No tornado~ma to the South. Eesh.

Calli, I remember that. So pretty.

I've got a bartered massage and then lunch with a friend, and then an afternoon appointment to sign papers for my temp part time job.

Gar, all kinds of ~ma for you. Fuck cancer, indeed.

major meara -

flea, I think you are getting the storms we've been having. Many many tornado warning around us the last 3 days. I have had trashcans full of small branches blown out of trees the last 2 weeks. stay safe everyone.

Theo - does this contract job mean you quit the grocery? Best of luck with it.

FUCK CANCER. typo - strength to you, kick it in the ass.

Trudy -thoughts to you and your family.

Go on with your badself Erin. and yay for awesome supporting people.

As is my way, I have been pretty productive since starting the part-time job on Monday. At work, I have cleared like 3 tasks the bosslady was behind on and she is way happy that I learn software really fast (Quickbooks, I am looking at you). Then in my reduced time at home I have been way way more efficient since I have less time. Cleaned out most of a flowerbed and swept the driveway Monday night. Last night I made a dessert for a church dinner tonight, unloaded the dishwasher, washed a sink of dishes, and mended a skirt while watching a movie. I really wish this gig could just stay part-time, but have benefits, I think I could love that.

I want this house: [link]

William S. Burroughs On Trial for Corrupting Turkish Morals

Burroughs died in 1997, but he's still causing trouble. The Turkish Prime Minister's Council for Protecting Minors from Explicit Publications has accused Burroughs of "incompliance with moral norms" and "hurting people's moral feelings."

"Hurting people's moral feelings"? Oh noes!

The Turkish translation of The Soft Machine came out in January, and the Prime Minister's Council accused it of developing "attitudes that were permissive to crime by concentrating on the banal, vulgar and weak attributes of humanity." Not only that, but the book uses "slang and colloquial terms." The Prime Minister's Council was also confounded by Burroughs' use of the "cut-up" technique, accusing the book of "lacking unity in its subject matter," "incompliance with narrative unity," and "the application of a fragmented narrative style." The Council concluded, "The book does not constitute a literary piece of work in its current condition."

Hey, Steph, when you come by, can you recommend an actual book on shibari or kinbaku? I despair of ever finding a non-sexual class/workshop (unless you have leads for me too--everything google turns up is decidedly on the erotic side).

I can poke around for classes -- but I'd guess that even the least sex-related ones would be something like the one we have, where everyone is clothed, and there is no sexual activity, per se (I'm guessing the F2F Prom is more raunchy than our rope group), but it's still clear that the point of the class is that these rope techniques are ultimately intended for the sexytimes.

Shibari You Can Use. Looks accessible, but then again, erotic macrame?

We have this one -- ignore "erotic macrame"; it's just being silly. Although sometimes it *does* feel like macrame when you're the one doing the tying.

What I like about the book is that it's very thorough, with photos for literally every step in a given process (like, "wrap the rope around the torso" is one photo, and then "make a larkshead and loop the rope through to change the direction of the rope and go back around the torso" is another., etc.; he also includes some instructions like "locate a crotch," with a picture of a finger pointing at a [clothed] crotch; it amuses me).

And then obviously there are lots of pictures of the finished tie as well. I wouldn't say the models are 50/50 women and men, but there's a fairly large amount of men who are in the book.

Bondage for Sex. Started the search. Although I don't want smut in my classes, I'm okay with it in the books.

Showing You The Ropes--Here are your Knotty Boys. Good?

Back On The Ropes. Them again. What's different about this book?

The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage. Now's the time I'd really like to leaf through the book to see what the angle is. Not even a blurb on bn.com.

As for the rest of these, all I can say is that the rope people I know tend to like these books and recommend them, but I don't know how visually detailed they are.

Tim recommended a Yahoo group called d-s rope arts. They've been around for a long time (comparatively speaking), and I think they have a lot of resources re: book recommendations, etc., and very likely pictures.

There are a few sites I can think of that sell rope, and they probably (well, in one case, they definitely) sell those books, and those sites might have blurbs on them. You can try Twistedmonk DOT com, Rainbow Ropes, and (possibly) garrs-ropes DOT com.

You know, we *might* have 2 copies of Bondage You Can Use (that's one side effect of 2 kinky households merging). Let me check, and if we do, I'll send it to you. We might have already given it to a new person, though. I can't totally remember, since we've tried to divest ourselves of duplicate books.

Good lord -- the president released his "long form" birth certificate.

Thank you, Steph. You're so helpful. Though, really, it is all your fault, so it's the least you can do.

it's still clear that the point of the class is that these rope techniques are ultimately intended for the sexytimes

If I can do poledancing and lapdancing, this should in theory be no problem. But I feel like I'm going undercover. I registered for fetlife, and I have awful tourist anxiety.

Gotta leave for the office early, so I can get ahead of four hours of conference calls by...making some calls.

Jessica wants to move to Westchester? With wood paneling?

Thesaurus t-shirt