I forgot -
So, last Tuesday the hostess for the sex documentary-discussion thing said she's excited about how people are starting to talk about cultural representations of male submission, and how you used to see only busty dominatrixes in leather (which is what the larger culture wants to see), whereas now you can see if you look just a bit actual pictures of male submission (which is what BDSM female tops [=dom, in lingo] and male bottoms [=sub, in the lingo] usually want to see).
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Addendum.
What's really interesting with the martyrs of Vienne and Lyons is how the letter that was circulating about them uses military language - the authors says that God's grace martialled them in resistance to the devil/imperial authority, and that one of them was trained in a Christian batalion, etc. It brings to mind what a friend told me that this one professor emeritus said, that when you look at early christians against the background of other religious movements in the Roman world, they were by far the most explicitly and most consistently anti-imperial.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Greek over breakfast.
I start off each weekday morning translating Greek over breakfast, and lately since I finished off the Apostolic Fathers corpus, which I was getting bored with a little, esp. the fragments of Papias, since it's just small snippets of text and not one coherent extended one, I've been very excited to start reading the account of the martyrs of Vienne and Lyons preserved almost in full in Eusebius, and can't wait to read it the next day, and always translate for more than an hour, though I aim for like 45min so it doesn't interfere with my other work.
Except, I realized the other day that it's kind of fucked up, to be all excited to wake up and read about people being tortured in hideous ways over breakfast.
Except, I realized the other day that it's kind of fucked up, to be all excited to wake up and read about people being tortured in hideous ways over breakfast.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Sex documentary last night.
So, I went to that sex documentary-discussion group thing again last night, this time with a friend's younger sister, since my one friend who volunteers for the rape crisis hotline was called out of town for her job.
The documentary topic was men's relationship with their dicks, which turned out to be not that interesting.
During the discussion part, Steve the BDSM dude said that during scenes when a woman's over in the corner masturbating, either everyone watches, which she wants, or, if she doesn't want it, men are protective and everyone keeps there space. If there's a man over in the corner masturbating, however, people go over and are like, "What the fuck are you doing here?", and make him feel uncomfortable and maybe leave.
Then, following that topic up, the swinger guy said that not too long ago he and his partner were at this thing in Florida where everyone was on the hotel roof by the pool nude, and this dude with a big hard-on came up to her while he was standing right there, which was weird.
"But I liked it!", the swinger lady said, and then was like, "Is that wrong or something?", and it turns out that it's totally against swinger male etiquette - if you're in a hotel room and there's a group of people fucking on a bed - a typical situation, the swinger guy was like, - and there's a group of men standing around wanting to join and you're there, whether hard-on or not, you wait for the invitation to approach, not approach yourself.
Later, Steve the BDSM guy was talking about how it's a male thing to talk big, but then not to deliver, and how there's this hedonism event down in the Caribbean and everyone goes to suntan and drink and fuck, but it's 7 days long and since no one is 18 anymore everyone after like the 2nd day, all day long they elbow each other on the beach and are like, "What are you doing tonight?", but after 3 or 4 drinks and 8pm hits, everyone goes to sleep.
Later later, this older guy who I think is married to or partnered with the Unitarian-Universalist sex educator was saying that growing up in an Italian neighborhood in the city, everyone would do circle jerks, and then once past a certain age, you lost your virginity with a whore, and then you did "trains" - i.e., a gang-bang with a willing woman, with all your buddies you used to do circle jerks with.
"Thank god that doesn't exist anymore," he was like, adding how much progress has been made in the way men treat women.
Later, someone said that they thought the most interesting part of the film was the interview with the female-to-male trans-sexual, and how he said that when he was a woman he thought men could control themselves, but after he started getting testosterone injections, he realized how hard it could be, and after that Steve the BDSM guy said that when this female-to-male friend of theirs started getting hormones, he'd be with his partner in a bar and get a hard-on with his surgically-constructed penis, and be like, "Ooh, ooh, look!", and then take her hand and put it on his pants, since the whole thing was so new to him, and that everyone else dining with him (it was a bar where you could get food, apparently) called him out on it and made him stop since people were looking.
Then, the subject of the movie with 13 women demonstrating masturbation techniques came up, and the swinger lady said that she got so hot, that she made them leave right after the movie ended and before discussion, implying that they went off
to have sex.
She also said that when they had the guy with the 13-inch dick on at the beginning -- they interviewed some guys in the nude -- she kept waiting for them to show him hard, and they never did, though she was waiting the entire movie.
