Entries Tagged 'Blogs' ↓
August 25th, 2008 — Blogs, Coldplay, Email, FetLife, Fetish, Lochai, Mr. and Mrs. Kink (dot com), Quid Pro Quo, Stuff and Things, bestsexbloggers.com, trufetish.com
This Lolcat is For My Favorite Attorneyman, D - Have A Good Monday!
Seriously. I’ve lost track. I thought it was Monday on Friday and today I forgot it was Sunday until long after the Simpsons were over. I am busier than ever, which is a very good thing if you’re someone trying to run a business. Nobody wants to start a business and hear crickets. In fact, we’ve got so much on our plates that we’re probably going to leave a few blogs dormant. We considered selling the domains, but ultimately they are costing us nothing if they just sit there. There’s no sense in getting rid of them. In short, you won’t see much posted on MrandMrsKink.com or on CorsetandCollar.com, and you may have already noticed that I parked MommeDomme.com. There just simply isn’t enough time in the day to take good care of them. I do want to integrate part of MommeDomme into CatalinaLoves.com, but again- when is there time? It’s a good idea to RSS feed to them so you get updates as they happen.
So this blog is really not a “useful” blog in the big picture. It doesn’t have a motive. I don’t really sell anything here. I don’t really write sexy adventures or anything like that, but it is my personal journal in some ways. I don’t write my really personal stuff here, but it’s a good place to sort of debrief at the end of the day. It’s become a part of my bedtime routine that I enjoy - the opportunity to write freestyle without pressure to please an audience. Read it if you want or don’t. It’s not about readers, but just about writing. How liberating!
So basically here was my day: Lochai, Trufetish.com, and Fetlife.com. I slept in today - I went to bed around 4 am and I woke up at noon, the call that awoke me was Lochai. Off the top of my head I can’t even really recall what it was about. He is, of course, going crazy with wrapping up loose ends and moving to the other side of the country within one month and being ready to go to work. I do have to say that I am pretty excited to work so closely with two men that I respect and admire. They both have taught me a tremendous amount in a very short time. I also enjoy them both on a personal level, so it makes working so friggin’ hard fun!
How does Trufetish fit in there? I stayed up late and wrote my article to submit before the deadline. How about that? The deadline is the 26th and today is the (wait, let me check, I really don’t know) 25th! Wow. Big deal. I thought today was like the 22nd and I was really early. Not nearly as impressive, but it still counts. This month I wrote about roleplay. You’ll have to wait until it is published on Trufetish.com to read it. I’m curious to find out what people think about it.
So Lochai told me today to expect a package from Fed Ex this week. I Love Surprises! I hate them, and I love them at the same time. They drive me crazy, but it’s a good kind of crazy, like when you were a kid and it was December 23rd! It’s a good week for packages, actually. I’m expecting a few! It is so exciting! I love just getting a card in the mail, a package makes me jump up and down with joy. For real. I love them.
In other news the-f-mag.com contacted us today. They wrote that they stumbled upon Quid Pro Quo and were planning to write an article about our little empire. Neato. I’ll have to follow up on that tomorrow (today).
This week there is a lot on my plate - I have a lot of people to get in touch with, plenty to write, and I have raffle items that need to go to the post office. I am giving all of my clothes that are too big to my neighbor so I’m cleaning out my closet, literally, not in the Eminem kind of way. I think a lot of my friends are annoyed that I don’t have time to socially chat online very much anymore, but if I’m not incredibly disciplined about getting my work done, then it just adds up and freaks me out. So to my friends, please just know that I’m not ignoring you, we’re just working our asses off right now, trying to make the Fetlife Marketing Department a huge success while we continue to work our asses off for our other clients at Quid Pro Quo. This week that literally translates into working all day contacting various people for several projects, setting things up for various promos, having graphic design work outsourced, writing reviews, and then working at night on a new blog for Sgt. Major and fine tuning Lochai’s blog. I have the best job in the world.
Well, it’s 5:48 am, I just remembered that I need to set someone new up on the BestSexBloggers.com blog. A lovely blog, Bloody Laughter, was personally recommended by our own Essin’ Em. A superb blog. I’m excited to see what she posts on BestSexBloggers.com. Off I go, Chris Martin singing to me, to wave my magic wand and add a new contributor.
August 23rd, 2008 — Blogs, Stuff and Things, The Femme's Guide, Weight Loss
Image from Postsecret.com
This post about my new identity as an ex-fat femme and the implications of being a former fat femme appears originally at The Femmes Guide, where I am a contributing writer. It fits in nicely here, so I thought I’d share it with you, also.
In a recent discussion amongst ourselves we came to the conclusion that we need more diversity in our group of contributors. I believe it was stated something along the lines of us all being white, with advanced educations, and with the exception of one (me) identified as fat femmes. I still fit though. I’m an ex-fat femme.
