Burning Man Pics

My camp consolidates our respective pictures and shares them amongst ourselves. My copy got held up so I just received it last week and have been looking through 6,500 pictures that were included. So many bring back memories of the playa while others reveal things I had not even seen. I decided to share some of those pictures that I didn't believe to display others in too compromising of a position. Here's batch 1...

The start of the naked pub crawl

Unplanned, but zaney socks became my signature last year

There was an incredibly beautiful double rainbow the day I arrived

Loss

Remember the 18 y/o college freshman from Rutgers university that jumped off the George Washington bridge when he discovered that he was video tapped having gay sex? Well evidently the guy (and girl) that participated in tapping him are in a world of trouble.

Although there's a part of me that wants to see justice done, I can't help but feel the pain of loss as three young lives are irreversibly ruined when they should have been looking forward to a hopefully wonderful future. I wonder what the assailants motivations were. Was it to cause emotional harm? Was it as a asinine joke or perhaps just one of those incredibly dumb things that we do when we're that age? I sure don't know, but the consequences are all too clear and it is all so unfortunate.

What Is Burning Man

This is something I get asked quite a bit and yet still have trouble answering. I found this description on the web the other day and thought it a perfect even if incomplete description.

For those unfamiliar: It’s an art festival, showcasing thousands of sculptures and modified cars and creative structures. It’s a music festival, with hundreds of makeshift venues for DJ’s and musicians. It’s a costume festival, with everyone wearing something extraordinary, if they choose to wear something at all. It’s a conference for the mind, offering free lectures and educational seminars from thinkers across the creative-arts-and social science spectrum. It’s a religious festival, steering clear of organized dogma into the realms of free expression, open worship of the universe, and a deep reverence for the beauty of diversity. It’s a love festival, where nudity is accepted, sex is acceptable, and tantric workshops are held. It’s a community of likeminded individuals gathering in a remote place to avoid the confused, ignorant reaction of those who simply don’t get it, and probably never will. It’s a backlash against corporate America, where no brands or advertisements or promotion is allowed. It’s the wildest, most hedonistic party you’ve ever seen. And most of all, Burning Man is none of these things at all.

Er... Huh?

Happy Naked Saturday

Today is naked cocktails day and I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't been for 3 or 4 months now since somehow I seem to always be out of town when it is happening. I love the event for sheer camaraderie of it. Just spending time with people I know and others I don't in a free and accepting environment having nothing to do except to enjoy each others company. One thing that most people that haven't done anything naked before often don't realize is that you when you're naked for an extended period of time is that after a while, you'll often forget that you're naked at all.

Later this evening, there's a part out in Upper Marlboro that I'm planning to go to. These parties are clothing optional, but most of the people are naked. Those that aren't naked are almost always stripped down to their underwear. Although these parties are also very social, they also have a sexual aspect to them as well. I heard that they had 100 people RSVP so far, so it should definitely be a blast.

Atlantis

The BF and I went on the Atlantis 20th anniversary cruise at the beginning of February. This is our 5th gay cruise and the first in several years. The 20th anniversary cruise was to be on the brand new and largest ship in the world named the Allure of the Cruise. With over 5,400 passengers, I call it the "big gay cruise". There were a ton of guys from the Washington area that went.

I have to say that the ship was absolutely amazing! Having been on a couple of Royal Caribbean's Liberty-class ships, which were the largest just a few years, this ship absolutely dwarfs anything I've seen before. But it wasn't just the size that makes these ships great. It's also the spaces and the views. It truly is very well designed.

Although I enjoyed it immensely, there were some things that could have been better. Some were due to the ship while others were just had to do with the way Royal Caribbean and Atlantis organized this cruise. Here are some of my issues:

• The ship was so big that I routinely met and clicked with people that I wouldn't see for the rest of the cruise. Perhaps I've actually found a ship that is just too big.
• The ship was really desgined to disperse people to various parts of the ship and does so wonderfully. The problem is that gay cruises typically have parties in which a large number of cruises will be in a single location during that time. This ship had no space that was conducive to this kind of party. The solarium area was used for the largest parties, but it was too small, too fragmented and way too crowded. It's also, by definition, indoors. Atlantis' normal incredible light show was completely obscured and lost in the space.
• I'm not sure that I could explain it, but for the first time I felt like we were being watched. I don't typically break too many rules, but I don't like feeling like I'm being watched or policed while on vacation.
• Which brings me to my next point... Given that we're in a completely chartered ship and in international waters, I would hope that the "normal rules" would have been suspended to some extent. I'm not asking for anarchy, just a more relaxed atmosphere, which I did not feel existed.
• As usual, they did have a nude sunbathing deck, but I wish it were larger.
• Unlike all prior cruises I've been on, there was neither a cruising deck or area.

I doubt I'd go on the January cruise next year, although I'd still consider their March cruise. Frankly I think RC contributed to the less-friendly atmosphere quite a bit so maybe I'll have to re-think cruising with RC again.


Some pictures...

End Times

Sorry... I do get a political sometimes.

