I attended Paradise Unbound this year for the first time and had an absolutely amazing time! It was also my first time in Seattle and my sweetie and I had wanted to check out that part of the country for quite some time, so when Sophia Sky asked me to present for the event I jumped on the opportunity! Normally I am not a huge fan of “camping” type events because I find it really tough to look and feel sexy while sleeping on the ground in a tent, (lol) but they were kind enough to house us in one of the property buildings and while not exactly the Sheraton it was definitely more comfy than a tent and GREATLY appreciated!  Hell, I have enough trouble fitting all the shoes and boots I need for an event into my luggage and still stay under limit… I had no idea how I would manage a tent and sleeping bags as well. <grin>

I was asked to teach 5 classes: My Ecstatic Breath Ritual / workshop, Taoist Erotic Massage aka Gourmet hand jobs, Caning 101, Learning to Fly – Ecstatic Percussion Play, and Binding the Jewels! Whew! Quite the schedule, but  I am pleased to say that they were all really well attended and I got a lot of great feedback from the attendees.  It felt great to go somewhere I had never been before and be so warmly welcomed.

I met lots of great people and reconnected with folks I have long adored like Sophia and Jim Duvall. They are some of my favorite west coast folks and it really was nice getting to hang with them a few times throughout the weekend even if we didn’t get any playtime in this time!

I did get to co top with a lovely lady that I had met before but finally got to spend some quality time with (Hugs to Miss J!).  In fact that scene ended up being rather unique in two ways .. first there wasn’t really any negotiation done .. I simply “tagged in” like a pre wrestler.  LOL!  Miss J had been whipping the hell out of the “Bad Bunny” who was still sassing her quite a bit (and who had earlier expressed interest in me topping him) so I figured I would give J a bit of a break and throw some whips at him for a bit.  Well te scene progressed to the two of us punching and slapping and kicking him around a fair bit and then as we decided it was time for a bit of aftercare .. 4 other people walked up, swooshed a sweatshirt over his eyes and hauled him right out of my lap! I came to find out he had discussed a kidnapping abduction scene with someone earlier in the weekend and he had no idea when or where it would take place!  I guess his captors decided this probably a time he would least see it coming and I certainly had never had a submissive stolen right out of my lap before! I followed to see where they were taking him and to check that he was indeed alright and cracked up when I realized that the abductors were barking at him in Russian (or a fairly reasonable imitation thereof) while he was responding in Spanish so it was just a totally amusing little cluster-fuck! It must have been the “animal abuse” weekend for me because I also got to beat on someone that went by the nick name “puppy” ad that was rather fun also.  <grin>

But what really made the event unique for me was the opportunity to play with fire in ways I never had before.  On the Thursday night I was walking through the stone circle just as it was getting dark and I saw someone throwing a flaming 6 foot bullwhip through the air and cracking it letting little fire balls whoosh off of it!  I was enthralled!  I had never seen anything quite like that before and since I am a huge fan of single tails to begin with, I knew I had to try that!  Now I didn’t even really know many people at this event but luckily one of the folks in the group had seen me handle a whip the day before and knew it wasn’t my first time “throwing tails” just my first time with the whip on fire, so they decided to let me have a “crack” at it.  <grin>  I did quite well for a first timer if I do say so myself.  I kept the whip in motion and was getting the hang of it fairly well I think, even though the whip was considerably heavier than any of the ones I am used to throwing, first because of the added length as well as it being soaked in kerosene! I was able to throw twice that night and both times I had it moving through the air fairly well making some lovely fire balls and managing not to set myself or anyone else on fire. Yet.

Then came Saturday night and this time I was second in line when it came time to throw and discovered a very valuable lesson; the earlier you go the longer the whip burns.  I think it has something to do with the fuel burning off gradually and leaving more water content in the whip or something but the bottom line was I was throwing and throwing and trying my damndest to keep this really heavy flaming thing in motion when my right arm started to give out and I tried switching off to the left hand.  Well I am not nearly as strong or good with my left and as I tried to change sides the whip wobbled and then wrapped around my bare legs, leaving enough fluid on them that they started to burn.  Luckily I had good instincts (because when you catch on fire it is difficult to access a reasonable place in your brain to try to figure out what you should do and so a lot of folks do dumb stuff like run around in circles screaming).  I dropped the whip on the ground, took a step to the right to make sure I was clear of it and dropped to the ground in a kneeling position folding my legs under me and wiping my hands along the sides very quickly to put out the flames.  So quickly in fact that the fire was out even before the person standing less than 10 feet away with the wet blanket could get over to me.  The whip was still burning though and I wanted to finish my turn so I picked it up and started to throw it again and immediately realized my hand was catching fire because some of the fluid had pooled at the handle. Oy! I dropped it again put my hand out and had them wipe off the whip so that I could throw it a bit more and managed to finish it with pure determination! Third times a charm right?  I may not have had a hell of a lot of style just yet but I got points for good reactions under “fire” and stubbornness!   But I’d also like to mention that only two women threw fire whips that night… myself and my co topping pal Miss J!  <High five to the fire whip sister!>