Not long ago I came out, not as a queer femme, but as an ex-fat queer femme. I started talking about this recently with friends, how life has changed for me, especially as a femme, being thin. I’ve been informed that the rules have changed and I now have to learn how to navigate my way through society as a thin woman, which means (and my friend really did say this) I’m not supposed to use the word fat anymore. Really? Is that true? Is it like the “N Word”? Maybe it’s the equivalent of calling myself queer, but not wanting someone else to call me a queer? I don’t know.
Let me give you some background. In February of 2007 I went to the doctor. I had a baby at home with a midwife in 2005. I hadn’t seen my weight since 2005. I knew I was fat, but I didn’t expect them to say, “270 lbs. today”. I immediately began to cry and cried through my entire initial consultation with a physician I had never met. She must have thought I was nuts. Well, kind of. I was there for refills on my antidepressants.
I cried and cried and cried and came home and cried some more. 2 7 0. Two hundred and seventy pounds. I felt sexy. I still felt like other people found me to be sexy. My delicious husband never let on that he didn’t enjoy my body or find me attractive. Our former girlfriend was a yummy size 18 and never once did I find her anything but perfect in her skin. Yet the numbers resonated in my head. Of course I knew I was fat. I could only buy clothes at Lane Bryant or go with the limited selection of “plus-sized woman” options in a mainstream department store that were sinfully ugly. I remember feeling like it was a punishment for being fat - either pay exorbitant prices at Lane Bryant or wear the ugly fat lady clothes.
Something fundamental changed that day, and I can’t tell you what it was. It wasn’t about being healthy. I know, it should be. It was something else that I hope to be able to pinpoint by writing about this topic. I strictly couldn’t process that I was 30 lbs. shy of 300 lbs. and I am only 5′ 4″.
Fast forward to today - it is August, 2007. I weigh 140 lbs. I’m a size six. Life is very different and apparently the rules of engagement have changed. I’m going to try to figure them out, and hopefully you’ll help me by just giving me a place to write about it here. I want to, for example, write about how uncomfortable it makes other people that I’ve lost weight and they haven’t, or how people now worry I’m anorexic because I am so self-disciplined.
This post would go on forever and a day if I were to talk about each of those 130 lbs. that I’ve lost and all the work that went into each one of them - physical and emotional. Everybody wants to know the secret. There was a rumor where I used to work that I had gastric bypass surgery (how else could she have lost all that weight?). I didn’t. I would have, but the process seemed so complex and complicated.
Here’s what I did, in a nutshell: I changed the way I thought about the world. I changed the way I thought about myself. I changed virtually every element of who I am except for the core values I hold and my red hair and freckles. I journaled every day. I found ways to enjoy exercise (a totally unique concept to me). I did it the good, old-fashioned way and threw in a bunch of yoga, visualization techniques, meditation and neuro-linguistic programming. I’m far from finished. I don’t just mean the last 20 lbs. I want to lose. I mean in the way I see myself now and how that is different from how I thought it would be.
So what do you think? Is fat a naughty word we ought not say unless we ourselves identify as fat? Does it count that some days I feel fat? Can I still support the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance or is it patronizing? [On a side note: I do think it's funny that in their own Cafe Press store their largest size is XL]. Does being thin make me more feminine than when I was fat? I feel more femme than ever, to be honest. Is my friend right? Am I limited to using {BBW, volumptuous, curvy, overweight, larger, bigger, and plus-sized} when all I want to say is fat?
August 22nd, 2008 — Blogs, Bondage, FetLife, Fetish, Hogtied, Lochai, Movies, Mr. and Mrs. Kink (dot com), Mz. Berlin, Pro Photo Tours, Quid Pro Quo, Recommendations, Satine Phoenix, Shibari, The Week In Kink, Toys, bestsexbloggers.com, madison young, politics
ProPhotoTours.com - Side-by-Side, Start-to-Finish Photographic Workshops
Last week I took the easy way out and sent you to BestSexBloggers.com. This week I did my homework! I included blogs that aren’t on BestSexBloggers.com. Of course I’ll start with a synopsis of our own blogs. We haven’t been writing as much of our own content - this week we became the marketing department for Fetlife.com. If you haven’t checked out Fetlife yet, what are you waiting for? It’s the best social networking site for kinky people just like you!
This week’s Week In Kink is brought to you by the caffeine and nicotine keeping me awake to write it.
August 21st, 2008 — Blogs, Bondage, Books, FetLife, Hogtied, Lochai, Movies, Quid Pro Quo, Recommendations, Reviews, Shibari, Spanking, Stuff and Things, Websites, Weight Loss
Postsecret.com every Sunday!
Life is very busy and I’m not sure how much I’ll get a chance to write. This is truthfully one of my favorite blogs to write because it’s just the one where I get to sit down and say ” blah “. What comes out comes out.
