» Sexual fetishes

I have a lot...
This is going to be a long post, simply because I like being concise on these sorts of matters rather than terse.

My first and easily most prominent fetish (series?) is within BDSM. While I would guess that most persons within the BDSM community fall into one of two roles (Dominant or submissive), I'm one of what would be categorized as a switch. That is, I like be both Dominant and submissive, depending upon my mood and partner. There are some days where I may have a lot of pent-up aggression and feel particularly dominant sexually, for example, and on the other side there may be days where I want to give up control and become sexually submissive. Most of my likes can be applied in either position but there are some that don't work or I like in one position and not the other.

I love restraints. This is one of the boths. When at the hands of a Domme, I love being restrained, it helps to set the tone and shows how much I trust the Domme and how willing I am. This can be anywhere from a simple hands/arms tied behind the back to a put-on-all-fours and have all limbs bound, unable to move. I also like the reverse, tying up a woman. I love starting with the arms behind the back, just a bit tight, then as I move her down, apply more as needed. The feeling of helplessness adds in a certain sexual thrill, and as a bonus, it provides a nice place to grip onto when extra leverage is needed.

Strap-on play. Obviously this is receiving, not giving, seeing as how I already have a natural set. This is a wonderful feeling, letting the woman become the user and I become the object. And before you ask, no, I am completely straight. It is certainly a very interesting experience and sensation, and for maximum effect, should be tried in a variety of positions. For those of you curious, it's just like regular anal, but in reverse, so any position your partner can do, you can do as well. To that note, yes, I've had it on my back and riding, as well as the ubiquitous all-fours position.

Spanking/flogging/whipping/etc. Both sides. This is a lot of fun, and if properly done, gives a very thrilling experience. There's nothing like the feel of a paddled ass against cool air. This field of course ranges from the simple spank up to full-on whippings, so everyone has their own likings. Combined with restraint and you can use it to build excitement.

Genital worship. This goes both ways. Fairly self-explanatory, the sub worships the Dom/me's genitals physically and/or verbally.

Boot worship. Me as a sub. I'm not sure why I like this. Unlike anything else I list here, I never really had a partner introduce me to it, I found it on my own and tried it (with a partner) and liked it. I really can't explain the attraction I have. While this may sound like a low-grade porno, perhaps it's part of my submissive side, trying to please the Dominant one, by worshiping the part that is just above me.

Leather outfits. Both to a degree. While I've never worn much in the way of leather other than a pair of pants one time (and I enjoyed it), I find the image of a woman wearing leather to be very arousing. Knee or thigh-high boots, pants and a corset is the bloody jackpot, as it were. I don't apply this same distinction to latex, since latex (in my opinion) looks just trampy. Leather looks both dominant and dangerous in a way.

Older women. I'm not sure what it is, either. Perhaps my personality combined with the fact that I usually look/act older than I am is what draws them in. Some of my earliest sexual encounters have been with older women. And I don't mean a year or two older, once as a 17 year old I pulled a 29 year old. No lie. I've had women twice my age (I'm 23 as of this writing) hit on me. Maybe I'm cougar bait, who knows. Give me the choice of a 18 year old with a pert body, or her 26 year old older self who's seen a few things, and I'll take the 26 year old. They simply...know things.

Tall women. Hey, amazons are rare, and most of them are very good looking. I've yet to see one who's drop-dead ugly. Plus the submissive side of me likes them, someone tall and imposing...

Throughout my life I've maintained an open-minded aspect to all things, including those sexual, and I'm constantly wondering what out there I would like. I know some people like them, however I have an outright 'no' on watersports, scat and death, and am strongly adverse to anything that results in mutilation or body alteration would have to be done by someone I'd known and trusted for a long time, and discussed beforehand very extensively.
(Sat 24th Oct 2009, 16:00, More)

» Complaining

Bad Landlords
Since I haven't posted the last few months' of my life here, I'll fill the lot of you in.

I was flown out here to Iowa in November for an interview for an international tech company (so big the word 'International' is part of their name). I called and e-mailed the recruiter for updates after my interview, trying to see how things went. After receiving no updates I gave up and got another job in December which then I lost in February. During this time I moved closer to the job as the 30-mile each-way trip was hurting me financially. I began the job hunt again. In early March, I had a water pipe in my new place burst in the bathroom wall, which I noticed early and had fixed that night. However the new landlords did not fix the damage to the wall or shower (which had to be partially torn out to fix the pipe). This lasted until said original company sent me an offer in late April.