"Bummer," she was like, and wondered out loud how big it'd get, and Steve the BDSM guy asked her if she was listening, that the guy said in the movie said he only got to 15, and then Steve added that when a guy's that big just hanging, he usually doesn't grow that much when he gets a hard-on.
On the way out, too, when I waved goodbye to everyone, the swinger lady gave me smoochies from afar as she waved.
The documentary topic was men's relationship with their dicks, which turned out to be not that interesting.
During the discussion part, Steve the BDSM dude said that during scenes when a woman's over in the corner masturbating, either everyone watches, which she wants, or, if she doesn't want it, men are protective and everyone keeps there space. If there's a man over in the corner masturbating, however, people go over and are like, "What the fuck are you doing here?", and make him feel uncomfortable and maybe leave.
Then, following that topic up, the swinger guy said that not too long ago he and his partner were at this thing in Florida where everyone was on the hotel roof by the pool nude, and this dude with a big hard-on came up to her while he was standing right there, which was weird.
"But I liked it!", the swinger lady said, and then was like, "Is that wrong or something?", and it turns out that it's totally against swinger male etiquette - if you're in a hotel room and there's a group of people fucking on a bed - a typical situation, the swinger guy was like, - and there's a group of men standing around wanting to join and you're there, whether hard-on or not, you wait for the invitation to approach, not approach yourself.
Later, Steve the BDSM guy was talking about how it's a male thing to talk big, but then not to deliver, and how there's this hedonism event down in the Caribbean and everyone goes to suntan and drink and fuck, but it's 7 days long and since no one is 18 anymore everyone after like the 2nd day, all day long they elbow each other on the beach and are like, "What are you doing tonight?", but after 3 or 4 drinks and 8pm hits, everyone goes to sleep.
Later later, this older guy who I think is married to or partnered with the Unitarian-Universalist sex educator was saying that growing up in an Italian neighborhood in the city, everyone would do circle jerks, and then once past a certain age, you lost your virginity with a whore, and then you did "trains" - i.e., a gang-bang with a willing woman, with all your buddies you used to do circle jerks with.
"Thank god that doesn't exist anymore," he was like, adding how much progress has been made in the way men treat women.
Later, someone said that they thought the most interesting part of the film was the interview with the female-to-male trans-sexual, and how he said that when he was a woman he thought men could control themselves, but after he started getting testosterone injections, he realized how hard it could be, and after that Steve the BDSM guy said that when this female-to-male friend of theirs started getting hormones, he'd be with his partner in a bar and get a hard-on with his surgically-constructed penis, and be like, "Ooh, ooh, look!", and then take her hand and put it on his pants, since the whole thing was so new to him, and that everyone else dining with him (it was a bar where you could get food, apparently) called him out on it and made him stop since people were looking.
Then, the subject of the movie with 13 women demonstrating masturbation techniques came up, and the swinger lady said that she got so hot, that she made them leave right after the movie ended and before discussion, implying that they went off
to have sex.
She also said that when they had the guy with the 13-inch dick on at the beginning -- they interviewed some guys in the nude -- she kept waiting for them to show him hard, and they never did, though she was waiting the entire movie.
"Bummer," she was like, and wondered out loud how big it'd get, and Steve the BDSM guy asked her if she was listening, that the guy said in the movie said he only got to 15, and then Steve added that when a guy's that big just hanging, he usually doesn't grow that much when he gets a hard-on.
On the way out, too, when I waved goodbye to everyone, the swinger lady gave me smoochies from afar as she waved.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Story from my mom / Etc.
The other night there was a lightning storm that woke my mom up in the middle of the night, and as she was lying in bed, a bolt louder than any she's ever heard hit really really near the house, and though the tv was off, the screen lit up and crackled with electricty...
Our neighbor across the lake, the judge's husband, was up at that time too and looking across the lake, and said that he thought the bolt hit our house.
On another note, this morning as I was translating/eating breakfast, I thought I saw something skitter on the rim of my bowl I was eating out of, but it turned out to be just the way the light hit it.
Our neighbor across the lake, the judge's husband, was up at that time too and looking across the lake, and said that he thought the bolt hit our house.
On another note, this morning as I was translating/eating breakfast, I thought I saw something skitter on the rim of my bowl I was eating out of, but it turned out to be just the way the light hit it.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
2 more things...
