Thoughts from the Dungeon

Warning: Some may consider this entry as TMI or to be mildly offensive to your high moral standards. Just saying....

Carl and I took another trip up to the mountains this past weekend - our second weekend trip. He has a permanent campsite in eastern Tennessee, which has all the comforts of home, plus the promise of slightly cooler weather. Luckily, we were both able to head out early Thursday afternoon, and we worked from the campsite (mobile trailer home) on Friday. So, it was almost like a long holiday weekend.

Throughout the summer, there are various weekend themes at the campground. There are the patriotically themed weekends for Memorial, Independence, and Labor days. There are campy themed weekends, such as the Sordid Lives trailer park trash celebration and parade, as well as biker weeks. Those folks with permanent camp sights roll with the themes, while the tent and temporary campers are treated to a quirky weekend experience.

This past weekend was Domination themed. Do I even need to provide more information on that?  It was hosted by the Western North Carolina Leather Association as a fundraiser for their local charities. As you can imagine, there was a decidedly fetishy feel to the weekend. Much different from our last visit over the Independence Day holiday.

So, after Carl and I finished up our work day on Friday, we attended an afternoon cocktail party hosted by the group, followed by a cookout hosted by our camp neighbors (Doug and Jerry). We then had a nap and later headed over to the tavern for a few drinks and dancing. As part of the weekend, the host group set up a shielded area behind one of the guest houses in which there were quite a few apparatuses (apparati?) designed for bondage activities. On the way home from the tavern, we stopped into this makeshift Dungeon to see some demonstrations - after all, who can resist a little light bondage before bed?

There were several demo stations set up and people were milling around. One station was a St. Andrew's cross, which is like a large X with shackles for hands and feet. A person was bound, blindfolded, and gagged on this contraption and there was a leather flogging tool draped across their shoulder. 

I experienced a moral dilemma. What should one do in this situation? Here was someone patiently waiting to be flogged. The scene was set. The tools were present. No one was stepping up. The submissive seemed eager. So...... I stepped forward and firmly grasped the implement. It felt good in my hand. I gave a few experimental whacks, which the sub seemed to find pleasurable. I felt encouraged. I asked for a safe-word, because "safety first" is not just a slogan. I then assumed the role and let loose.

I must have tapped into some previously undiscovered 50 Shades of Gray part of my personality because there was something strangely pleasurable about the experience. And, as a crowd gathered around, I left my inhibitions behind and let my imagination take over.

20 minutes later:

• As someone who avoids physical violence at all cost, I felt oddly contented.
• The dungeon master referred to the session as a master class in flogging (I blush).
• Carl, on the other hand, was horrified. On the way back to the "trailer home" he simply repeated: "I don't know you. I don't know you at all. Who are you?"

Luckily, neither of us won the St. Andrews cross given away as a door prize the next night.....LOL

From the Lists: #42 Deliverance

As I work through the 100 (121) Best Novels of the 20th Century, I never thought that it would take over 5 years to get to this point. But, considering the number of entries that are composed of multiple books, the varying degrees of interest I've had in each, and my continuing attempts to have a life outside of the literary sphere, I guess I am not doing too poorly.

After completing the first movement of the Dance to the Music of Time series,  I eagerly anticipated digging into James Dickey's Deliverance (1970).  A manly adventure in the backwoods of Georgia could not be further from highbrow artsy introspection - or so I thought. While I was expecting a good old boy adventure consisting of a rafting trip gone horribly wrong, what I actually got was a first person, introspective story of survival and guilt.

Reality

Expectation

It is possible that I based my high expectations on the movie inspired by the novel. I hoped for a Burt Reynolds telling (left), but ended up with the John Voight version of events (right). There is a lot of solitude, discontent, deep thought, waiting for things to happen - then 60 pages later there is a camping / rafting trip. It takes so long to get to the action, that I would say this is more of a coming of middle age novel that includes a bit of danger resulting in moral decisions and physical exhaustion.

I can't say I felt a connection with any of the characters. The narrator has an unchallenging, comfortable life with no particular ambitions, he is content in his rather passionless marriage, he has a bit of a "man crush" on Lewis, and barely hides his mildly patronizing contempt for the other two campers. He would have been much happier to have headed off into the woods with only Lewis.