Sometimes I like to play thought experiments. One such experiment attempts to look at the proliferation of weapons throughout time and amount of associated damage that can be wrought by a single person. For example, a crazy man 5,000 years ago could try to hit someone in their with a club before being tackled by his villages. Two hundred years ago someone could probably get off one musket shot before needing to reload. Sixty years ago the average person could get a hold of a six shooter.

Today it's fairly easy for one to get a hold of technology that can kill scores, if not hundreds or thousands. So I've often interpolated this into envisioning an ultimate future when all it took was one crazy to change the world as we know it.

Today I am revising my opinion for I had forgotten one thing... that the pen is mightier than the sword. At the same time that weapon technologies are developed and proliferated at an alarmingly ever increasing rate the same is occurring in other areas such as communications.



This epiphany was brought on by watching this clip of Glenn Beck. I've said this before and I'll say it again... It doesn't surprise me that people like him exist nor that they have the crazy views that they do. Nor does it surprise me that companies such as Fox News Corp are willing to anything to make money since that is primarily what companies do. It doesn't surprise me that politicians sometimes seek short term political gain over the greater good because in their eyes they can always do good tomorrow... if they're re-elected.

No, these things don't surprise me at all. What does surprise me is how all these things have been conflated to create an environment where are large number of prominent and leading Americans are seeding the ground and either tacitly or nearly-openly advocating for religious and cultural war (and I mean war in the literal sense).

So Beck has Northern Africa conquering Spain, France, Germany(?), Italy and Greece. Really? Is he serious? Please... can we buy him a risk set and lock him away?

I don't believe that we as a society are as worried about how much this country has changed as we should be.

Tom Ford on Nudity

I ventured upon this account of an interview of Tom Ford and just had to repost:

Someone asked me recently about male nudity, and I brought up the subject that, in our culture, we use female nudity to sell everything. We’re very comfortable objectifying women. Women go out and they are basically wearing nothing. Their feet and toes are exposed, their legs are exposed, their breasts are exposed. Everything is exposed—the neck, the arms. You have to be really physically perfect, as a woman, in our culture to be considered beautiful. But full frontal male nudity challenges us. It makes men nervous. It makes women nervous. Other times in history, male nudes have been regarded in a different way. The Olympics were originally held nude. The reporter I was explaining this to said, “This would make a great story.” I explained how when I come home I actually take off all my clothes, and I wear no clothes until I leave. I eat naked. I do everything completely naked. He said, “That would make a great interview.” I said, “Fine, we have to do it nude.”...


Anyway, we did the interview. The interviewer was straight, and I made it a point to desexualize the interview even though I was sitting with my legs wide open, completely naked. At the end of the interview, I put on a dressing gown and he put on his clothes, and I sat next to him on the sofa and said, “Was that sexual?” He said, “Absolutely not.” And I said, “That’s because I didn’t make it sexual. Sexuality is in the eyes, it’s an expression, it’s in a look.” Then, all of a sudden, I looked at him in a very different way, and it made him very nervous.

Nice!

Memories of a Burn

I believe my last post before my hiatus was of Burning Man so it's only fitting that it should the first upon my return. Yes... I've been thinking about it quite a bit recently as it was just over a year ago that I first committed myself to going. Now, seeing all of the discussion boards light up with chatter about tickets going on sale puts me right back where I began...

When I went to Folsom this past September, I ran into quite a few people I met at BM including 4 of my campmates. Two of them were the same guys that invited me into the camp that I ultimately joined and came to love. Jon asked me, "so have you had the dreams yet?" and I felt goose bumps. For several weeks after returning from BM I would awaken in bedroom in the early morning, starring bleary-eyed at my obviously rectangular ceiling and somehow my mind repeatedly confused that cieling for the inside of my tent. And for just a few, special moments, I was transported back to the playa. I thought I was the only one experiencing this, but I guess not.

Tickets went on sale just about a week ago. I was a little slow getting online to buy the deeply discounted tickets, but I did get 2 tier III tickets for a reasonable discount. Then this past Sunday I happened to be in my underwear at the Eagle (don't ask) and heard someone call my name from behind. It was Paul from BM. Paul was in my camp and was one of the people responsible for putting it together. Paul, the BF and I sat at the bar discussing and reminiscing for close to two hours.

The BF and I are also taking a cruise in about a week. Although we prepared some costumes for some of the theme parties, the "Angles and Demons" theme party kind of stumped me. Then I had a thought. After I returned from BM last year, one way I kept the experience alive and immediate was by working on BM outfits for this year. One such outfit was a pair of faux fur chaps. Weird huh? But it makes sense... faux fur because faux fur is big at BM and the nights are cold. Chaps... because I am a nudist afterall. So after not being able to think of a custom I like, I had the idea of combining the chaps with demon horns and a litlte makeup and yellow contact lenses to create a demon.