Later on both evenings they also pulled out fire floggers which I had seen before but never tried to do myself and well hey it seemed like a good weekend for fiery firsts so I stripped down and put on the Kevlar hood and let Stormy (who was totally awesome and not nearly so scary as I first thought – definitely a “fluffy dom” – lol Go Team Fluffy!!) and one of the other guys throw fire floggers at me!  It is a delicious sensation and yes a couple times the floggers would lick a little closer than others and make me yelp (I even have a little nickel sized burn on one breast but all in all it was a truly delightful experience.  After which of course I wanted to try my hand at swinging one.   Of course this time I needed to have a body willing to stand in front of me knowing it is my first time. Luckily I had impressed the host of the event and he put in a good word for me with a lovely young lady who goes by the name “Cherry Squirt” (and I will not get into the details of why she has that name but let’s suffice it to say she can definitely put out a fire with the right build up and encouragement!  What an amazing sight!

But I think one of the events that had the biggest impact on me for the weekend was the fire walk!  I had heard of fire walking and was curious but had never had been to an event where it was actually done until now.  The event was being hosted by a couple named Griff and Tattooed Goddess.  They did a wonderful job of introducing the event and conveying a beautiful sense of ritual and sacredness to the act as well as explaining the safety aspects that needed to be adhered to.  Then he set fire to a huge pile of a specifically chosen type of wood and as we watched it begin to burn I wondered if I really could walk across those embers. It took quite a while for the fire to burn down to the point that Griff determined it was ready and he and several assistants raked the embers out evenly to make a lovely glowing bed of burning ash.  He walked first to be sure it was ready and then had us all line up.  I was astounded how many people wanted to do this including my sweetie!  I thought to myself. “What a bunch of crazy perverts!” My fire sister Miss J, Brett and I waited on the long line together, fretting and joking, encouraging each other not to freak out and breathing in time with the drums.  Sip sip ahh ahh sip sip ahh ahh on and on the drums thumped and called us forward.

Part of my brain kept telling me that this was a REALLY bad idea because I had accidentally walked into hot coals when I was a very young child chasing fire flies in the back yard.  Dad had dumped the barbeque out and probably warned us to stay away but when you are six years old and chasing lightening bugs … well nothing else exists in the universe but that lovely glowing light and so I followed where ever it went.  I have a distinct memory of having very badly burned feet for well over a week and being unable to walk without bursting blisters on my screaming little feet.  But this would be different.  This would be with purpose and intention.  Tattooed Goddess had suggested that you could write down an intention of something you wanted to accomplish or change, perhaps something you wish to rid yourself of that no longer serves you and simply drop it into the fire.  That really spoke to my heart and so I did write down an intention to move passed a tremendously painful situation in my life with the hope that it will resolve beautifully and joyfully when the time is right.  I held it to my heart and sent a prayer to the universe  and then I dropped it into onto the bed of coals and watched it flare up and burn away then walked over it and across a bed of embers glowing beneath my feet until I reached the other side.  It was a deliciously empowering feeling but honestly .. it was not that hot.  I have actually walked on asphalt and concrete sidewalks hotter than that felt but the crowd cheered for me and I felt amazing to have actually done it. Then I turned around and waited for Miss J and my Brett to come across and hugged them both!  Definitely my fire sister forever now!  There was an extremely strict no camera policy at this event but they decided to let people video the fire walk if they wished to and so Brett caught this video of me crossing the coals.

A couple other noteworthy events included a bit of one on one rope instruction with Max R Cameron of Seattle. (http://www.bondagelessons.com/)  He really is quite good and gave me a couple of very simple but tremendously helpful tweaks that made me very hungry to take more lessons with him!  Hopefully more on that front very soon!

I went to Ground Speak geocaching headquarters aka the Lily Pad with my new friend Will and signed the log official log book.  Yay!  Afterwards I gave my buddy a really delightful massage as my thanks and appreciation for trekking me over there! That was fun, fun and more fun!

The only real downer for the weekend came Sunday afternoon about an hour before I was scheduled to teach my last class.  I was hurrying along outside along this stone pathway in my sandals because I really needed to get to the rest room that seemed way too far away when I caught the toe of my shoe on the edge of a sidewalk the stuck up quite a bit and went flying towards a concrete block wall.  Luckily I did manage to take some of the impact with a wrist and a knee on the side walk but I ended up driving the nose piece of the glasses sitting on top my head pretty deeply into my forehead right where the hairline starts.  I was quite a bloody mess for the next several minutes but they sent me an angel of mercy medic who helped me get cleaned up and re-grounded.  I took a few deep breaths got the bleeding to stop and insisted I did not need to be rushed to a hospital.  In fact I recovered so quickly I was still able to teach my class at 2p that day.  I was told that made me pretty hard core. <wink>

I spent a lovely last day in Seattle with Sophia and Brett.  Did a little sightseeing, had an amazing Thai lunch and then headed back home for a long torturous overnight connecting flight filled with crying babies and cramped seating. 
It was an amazing trip but it really is nice to be home.  Hugs!