feorlen is in town; she flew in this evening. We’re going to watch The Matrix: Revolutions tomorrow[1].

And since the LiveJournal Trick or Treat meme claimed that she tricked me and gave me a pencil, she thought that she should, in fact, give me a pencil.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The World’s Most Obnoxious Pencil:

I think the real trick was finding a pencil this obnoxious.

[1] Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!

My car’s odometer turned over 77,777 miles on my way to work today. I seem to recall somewhere that that’s supposed to bring good luck for the day.

Hm.

The weekend was a study in partying, deflowering, and talking animals. The partying was a blast; some of our friends had just closed on their new house, so they hosted a combination housewarming/halloween party. I started teaching lightgatherer and one of our hosts how to florentine, which is, I think, a worthwhile way to spend an evening in good company. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, in a manner of speaking.

Saturday, we had a Matrix double-feature at the home of a different set of friends. They had never seen any of the movies before, so we got to deflower them. 🙂

Sunday, Shelly brought Kelly and I to Eptot and MGM. I haven’t been to Eptot in eight years, and haven’t been to MGM ever; we had a good time, even though the corporate juggernaut that is Disney really isn’t spending enough money to maintain their parks these days. (I don’t know if I’m just getting more jaded, but the parks do seem to be getting a bit shabby these days.)

There’s more going on, but it properly belongs in a different post.

The end of the world.

Just so you know what to expect. (Me, I’m going to go hang with California, Hawaii, and Alaska.)

This is a picture of Shelly in her new apartment. I’m trying to simulate the effect of an aging color photograph, which tends to lose contrast and turn bluish. Warning: This is SO not work-safe!

Spent the weekend at a science-fiction convention. Kelly wan’t able to go, as she was involved in preparing a wedding for a friend of ours, but I did get to spend the weekend with Shelly, M. my archnemesis, and several other close personal friends that I really don’t spend enough time with.

I got to glue computer parts onto Shelly’s body, which is always a good time. We all played Drunken Strip “Are You a Werewolf?”, which is also a good time. Are You a Werewolf? is a great game to begin with, and as we all know, drunkenness and nakedness make everything better (with the possible exception of open-heart surgery, though even that is up in the air).

And now, back at the office, things are back to normal, for some value of “normal.”

More later. But first, Trick or Treating and another moment of Zen, hidden behind a cut… Yes, this is work-safe

There’s a church on my way to work which for a long time had a banner out front reading “The Church of I Feel Good.” Sadly, I was never able to get a picture of it, since they’d taken it down by the time I found my charger for my digital camera.

Today, there is a new banner in its place. It reads, “Who R U?”

Yes, boys and girls, the inevitable has happened. AOL chat room speak has invaded the hallowed Halls of God.

I can just see it now:

s0ulsavinman: who r u?
born2s1n: 21/f/ca
s0ulsavinman: no, really, who r u?
born2s1n: I can be anyone you like.
born2s1n: how about a secretary? we can be working late…
s0ulsavinman: u r a l0st lamb seduced by the w0rld
born2s1n: wtf?
born2s1n: I don’t do animals.
s0ulsavinman: u need 2 be s4v3d by J3sus
born2s1n: ok, good idea
born2s1n: I like the Catholic schoolgirl thing.
born2s1n: I even have the skirt.
s0ulsavinman: u r a s1nner. u will burn in the lake of fire
born2s1n: I only do fire play with people I know.
s0ulsavinman: J3sus knows ur secret heart. H3 knows everythin about u.
s0ulsavinman: H3 can s4ve u. or u will go to h311 n burn n suffer 4evr n demons will tear out ur eyes.
s0ulsavinman: J3sus loves u.
born2s1n: You’re sick.

Saturday saw the annual Happy Slappy Halloween Party, hosted by the Ft. Myers BDSM club. The bad news: Kelly had a dental office management seminar to attend in Orlando, and Shelly had to work. The good news: M was available, and up for a good flogging, so…

Off we went, down to Ft. Myers. Turnout was good–about a hundred and twenty people or so. All of whom were standing around waiting for someone else to be the first out in the play area.

Which challenge we were more than willing to answer.

Five minutes later saw M tied standing spreaeagle to the rack, which is a lovely look on her. Club rules forbid nudity, which is a pity, but she had quite a cute pair of Victoria’s Secret panties on. (What is sexy? Cute chick in Victoria’s Secret tied to a rack, that’s what!)

After a warmup flogging, I got out the axe. M squirmed quite delightfully as the blade slid over her bare skin. Then some more flogging, nice and long and steady until she was writhing. Then the rabit fur, and some bound teasing and grinding…quite yummy, every bit.

Afterward, several people approached us and told us how much they’d enjoyed the show, which was quite flattering. Having an audience is so much fun. 🙂

And on an unrelated note, a moment of zen cut for your convience, work-safe

Okay, so I finally filled out the “LJ sexual compatibility survey,” which is here Cut for your viewing pleasure

Or one old ghost, more accurately.

Her name is Robin. She was a girlfriend, eleven-odd years ago. In fact, she lived with us, when we first moved to Tampa.

Things ended badly, in no small part because of my own insecurities. At the time, I had this idea that I was somehow magically immune to jealousy; when I started feeling insecure in my relationship with her, I didn’t recognize the feelings for what they were, and as a result I was very cruel to her.

Our relationship disintegrated over a period of six very painful months. The repercussions of that failure helped shape many of the rules and structures of my relationship with kellyv, structures which have been in place until the last year or so.

A great number of my personal philosophies about relationships, communication, and conflict management came from the ruins of my relationship with Robin. It’s safe to say that in some fundamental ways, I wouldn’t be the person I am had things with her not gone the way they did. My own regret over the way I treated her has been a part of my psychological background for the last eleven years.

After our breakup, she married and moved to Wisconsin. I had made a few attempts in the years after our relationship ended to get back in touch with her, and let her know that I regret the things i said and did that hurt her. Hurt both of us, really. All for nothing; she refuses to speak to me, and it’s hard to blame her, really.

Fast-forward to earlier this week. kellyv and I went into a local diner where we eat lunch often…

…and there they were, Robin and her husband, sitting in a booth right by the door.

It’s amazing how eleven years of distance doesn’t seem to make a damn bit of difference to emotional pain.

kellyv is very fortunate; she’s never had her heart broken. Even after more than a decade, it still sucks.

In an efitness.com Web article called Is Monogamy Monotonous?, author Michelle Hickford put forth the idea that serial monogamy is inevitable because sexual monogamy is inherently boring:

“We’d probably rebel if we were told we could only read one book in our lifetime, or eat grilled cheese sandwiches exclusively at every meal. Life would be dull if we could only ever wear white t-shirts and jeans (hmm, I suppose that would be heaven for some). But, I’m certain there would be general mayhem if there was only one TV program replayed over and over.

And yet, there is one facet of our lives for which a single choice is required. Often, a single choice made relatively early in life — before we’ve even had a chance to form other preferences. Of course, I’m speaking of mates.”

Quite frankly, I find the thesis, and its conclusion, silly. My response, sent in an email to Ms. Hickford: Cut for your viewing pleasure