Today we officially became the marketing department for FetLife.com, which is exciting! Marky is really the genius at it. I talk to people. I’m good at networking. He’s good at actually making the deals in the dunes. Between the two of us we’re a great team. We think in such different ways that what seems obvious to me wasn’t to him and vice-versa. You can advertise through FetLife.com by contacting me (catalina@fetlife.com) or Mark (mark@fetlife.com).
Also big announcement today from Lochai. He was offered and has accepted the position at Kink.com as the new webmaster/director of Hogtied.com. He recently went out there (to San Francisco) and did a shoot. You can watch it here. I am fortunate enough to have seen it already and I’m telling you - I adored Lochai before, but now I adore Lochai. What a yummy scene. That’s all I’m saying about it. You have to see for yourself!
Another crazy announcement in my circle: Audacia Ray is no longer writing The Naked City. I know?! What the hell are they thinking? Sometimes I wonder.
In other news - I received copies of Rachel Kramer Bussel’s books Spanked!, Tasting Her, and Tasting Him. The thing is, I think that Marky is supposed to review Tasting Her and I was to review Tasting Him, but I like both books! Being bisexual means I get to review both :) I need to get to work on reviews though, because I have a few books and movies that I need to give my opinion on - I know my opinion influences the greater society as a whole, and without it you will be paralyzed - do I buy the book or not?! What about this dildo?! What does Catalina Say?!
I can’t remember if I already mentioned this, but I’m writing now for Trufetish.com and I think this month I’m going to write about polyamory, feeding off of the two articles that are already there. I’ve been on both sides of the pond, as a couple with a girlfriend or a boyfriend and also as the girlfriend of a couple. It’s also a topic that I’ve been discussing a lot lately with close friends.
I am also writing now on The Femmes Guide. It’s an interesting thing, the Femme’s guide, “a sex-positive femme queer collaborative blog”. It was brought up the other day by the editor of the blog that we aren’t a very diverse group - that aside from one of us (me) we are all “white, fat, femmes with advanced educations.” This brings up the issue of me being an ex-fat femme. I’ve been looking for a place to write about this phenemona - the loss of an entire human being (130 lbs. so far) and how the rules have changed. The game is different. I am not quite sure how to navigate through society in this new role. I don’t want to write too much about it here yet, or else why would you bother to go there to read it, but I think it will turn into a nice article.
Well, that about covers everything I can come up with at 4 am. I’ll be back in a few hours, at it again…
August 16th, 2008 — Blogs, Books, Movies, Mr. F., Ms Nikki Nefarious, Reviews, Stuff and Things, The Dude, Toys, Updates, Websites, bestsexbloggers.com, madison young, politics
Lolcats are from icanhascheezburger.com
A couple of crazy weeks have passed! It’s nice to be back to normal. W goes back to school on Monday and she’s really excited to finish out her middle school years there. She has had to change schools several times and it would have been such a disruption to her life to have to change schools again this year and then again next year. Her education has benefited, it’s objectively obvious when you look at her transcripts and awards.
Next year she’s likely return to public school. It’s not really an issue of private vs. public school. These three years are the only years she has attended private school and that was due to my faculty tuition discount. I suspect that most parents are paranoid about public school the way that some are about stranger danger, yet if you do your homework you’ll see that your child is safer walking (alone) to and sitting in public school in NYC than they are in a lightning storm and we have lightning storms here almost daily in the summer.
Public schools in North Carolina are terribly underfunded. One of the best things you can do as a parent of a public school student is try to have your child placed in the honors programs. Because W will finish the year at her middle school in honors Algebra 1, Spanish I, Latin, Chemistry, and an advanced English and History curriculum she will benefit in the pubic school system. She has her own goal of attending a private, specialized school for math and science on scholarship her last two years of high school. She is extremely motivated to do well.
Of course, I can’t say this without mentioning how imbalanced the public school curriculum is - for a public school system it still seems to be a very have vs. have nots system. I recognize that this is a Privilege. I also recognize that it’s in my job description as a Mom to do everything I can to give her every advantage that I can in life, while teaching her to be grateful, compassionate, and generous.
Okay, so enough about education and parenting. Life!
The Best Sex Bloggers is doing great - our content is top shelf, the contributors are amazing writers, and the variety isn’t found anywhere else that I know of. Most of the admin stuff is finally done. Our header is up and looks good, we got the image problem fixed, and now we can start adding selected contributors to the project.
I’m going to be helping Audacia Ray with some promo work on some of her new projects, so that’s pretty amazing and exciting.
I’m going to review a movie for Madison Young that she sent to me.
Rachel Kramer Bussel is sending us some books to review for Amazon.com, as well as a copy of Spanked! for us to review. I have another of her books that I am reviewing currently, called Dirty Girls, for Seal Press. I am actually the only person holding me back from being done with that because now that I know her RKB, I want to ask her a few questions about the book before I publish the review and I have been distracted. I’ll have to get back on track with that.
I’m talking with Lucrezia Magazine about writing for them, though since I’m still just talking with them, I don’t have really specific things to mention. I just thought that it’s worth mentioning.