Anyone with a television has probably either seen the movie, or at a minimum is familiar with the dueling banjos song. While the woodsy man rape scene is included in the book, it is dispassionately related by the narrating character. There is almost a note of contempt for his friend who is writhing and screaming in pain while being sodomized by a toothless hillbilly. Almost as if he thinks he would have reacted in a more manly fashion.

From there, the action turns into a literal manhunt - and not in the good way (hahaha). The action is lost to the extended internal monologue focused on survival and subterfuge. I think that the movie version was actually better than the novel in that it is easier to actually see something than to have a rock described to you at length. The movie also provides a more balanced character study than can be attained in the first person, internal dialog approach taken by Dickey.

Recommendation: In this case I think the movie is actually better than the book - unless of course you are into hearing John Voight's internal thoughts.....The novel can be summed up as follow - some average guys stumble into some big trouble, make some bad decisions, and do their best to get back home to their average lives.

Six Months in: Revisiting my 2012 Resolutions

One possible downside of posting your New Year Resolutions for everyone to see is that you may actually be held to them. This could also be an unintended benefit. So far, 2012 has been quite a memorable year - perhaps as a direct result of my diligent attempts to check a few items off this list.



So, here is my 2012 midyear resolution scorecard:
Score Card: Complete   In Progress   Not Started

1. Break out of my comfort level and take more risks (career choices, relationships, spiritually)
• Started a new job in March
• Started a new relationship - still early days on this one
• Completed a 10 week introduction to Buddhism course, which may have led me to a welcoming spiritual community.
2. Pay off my car by July (two years early) and increase my emergency fund by $5000
• The car will be paid off in September (23 months early)
• Emergency fund up by $4000 (thanks to a consultancy gig)
3. Pay off credit card debt by the end of the year.
4. Read at least 10 more of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century (only 31 to go)
• Eight books read (well three are from a single series, but still....)
5. Rearrange my schedule and go to the gym in the morning before work
6. Spend more time with cherished friends and make the effort to cultivate new friendships
7. Have at least two fully planned and executed parties for friends and family
8. Plan "Glenn days" for body and soul replenishment
9. Say "I love you" more often - but only when I mean it

This year I included quite a few subjective resolutions that cannot be empirically measured. If the world does not come to an end on the winter solstice, I think the 2013 list or resolutions will focus on more concrete items with definitive end-points. Until then, I should get busy planning a party or two.

What have you checked off your list?

Thoughts from the Barstool

The Cafe Caturra Sunday special is bottomless Mimosas: the price was right, the weather was hot, and everyday is a good day to drink champagne. However, it seemed that we were seeing the bottom of our tiny little champagne flutes more than we were seeing the lovely bright orange mixture of happiness that should have been filling them.

I guess bottomless really means "provide ultra slow service until patrons get frustrated enough to leave." So, we informed the waitress that we were very generous, but our generosity would be directly proportional to the amount of champagne consumed.

Lessons Learned:

• The dangled promise of a big, fat, juicy tip motivates tired apathetic servers
• Sit closer to the source of the alcoholic beverage mixing for faster service
• Drinking alcohol while sweating in the sun gives you a simultaneous buzz and hangover
• Sunday Funday with friends is a great way to finish off an enjoyable weekend

Stranger than Fiction? Or Just Coincidence?

You know you have been away from your blog too long when someone who says they don't read it mentions that you haven't posted lately.  So, thanks Jason - I hope you see this and know that you were my inspiration to rededicate myself to this blog.

As to my extended neglect of this blog site, I really have no excuse other than I have been actively working on my 2012 list of resolutions. Suffice it to say that 2012 has been very, very good to me.... more on that to come. Now back to the blog.

When I was more actively blogging, I found myself living a somewhat anecdotally driven life. Every experience was examined from the prism of "will this make a good story?" or "how can I spin this to be more entertaining?" This past week, something occurred that jarred me out of my staid existence. Something even stranger than the start of the zombie apocalypse in Miami earlier this summer.

My personal email address is glennrhunt@*****.com. Since my first name is more commonly spelled with one n, there are times when someone I know will send an email to glenrhunt@*****.com, who incidentally lives in California. When it is obvious that I have received something intended for him, or vice verse, we just forward it along to the correct glen(n). Besides the fact that we both work in the technology industry, we are obviously both very kind and caring individuals. Hahahah!