The next weekend the BF and I were in a fabrics store buying material for one of the other costumes when we passed this really lush roll for snow white, faux fur. When the BF immediately mentioned how great that would look in a pair of chaps I knew I had found my angel! So in a day we made a second pair of faux chaps and bought wings (probably too big, but oh well) and a halo. It's the BF's costume, but of course I had to try it on.

He's Back!

It has been a while since I posted anything here. I can't really say that it was for any particular reason. Lately I've been contemplating resuming my postings but was looking for a deserving topic.

Black Rock City

Found this satellite photo of Black Rock City, the temporary city where Burning Man takes place and had to repost it.

Folsom 2010

I'm getting ready to leave for San Francisco and Folsom Street Fair in just a couple of days. The BF as well as other friends all decided not to go this year for various reasons so I'll be going solo for the first time. Fortunately I do know a couple of people from the DC area that are going.

Healthcare Reform

So I've given up all hope of the country actually coming together in support of anything even remotely rational and have accepted the fact that something actually got done as consolation. Here's a video created by Kaiser that tries to explain the affects of healthcare reform on average citizens. It's animated but surprisingly complete and helpful.

Nudists, Burning Man and Locusts

A while back I read of scientific experiments that claimed to have figured out why locusts swarm. Locusts are normally solitary creatures that on rare occasions will completely change their normal behavioral patterns and team up with millions of other locusts. The cause of the locust swarm has been so baffling since biblical times that swarms were considered to be acts of God. In fact, solitary locusts and swarming locusts even look so different that up until 1921 scientists believed that they were completely separate species.

As it turns out, experiments have shown that changes in serotonin levels within locusts cause them to change their behavior and appearance leading to swarms. Serotonin also naturally occurs within the brains of many animals including humans. Elevated levels of serotonin are known to lead to intense feelings of well-being.

So what causes locusts to experience elevated levels of serotonin? The answer appears to be the scent of other nearby locusts as well as having their hind legs fondled. So certain environmental factors can cause normally solitary locusts to be forced onto smaller and smaller patches of vegetation resulting in the raising of their respective serotonin levels leading to swarms.

I can personally say that something very similar occurs when you get a group of people that are willing to be close enough and open themselves up to each other. I've seen it happen at most nude events as well as on gay cruise ships and of course at Burning Man. In each of these cases the feelings of closeness and connectedness with those around me rose as the hours or days passed. I could tell that it wasn't just happening to me because I could simultaneously witness the same changes taking place in those around me. These events have been some of the most intimate and memorable times of my life and are a great reason why I (and likely others) feel such a draw to such events. It is at these times that everything in the universe just seems most perfect.

Burning Man Video

I love the way that this video captures the spirit of Burning Man.

More O'Donnell

I swear that I am not obsessed with the primary victory of Republican Christine O’Donnell. Nonetheless she seems so emblematic of what is wrong with the tea party faction of the Republican Party. And one of the major problems with the other factions is that they feed the tea party faction.

Here are two quotes from O’Donnell:

I think that drug use is out of control here and there is something called tough love and what has happened with the liberal welfare program implemented in the last decade is they have cultivated an attitude of dependency. The reality is, especially in my own city here in D.C., is that a lot of those people who do deal drugs are using federal money that they get from welfare programs. We need to implement a tough love program.

We know that people will abuse the system. They will find a recovery program that can enable them to continue in their drug use as long as they get federal funding. We see the same kind of abuse with food stamps... people are abusing our compassion.

So my problem with these statements is their lack of intellectual rigor. What is the basis for her statement that “a lot of those who deal drugs are using federal money?” She states this as fact, but provides no supporting info. Perhaps it is supposed to be implicit because both of these groups tend to live in the same neighborhoods. This too is a misnomer too, but I can only cover so much in one posting. Would her “tough love” program allow the children of America to become like the children of third-world countries? That is, would America’s poorest children be starving on the street and condemned to caste system where education and upward mobility become even further out of reach?

She also implies that the fact that some people abuse a system means that the system should be abolished. So I could say the same thing about voting, so should we abolish this too?

She goes on to say:

We sit there and scratch our heads and wonder why sexual harassment is out of control in this country. It is because we are setting a precedent through our pop culture, through the songs that penetrate the airwaves and the sitcoms that are on television that are just saturated with sexual themes, that respect no boundaries. We need to just do a U-Haul of our pop culture. I think legislators, Hollywood film producers all need to reevaluate why they are doing what they are doing... We end up feeding a demon, feeding a monster and we are feeding this appetite so much that our generation is going to self-destruct quite honestly.

So here she conflates a legislative agenda with a cultural one. She suggests that politicians should do a ‘U-Haul’ (seriously… U-Haul?) of our pop-culture. I have no idea what the hell she means by this and doubt that she’s thought about it enough to know herself. I can’t think of any steps that politicians could take short of legislating pop culture that would help in this area. The only countries that I can think of that currently attempt this are totalitarian regimes such as Iran where they now have a list of acceptable haircut styles.

Half of me is giddy with delight at her nomination given that she has a snowball’s chance in hell at election in a state such as Delaware. However, a more insidious part of me asks… “what if…” and this part terrifies me. I just cannot help imagining an army of people like O’Donnell, who believe that (a) masturbation is evil, (b) morality can and should be legislated being in control of this country.