Lelo.com contacted me and asked me to review a product of theirs, so I chose the Luna Beads. I haven’t even had an opportunity to try them out. Yes, I know you can’t imagine, but it’s been a weird couple of weeks. I assure you, I’ll get to work researching them and give you my opinion.
Finally, at least for now, I’ve joined The Femme’s Guide and will post there about some specific topics with some amazing women who are collaborating on the project. It’s a nice opportunity and I appreciate being invited to take part in it.
All of my friends are out of town this weekend. Seriously. M is gone for three weeks traveling in Asia, Mr. F is in Pittsburgh celebrating his birthday, Mr. Johnson is in Colombia, I dropped The Dude at the airport yesterday for his weekend away, and Nikki is at Fetcon, as are Sabrina and Melvin. No wonder I’ve managed to get so much work done today! :)
August 16th, 2008 — Blogs, Bondage, Fetish, Lochai, Reviews
[This is cross-posted from the Miami New Times Blog]
Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 11:52:04 AM
“Curves” by Lochai
Browsing his most recent show, you get the feeling few people enjoy their job as much as photographer Lochai.
His Beach Bound exhibit at the World Erotic Art Museum (1205 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach) is a study in Lochai’s various fetishes. While front and center is the theme of women in bondage — hence the show’s title — the photographer’s NC-17 tastes clearly run the gamut: the images include a nun in a leather gas mask, a naked woman perched above a toilet, and an androgynous figure in a full-body rubber suit, lying in a bathtub being pummeled by running water from the spout above.
But as unlikely as it sounds, the images aren’t necessarily shocking — nor does that seem to be Lochai’s intent. And instead of the violence you might expect from a portfolio of bondage photos, there’s a playfulness instead. In images that might otherwise invoke terror — for instance, the pair that shows a woman left bound by a hotel bed, or in an eerily domestic living room — the subjects gaze with a mix of mockery and intrigue at the camera.
As to whether you should go to this show, it’s fetishism — either it gets your attention or it doesn’t. If you’re a regular reader of “Savage Love,” you’ll probably find this exhibit, at the least, entertaining. If you’ve ever protested a gay Teletubby, on the other hand, you should probably save your cash for Miami Spice.
If you do go, be sure to wander around the rest of the museum, which is surprisingly expansive for a place that’s very missable from the outside. They’ve got it all here, with perverse pieces from all over the world, ranging from the contemporary (an 8-foot golden penis statue) to the ancient (Chinese jade dildoes). You won’t look at a lamppost, or a bald guy, the same way for the rest of the day.
– Gus Garcia-Roberts
August 13th, 2008 — Altered Aperture, Blogs, Bondage, Books, Claire Adams, Ellie Lumpesse, Fetish, Graydancer, Lochai, Ms Nikki Nefarious, My Naughty Secretary, NCSF, Photos, Shibari, Shopping, Stuff and Things, Toys, Updates, Websites, fundraising, politics
I am overwhelmed with emotion and at a loss for words at the outpouring of support that people in our community have shown our family by donating prizes for the raffle, buying tickets, cross posting to spread the word, and the kind words that have gotten us through a very difficult time. We are proud to say that our personal need has been met and good (us, the sinners) triumphs over evil (them, the morally superior). To feed off of Graydancer’s post, we have proven that “a community proving that a community of pervs cares more about her education than an administration full of assholes.”
This means that instead of being my personal mission to fight for my daughter, I am on a bigger mission for the greater cause. I recognize that I am not the only person going through this battle. In fact, it’s a series of small battles that are all a part of a greater war on personal freedom, often with children in the crossfire.
This shouldn’t happen, but if you’re living an alternative lifestyle, it very well could happen to you. The only way to combat it is to put on the armor, link up arm-in-arm, and take them on as a commUNITY. That is exactly what I’ve seen in the last few days and I think we can do more!
The raffle continues, as it is scheduled to end on Sunday (8/17/08) at 10pm, but from this point forward, all proceeds will be going to the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom as a contribution from the community that has stood together and won this battle. This is our way of supporting the war that has been waged in the land of the free against personal and sexual freedom. At the end of the year, the refunded monies will also be donated on behalf of this community.
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national organization committed to creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States that advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative sexual expression. NCSF is primarily focused on the rights of consenting adults in the SM-leather-fetish, swing, and polyamory communities, who often face discrimination because of their sexual expression.
My deepest gratitude to those who have supported and continue to support this cause. I have never felt such a sense of community in my entire life. So here is the current prize list for the new official National Coalition for Sexual Freedom raffle. Check back, as we seem to be adding prizes daily.
From Lochai there are three 5×7 museum signed prints from his recent exhibit at the World Erotic Art Museum, two of them are not only museum signed prints, but are also very limited editions.
