him to some of my other friends. He’s a switch, but as I’ve reported here before, he’s also an insatiable pain slut. He’s a great guy and I love “punishing” him. And he can REALLY take it. My friend M., another switch, agreed to help me double-team him. I’d never seen her top before and I was quite impressed. C. was also impressed, and we worked him over for probably close to an hour. Lots and lots of cane strokes, a bath brushing, a strapping and a little touch of bastinado — the cane and a light paddle to the bottom of his feet (quite enjoyable, as we finally got an “ow” out of our stoic friend).

The night before, I was called upon to wield the cane on another friend. He said he’d felt the cane before, but hadn’t had a “serious” caning. Like C., I knew this man could take it because I’ve topped him before.

So I picked out four canes with different diameters, started with the thinnest and worked my way up. At one point I shifted gears, pulled out a very thin, whippy cane and gave him 12 fast strokes with that before continuing with the thicker cane. I heard his “oohs” and was happy to see I was making an impression. He received 60 strokes altogether; 12 with each cane.

I like when people ask me to introduce them to the cane. It can be a very intimidating toy, and does have a scary history (Singapore comes to mind). But the canes typically used in S&M play can be easier to take than a bath brush, or even some hair brushes, in my opinion.

(cross-posted from www.mscassandrapark.com)

Early adventures in submission

I’ve spent a lot of time in the spanking community but I’ve always felt part of the larger BDSM world — at least in the nature of what I was doing. It was sexual, and I liked to try a lot of things. Oh, there was a lot I didn’t know, before I came out in the scene, but I knew what turned me on, and I knew I was submissive — at least sexually. I experimented a lot with various boyfriends. Some I converted into spankos. Others whom I also “converted” were probably dominant to begin with and it came naturally to them. But I never considered any of them “my Dom.”

This was pre-internet — for me, at least  (I didn’t have a cell phone, either, they were still pretty rare back then) — and when I started to look for play partners I looked in a certain section of the classified ads in the local alternative newspaper.

Does anyone recall this system of meeting people? Someone signed up for the service and created a voice mail message. If you were hoping to meet someone, you would call up and listen to his/her message. Then you would decide whether you were interested, and would leave a response. There was a charge for listening to the messages, so my phone bill would add up quickly. I remember holding a sheet of paper in my hand with the code numbers of all the guys whose ads sounded interesting … interesting until I’d hear their voices or what they said in their messages and I’d quickly move on. Mostly it was that they didn’t sound confident, or dominant, and some simply sounded way too sleezy. The big sheet of numbers was quickly reduced to three or four, and I’d listen to those three or four messages several times before finally getting the nerve up to call.

I met a few tops this way. Safe calls? I knew nothing about safe calls back then, and besides, who was I going to tell about what I was doing and where I was going? There was no way I’d tell any of my girlfriends. And munches? If they existed back then, I wouldn’t have done that, either. Too much of a chance of seeing someone I knew … and too much of a chance of meeting a bunch of freaks.

No, it was going to be private, and one on one. I trusted my own judgment. I had long phone conversations with the guys before I met them and then I took the plunge and met them. Even if I wasn’t having sex, I was meeting people for sexual play and I was a little slut. I often felt guilty, but my need for “it” overrode my guilt.

Two of the guys I met turned out to be fairly good matches as play partners, but both were involved in relationships so things never got beyond play. One was into discipline role play and I played the bad daughter for him a number of times. He spanked harder than anyone had spanked me up to that point.

The other was more of a Dominant, and we explored all kinds of play. Pain was a huge part of what we did, but he also did humiliation play and bondage and different types of “training” (such as putting me in really high heels and making me walk around his condo). I saw him every few weeks, and my submission to him lasted a finite period of time — beginning with his putting a collar on me at the start of the scene to the beginning of our “cool-down” period, when he’d take the collar off.