Now, for the story to begin.

Having prior knowledge of California tenant laws, I informed the landlords that my apartment had become uninhabitable (using that very specific word) due to the damage and the mold & mildew problem that had started as of late. I filled the manager-on-duty in on the situation completely, telling her of the damage and the current state of the apartment. She told me she'd look into it and the next day I got a call (which went to my voicemail) informing me that I would pay a penalty.

Rather than calling them back, I went into their office again. This time, I put my phone down and started a recording (which I still have) and explained the situation again. I asked if the maintenance person was on their staff and responsible, and was answered in the affirmative. I then outlined the sections of the civil code, in a calm, respectful voice, and what my rights were in this situation. The manager still indicated that I hadn't informed them of the damage and that I never asked them to come in and fix it (which is bullshit as their staff did know about it, and they can come in to fix it as long as they post notice). I also gave them notification that I would be leaving, as a simple courtesy, since I did not require to give them any notice by law, but I was being nice in doing so.

I left between April and May, moved out to the midwest, and settled in on my new job. A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a "collection specialist" at the property management that owned the apartment complex where I lived at:

Hello,

I am writing in regards to the balance due on your account for the unit you vacated at Mesa Village. There is a past due balance of $x,xxx.xx. Please contact me before September 7, 2010 to make payment arrangements or set up a payment plan if necessary so that we can prevent this account from being assigned to a collection agency.

I can be reached between 10am & 7pm Tuesday - Saturday at 818.227.2167. Alternatively, you can fill out and return the attached payment voucher form and I will process the payment to a card of your choice.


If I don't hear from you by the above date this account can be sent to collections with no further communication from this office.

Thank you,

Kristy R. Graham
Collection Specialist
Essex Management Corporation
818.227.2167

I contacted the "collection specialist" about a week and a half ago, asking her how much she knew about the issue at hand, and, as I suspected, she simply had the account dumped on her with no real details given. I, once again, calmly explained the situation from start to finish (with no details about my new job given), and cited the relevant sections of the civil code that protected me. She took it down and told me that she would contact her supervisor to see what was going on. I thanked her and hung up.

Next day, she calls me. She gets very loud and tries to brow-beat me, essentially saying the same thing the property managers said except in a more loud and condescending tone. I try to argue, and she constantly cuts me off and talks over me. I all but laugh at her attempts to intimidate me, even citing both the picture evidence I have of the mold & mildew damage and the voice recording of the property manager admitting to knowing about the damage but not fixing it for a month and a half. She responds to the latter by asking me if I told them that I was recording them.
"No, I didn't."
"Well since you recorded them without their permission that's illegal."
"No it's not, since it's a public area there's no expectation of privacy."
"Well, I don't want to argue the details with you."
I had to restrain from laughing at her last statement, a pathetic attempt of not admitting that she was wrong and trying to assume the high road. I ended the call by asking for her supervisor to call me so I could settle this with someone with authority. She agreed to do so and I hung up.

Well, as you can tell by the date, I haven't heard anything yet. I'm going to call tomorrow and leave a nice message informing them that I haven't heard back from them yet, and if I don't hear back from them I'll be getting a lawyer and going from there.

The real beauty of this is that with the evidence I have, it's a slam-dunk in court to have the charges removed. Even better, if this does go to court, I can also invite other tenants (who I am on very good relations with, side moral of the story: be a good neighbor) to let in health and building inspectors to have a look-see. Estimated charges to the property managers due to health and building code violations? Over $50k. Media and press can also be called in, and thanks to the power of spin, make the property management look like a robbing, greedy, backstabbing arsehat. The potential damaged caused by current tenants moving out and future tenants not moving in? Can't tell. :D

The real moral of this story? Know your rights. As a gun owner, I have a particular phrase that I keep handy: "Know your rights. Knowledge is more powerful than any bullet."
(Tue 7th Sep 2010, 0:12, More)

» Banks

Banks? Who needs them.
I'm reading over these posts and I wonder why so many of you haven't seen the light (in a purely metaphorical sense, not adjudicating a evangelical institution) over banks. A bank is a corporation that's #1 goal is to make money. Plain and simple, like any other business. The only thing different is regulation and how they do it. That's why they have low interest rates on savings and high fines, levies and interest rates on loans.