Alley Bound and Curves are a limited edition of 10 museum signed prints. If you win, you will receive either 6/10 or 7/10. Beach Bound is Lochai’s iconic World’s Most Erotic Photograph winning piece, and is a signed museum print. (Sold normally at $75/print)
Ellie Lumpesse has donated three books:
The Straight Girl’s Guide to Sleeping With Chicks by Jen Sincero
Aqua Erotica by Mary Anne Mohanraj
The Ultimate Guide to Fellatio by Violet Blue
Ellie is also offering:
a 30-minute private phone session (that can include her amazingly sexy man) if you win.
Sam donated:
custom, hand made jewelry (a necklace and earring set) to a runner up. “It’s not a kinky prize, but pretty,” she said. Pretty indeed! Take a look: http://quem98.livejournal.com/306470.html
Thursday and D donated:
a signed 8×10 print of any one of their photographs
a copy of the book, The Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotic Women.
And Thursday has also offered:
one of her sexy (orgasmic) voicemails to a lucky winner. Let me tell you, that is one hot prize.
The writer of Between My Sheets offered:
A brand new, still in the package, never been used Silver Bullet Vibe.
And just now I heard from my Naughty Secretary who offered:
Her services as a graphic designer. There are two separate prizes - each being two hours of graphic design time (normally charged at $120/hr). In addition to participating in this raffle, she is doing her own auction to raise money. She is sponsoring a silent auction of one of her paintings on her web page.
Edward, from Exjinn.net, the company that hosts all of our blogs and provides us without outstanding support and service, has offered:
A 50 gig hosting plan from Exjinn.net with 1-year of service.
Essin’ Em:
just donated a copy of the book, Wetter, with her story signed personally for you. As if that weren’t generous enough, she has also offered an 8×10 print!
Sabrina Fox - does the name ring a bell?
Sabrina Fox, as in the redhead hot as fuck bondage and fetish model, Sabrina Fox, was chatting with me today and mentioned that she has a few pairs of latex panties that she recently wore for a photoshoot that would offer as prizes. Latex panties worn by Sabrina Fox, anyone? Oh wait until I tell W about this when she is older.
Jeff Mach commented: (THANK YOU, JEFF!) [This is one of those prizes that I would like to know if you would like to be entered to win. If you're not in the area and can't use the tickets, then they would do you no good, but if you are in that area, then it's a great prize!]
I am running a New Year’s Eve fetish event in New Jersey at the end of this year (on NYE itself). I’ll offer a ticket (that is, admission for two people, including gourmet meal and champagne)
and
I run the Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire, now entering its fourth year, every February - again, in Jersey. We’re going to three days this year, and tickets for all three days would usually be at $40; I can donate two pairs of those, as well.
I feel like George from “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Graydancer, who posted a very insightful post about the society that we live in, just twittered me (it sounds dirtier than it is) and said:
I didn’t realize you were adding prizes. Throw in an audiobook version of my novel, “Nawashi“.
Rose Fox offered a very generous and naughty prize — a very good combination for this crowd!:
I used to review DVDs for AVN, and I’m still on Vivid’s mailing list, so now I have a closet full of unopened Vivid porn DVDs. I’ve been trying to figure out how to donate them someplace and would be delighted to offer them for your cause.
There are too many to catalog, so perhaps 10 “grab bags” of ten DVD’s? I’d do my best to include a varied selection so that the winner is fairly likely to get at least a few titles that suit their tastes.
(Just a note on this: because of the laws regarding the selling of pornography, the winners would need to submit a copy of their ID to Rose in order for her to be able to send them to you.)
Beautiful Rebecca has offered:
an original piece of sensual art from the artist. It was scheduled for a gallery show next year but we would much rather have it go to your cause as it hit home. It is 3×4 metal with an object representing a uterus called, “Oikos Cella”.
Alternatively, for those who win, but don’t feel that this art is right for their home, she is an interior designer and has offered to do a consultation for a room re-do. The details are kind of extensive, so I’ll discuss it with the winner personally.
Ms. Nikki Nefarious and AlteredAperture.com) has donated prints and a rope kit:
Collette for TABU Magazine 8 x 12
Jamie in Latex 8 x 12
Girl’s Best Friend 8 x 12
Scream 8 x 10
GarGirl Bound 8 x 10
The Enforcer 8 x 10
Sarah Sealed 8 x 10
Red Hood 8 x 10
and then A Starter Rope Package (4-pack of multi-colored ropes in different lengths and hemp rope cuffs)
Lily, who calls herself Lily (the rope ho) in her comment has donated
3 x 30ft hand-dyed, processed 6mm hemp kit
Radical Vixen, who most of you know as the editor of the weekly sex blog digest, Sugasm, is a very active political advocate. She has offered two books for the raffle:
She’s on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission
Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That Are Very, Very Bad For Me
Thank you, so much! I cannot tell you how moved I am by the random kindness of the community. Lochai’s the one who started the commUNITY concept, but I get it better than ever now.
