Rocky Mountain Rebellion

Two weeks ago, I attended my first ever leather conference held right here in my hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. Formerly named Rocky Mountain Olympus Leather since it's inception in 2010, it is now renamed the Rocky Mountain Rebellion. It involves 3 days of classes and workshops from a variety of presenters, vendor fairs, play parties, and a leather title contest. Oh and of course lots of kinky people! In the cons column, it does not include much time to sleep. Lol.

I haven't attended the event in past years so didn't really know what to expect. I wasn't originally planning on going but got to thinking about it and figured if I wanted to see what a leather event of this scale was like it was most logical (and cost effective) to try out the one in my own city first. And certain people were so excited about it that it was a bit contagious. I also ended up volunteering. Yeah, she was that good.

Things started off early Friday when I arrived to do a security shift at the host hotel. Vendors were setting up, classes would be starting in a few hours. If you checked in that day, I was the one sitting there in the horrific greenish neon shirt making sure you had your badge on. It was a tough job but someone had to do it. This is actually the first event of it's kind in Utah to be held at a hotel. Being kinky in Utah comes with it's own hardships and requires being careful with local laws and venue limitations. I think things at the hotel turned out fantastic. The hotel staff was always nice and helpful and the RMR staff and volunteers kept things running smoothly.

I didn't make it to any of the classes on that day by the time I was done with security and then pulled in to a quest to find a Starbucks. I went back home to have dinner and get ready to go to the party that night with S. I kept hearing someone's voice in my head repeating how it's very beneficial to stay at the hotel so you didn't miss out on things. Yeah, they were right. The constant driving back and forth got annoying fast. S picked me up and we went to that night's party. Many of the people I normally play with were busy themselves running around volunteering and setting things up. There was a cigar social going on outside for all those who enjoy cigars and socializing. I was trying to keep from getting more mosquito bites. More on that later.

S and I found a place to play and got set up on one of the spanking benches. I wore an army green button down dress and was a redhead for the night. I don't have any pictures though because I'm a good girl and followed the rules of no phones/cameras for the privacy of all attendees. So no post spanking pics from this event. :-( S had some new toys he got shortly before this event that I mentioned in my birthday spankings post. He had a mini sjambok that stings like hell that he used for a bit. Several other things from his bag got some use including a long, thin strap and a delrin cane. The result of that on my bottom wasn't quite the hue of the hair but I was left with a nice afterglow.

Saturday morning I was back at the hotel for another security shift. I learned from the previous day so made sure to have my coffee and McMuffin on the way there. I was able to make it to the afternoon classes. I went to "Blaise Wrap: Cling Play/Polyvinyl Suspensions" taught by Simon Blaise. He taught about bondage and suspensions using cling wrap as a safer alternative to rope. The demo was really cool to watch and the end result being all wrapped up in blue was pretty, too. I also went to "Magical Tops, Fighter Pilot Bottoms" taught by Master Konraad and slave jazz. I enjoyed watching their dynamic together and they were funny too. This class got into sub space, slight of mind, and some psychological "tricks" to get your partner into the headspace you want for your scene.

There was a break for dinner and then at 7 was the contest. I've never attended one before and it was very interesting. This year was special in that they were introducing a completely new format of the titleholder contest. Previously there would be a competition for Mr. RMOL and a Ms. RMOL. This year was the first Rocky Mountain Person of Leather contest. From their website- "Each year, a single Rocky Mountain Person of Leather will be selected not based on race, gender-identity, sexual-orientation, physical appearance, age, or disability, but rather on their ability to articulate their views, passions, and dedications and to make an impact in their communities. We will expect these People of Leather to act as mentors, educators, role models and spokespeople throughout their title year."

As the event's producer Andrew Love would say, it's kind of a big deal. It is the first contest of it's kind to have an open to everyone format with one winner. The contest was fun to watch. If you have no idea what a leather titleholder contest is like, imagine Miss America minus the swimsuit portion and misogyny. There was a panel of judges and two contestants this year- John G. and Simon/Alexandria Blaise. Each had a portion where they had to answer questions, one sillier and one serious. They both had to auction off items for travel funds that are used throughout the titleholder year. Each gave a speech. And the last category is the fantasy scene portion. Both were very entertaining to watch but I won't give away all the secrets here. If you want to know what it's like, come next year. :-) At the end of the contest, Simon/Alexandria Blaise was announced the winner and the first ever Rocky Mountain Person of Leather. Sin in the City is a leather event in Las Vegas coming up at the end of February and will host the International Person of Leather contest.

After the contest concluded I headed over to the party. S and I found a spot to play at the beginning of the night. He brought his new flogger this time and tried that out. It's a bit whippier than other floggers he has so produced a lot of sting. But that's not a complaint. And it's red and pretty. I waited far too long to write this post so the order of toys used is alluding me. But there were many mostly stingy things. One thing I'd been hoping for in that past 2 days was a nap scene. Unfortunately for me, most of the furniture was outside from the cigar social. I did nab a spot on the couch and managed to take a nap. And I got eaten alive by fucking mosquitoes. I had one other scene with someone whose name also starts with S but not the S I previously mentioned. I'll have to think of an anonymous nickname for him later. A variety of toys was also used in that scene including some stingy wooden things and a metal lollipop paddle. By the time I got home around 4 am, I still had a nicely roasted bottom.

