Met up with Special Guy for our Friday gym date. We worked on back and shoulders. Special Guy had more energy this week than when we worked out two weeks ago, which was great. I got in a good work out, thus completing a full week of good workouts. My legs hurt, my arms hurt, my shoulders hurt, my back hurts. Love that.

This is the weekend of GMSMA's Singletails workshop. At long last. Last year's workshop was a religious experience for me. Literally. A life changer. Everything about SM suddenly came into sharp focus for me. It was like a moment of getting to the top of a mountain and seeing the lush, beautiful valley below, full of wonder and possibility.

My principal objective in going for a second round this year is because I purchased an eight foot bullwhip with a two foot fall. (The whips I own are signal whips. Signal whips are so named because they're used in dog-sledding to signal to the dogs what direction you want them to turn. They are generally three to five feet long and are shot-loaded at the base, but don't have a handle. The cracker--a few threads of nylon at the tip that makes the crack--is woven right into the leather plaits. I also have two snake whips. The snake whip is also flexible and shot loaded at the handle, but there is a 'fall' (a thin length of rawhide) to which the cracker is attached. A bullwhip is distinguished by a rigid handle. My absolute favorite whip, and the one I usually use in scene play, is a hybrid signal whip-bullwhip: it has a rigid handle, but the cracker is braided directly into the body of the whip.) Because my apartment isn't really large enough to practice with the bullwhip, I'm not proficient enough to do scene play, and I want to get a jump start on that. With warmer weather I'll be able to get outside and practice.

That's the principle objective. Here's what else is going on for me. I'm going to commune with the whip. That sounds hokey, huh? ARt and Master of Mirage will be there, as will the chair of GMSMA's program committee chair. Whipsmen all. Men whose eyes light up when they see a muscular back, men whose jaws tighten when they hear a crack. And, there will be men attending the workout for the first time. I'm hoping to witness the imparting of the magic that happened to me last year.

I am expecting this to be a quiet and reflective weekend. I want to absorb. I'm still planning on going to the LURE tomorrow night. I can't imagine giving up one of the last few Saturday nights there.

I feel as though I'm going on retreat. And, in a way, I am.

And now, I have to finish up drawing the torsos on the Barbie-doll-flesh-colored fabric I bought for ARt. I'm hoping there will be a hit. Everyone will get to take away a souvenir of the workshop. My little contribution.

I sketched out the outline of the torso (done in black magic marker) I found a diagram of musculature on the web. But after I had done a few, I sat back, looked at it, and realized that I recognized that back. It's Security.

Thinking of you, Security. Thinking of you.

---