Tea-Partiers as Cylons

As an avid Battlestar Galactica fan and a political junkie, I just couldn't resist re-posting this:

The Tea Partiers were created by Republicans.


They devolved.

They rebelled.

They look and feel like Republicans.

There are many copies.

And they have a plan. (Maybe)

Burning Man

As some of you may know, I spent the last 8 months figuring out how to go to the Burning Man festival this year. I have to say that I had a wonderful and surreal experience and am still trying to figure out how to describe it all. Until then, I'll just post a few pictures...

I love this next pic. While on the Critical Dicks march, I ran across a heart-shaped mirror somewhere near Esplanade and 4:30p. The guy in the background was someone I was speaking to and said that he intentionally positioned himself into the picture to add some additional flair.

Burning Man is like an alternate universe. Therefore many people there go by what they call their 'playa name'. On Thursday at our superhero party someone asked me what my name was. I told them, but only after explaining that I don't yet have a playa name. He conferred with two others before naming me. Now I'll forever be called 'Blondie'.

Anyone who's followed my journey to Burning Man will likely know that I've researched and read just about everything available on the topic. Even so, there were still some things that just blew me away. One of which was the scope of the artwork. There a massive amount of incredibly creative pieces of large-scale art that looked like it took years to make. But likewise, there were seemingly thousands of smaller works of art that were no less inspiring.

On the top of Malmart:

Christine O'Donnell versus Jerry Falwell

Ready Andrew Sullivan's blog I came across these two episodes of Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect. The point of his posting these were to shed insight on Christine O'Donnell, who won the Republican nomination over Michael Castle in Delaware last night. O'Donnell is a tea-partier (I could use 'tea-bagger', but why be pejorative) and enjoyed the support of the likes of Sarah Palin. The Delaware Republican Party actively and ardently campaigned against her to no avail.

Anyway, the first episode can be seen here and here in which she discusses the topic of telling the truth. As a complete aside, as someone that tries not to lie, the episode did make me consider my own thoughts on the topic. Perhaps I'll write about that later. The second episode featured O'Donnell and Jerry Falwell discussing the their views of the inerrancy of the Bible.

Here's what I got from these episodes:

• Wow is she annoying to listen to! I try not to judge people along such superficial lines, but honestly it is hard to deny that some people are easy to listen to and others not.
• Although I disagree with almost everything that Falwell said, I have to give him credit. Except for his faith (which by definition is not subject to logic), he comes across as reasoned, logical, human and I have to admit... quite intelligent. O'Donnell on the other end seems to spout an endless stream of illogic and nonsense by contrast.

Even if I did buy the tea-partiers anti-tax rhetoric, God help us if her like wields any sort of significant power in the upcoming political landscape.

[Update] Oh wow. Somehow I missed O'Donnell's anti-masturbatory segment she did for MTV in the 90s.

Good Data, Bad Conclusions

As someone with a background in science and mathematics, I often read reports and studies and question the conclusions that are reached. In all fairness, true studies tend to be pretty careful, but we typically hear about these reports via a synopsis over public media, which inevitably leaves out the details and often draw obvious but bad conclusions from the study results.

So today I came across Allstate's annual Best Drivers Report. The full list of the city-by-city breakdown can be found here. I initially read about it here where the article's author stated "Once again, DC boasts the country's worst drivers." Even Allstate themselves state that the purpose of the report is to "identify which cities have the safest drivers." They further state that a goal of the report is to "facilitate an on-going dialog on safe driving."

So what's the problem? So I can find a number of problems with the methods used in this report such as it assumes that Allstate claims data is representative of all accident, which may or may not be true. It is also possible that, because of rate differences present in each state, safer drivers flock to Allstate in some states but have less of an incentive to do so in others. This would certainly skew the result. That said, I realize that they wanted to put numbers together based on the data they had so I'll ignore this problem.

The real problem is that what this report actually tells us is "in which city is it safest to drive" and not which city has the safest drivers. Here's why:

• The report definitely states that some cities have higher incidents of accidents than others, but it emphatically DOES NOT tell us why. The report assumes that the only (or primary) cause is the quality of the driver, but other possibilities include traffic patterns, road conditions, density of cars on the road, etc, which the report completely and conveniently ignores.
• By this report one would believe that bad drivers love big cities since no city with population >1M is less than the 50th percentile. I find this hard to believe. More likely cities with lower density by definition have less opportunity for collisions and greater margins of error than cities with higher vehicular densities.
• The report suggests that cities on the lower half of the list should "fix" something. Although this may be true, it doesn't necessarily follow. As long as humans continue to drive, there will be accidents. We could take draconian measures to lower accidents to virtually zero by erecting barriers between lanes, instituting a nation-wide 5mph speed limit and stop lights at every corner of every street that only allow one car to proceed at a time. Although this would certainly reduce accidents the cost of doing this would be counter-productive as the nation would come to a stand still. So just because cities in this report could improve, doesn't mean that they necessarily should improve.
• It also seems to me that it is more likely that roads conditions such as lane size, traffic lights, stop signs, visibility at intersections and other factors are more likely to yield improvements to safety than just telling drivers they need to drive better. It seems this report is better targeted at city transportation departments than individual drivers.