Due to the lateness of the previous night, I didn't make it to the last few classes on Sunday morning. There was one presenter I really wanted to see too. Maybe next time. I helped set up the final after party for Sunday afternoon and hung around there for a while at their BBQ. I was pretty fucking tired at that point. I can only imagine how the people who ran the event were feeling. I said my goodbyes and drove home for the final time that weekend. I was really hoping someone would show up at my door with a Slurpee but nobody did. Woh woh. It was a hot weekend. Oh and this picture on the right is just ONE mosquito bite. This is why I don't go outside. I ended up with 8 of those on my arms, legs, and feet. Stupid flip flops. And that is my recap for the event! It was an overall good experience. Thank you to all the organizers and staff and people who made it happen! It takes so much time and energy to put on something like this and it really shows their love for the community. If you'd like to know more about this and related events, check out these links.

Rocky Mountain Rebellion website
Rocky Mountain Rebellion Fetlife group 
International Person of Leather
Sin in the City
Beyond Vanilla- hosting the Heartland Person of Leather contest

My 29th Birthday: A Group Spanking

I turned 29 on Sunday. I have one year of life left before becoming irrelevant. Next year's birthday is going to suck. But this one was great! I had a very busy week and weekend. I got some quality time with some of my favorite people throughout the week and lots of spankings. What more can a girl (and a spanko girl at that) ask for? Okay, a million dollars would've been nice. But spankings are a great runner up!

I was happy to have a new and special belt broken in on me. Maybe that can be repeated sometime without waiting for my next birthday. Hint to the belt's owner should he be reading this. :-) That was fun. I love belts if I haven't mentioned that recently. On Friday I went out with S to one of my favorite restaurants. He was nice enough to bare through it despite the huge weekend crowd and noise level of the place making it so we had to yell at each other across the table. But the food was good as always. And I'm loving this new beer by Schofferhofer. It's a grapefruit hefeweizen. I know, I know. That sounds absolutely disgusting, right? Grapefruit flavored beer? Really? But it's so good. Give it a try. Very refreshing for the summer.

On Saturday I went out to lunch to another favorite place with my parents. Traveling 80 miles for a lunch destination would seem crazy if not for the special occasion. After my food coma, I still had plenty of time to get ready for the second annual Sexy Olympics party that evening for members of NLA-U. Making this party even greater was that my birthday would hit at midnight so birthday spankings were certainly in the plans. S and I slipped away for some private time to play earlier in the night. He recently got some new toys from CANE-IAC including this flogger and a sjambok jr. He may have had me in mind when ordering because they fucking STING!

The flogger can be used nicely and he warmed me up with it a bit, rotating between that and his hand. But when he really gets going with using it then it got quite stingy. Why are you complaining about sting, Lea? Didn't you say you like sting? "Like" is relative. I do prefer sting to thud. The sjambok on the other hand does not have a nice mode. I don't think it took much effort or force on his part to have me squirming off the spanking bench. It packs in the sting and CANE-IAC's product description is quite accurate. He didn't go too hard on me though knowing I still had my after midnight spanking coming. My bottom was a nice shade of pink and I got some cuddling time after.

We went outside after to observe some of the Olympic games taking place. There was a relay race, some very slippery lube wrestling matches, and a naked Twister game. Several people were awarded medals as winners of the Sexy Olympic Games. Bruce Jenner was not present. I snacked on some Greek food and caught up with friends before DM'ing for an hour. And there was delicious chocolate Costco cake. More on that later. I have never actually been at a kinky party ON my birthday before so this was a new experience. I had also never had this many people involved in a spanking though I've been co-topped on a few occasions. A while after midnight some helpful volunteers were rounded up as I bent over the ottoman in the living room. I considered being 129 but seeing all the implements they brought with them, I opted to stick with the 29. 

I honestly lost track of how many people were behind me aided with an implement and a smile. There were at least 10 because I decided on two swats from each person. S started it off with two. Then the next person gave two with a quirt. Then there were two with a paddle. Then two with what looked like a boat oar. Two with a pair of round wooden sticks. Two with a pair of acrylic ruler looking things. A few pairs of hands. Some people were nicer than others. :-P I kept the count out loud throughout. It got up to 26 and we'd run through the line of people. S provided the final three. There was no singing of happy birthday but how coordinated can you expect a top to be? Singing and hitting at the same time? Come on. So that was the end of my first group birthday spanking. Sort of. On the way out, I realized D had been occupied elsewhere during the festivities and had mentioned earlier about bringing a full size cricket bat just for me. People are just so thoughtful in this community. Ha! She provided one final swat with the cricket bat which I believe counts for the one to grow on. I was much redder than these pictures depict.