I’m officially re-launching the “Catalina’s Emergency Tuition Fund Raffle” as the “The Battle Is Won, But the War is Not Over” raffle with all remaining proceeds from this point forward going to NCSF.
Tickets are $10.00 each, you can buy as many as you’d like (if you’d like to donate $50.00, for example, I’ll enter your name 5 times). You are not obligated to buy a virtual ticket. You can also just donate to a very worthy cause at any amount.
I really will write down names and put them in a hat, and my daughter can pick the winners. At this point, she is well-aware of what is going on. We’ll choose the winners on August 17th at 10 pm. You will be notified by 10:30 pm by email. Heck, we’ll even try to find someone to film it and show it to you all :)
August 11th, 2008 — Altered Aperture, Bitching, Blogs, Bondage, Books, Claire Adams, Ellie Lumpesse, Fetish, Graydancer, Lochai, Movies, Ms Nikki Nefarious, My Naughty Secretary, Photos, Shibari, Stuff and Things, Toys, Updates, fundraising
Buy A Raffle Ticket To Win A Limited, Edition, Museum Signed Print From Lochai
I’ve never discussed this on my blog before, but recent developments have prompted me to discuss the reason why I’m no longer a teacher. Being Catalina isn’t always a good thing. I separated early this year with my school as a peaceful way to avoid a public scandal that would ultimately affect my teenage daughter, who attended said school.
Part of my agreement I cannot legally discuss - specifically the reasons and terms of my separation - but use your imaginations. I can say that I agreed to leave quietly and peacefully under the condition that my (straight-a’s, honors courses, award-winning, athlete, without a discipline record) child be allowed to attend her last year of middle school just as if I had resigned at the end of the year. Let me spell this out for you. Faculty receive a substantial tuition discount. I pay 10% of the tuition. This roughly amounts to $1,100. After leaving, all faculty are offered one more year for their children at the faculty tuition discount as a way to avoid disrupting their children’s lives too much.
A few days ago the head of my former school called me to tell me that had rescinded his offer and that she was no longer welcome to attend. In the same phone conversation, he changed his mind and decided to honor our agreement. Well, kind of. I came in with the tuition and they refused to accept my payment.
Later I received an email that stated that on top of the faculty tuition, I am also expected to pay student fees, which are not covered under the faculty discount. Okay, so throw in another $900. I can come up with that, even if it means the car payment doesn’t get paid.
The straw that broke this camel’s back? The additional $1,000 expense account that is being demanded by the 18th of August to cover her lunch account (which was roughly $750 last year) and field trip expenses (which are roughly $250). I requested that she not be allowed to charge a lunch in the cafeteria and that she will bring her lunch, which is an option available to (other) parents, to have this fee waived. The field trip charges, I can’t really object to, that seems fair, so mental tab up to $2,200.
I’ve just been informed that the school is unwilling to waive the expense account fee for her lunch account and demands the entire amount be paid. If it is unused it will be refunded to me at the end of the year. Nice of them to at least offer that. This brings up my new grand total to $3,200 in 8 days.
I went from having her tuition paid to being a mile away.
I have never been as upset as I am right now. For a “Christian” educator to use a child as a pawn in a moral battle against me, and what I represent, is unethical - it’s beyond unethical - it’s reprehensible.
So I’ve played all of my cards, my hands are tied. He wins right now. Because I have been judged a whore, my child loses.
I refuse to allow that to happen. For the first time ever, I am asking my readers to help me. I’ve asked my readers to support the arts (artists, photographers, and other bloggers) but never asked for financial support on my blogs for myself or my family. Today that changes because my child is involved. Today I ask for your support for my daughter’s education and future.
Similar to the project I did for Lochai, I am asking for donations towards my daughter’s education fund. I spoke to Lochai this afternoon, and he has offered to donate three 5×7 museum signed prints from his recent exhibit at the World Erotic Art Museum, two of them are not only museum signed prints, but are also very limited editions.
Alley Bound and Curves are a limited edition of 10 museum signed prints. If you win, you will receive either 6/10 or 7/10. Beach Bound is Lochai’s iconic World’s Most Erotic Photograph winning piece, and is a signed museum print. (Sold normally at $75/print)
On top of Lochai’s unbelievably generous offer, several people have contacted me since posting this and asked to donate items to be raffled off as well. Now, from Ellie Lumpesse we have three books:
The Straight Girl’s Guide to Sleeping With Chicks by Jen Sincero
Aqua Erotica by Mary Anne Mohanraj
The Ultimate Guide to Fellatio by Violet Blue
Ellie is also offering a 30-minute private phone session (that can include her amazingly sexy man) if you win.
And one of Janice’s friends left a comment in my blog that she would donate custom, hand made jewelry (a necklace and earring set) to a runner up.