I still remember the butterflies in my stomach as I’d drive up I95 toward his house. In rush hour traffic after work, I would always be nervous about being late, even though I’d done everything in my power to get there on time. He would leave the door of his condo unlocked when he knew I was coming. I wouldn’t see him when I first entered (it was part of his “game”), and I would quickly get naked, freshen up in the bathroom, then kneel on his bedroom floor with my head down on my folded arms. Sometimes there would be some item left on the bed for me to put on, such as a blindfold.

When he finally entered the room, he would buckle the collar around my neck and then I was his to do whatever he wanted with. God, it was always a whirlwind. I remember him yanking me up and over the edge of the bed and then whipping me with a riding crop — with the shaft as well as the slapper. He used a nasty quirt. He used paddles.

We’d experiment with bondage. He had a winding staircase in his living room that led up to a loft area. He tied me under this a lot, my hands over my head, and he would beat me or whip me there. I was frequently in extreme pain and he scared me, but I trusted him. Once I hadn’t eaten dinner. I was bound under the stairs and I suddenly got really hot and lightheaded. I’m not a fainter, but this was the closest I’ve ever come to thinking I was going to pass out. He cut me loose immediately, made me sit down and drink something; gave me a snack.

The humiliation — he had this thing about making me lick his feet, which disgusted me. I absolutely abhorred it, but I did it because I loved everything else he did to me. Then there was the time he made me kneel up and bark like a dog. I had the hardest time with that. But I was not a dog, and it was just a game. I loved the game.

He always treated me like I was special, not lesser than him just because I liked receiving pain and being controlled. At the end of our scene we would always lie around and talk for hours. We were equals then.

When I entered the public scene it was because I was looking for a partner. He wasn’t available romantically and I was starting to meet people who were, so I saw him less and less. He was always supportive and not jealous of my new adventures. It really meant a lot to me. (Honestly,  I think he was happy I was seeing other people. I wasn’t jealous of his partner — he had another sub at the time who wanted more out of the relationship and who was causing him trouble because of this. That wasn’t an issue with me.)

I have lost touch with this Dom. I did some searches over the years but I haven’t had any luck finding him. He was a big part of my life and a precursor to my future explorations in the scene. I hope I expressed to him how much he meant to me during the time that I knew him.

Itching to play … just itching …

The weekend had some kink and some vanilla events. Friday night was laid-back. No appointments, and no overwhelming desire to go out. Rad and I got out the TV trays for a change and watched a NetFlix movie that had been sitting for a while. It was Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. (As an aside, I’ve seen a lot of Robert Downey Jr. films and I have to say, is there any role he’s not good at? Here’s one fabulous example of a guy who turned his life around, got clean and sober and then became an even better actor than before. We love him.)

Saturday night I planned to go to the “Metamorphosis” party in Long Island. Rad was going to “represent” at the OTK munch and party at Paddles. But at some point during the week, I had developed a God-awful skin condition — which became blatantly obvious on Friday evening. It itched like you wouldn’t believe. Saturday morning found me at a clinic near my house, getting examined. The doc ruled out poison ivy and said it wasn’t contagious. He said it could be our laundry detergent or some other product containing a scent. Great. We’d just done three loads of laundry in some unknown generic brand. I filled the prescriptions he gave me, bought “Dermatologist-Tested Free and Gentle Tide” plus some unscented Dove soap, and went home, where I rewashed my clothes.

My Dom wanted me to come out to the Long Island party, even if we couldn’t play. I said that I would update him on how miserable I felt. How was I going to play or do anything in my condition? The redness was all over my torso and down the back of one leg.

But we had wanted to go to this particular party for a while, and by late Saturday afternoon, with what looked like some minor improvement, I voted to go. I wore tights and a stretchy tight shirt that I could sacrifice, and my Dom said we would play if I felt like I could handle it.

I was happy he wanted to see me, because looking at myself I felt disgusted. And we did play, although I had to call mercy on an attempted strapping, as it hurt too much when it struck the area of the tights over the rash.