That said, I like the report in that it does tell us the relative safeness of driving in various cities. It also gives us some clue as to which cities might want to evaluate if changes are in order. But it definitely does not tell us which cities have bad versus good drivers.

Pics from GNI Gathering

Everyday at 5pm, there's a themed cocktail party. Many people dress up according to the theme and group cabins will all make an entrance all dressed either the same or in complimentary ways. My cabin and our sister cabin (20 guys in all) dressed up everyday. This last picture was from theme called "What not to wear." We all used lavender-dyed mops as wigs. It was a big hit.

Burning Books

We've reverted back to burning books... Really?
Despite years of over a decade as a fundamentalist, I am not agnostic and decidedly non-religious. Nonetheless, I certainly allow others to worship their religion and have their beliefs. That said, I find religion one of the most dangerous forces on this planet because it leaves no room for compromise, rational discussion or reason. It defines "us" and "them" and then imbues us with righteousness because we act with the authority of God. Of course this does not represent all believers, but history has shown religion to be amongst the primary motivations of some of the worst atrocities committed by humans in history.

Somehow we have to realize that there really are only two, diametrically opposed paths; either we will live together or we will wage world-wide war to annihilate one another. Unfortunately world-wide war isn't very scary to some radical believers as they believe that it heralds the coming of paradise to earth.

It scares me to see how far we've regressed from the country that believes in freedom of religion and the right to pursue of happiness for all humans.

Of course it is the same communications medium that allows me to share my thoughts here that also permit xenophobes, islamophobes, terrorists, racists and other inherently socially destructive organizations to disproportionately recruit and influence the world-wide debate. But how do we stop the beast when nut like Pastor Terry Jones with a mere 40 followers can have such influence on us all. Sure, we could overcome it by saying that we must all act reasonably, but even this optimist knows that humans are generally predisposed to group think rather than reason. So where do we go from here?

GNI Gathering

I just got back from this year's GNI Gathering and somehow it seems to get even better each year. This I returned for the full-week option as I did my first year. I have to say that I am majorly tired, but would trade a single minute. It was great seeing guys that I met from previous years as well as meeting new friends. Some people memories:

• First I have to mention the guys in my cabin as well as our sister cabin. We all know each other fairly well and most are pretty good friends whom had travelled together previously. As usual, they are just an awesome group of guys to be around and to have in my life.
• I saw T from Boston for the third year in a row. The BF and I also visited him an his partner in Boston and Vermont in June this year and at the time he was considering not returning. I posted about it before here and here. I'm glad he did decided to return and would like to believe that my encouragement had a little to do with it. We spent several nights dancing the night away and closing the dance club together. T and I have always just shared a special bond.
• Two really cool guys from NY whom I have become close to over the years. I was disappointed to hear that JN wasn't returning, but was told that A would be there. I was kinda disappointed when I arrived last Sunday and he wasn't there, but was simply elated he arrived mid-week.
• I met A from California on my first night there near the bonfire and we instantly became friends. He called me his "chocolaton", which I found very endearing. A just had a radiant personality such that you just couldn't help being drawn into him. He fit it quite well.
• I remember spending time speaking with R from Boston. It was his first year so I asked him what he thought of the place so far. I already knew the answer because he had an ear-to-ear grin that he just couldn't erase from his face for days. Nonetheless, his answer blew me away as he struggled for words to describe the experience for him.

Of course there were many, MANY others. Then there were the daily, themed cocktail parties, the dancing, the costumes and the shows. As for sex... of course there was plenty of that too. Not in common places as that is against the rules, but there are more than enough places to go for those who desire to do so. Then of course there was the annual 100-man J/O session.

I definitely want to post more photos, but I just returned and am trying to rest as well as I can before flying out to Burning Man in the morning.

Prayer for Burning Man

I read this on the Gay Burners website today that I thought felt very welcoming:

Dear Burgins, everyone had their first year. Everyone understands and most will help you along your way. May the wind be at your backs and your party be on. May you walk away changed and blessed and enlightened. Bless you all…

Marriage Equality

I was struck by this graphic that I came across today. Wow how things are a-changing! The geek in me can't help but notice how linear/straight the lines are. One thing I've never understood about the gay marriage debate is why doesn't the "full faith and credit" clause of the consistution require each state to recognize gay marriages performed in another state. I can understand how a state could legislate that it wouldn't issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples, but instituting a law the specifically and directly states that one state will not honor a marriage performed in another seems clearly unconsitutional. Then again... I'm not a lawyer so what do I know.