“It’s not a kinky prize, but pretty,” she said. Pretty indeed! Take a look: http://quem98.livejournal.com/306470.html
Thursday and D have also offered a signed 8×10 print of any one of their photographs and a copy of the book, The Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotic Women. And Thursday has also offered one of her sexy (orgasmic) voicemails to a lucky winner. Let me tell you, that is one hot prize.
Then I got an email from a total stranger, the writer of Between My Sheets, who offered:
A brand new, still in the package, never been used Silver Bullet Vibe.
And just now I heard from my Naughty Secretary who offered:
Her services as a graphic designer and artist. She is looking into which painting(s) she is going to donate, but she has committed to two separate prizes - each being two hours of graphic design time (normally charged at $120/hr).
Edward, from Exjinn.net, the company that hosts all of our blogs and provides us without outstanding support and service, has offered:
A 50 gig hosting plan from Exjinn.net with 1-year of service.
Thank you, so much! I cannot tell you how moved I am by the random kindness of the community. Lochai’s the one who started the commUNITY concept, but I get it better than ever now.
Essin’ Em, the pansexual feminist sexpert on her way up, just donated a copy of the book, Wetter, with her story signed personally for you. As if that weren’t generous enough, she has also offered an 8×10 print!
Sabrina Fox - does the name ring a bell?
Sabrina Fox, as in the redhead hot as fuck bondage and fetish model, Sabrina Fox, was chatting with me today and mentioned that she has a few pairs of latex panties that she recently wore for a photoshoot that would offer as prizes. Latex panties worn by Sabrina Fox, anyone? Oh wait until I tell W about this when she is older.
Jeff Mach commented: (THANK YOU, JEFF!)
Prize donations, a few: - I am running a New Year’s Eve fetish event in New Jersey at the end of this year (on NYE itself). Tickets are probably going to be something along the lines of $250 per couple - we were actually finalizing that this week. I’ll offer a ticket (that is, admission for two people, including gourmet meal and champagne) for the raffle, if you’d like.
and
I run the Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire, now entering its fourth year, every February - again, in Jersey. We’re going to three days this year, and tickets for all three days would usually be at $40; I can donate two pairs of those, as well, if it will assist you.
I feel like George from “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Graydancer, who posted a very insightful post about the society that we live in, just twittered me (it sounds dirtier than it is) and said:
I didn’t realize you were adding prizes. Throw in an audiobook version of my novel, “Nawashi“.
Thanks, Graydancer! I appreciate it! I didn’t know I was going to add prizes either, until people started offering. The outpouring of support in the various ways people have shown it is very moving. Some people can afford to show their support by purchasing a ticket, some people are supporting us by crossposting, some are offering prizes, some are doing all of the above and then some. I even consider it supportive just to see comments from people who happened upon it and have shown emotional support.
In the comments this morning, from a total stranger, Rose Fox, was this offer, which is generous and naughty — a very good combination for this crowd!:
I’m here via the person who donated the jewelry. I used to review DVDs for AVN, and I’m still on Vivid’s mailing list, so now I have a closet full of unopened Vivid porn DVDs. I’ve been trying to figure out how to donate them someplace and would be delighted to offer them for your cause.
There are too many to catalog, so perhaps 10 “grab bags” of ten DVD’s? I’d do my best to include a varied selection so that the winner is fairly likely to get at least a few titles that suit their tastes.
Thank you, Rose — I don’t know anybody, personally, who would turn down a handful of DVD’s. And you’re really giving away 10 prizes, not just one, so thank you x 10! You’re right, there’s got to be something in there that turns that key in the lock. (Just a note on this: because of the laws regarding the selling of pornography, the winners would need to submit a copy of their ID to Rose in order for her to be able to send them to you.)
Also in the comments this morning was a message from Beautiful Rebecca offering a piece of original sensual art:
I have an original piece of sensual art from the artist I live with I would like to donate. It was scheduled for a gallery show next year but we would much rather have it go to your cause as it hit home.
The List Keeps Growing!
Please read this post on CatalinaLoves.com
to see the most recent list. Good stuff! I’m overwhelmed by the contributions people are making to make this raffle a big success.
I’m officially launching the “Catalina’s Emergency Tuition Fund Raffle”, here is the link to buy your virtual ticket. Tickets are $10.00 each, you can buy as many as you’d like (if you’d like to donate $50.00, for example, I’ll enter your name 5 times). I really will write down names and put them in a hat, and my daughter can pick the winners (of course I’ll come up with some vanilla reason why she’s doing it). We’ll choose the winners on August 17th at 10 pm. You will be notified by 10:15 pm.
August 8th, 2008 — Blogs, Español, Fetish, Interviews, Stuff and Things, bestsexbloggers.com
Lolcats are from ICanHasCheezburger.com
Every day I wake up and wonder what the day will bring because every day is weirder and weirder, or at least something very intense happens every day, either to me or to someone very close to me. Maybe it’s this way for everyone and I just don’t realize it because I am narcissistic.