He took out his scary oversized scissors, pulled up the material covering my nipples and cut holes, so my nipples were exposed. Later he took a knife and sliced down through the crotch area of my tights, exposing me further. That way he was able to “torture” me in areas other than my butt, which can be scary play, but I always like the challenge. People at the party said it looked “hot,” not knowing what was really going on.

The party was a lot of fun, with good energy and sexy scenes, both sensual and painful. And the people were nice.

But the next day, Sunday, I was dying again. I had a lot of work (writing and editing) to do but was having trouble focusing on anything but the itch. I kept applying various skin creams, with varying results. In between I ran ice all over my skin for additional relief.

Monday morning I went to see my regular doctor in Manhattan, who shuttled me down the street to a dermatologist. His diagnosis: It was a reaction to a new drug I’d recently started taking. I was surprised. I have never had a drug reaction in my life. It was the only thing I could think of that was new, so I hope that we pinpointed the culprit to be avoided in the future.

The medication he prescribed started working almost immediately. Within one day — about 75% better. It’s still a little itchy today, but I don’t want to sandpaper my skin anymore. (I have to take all of the medication just to make sure we correct the problem.)

I want … I don’t want … I want …

When my Dom picks up the clover clamps I get this clammy feeling of fear, and my body doesn’t quite know how to prepare. I am afraid, but yet my mind cannot seem to recall the actual sensation of the pain on my nipples. It comes out as a vague idea like, “Yes, I remember it was a bad pain last time.”

But my inner tough girl remembers getting through the pain and even orgasming through it (or maybe because of it). So that piece of my brain says, “You can take it. You are strong. It wasn’t so bad, and remember that time it got you off? You want this.” Yes, it was bad, I argue with myself, it’s always bad. “But you can take it,” my other half replies.

As he approaches and positions my nipple, about to put the clamp on, I am trying to do some focused breathing, I am trying not to react too strongly. I look at him, a part of me wanting him to stop, another part aching for him to do it, and not understanding why. If he looks me in the eye it is more intense. He doesn’t have to say a word, but I know he’s not going to stop. I feel this certain detached appreciation for the way he knows how much something hurts and he does it anyway.

He attaches the first clamp. A rush of searing pain shoots through me and I gasp. It’s bad. Oh, yes, it’s bad, worse than I remembered. Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god. Sometimes I yelp. I try to be quiet but I’m not always good at it. And I’m sure at the very least I’m making faces, wincing, scrunching up my eyes. (Sometimes he tells me to be quiet and to stop making faces. It’s so hard. I try.) He puts the other clamp on the other nipple and that’s bad, too. Bad, bad, pain. But good power exchange.

I am not “into” nipple play, I would not seek this out. I am “into” being pushed beyond my comfort zone, being made to take things I don’t want, being made to take things that scare me. So, being not into nipple play and knowing that my Dom is, and that he will make me take it, is part of the thrill. If I were more “into” it, it wouldn’t be as exciting.

But yet … I somehow think my body is into what my brain says I hate. I begin to crave it. Or I crave being made to take it.

The clamps are held together by a chain, not a particularly heavy chain but not light, either. The chain carries the potential for more pain. I’ve talked about predicament bondage in the past. This is exactly one way it can be used, by applying additional tension on the clamps (see below).

He tells me to go downstairs to get something. As I walk the chain sways, tugs against the clamp, making my nipples hurt with each step. I feel a little disappointed in myself. Why can’t I be tougher? Why do I have such a hard time accepting this type of pain? But I AM accepting it, I remind myself. I’m not saying no. I’m not safewording out.

But I don’t want this … no, I want this … I don’t want this … I want this. He scares me; he turns me on, he wants to hurt me, he knows I need to be hurt. Ha. And it scares me sometimes that he knows that. But it’s too late.