1) Every morning when I go to toast my toast and put hummus on top of it, I have to pour a ton of standing, nasty water off of the top of the hummus.
2) I forgot, that at that one sex social hour thing the other night that one ph.d. student who does psychology and is also a BDSMer and does BDSM activism was saying that he reads about sexual minorities constantly and can tell you the difference between a polyamorist and a swinger, but that it's great to come somewhere and actually hear about the difference from a polyamorist and a swinger themselves.
2) I forgot, that at that one sex social hour thing the other night that one ph.d. student who does psychology and is also a BDSMer and does BDSM activism was saying that he reads about sexual minorities constantly and can tell you the difference between a polyamorist and a swinger, but that it's great to come somewhere and actually hear about the difference from a polyamorist and a swinger themselves.
Monday, May 11, 2009
3 (gross?) things.
1) The hummus I made up the other day is the worse ever. I think I soaked the beans too long (they were soaking 3 days, though I changed the water everyday; I kept thinking I'd have time to boil them up, but I didn't, and next thing I know 3 days had passed), and so there is this weird thing where the beans were cooked after boiling them forever but very hard, and they didn't stick together too well after mashing them (did all the starch get soaked out and poured away when I was changing the water?), they're more just hard beans sitting in a pile of water with chopped up garlic floating in there.
2) The other night I came home after drinking and seeing a movie, and when I was brushing my teeth, I noticed a brownish-yellowish-greenish looking-ready-to-burst pimple sitting on a piece of stubble or two above my chin and below my lower lip. I no sooner touched my nail to it and began to squeeze, then it exploded, and like 6 or 7 small dots of shit splattered out on the bathroom mirror.
3) The other afternoon when I was taking a shower, since the drain sometimes backs up, the bits of the silverfish that I killed on the inside side of my bathtub the other night were floating around the water that was up just past my ankles, and sometimes getting caught in my leghair.
2) The other night I came home after drinking and seeing a movie, and when I was brushing my teeth, I noticed a brownish-yellowish-greenish looking-ready-to-burst pimple sitting on a piece of stubble or two above my chin and below my lower lip. I no sooner touched my nail to it and began to squeeze, then it exploded, and like 6 or 7 small dots of shit splattered out on the bathroom mirror.
3) The other afternoon when I was taking a shower, since the drain sometimes backs up, the bits of the silverfish that I killed on the inside side of my bathtub the other night were floating around the water that was up just past my ankles, and sometimes getting caught in my leghair.
Talked with my brother the other day.
On Sunday afternoon I talked with my brother, since he's going out from the U.P. where he lives to Montana to visit his girlfriend and live with her while looking for work. When I called, he was mounting a bike rack on his station wagon, since he had found a set of marroon (sp.?) his-and-hers bikes from the 80s and he got them as a gift for him and his girlfriend. He said that she knows that he's bringing bikes, but she doesn't know what kind or what color or what, and she'll just flip.
He also added that his employment instability has more and more made him amenable to national health care. He said going from good health care to expensive health care that's barely better than nothing through no fault of his own has made him think that everyone should have his standard of previous coverage, and that it should be a national priority.
He also also added that when he's been going to the local VFW and bars, the older libertarian "guns and glory" guys are railing against Obama for being a socialist, but he's surprised that there's no racial element at all to it - no jokes, no affirmative action cracks, no nothing. And, he said, despite their disliking his politics, they're worried about his safety, too, and hope he's well-protected.
He also added that his employment instability has more and more made him amenable to national health care. He said going from good health care to expensive health care that's barely better than nothing through no fault of his own has made him think that everyone should have his standard of previous coverage, and that it should be a national priority.
He also also added that when he's been going to the local VFW and bars, the older libertarian "guns and glory" guys are railing against Obama for being a socialist, but he's surprised that there's no racial element at all to it - no jokes, no affirmative action cracks, no nothing. And, he said, despite their disliking his politics, they're worried about his safety, too, and hope he's well-protected.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Another fat person reflection...
My one Dutch friend, who likes to pose as the European atheist a lot, though if you tell him ghost stories and he's drunk and in the right mood he'll really get into them and believe them, likes to assign kids in his religion classes expose-type documentaries on different cult leaders and religious traditions, but he says there are simply no smear documentaries out there on Buddhism, because Americans just thinkg Buddhists can do no wrong, though there monastic orders are really fucked-up and patriarchal (according to him, I know shit about Buddhism).
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