Tom Hardy

I came across this quote a couple of weeks ago from Tom Hardy, who played a prominent role in the movie Inception:

As a boy? Of course I have. I'm an actor for ****'s sake. I've played with everything and everyone. I love the form and the physicality, but now that I'm in my thirties, it doesn't do it for me. - Tom Hardy 

Typically it is the Kinsey 0s and 6s that first become comfortable with their sexuality. I wish that the many shades of gray could become as comfortable as Tom is.

100 Naked Gay Boys

I've had the opportunity twice recently to visit a friend who has a country/vacation home a good ways outside of Richmond. I've posted about this place before here and here.

The trip was actually a large event held through one of the local nudist groups. I don't know how many people actually showed up, but just over 100 RSVP'd. The hosts have quite a few beds since they have people over often, but to support a crowd of this size, there were also guys on air mattresses in the basement, in the other two structures on the property as well as numerous guys that brought tents. I really love these parties because the combination of nudity, sun and the stress-free environment promotes bonding with others on a level that is rare in the normal world. This trip was absolutely no different.

The food was way better than I would have expected and the bar was well-stocked. Saturday night there was a very interesting S&M demonstration near the fire pit. Just after the demo, it started to rain so I ducked into a nearby tent for a little while, which turned out to be a very fun diversion. I actually fell asleep in the tent as I waited for the rain to subside before eventually just giving up and returning to the house in the rain. The funny thing is that what sounded like a downpour hitting the tent was really just a light drizzle so I really waited for no reason at all. That was OK by me though as I wouldn't have changed one moment of it.

I didn't take any pics this time around, so I uploaded a pic I took about 2 years ago while at the same place.

Facebook Fail!

This is funny, but since it's true it's also kinda sad:

So if you're at the Eagle and they're playing Bieber, is it ok to sing and dance along?

IMEN

So I've been want to attend the IMEN Gathering and decided to go for the half-week option. So I arrived there on Wednesday right about 4:45p, which was perfect timing since the daily cocktail party was just getting into full swing.

So as I expected to, I had a great time. I didn't really attempt to find any DCers to go with, but I did expect that I'd probably see a couple of people I knew. However, I was really surprised by just how many people there were from the DC area. I wouldn't be surprised if there were 20 DC guys there. I also ran into a couple of I know from Baltimore as well as folks that I had previously seen or met at GNI.

Overall, the experience is kind of a scaled-down version of the GNI Gathering, which is exactly what I had expected.  There certainly less people, but again that was expected. I would have to say that the average of the attendees was skewed older.

So things I enjoyed most:

• As with GNI, the cocktail parties were great. I did dress up at 3 of the 4 parties that I attended. They especially liked it when I dressed in a tutu, knee-high patent leather boots and a fish net top for the Rocky Horror themed day.
• I loved the overall vibe that was filled with acceptance and friendliness. Of course that are traits that tend to permeate naked events in general and a large part of what drew me into nudism in the first place.
• I love how just hanging around in a group of naked guys for extended periods of time tends to break down the walls that we normally erect between us. I love just being able to be in the company of another beautiful person (not necessarily physical), and to experience the closeness and sharing of souls that transpires.
• I love to see the older men smiling and having fun as if they were teenagers. There was one guy there who was probably close to 70 or more and shuffled his feet as he slowly walked. But if you could see him cut up the dance floor night after night, you would think that he was 20 years younger.

The days were beautiful even if a little hot and humid. Fortunately, I spent most of the daytime hours around the pool so the heat wasn't even an issue. I spent quite a bit of time with a guy who's a dominant in the S&M scene and his friend who came down for a day and a half. So I got my first experience as a sub although he made sure to tell me how poor of a job I was doing. It was actually fun play although I'm not sure I could do that full-time. I also met a beautiful guy from New York with whom I spent quite a bit of time. He was incredibly sweet, affectionate and had the most beautiful bubble-butt. We cuddled quite a bit, but it never really progressed further than that.

As for events, I participated in the Family Feud as well as the celebrity auction, where I fetched on of the highest prices. They were raising money for scholarships for next year's event for members that can't financially afford to come. I also dressed for some of the themed cocktail parties including Rocky Horror (pictured above), leather and Star Wars.

As I expected I had a great time and would do it again.

On Aging and Happiness...

I recently read several articles about a recent study on happiness highlighting the relative differences between younger and older adults. The study found the happiness is correlated with age, but not in the way most people might think. In fact the study found that happiness peaked somewhere near age 65.

A close friend of mine is always reminding himself (and me) that he is getting old. Since 'old' is a relative term, I interpret this as meaning that he is getting 'older'. But what does that mean? Older than what? For sure we're all older than we were last year... or yesterday... or even since a few moments ago so this interpretation of 'older' is so inherent that it is not even worth saying. So then what do we mean by we're getting 'older'?