From Wikipedia: The clover clamp, also referred to as a “butterfly clamp”, is of Japanese design and can provide increasing tension if pulled. The clamp itself is flat, about 5 cm by 10 cm (2 by 4 in) in size. The clamp is applied to the nipple and the spring tension holds the clamp in place. The clamp usually provides a very high pain level, and is usually only used by more advanced users. To increase tension on the nipples, small weights such as fishing line sinkers can be attached to the ends of the clamp. As increased pulling tension is applied to the clamp, it will cause the jaws of the clamp to close tighter, depending on the amount of pull pressure. Another method is to use the clamps to keep a person in one place. If cord is tied from the clamp to a fixed place, the wearer of the clamps cannot move away because the clamps will tighten as they move. Eventually the clamps would be pulled off the nipples but not before considerable pain is felt.

Good girl can go out and play now

I got a decent amount of work done today and so I’m going out. Tonight’s entertainment will begin with a munch, followed by the Dominant Women/Masculine~Alpha Submissives and Switches May party at Paddles. That’s combined with DomSubFriends’ PleasureDom party and slave auction. I’ll be in top mode (at least that’s my plan) all evening. Tomorrow we head to the Delco Spankos party in Philadelphia, and subbie Sandy will be out again.

In case you’re wondering what the DW/MASS group is all about, Lady Casandra Moon started it, and she describes it this way: “Here is a group that honors the Queen or Goddess within each woman and honors the Knight who offers his strength, intelligence and spirit to the Queen as her Champion.” Click on this link for more info, and join the group if you feel it’s for you: http://fetlife.com/groups/19128/about.

Tonight I’m meeting my friend C. for play, as well as J. from Long Island and possibly others. C recently came over and helped me figure out how to transfer my iTunes from my old to my new computer, something I was having the hardest time figuring out. It ended up taking something like two hours, and he also gave me some classic and more recent jazz CDs albums to listen to (I’ve been trying to learn more about who’s who in jazz).

Needless to say, I owe him, and that means he’s getting something he really needs tonight — a good thrashing. My canes and toy bag are already in the car; I just need to get my act in gear and get ready. I love playing with him because I really identify with his masochism, and he can take it.

My perennial angst about “not feeling toppy” seems non-existent these days. I think it has something to do with who I’m playing with, and the connection I feel. Obviously that connection is not there with everyone. With some, you feel it some days and not on other days. And I know I feel it more with bottoms who are not necessarily submissive, or who are switches. They seem — I don’t know, feistier to me. They’re fun. Yet, I do think I prefer men who lean more toward the bottom than the top (when I’m topping, that is).

If anyone’s going to Paddles tonight, come say hi or introduce yourself if I don’t already know you.

Hooked

Saturday and Sunday, for a change, were completely vanilla. We went down to South Jersey on Saturday morning, the Jersey Shore in this case, and met my brother to go fishing on his boat. He took us out on the Great Egg Harbor Bay, near Somers Point (just a little south of Atlantic City, scene of the infamous Boardwalk Badness Weekend).

It was gorgeous out, sunny and warm. I popped two Dramamine an hour before boarding just to avoid any “issues.” I know myself and how my stomach reacts to boats. We got sandwiches and sodas from the local WaWa, then headed to the marina to board the boat and find a place to start fishing.

It was a hassle-free endeavor, at least for us. My brother fishes a lot, so he had rigged the three poles already with sinkers and bait. I had a piece of squid on mine; Rad had a minnow. All we had to do was toss our lines into the water and wait.

No more than half an hour after we set out, hooks baited and lines in the water, Rad says, “I think I have one!” I looked over to see his fishing pole bending with the weight of a struggling fish. He’d never caught a fish before, so I was very excited for him. He reeled it in, and my brother grabbed a net and got the flounder into the boat. It had to be at least 18 inches to keep it, and the ruler on the side of the boat said it was 20! Woo hoo! A good sign for the rest of the day. 

