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…are what I need to buy today on the way home. But really this post is about IMsL.

This was the first Leather Contest I’ve attended, and only the second title contest (in the late 90’s I was part of helping the Metro Bears put on a run/contest that had very little impact). On the whole I have stayed away from organized leather, but if there was going to be a first one, I’m happy that it was this one. The stakes, while high for the contestants, seemed low for the rest of the event. People were there for a whole array for reasons, only one of which were the contests.

It was very interesting to be at a women’s event; my Seventies feminist training kicked in and it combined with my shyness to make me quite reticent about approaching people. I was trying to mind my ps and qs, not wanting to be intrusive and to listen twice befreo speaking once. I wasn’t always successful, but on the whole it was more relaxing than it sounds.

My class fell victim to the vagaries of San Francisco’s climate. Since what I was teaching involved smoking, it had to place outdoors, on the patio outside of the hospitality suite. This was fine when the sun was shining directly on it, but once there was no sunshine, the classroom turned chill to such an extent that people were stepping inside to watch from beyond the glass patio doors. I had to cut things a little short, both on the demonstration end and in general, because it was just getting silly. Scheduling also meant that many folks could only attend part of the class, which meant that there was a constant trickle of people in and out of the session. That tends to rattle me, and I feel like I didn’t do as good a job as I might have. I did have a stalwart demo bottom, and good friends in the audience, two factors that made the whole thing much easier.

There were many great people there to connect with, and despite the above mentioned shyness, I did have some wonderful conversations and saw some hot action. My own experience was mixed. I had one encounter go wrong on me and was really rattled by it. Luckily my friends were there to help me process it all.

Maybe its because I was fairly close to the operating staff, but the event seemed exceptionally well run to me; things happened when they were supposed to with a minimum of fuss. When that happens, it means that everyone can relax and enjoy what’s happening. Problems don’t become crises.

On the whole I feel like the women’s community is a lot more vibrant and diverse than the men’s. And it’s really interesting to me the way that a younger generation is upending questions about gender style and play. There’s a kind of giddiness in the exploration and reconfiguration of rules that speaks to my heart (and other parts, since I find that kind of energy very hot).

I don’t think I’ll ever find a place in “Leather Tradition”, and I’m not really interested in doing so in any event. But I am glad to have been a small part of IMsL. And very grateful to folks who brought me there.

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True the flight was oversold, but all of my car connections went swimmingly, and overall this was so much easier than my trip back from LA. There’s a lot of stuff to write about the trip, but I can’t get to it right now.

To the folks in the Bay Area: I know I came in and out quietly this trip, and I’m sorry that it worked out that I couldn’t get around town to see more of you. I’m definitely coming back for a longer visit this year and I’ll be able to plan more get-togethers.

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Doof that I am, I’m postring this via gogo, American Airlines inflight wifi service. Thus I am able to live blog the kicking of the child in the seat behind me and the $10 chicken sandwich on offer during meal service. Instead of giving that money to the Boar’s Head people (or whatever entity is responsible for assembling the dreary packaged fare), I chose to spend it on online access so that I can keep abreast of LJ drama and promptly answer all my facebook friend requests. And yet, I’m here with nothing to say, and two hours of battery time to say it in. We’ll there is one thing I can talk about:

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See that color? Remember that waffle I told you that I ate two days ago? That green you see above, roughly the green of the Starbuck’s logo, is the color of every dump I have taken since. The first one subsequent to the waffle literally looked like I had chewed up and crapped out the 18 holes of a puttputt golf course. I honestly debated getting out the camera and providing evidence because the color was so vibrant. So count your blessings that I’m just providing a surrogate swatch. I can only image the amount of food coloring they put in that batter.

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I don’t know what I did to anger the travel gods, but both ends of this trip were arduous. Yesterday I was on a two leg flight: LA to Chicago and then on to La Guardia. At leg one I was part of the longest line for security I have ever seen. It moved quickly but the disorganization was anxiety provoking. I arrived in O’Hare to find my second flight canceled as part of the nationwide snowstorm crisis. So it was wait on standby for the three remaining flights which each had standby lists of over fifty. So it was no go, and I was in the airport from three pm until six am this morning, when I finally got on a flight. I did some sleeping on the floor, some passing in and out of consciousness on the plane and then finally got back home. I’m crawling back to normalcy after napping here, but my sleep is all screwed up.

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It’s funny the resistance I have to writing my posts beforehand. Even though the interface isn’t all that friendly, and I don’t have a client loaded on this laptop, I’d rather write on the lj post page than use my word processor. Well this is a little attempt to overcome that resistance.

Yesterday was another sunny day out here. I got into see my friend Kim Anno’s panel on shifting abstraction in the morning. After it ended, I ran into Prof Ray K. who is, I gotta say – so very cute ( sorry about the objectification, Ray) and who made the astute remark that on the whole, the attendees of CAA are not the most prepossessing bunch. It’s sadly true, I’ve seen many more downtown bums on this trip who have turned my head than conference goers. That being said, it has been wonderful to connect with so many pals at CAA. It feels like a part of my life that has fallen by the wayside a bit.

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In the afternoon I ditched to meet up with the Dave White, who braved the pain of his surgical recovery to take me first to a great Mexican place in Silverlake for lunch and then a couple of doors down to a little thrift store that reminded me of how terribly picked over all the places in New York are. I managed to get out the door with only a couple of purchases, luckily. And then I gave him a mission: trusting to his impeccable taste I told him to take me to Amoeba and “metal me up” unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet Extreem Aaron, nor Alonzo who had work related stress disorder, but I did get to have the great experience of sitting in the store while Dave said, yeah you should have this , yeah this too. I was ready to splurge on a Plasmatics T-shirt but the cashier couldn’t figure out how to get one and it was getting late. Now when I get home I get to experience the blissful brutality as I ponder the futility of all things not metal.

There’s another weird thing: I’m traveling around without any sort of disc playback device. CDs have become just the thing I carry the music home on, before I rip them to my hard drive: a software delivery system.

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Free wifi is scarce on the ground here so I can’t really spend time looking through LJ. It’ll be hit and run posts for the most part, written while i sit in the hotel lobby with the chatty barista. I’ll post a picture of what the inside of the academic art world looks like, but for now I’ll say that I am once again confounded by the distances of LA. Practically everything sprawls out of control. It’s a four block walk from on e end of the convention center to another, which is pretty damn funny to think about but not to experience.

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So made it into LA last night despite some boneheaded maneuvers on my part. I’ve managed to work out Saturday accommodations, so thanks to all the people who offered. The hotel I’m staying in is a little funky, but good value for the money.

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I’ll be getting into town tomorrow evening, and will be leaving Sunday evening on the red eye.

I’ll be staying at Stay hotel in downtown for the first four nights, and I’m looking for a place to stay Saturday.

I’ve been in contact with a couple of people already, but if you want to get in touch with me comment here (they’re screened) and I’ll touch base. Hope to see you soon!

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No Friday the 13th tattoo today, for important reasons. Instead heres a picture of the can in the bus to DC. There was wifi on the bus, but for some reason its TOS wouldn’t let me log on to photobucket. One more bbit of wackiness in an overwhelmingly wacky day.

Too tired to worry about the implications of it all now.