Perhaps we have an idea of what constitutes a happy life and we believe we are getting to old to live that life? I distinctly recall when I was 27 feeling that only had 3 more good years and after that it was all down hill. I can honestly say that my first 27 years were pretty good, but the time since has been even better. We can never be sure what the future holds, but we can be sure that we have right now. So my happiness advice is:

• Never fret about the past because there's nothing we can do about it. Learn whatever lessons the past has to teach us and move on.
• Figure out the things that we actually have power to change or influence. Make sure that our actions in these areas are in line with our desires for our life and happiness.
• Figure out the things that we cannot change. To be honest, we actually have very little power of much but we do control how we react to what is happening around us. Therein lies our power. For those things that we don't control, be honest and admit it. Once we admit it, we can treat it like the laws of gravity. No one ever gets pissed at gravity when the fall because they know that gravity cannot be controlled. Rather they stressing about gravity we think that we should be more careful. So next time you encounter an asshole, understand that some (few not most) people are assholes and always will be and that this cannot be changed. Our power is in how we deal with the asshole such that it contributes or at least does not detract from our life and happiness.
• Learn to appreciate the good in things.

Relax

Last weekend some friends and I visited the couple that has a secluded, country home in Virginia. As usual it was beautiful. It's always interesting to see all of the latest improvements that they've made there since they're always doing something. All days there are pretty much the same, and that's fine with me. We spent the weekend drinking, talking and alternating between sitting on the porch, soaking up rays by the pool and swimming. Although this is the same location that is planning a weekend party for 100 later in the month, this day there were just the five of us.

Ryan Reynolds Public Nudity

I saw this on Naked Black Guy blog and just had to re-post:

Mel

We already knew that Mel Gibson was insane, but really?

Listen to the audio and judge for yourself.

Here's a synopsis taken from the HuffPost:

"You should just f*cking smile and blow me," he screams. And: "You need a f*cking bat in the side of the head. Alright, how about that?"


Oksana stays reasonable and cool as Mel grows more and more out of control. He accuses her of threatening him, which she denies, and he threatens to kill her.

"Threaten ya? I'll put you in a f *ckin rose garden you c*nt! You understand that? Because I'm capable of it. You understand that?"

Mel also explains the failure of his relationships.

"You have no fucking soul. And my soul is screaming because you don't have one to join mine!" he screams. "I left my wife because we had no spiritual common ground. You and I have none. Zero. You don't even f*cking try!"

Nudity and Guns

Louisiana just passed a law that specifically allows registered qualified gun-owners to their carry concealed guns into churches. It makes me wonder what the circumstances that made the legislature and governor believe that such an action was necessary.

As I read this, it makes me wonder about a world where the natural human state (i.e. nudity) is criminalized, yet guns are not only legal, but encouraged... in church no less!

I guarantee you the world would be a better place if there was more nudity and less guns.

Hilarious

Does anyone find this as funny as I do?

Facebook Quote

A friend of mine wrote this on his wall. I thought it was cute.

He came to me one night; explored my body, licked, sucked, swallowed! When satisfied, he left and I was hurt!... Fucking mosquito!

Boston and Vermont, Ctd

Pictures from the trip that I took a few weeks earlier. I'm looking at the expression on my face in all of these and can't for the life of me figure out what I was thinking. 

 

Damned Homonyms!

I have always asked that question on road trips...my fav construction next 53 miles and never see a sole.

This is a quote from a not-so-close friend on Facebook. I wanted to reply, "I think that's a good thing because those damned soles are always littering up the power lines", but thought better of it. It's funny... when I read, these types of mistakes, they jump out at me. But when I write, I make the same mistakes all of the time. It has caused me to realize that writing and reading exercise different parts of the brain.

Boston and Vermont

I met a a guy at the GNI Gathering two years ago, who immediately became a friend. We had kept in contact throughout the year that followed and I was absolutely elated to see him upon my return to GNI the subsequent year. He lives in Boston with his partner, whom I had never met, and had purchased a vacation country home on Rock River in Vermont. Rock River is very popular gay swimming hole near Brattleboro Vermont. For about a year and a half now, he has been inviting me and the BF to visit them but somehow the time and season never seemed to work out.

So when he invited us once again a couple of months ago, I was determined to make it work. Getting to Brattleboro isn't the easiest thing to do since there is only one Amtrak train from here to there that leaves just once per day and takes 8.5 hours. We considered driving, but that too would take about the same time assuming no traffic. Good luck with that. So we decided to fly into Boston and spend part of Friday there before leaving to Vermont.

Once in Vermont, we spent late-afternoon Friday down on the river, which was stunningly beautiful and bucolic. We stopped at swimming hole #5 where we talked to some guys there that Steve knew and swam in the river. This was the last swimming hole and is mostly visited by gay men for naked lounging and swimming. On Saturday and Sunday we attended the naked massage workshop at Frog Meadow. Frog Meadow is a gay B&B, with a beautiful and large home, pond, hot tub and miles of hiking trails. Late that night we went to a gay-owned restaurant named Peter Havens in Brattleboro before sitting on the porch back at the house with a cocktail.

On Sunday, after the workshop, we headed back to the river where there were even more people than before, then later had dinner at a local tavern.

Before heading back on Monday, we bought local cheese, maple syrup and toured a couple of the local towns. All in all it was an absolutely wonderful weekend and I'm glad I got to meet my friend Steve's other half.