Rad soon caught another, and then my brother caught one — both of their fish were too small and had to be released back into the water. I had no luck for the first part of the day, but I was enjoying the outdoors and the company. My brother is good friends with a family who own a house right on the Bay, and we motored over there after lunch to clean Rad’s fish and to say hi. (Apparently my bro has a standing invitation to visit and use their fish-cleaning station — sweet). This was a beautiful home, with a huge deck, a boat slip, an upstairs deck, nicely furnished. Someone has money! But they were extremely down to earth — theater people — and we had a nice conversation while my brother did all the dirty work. Back in the day, I used to clean my own fish when I went fishing, and I probably could still remember how to do it, but he took over and just did it, and I was perfectly happy to let him.

In the afternoon we tossed our lines in a few more times. I finally caught one fish — too small, alas, and it was sent back. We called it a day, and left with Rad’s fish on ice.

We stayed overnight at my parents house in South Jersey, and for dinner I fried up the fish in a breadcrumb batter. Rad declared, “This is the first time I’ve ever eaten anything that I’ve murdered!” It was quite good, in my humble opinion.

Sunday we attended a birthday party for my niece, which was very nice, but we left very soon after she blew out the 30 candles. Then it was back on the road, north to New York and home.

There were a ton of BDSM parties going on this weekend in the city, and I turned down two I probably would have gone to had I been in town. But the vanilla activities were fun, too, and I was happy to see my family.

Inversion therapy

Last week was bondage week, apparantly. LIRR on Tuesday, “Asymmetrical Bondage” class with Lee Harrington on Thursday, and  at another rope workshop run by MarcusLikesIt in Brooklyn on Friday. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to this many rope events in one week — it was unusual. (I had to do family stuff over the weekend but my Dom went to two MORE rope events AND another party without me — I was jealous!)

On Friday the topic was harnesses and suspension. Marcus and his partner, Vanessa, do beautiful rope work together. Vanessa is very flexible and he can move her around into all sorts of fun positions. Marcus himself is a very appealing, creative top — they are just exciting to watch together. When I arrived (I was late because I’d had an appointment earlier) Marcus was just about to suspend Vanessa, so I got to watch a fun, sexy scene while my Dom started tying me up.

He tied chest and leg harnesses on me. Marcus had just demonstrated a  new way of doing a hip harness, so my Dom tried that on me. It featured several different points where you could attach the suspension ropes, meaning the weight would be distributed more evenly across my body and there would be less pressure on one area. One other couple (a female top who was tying up a lithe young woman with pretty red and green rope) used the suspension ring next. I was more than happy to witness the young woman’s first experience at “flying.”

Then it was our turn. The suspension ropes were attached to my chest harness first, and I leaned back while he attached other ropes to my hip harness. Soon I was off the ground. I felt pressure (pain) from the ropes around my upper legs at first, which was soon relieved when he added more rope to another point. This switched the pressure to the chest harness, as the ropes dug into my back, but I was enjoying the feeling of being off the ground and certainly didn’t want to be released. My Dom again adjusted the ropes and lowered my torso to relieve some of the pain I was feeling. But then he kept going and soon I found myself hanging upside down. Cool!

I was giddy. The blood rushed to my head, but other than that I was very comfortable. It was my first time being “inverted” and I loved it. It was a beautiful head rush. Does that qualify as “sub space”?

He left me up there a while, spinning me a little and touching me. Attention slut again, I was happy that people were watching. At one point he snapped open a spring-loaded knife, which usually makes me nervous, but I was merely giggly and jumpy as he ran it lightly over my exposed skin. He didn’t keep it up for too long, and soon, it was my time to be released.

Afterward I snuggled on the couch with him, watching the other suspensions that were being done after us. I was spacey for quite a while. Nice to be spacey with him.

FetCrack, etc.