That was the end of the party for me. But Sunday brought brunch and a birthday spanking just from S. Later that evening I had a family party which involved a nearly identical Costco cake to the one NLA had. It is now taking up half of my fridge and I Googled earlier how to properly freeze cake. There is no way it'll be gone in the next few days before I go out of town. At work today, guess what someone brought in? Another Costco cake. Lol. I have cake coming out of my ears. I left that one at the office and I'm sure there will be no complaints from the night staff. I received many happy birthday wishes from friends and family between Facebook, texts, a few phone calls, and even a real card from my Jersey mom K. <3 Thank you to everyone who remembered and helped make my birthday special. And if you didn't, you are now dead to me. Kidding! Or am I? :-P

That Tricky Label Thing

This is cross-posted from my FetLife page after some recent musings about the labels we use in TTWD.

Welcome to Fetlife! Now set up this profile!

Gender- Female (I realize that this very first option is just as difficult as the rest of these for some.)

Sexual Orientation- Straight. Usually. Straight but sometimes enjoying female fun with the right
female? Heteroflexible. Is that what that means? Urban Dictionary is down. Shit. Fluctuating/Evolving? That leaves too big of a question mark. I'll just go with straight.

Role- Administrative secretary. Oh, this means role in a scene. This one is easy. Bottom. What are the other options? I'm definitely not a Domme. I don't top anyone so switch wouldn't apply. Unless that counts in the bedroom where I sometimes enjoy being in control. Hmm. Masochist? Hell no! I'm a pain wuss. But does it only mean in the physical sense? I have stayed in a job I hate for 9 years.

Submissive or slave? Ehh... With certain people those traits are stronger. I don't want to open the door to the "Oh you're a sub? Then do as I say!" Domly Dom internet strangers. kajira/kajirus? Fucking Urban Dictionary is still down. Brat? Sometimes. Primal? I don't like steak. Vanilla? Only with chocolate syrup added. Fetishist, yes. Kinkster, yes. Let's go back to bottom.

How Active Are You- This is getting kind of personal, isn't it? I mean yeah, I spend a lot of time on the couch. But who doesn't enjoy marathoning seasons of their current obsession on Netflix? I Live The Lifestyle When I Can. Sure, that can apply to exercise and to kink.

Looking For- Someone to play with, check. Friendship, check. Events, check. A relationship? Maybe if the right person came along. But is advertising that opening the door to more douchebaggery in my inbox? Let's skip that. A Master? Mentor? Ehh. Same as above.

Location- I'm not in a tiny town where I'm concerned that internet creepers could stalk me so will go with my actual city.

Age- Still young enough not to lie about it.

Done! Wait, now I have to write about myself? I suck at that! Okay, think. A short summary that will catch the attention of those whose attention I want to catch. Not many people read these things so short is key. Can I tell everything somewhat interesting and/or important about myself in 4 paragraphs? Of course not. But I need to move on to the next section.

Relationships In- There aren't many so that's easy. And throw Peeps in a few times because I find it funny. Done. Websites- Included the blog address. Upload a new picture- About 100 of my ass and 1 of my breasts for good measure.
I'm finished!

Well, not really. That was just a basic setup of a Fetlife profile. We've all had to fit ourselves into labels for our entire lives. Pick an orientation, a political party, a college major, a career title, a religion. Don't have one? You'll be given one. Now you're an atheist and probably an asshole about it. Pick up your T-shirt at the next meeting. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/572590540096928380/

Relationship status? That's a deep pool to swim in. If you don't fit the M/F monogamous relationship mold then get used to over-explaining those dynamics for the rest of your life. Even if you do fit that, someone is bound to stick their nose in your business of what you do in your bedroom and why.

Role in the kink scene? That's a tricky one. You may play different roles with different people. This is something I contemplate a lot and got me thinking about this whole subject of labels. From the beginning of becoming involved in the scene I was firm about saying I'm a bottom. Just a bottom. Bottom vs submissive was a label struggle that only really existed in my own mind.

Why? Partly because I don't like the negative stereotypes that too often come with the label of submissive, and even slave. That it means you can't think for yourself so need someone to tell you what to do. That you're weak or less than. Do I think those things are true? Absolutely not. I know many very strong people in the community and in life who identify as an s type. So why do I even care what the naysayers think about it?

A friend recently asked me how I felt about being in service to someone. I replied that I'm not sure I completely know what that even means. What I got from the ensuing conversation is that it means whatever you want it to mean. If you poll 10 kinky people about the definition of just about anything, you are likely to get 10 different definitions back. None are particularly right or wrong except to those individuals.

I understand the purpose of having labels. They can help narrow things down from a zillion options. But most of us don't fit into one box. And that's perfectly fine. I still have more questions than answers. Do I always know what to call myself? No. I can explain it but it may take a while. I do know how I feel and who I love. I know who/what they are to me and who/what I am to them. That's the part that I think matters. Labels are for soup cans, after all.