SIDE NOTE: Brattleboro was the site of a news story that I had read about last year. Basically, with their philosophy of "live and let live", Vermont is the only state (that I know of anyway) in which public nudity hasn't been made illegal. So last year a group of teenagers took to hanging out in the downtown area naked on weekends. The city legislature, determined to put a stop to this eventually passed a law that public nudity was illegal within the business district, which is actually a relatively small area. Even though I wish that they had not passed such a law, I think it speaks a lot about Vermonters that the law was as narrowly constrained as it was. Had this had taken place nearly anywhere else, public nudity would almost certainly had been legalized throughout the jurisdiction. Go Vermont!

Palin Clone

So... err... vote for her because... she's a straight shooter?

IMEN

So I've been trying to convince the BF to go the IMEN Gathering this year. We've never been before, but I imagine it is a slightly smaller version of the GNI Gathering. Having attended GNI two years ago (and already signed up for this August) and to The Woods Campground just a few weeks ago, I decided that this naked camping this is pretty cool and really wanted to go. He does enjoy it but he most enjoy events that entail "doing something" (my words not his) whereas I will be perfectly content on doing nothing at all as long as I am sharing the time with cool people.

Anyway, he told me that I should go ahead and go, but he will not be attending, and I am really looking forward to it.

C.R.A.Z.Y

Movies, and more specifically Hollywood, tends to disappointment. My most common grief is that they spend so much money on a move and spare no expense, but then put in the most inane things. Sometimes these are lines, or a ridiculous character or situation. Sometimes it's a response that makes no sense, but supposedly underpins the entire movie. Typically, Hollywood movies have great production, great sound, great special effects but incredibly poor writing and characters. Oh well.

That's why I was so happy when I saw this just a couple of nights ago. We watched it via Netflix Instant Play, which I love and believe that the concept is definitely the future of home movie watching. I just can't wait until they get the majority of their library online.

Anyway, this move was superb and I'd definitely recommend it. Be forewarned... it's in Canadian French, but well worth reading the subtitles.

I Love You Phillip Morris

I hadn't heard of this until today. Supposedly it has a very explicit sex scene in in which Jim Carrey instructs Ewan McGregor to "come in my ass" or something similar. I haven't seen that scene, but here's the trailer, which looks like typical Carrey-zany fair but with somewhat of a twist.

The Woods Campground

Last week we went to The Woods Campground near Allentown PA for leather weekend. This was our first time going to a clothing-optional/naked, gay campground outside of the GNI Gatherings. A friend of ours visits several times a year and was telling us about leather weekend while we were both visiting other friends in Richmond and I decided to go.

We arrived on Friday around 6pm and almost immediately ran into the friend. He immediately got us to remove our clothes, but of course that wasn't too hard for me. Since my only other gay, naked camping was GNI, I'll try to compare and contrast.

• Obviously there were less people at the campgrounds, but that was to be expected.
• There are less occasions where you would see a large majority of people in one place at the same time.
• It did retain the very friendly and open atmosphere that makes it so easy to meet others and share time together.
• Since it's clothing optional, there were a fair number of clothed people, particularly during the daytime.

Overall, we had a really good time. Some of my favorite memories were:

• Spending several hours with a beautiful 24 y/o who followed us around for the better part of Friday. He wore shorts during the day, but nothing but a harness at night. Very sexy.
• Going to the party that was hosted by a couple of the guys there. Their place had a surprising number of bath tubs...
• Spending a couple of hours in a nearby camp that saw me stumbling home late Saturday night. They invited me over for smores, great fire-roasted grilled cheese sandwiches and even better conversation.
• And of course... the dungeon.

I'm already booked for the full week at the GNI Gathering in late August and am hoping to be able to attend the IMEN Gathering for a half-week in July if possible.

I Could Care Less

Interracial Trends

I love interracial couples whether they are straight or gay and I'm not even exactly sure why. Perhaps it's because I am in such a relationship or perhaps because I tend to find all races beautiful. Or maybe it's because it is a symbol of acceptance and the world as I would like to see it.

Anyway, I came across this report by the Pew Research Center that reports that almost 15% of all new marriages are between people of different races or ethnicities. There's also a pretty cool interactive graph here that really highlights interracial marriages by geographic region here.

Take away... If you're looking for a mixed race marriage, move to Cali.

I've often stated that the two things that continue to drive technology are games and porn. Porn is so prevalent in gay culture that you can find it playing openly in many gay bars. Although it's certainly less open, I've often wondered how prevalent it has become in the straight world given the rise of the Internet. This infographic helps answer those questions. Unfortunately, it is possible to have such a graphic without asking "what is porn?" Given that one of the search engine results that they qualify as porn is "gay dating", I'm kind of taking these statistics with a grain of salt. Besides if it had any real scientific they would have published their methods. I know... I can be such a geek.


Via: Online MBA

Gay McDonald's Commercial

Not a fan of Micky D's, but this was cute.