I know I’ve been sort of ranting lately, feeling a little bitchy, irritated. FetLife seems to be the place for getting sarcastic for no good reason, and occasionally at random strangers. A guy posting yesterday came across as a sexist jerk. I followed some friends over to a group I wasn’t a member of, joined the group so I could comment on his outlandish grammar. I have pretty much given up bad grammar bashing on FetLife or elsewhere (if someone can’t write I simply ignore him), but, like I said, he was a sexist pig and sort of deserved it. He eventually cursed us all out for mocking him (which we probably deserved) and said he couldn’t help his “gramagical errors” (love it!!) because he’d been using his cell phone. But I ceased and desisted, unjoined the group and left the poor bastard to dig his own grave.

Meanwhile, on As the Spanking World Turns, there’s FetLife controversy involving several players, some that I know. I do not want to get involved, and I hope no one thinks I have to get involved in order to declare loyalty to one side or the other. I was not there at the time, I do not know exactly what happened. That said, I have my opinions and I have made assumptions based on what I know about the people involved, what each of the parties has written publicly on FetLife, and what some people have shared with me privately. I’m not going into any more details — sorry for this tease if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

The reason I bring it up here at all is because I feel sad to see such anger and such huge divides occurring within a community that’s very small. Within the public spanking world there are many different types of players, and it seems that far too often than should happen, people are clashing. (When I say the “public” spanking world I mean people who are “out,” or at least partially out, and who attend parties.)

When lines are crossed (as one party accused the other of doing in this controversy) what happens then? Can peace and goodwill be restored or is one person forever seen as a liar/a stalker/a groper/an “outer of others” or whatever the “crime” happens to be? I do know of at least person banned from a private New York spanking party who probably could be invited back in if certain people were contacted and amends or at least concessions made, on both sides. There is another person I hope never comes back. I don’t consider either of these people dangerous, but one at least is extremely unstable and has caused a lot of damage through words.

Then there are other people I would consider dangerous, or potentially so, based on past behavior. So when I see them at parties I realize others simply do not feel the same way about them. Sometimes I surreptitiously observe the person’s interaction with others and wonder if he or she has changed. For the most part, it’s none of my business unless I’ve had a personal problem with the person and I am scared being around him or her for a legitimate reason. There is no one I can think of at the moment who fits this category. There are players who for some reason disturb me, creep me out, are unappealing — but to someone else they are wonderful. Who am I to judge?

I don’t want anyone thinking I am defending the behavior of a predator or sexual molester. Absolutely not. With certain events that I did not witness, I had very strong reason to believe one version of the story over another. If someone allegedly did a “bad thing,” I would shy away from that person in the future, especially if more than one person reported inappropriate behavior. Yes, I acknowledge there’s a chance that someone was falsely accused. And that would suck. But I tend to believe that when there are a lot of accusations flying around, something happened.

So … onward to more positive things, which I will write about next. I see my Dom tomorrow. We will be attending the Long Island Rope Revival meeting and who knows what position I’ll find myself in. I suppose I ought to be practicing my Somerville Bowline and some other knots and tricks in case I want to tie someone else up. Maybe I’ll review tonight before bed.

Attitude adjustment

I thought about deleting the last post, but I’ll leave it for now. It was what it was. A lot of people said this last party was the best they’d ever attended and I myself had a lot of fun despite a few glitches.

The folks at Strictly Spanking had created a bunch of promotional videos for the Boardwalk Badness weekend, including some “how-tos,” shown Friday during the welcome mixer, some “how-not-tos,” shown later on Friday during the vendor fair. Rad and I starred in a few of those “how-not-tos.” In one, I played the bottom with way too many rules for the top to follow, and I end up frustrating the tops so much they toss me outside through a window. In the other, I get ingloriously knocked off Rad’s lap onto the floor as he rushes off to go meet a spanking model he likes. I think I needed a stunt double for these! But the crowd apparently loved it.

On Saturday, during the “Tanner Reformatory” skit, there was a slide show of former students of the Reformatory, a “Where are they now?” There was a picture of me looking demure in my school uniform. Then the next slide came up:

As many of you have already seen on FetLife, it was quite a shock to find out that I was the new Octomom. I didn’t know this was coming when Mike Tanner had asked me for a picture a few months ago. When it came up on the screen I nearly died laughing.

