Great weekend, attending the board retreat with GMSMA. The drive up was pretty awful, five hours to go 104 miles. My spedometer didn't go above 35 mph until after I crossed the Tappanzee Bridge. But the setting was splendid, on top of a mountain with a lake down the hill. It was all midsummer lush. Such a grat group of men I'm serving on the board with. At a few points over the course of the weekend there were sharp disagreements, but underlying these I sensed a mutual respect and admiration. For the most part, arguments and ideas put forward were thoughtful and principled.

Well, there was a bit of Republican bashing that went on, but I let it pass.

Further discussion of Inferno, too. I don't know what to think. Everyone who has been there gets a sort of glazed and faraway look in their eyes when the subject comes up. Something more than the sum of the parts is going on here. I wonder what percentage of Inferno attendees went to summer camp? I see similarities. Sexual frisson and all. So much of S/M involves adult re-interpretation of games that children play. For example, my friend Carl's backyard pool was surrounded by flagstones. Lying out in the sun all day, the slate would get blazing hot. So it became a 'thing' to 'punish' transgressions--and there were always transgressions--by making someone kneel or sit their but down on the flagstones. And I remember us nailing each other in the ass with chestnuts (this drew blood!). I couldn't begin to list the ordeals we put each other through before someone said "Uncle." (Now how might that idea of 'playing with a safeword' developed?) And bondage, of course.

Hmmm. Is S/M an adult version of children's games, or are the games of childhood an example of children playing an adult's game? Or, perhaps play is play is play, whatever the age. Just with different emphasis put on the role of sexual gratification.

But anyway, could Inferno be so resonant with so many men because it allows them to recall a simpler, happier time? Is it perhaps a Greenworld experience? Or a bunch of guys that trade on their mastery of some arcane skills to get laid? Two months from now I'll be in a position to decide.

I returned to the city (as in Jersey City) yesterday at about 6pm. My dog seems to have been well taken care of, although he was just walked rather than boarded. It must have been lonely and confusing for him. He was glad to see me.

And I was glad to see the Special Guy. He's in the throes of stomach trouble and a pinched nerve in his back with pain radiating down his leg. No Beerblast at the Dugout for him, but we met up for dinner (some easy-on-the-stomach risotto). I hope I managed to distract him from his health problems. Damn I love that man. Just makes me week in the knees.

The piercings are doing well ("Thanks for asking!"). I perservere with the salt water soaks, bactine, and antibacterial soap washes. The shoulder strap on the seat belt in my jeep is annoying, cutting right under the site.