There's a little financial institution I'd like to interest everyone to. It's called a "credit union". I know these are readily available in the US, and I believe they are in the UK though there's only a few of them.

Functionally, they're similar to a bank in that they hold money for you, give you interest, loans, etc. They're also corporations and are designed to make money. The key difference is that they are run by the members, rather than a business owner.

They also have tight regulations (again, this is the US I'm talking about, don't know about the regs for UK credit unions) that keep them from making too high of a profit margin. That means that income they get goes back to the members in the form of better services and interest rates. While interest rates are in the shithole now, a credit union will still offer substantially better interest rates on anything it offers than a regular bank. A guy I know at USbank (yes, that's their name) is only getting 0.1% interest on his savings, my credit union is getting 0.25%

What else? Well, any loans or loan-related services they offer (such as credit card issuance) will have better terms. That means you pay less interest on a loan, or get a credit card with low/no terms. My Visa that I have through my credit union has no interest and I only pay a small yearly fee for it. If you went through a bank they'll hit you with interest and steep fees.

So what's the catch? Well, to join a credit union you have to meet their membership qualifications, which usually entail living in a specific area (San Diego County Credit Union -- mine), being part of a specific organization (Navy Federal Credit Union -- any branch of the armed forces) or other requirements. Typically even if you move or leave the organization, as long as you continue to follow the charter rules, you can stay in the credit union indefinitely.


Seriously, banks are evil. Fuck 'em. Every one of them deserves to die and collapse under their own broken and immoral ways.


She didn't complain about length!
(Tue 21st Jul 2009, 18:48, More)

» Twattery

Layabouts.
This sort of shit gets my blood boiling. Lazy layabouts at work.

Back when I worked for IBM, on our team we had two people that were notorious skivers. One of which, named Philip (for that is his name and I don't mind calling the lying cunt out on it) was very, very good at getting out of work. Due to being system administrators on customer accounts, we had to get access to the various customer boxes. Surprisingly, he had to fight on getting access to those boxes -- the same boxes I had access to, and he was hired before I was.

Yeah, right.

Plans were drawn up with management, or at least that's what I gathered, judging by conversations I overheard and notes I saw on his desk. But what did he do all day? Since I sat next to him, I could easily see what he did -- browsed the web, texted friends with Google Voice, and talked on his own phone. The rest of us were pulling 50-60 hour weeks at least to stay afloat due to a new account that was hammering us with work.

His ass was likely given a choice of get fired or quit, because he was gone one day and that was it.

Another skiver was Bill. He wasn't just a skiver, no. He had the hygiene skills of a corpse fire, wearing stained clothing that was never tucked right or too small for his frame. He was unkempt, and had the personality of a rabid doberman that had been kicked in the balls by Michael Vick. He was brash and abrasive with everyone he worked with, and would never step up to take work. He even had the audacity to sleep at his desk, and when he was on the night shift, he would sit at his desk and watch YouTube, Hulu and other similar sites.

I've worked with other skivers, but not ones as bad as those two.
(Thu 19th Apr 2012, 6:25, More)

» IT Support

Listen to the IT person, please
So before I create follow-up posts with different stories from my last job (where I worked tech support), I'll share a little something that just happened right now that makes me wonder why a person will question everything that a professional in the field will say.

A person I know has just had a monitor go bad. Everyone's been there. It's a new TFT monitor, he tells me the symptoms (monitor turns on, whines, then turns off). I tell him it's shot, get a new one. He mentions it later the next day (today), other people start telling him to repair it.

Now as an aside, I must tell everyone here that you should never, EVER, EVER work on the internals of a monitor (regardless of type) or power supply. To do so can result in death. It is incredibly easy to electrocute yourself while working with these electronic devices, even if turned off and unplugged from the wall (no joke). I work in IT and I would *never* try to fix one of these.

Now, I stepped in and informed the guy that if he wanted to fix his monitor, he should have good health insurance and life insurance. Barring that, he should either toss the monitor or have a certified repair technician look at it.

Apologies for the lack of un-funny, there might be some of that going around.

PS: If anyone has a clip of The Screen Savers where Kevin discharged a monitor in front of the audience, please shoot me a link. Trying to find it so I can show these people what kind of dangers there are.
(Sun 27th Sep 2009, 22:54, More)