Rad, who was playing one of the Reformatory guards in Saturday’s skit, was shocked as well. Unbelievable. Everyone said they liked the tiny pair of “Radlettes” in my right pocket. Glad the audience appreciated it. Thanks, Jules & Co., for your humor and creativity!

Last week I did a lot of reflecting and I feel I am in a much better emotional place. I got to see my Dom on Thursday and that helped. Today we won’t be able to play because I have to go into the city for a job interview, but I’ll be seeing him later at the Long Island Leather N Roses social and talent show. I’ve signed up to sing at the talent show … something I haven’t done in public in a while.

Pain and love in Atlantic City

What can I say about the Boardwalk Badness weekend? It was wonderful seeing all my friends from across the country and across the ocean. I met some great new folks, too.

I loved my “warm-up” with Brad (little more than a warm-up, there, B!), my extremely hot and scary scene with Gspanks on Friday night, the impromptu belting I delivered to a total stranger in Mr. Rob and Miss Lisa’s room on Friday night (he was begging for it!), and the great spanking that Mr. Rob gave me that same night. Hanging out there with just a few folks was really, really great — I got to know my Philadelphia friends a little better.

It was also nice seeing our Maryland friends Jon & Dolly, who haven’t been to a party in a number of years, having lunch with them, Gatita, Geeeeee, Calypso Carol, TwoSocks and a few others, and walking on the boardwalk Sunday morning catching up with Zelle.

I had great scenes with L. from Florida and ColoDom. And then there was that strange but exhilarating “car wash flogging” delivered by N., GiaBelle and Fineous on Saturday night. Any time I get to stand naked surrounded by a circle of friends is a good thing.

So it was a good party. But then … I had some serious negative moments. I had a very bad moment as we left the party and got on the road home — I broke down for a little while. (Thank you, Rad and Sinny, for your emotional support).

What happened? I blame myself. I felt rejected by someone and let it get to me. I believed others were having more fun. I got jealous. I felt undesirable all of a sudden. I felt needy. Oh, god, the kiss of death at a spanking party, to feel needy! And I could have played with more people, but I was pacing myself for some anticipated hard scenes (anticipated=scheduled) that did not happen.

I have tried going with the flow at past parties and missed playing with some favorite people because of this. I have also scheduled scenes ahead of time, which has worked fairly well — but then the disappointment of not playing with someone seems greater if you’ve scheduled ahead of time.

Did I reject others? I didn’t cancel any scheduled scenes, but there were people whom I could have played with if I hadn’t been so worried about pacing myself. I am sorry I passed on those opportunities.

Also, I hesitated to “promote myself.” I told myself, “Don’t sign up for the Tanner Reformatory skit — no one wants to see your ass up there getting spanked again in a silly school girl outfit.” This was the first party I didn’t bring my school uniform to. Maybe that was a mistake. School scenes are still a huge fetish for me. People older than me were up there having fun. What was my problem?

And why was I so worried about pacing myself? I am still a tough girl, but my bottom isn’t quite as tough. I sometimes need a bandage on some weak spots. Some tops can’t deal with this — another reason I am self-conscious about promoting myself and seeking out play. I want people to understand that I still want to play hard and I can still play hard. I just need a little more protection. I know I am not the only one with this issue. But I feel embarrassed and I feel “worn out” and I feel guilty: Was I a greedy girl in my younger days? Did I play too much? What is “too much,” anyway? I took what I took; I took what my tops gave me. I didn’t know I would have this issue down the road.

The bottom line was I had a weird party and it was my own fault.

Yet, there were some very sublime moments, including moments where I just knew I was loved and cared for by certain very special people to me. And this is not bull — that was what redeems the party for me: hanging with some great people, getting a little touchy-feely with my girlfriends, and enjoying the scenes I did have.