Yesterday I woke up and found out that BestSexBloggers.com had been picked up by Fleshbot and our numbers went through the roof on the third day. Then I was asked to do a live call-in radio show in Spanish about BDSM and fetish. The challenge is - I don’t normally talk about BDSM or fetish in Spanish. They just aren’t conversations I’ve really ever struck up while traveling or living abroad.
Communicating eloquently and gracefully becomes much more of a challenge in your second language and I have more and more of an appreciation for it every time I am put outside of my boundaries like this. Don’t get me wrong. I have near native fluency and I consider myself completely bilingual, but your second language is just that - and there’s a reason why you choose your first language to express yourself best. However, my Spanish is quite formal and academic, as my Master’s thesis was written about a 17th Century Spanish and Italian literature. My travels have given me the skillz I need to communicate on a practical level, but like I said, the Kinktionary is a little different in Spanish than in English. I’m so clueless that I don’t know what BDSM things mean in English when people bring them up until they explain the term and then I say, “Oh, thaaaaaaaaat.”
Nerves aside, it is a good opportunity for me professionally, for personal growth, and to legitimately practice speaking Spanish since I don’t get the opportunity often anymore. Even as a high school teacher, I spoke a dumbed down version of Spanish. This is a challenge and I love a challenge.
I’ll leave the station and visit my Cookie Friend for a while and then make my way to M’s for my Friday Night in Uptown tradition. We may just stay in, or we may go out. We’ll see. Either way, it will be nice to get away for a few hours. M and I cross paths, but our paths don’t cross. We live in different worlds. We don’t have any mutual friends, there is just M and Me. It makes for a very close friendship that makes it safe to say or be whatever you want to, without fear that anyone else would ever know. It’s a tradition I will miss greatly while he’s away exploring faraway lands with faraway women for two weeks.
And now I’m off to get beautiful.
Not even RR with his bullshit tactics today can ruin my day. It’s Friday. I should enjoy it.
August 6th, 2008 — Blogs, Books, Claire Adams, Coldplay, Fetish, Interviews, Lochai, Mr. F., Reviews, Stuff and Things, The Dude, Toys, Websites, bestsexbloggers.com, madison young
Today's Lolcat Image is Specially Selected for The Dude
Yet another late night. It’s 5:21 am. I always like to keep track of what time I begin so I can see just how long I spend pondering my day. I mean I never sit here with a plan, I just start writing and then think about what I’ve been doing. See? It’s 5:32 am now and I just spent 11 minutes chatting with The Dude. I think I could be a more efficient job if it weren’t for Gchat because now it’s 5:39 am.
I spent almost all of my day doing admin stuff on BestSexBloggers.com, which is what I expected to happen on Day 2. I think we’re getting our kinks worked out. It’s coming together nicely. We are lucky that the best of the best continue to join us, writers and photographers. It’s very exciting to see my name there with theirs.
I had a really nice chat on the phone with Radical Vixen. It was, in a word, delightful.
Then I had a nice little text interchange with D.
Enjoyed a very sexy little Gchat with Mr. F, discussing our upcoming plans for a very kinky weekend. If it had worked out that I was in his neighborhood at the right time, we could have gotten together today, but… life.
While I was running errands today, Lochai called. So I’m sitting at my Cookie Friend’s house and my phone is ringing and I’m frantically trying to answer it, which is I think the first time that CF has seen me really freak out over a phone call. I’m a pretty cool Cat(alina). So out of the blue my phone is glitched, stuck, nothing I could do - couldn’t silence it, answer it, ignore it - nothing but sit and watch as Lochai’s name flickered on the screen. So I restarted my phone and called back and got voicemail. Aargh! So as I’m on the final stretch home, my phone rang again and this time it worked! As it turned out, he had just called to say Thank You. Just hearing him say it was all I needed. It means the world to me that I genuinely helped him.
I “met” Madison Young via email and I’m going to interview her and also she is sending me some DVD’s to review! I’m way excited for that! (Thanks for the introduction, Lochai!)
Lelo.com contacted me and asked me to review one of their products. I chose the Luna Beads. It seems kind of fun to have something like that to play with - and honestly, I love their vibrators, but I had to try this.
I made Twitter friends a while back with Rachel Kramer Bussel - she is the editor of Dirty Girls - the book I’m writing up for Seal Press on CatalinaLoves.com. I sent her a twit today and asked her if she’d do a short Q&A with me via email for the review and she said, “Sure!” So score one for Twitter!
And I think that pretty much brings us up to date. It’s now 6:11 am. I have to add an image, tag, and categorize my post. Let’s see how I do…
Oh, by the way - you can now email me at Catalina@BestSexBloggers.com, which is kind of cool.
Oh, and The Dude emailed a version of Coldplay’s “Swallowed In The Sea” that was done by an A Capella group that he listened to when he was in college.
Alright, it’s 6:20 am and I’m clicking publish. I think I should focus more.