The story gets even better. Last week, my veterinarian sent a reminder that it was time to schedule my pet's 6 month checkup, but it was sent to Glen with one n. He forwarded it to me and I replied, "Roxy and I thank you for this reminder." His response: "You are not going to believe this, but my pet's name is Rocky."

How weird is that?  I think I need to meet this doppelganger. I wonder what else we have in common?

BTW - While I was away, this blog limped across the 5000 page view milestone. I am so happy that you like me, you really, really like me. I have a lot to share in the coming weeks. I hope you will stick around and see me to my next milestone. Ciao for now!

From the Lists: #43 A Dance to the Music of Time - First Movement

Anthony Powell

There have been several occasions as I work my way through the list of the 100 best English novels of the 20th century in which I have loudly complained of multiple works being listed as a single installment. The Alexandria Quartet and Parade's End, each consisting of four separate novels readily come to mind. However, with that said, #43 A Dance to the Music of Time wins the "Are you serious?" award since a single entry on the list consists of 12 relatively short novels that dip into the life of Nicholas Jenkins during various points between 1914 and 1971.

The books are presented as movements. Therefore, rather than trying to write an all encompassing review of the entire epic, which would probably consist of "12 books! It was just a blur," I think that I will briefly touch upon each novel within a movement, the time in which it occurs, and any other random connections I make while reading them.

The First Movement:
A Question of Upbringing (1951)

We are introduced to middle class Nick and his friends during various stages of their college educations post WWI, as well as Nick's ne'er do well Uncle Giles. His college acquaintances are from all social classes: the rich Stringham, the handsome Templer, and the rather socially awkward (aspergers-y perhaps?) Widmerpool play the central roles. Oddly, other than Uncle Giles, there is very little exposition about Nick's family, while there is quite a bit concerning the families of his friends. As the first novel draws to an end, the group grows apart and comes back together in an unexpected way. The writing is crisp and the characters are interesting. It is a "college days" novel about how friendships evolve over time and in retrospect take on a different meaning.

A Buyer's Market (1952)
We rejoin Nick and his circle of friends in London a few years out of university in the 1920's as they are pursuing both business and romantic interests. This installment begins with Nick perusing an auction of Mr. Deacon's belongings who was a distant and rather eccentric family friend, following his death by somewhat "less than respectable" circumstances. From there, we move with Nick through London's Spring social circuit of balls and lawn parties into the seedier side of London's artistic and politically active communities.

Like Nick's, accidental return to Stingham's orbit and finding himself socializing in the same circles as the awkward Widmerpool, I had an odd little coincidence of my own while reading this installment. During a meditation class in which connections with people in our lives is examined, this passage coincidentally repeated something our teacher wanted us to learn, but without all the commas:

I used to imagine life divided into separate compartments, consisting, for example, of such dual abstractions as pleasure and pain, love and hate, friendship and enmity, and more material classifications like work and play....That illusion - as such a point of view was closely related to another belief: that existence fans out indefinitely into new areas of experience, and that almost every additional acquaintance offers some supplementary world with its own hazards and enchantments. As time goes on, of course, these supposedly different worlds, in fact, draw closer, if not to each other, then to some pattern common to all: so that, at last, diversity between them, if in truth existent, seems to be almost imperceptible except in a few crude and exterior ways.... In other words, nearly all the inhabitants of these outwardly disconnected empires turn out at last to be tenaciously interrelated; love and hate, friendship and enmity too, becoming themselves much less clearly defined, more often than not, showing signs of possessing characteristics that could claim, to say the least, not a little in common.

Here Nick is still a naive observer of his world rather than an active participant. However, he has begun to draw parallels between the friends he admires and some of the less pallatable characteristics of his Uncle Giles.

The Acceptance World (1955)

A pattern is emerging in the series. Each book begins with a meeting between Nick and his Uncle Giles. These meetings have a way of setting the theme for each installment. In The Acceptance World, the time frame has jumped into the early 1930s. Nick has published his first book, has a stable job at a publishing house, has loved and lost and loved again, but is still an observer of his world - only a more mature and slightly more cynical observer. Some plot points from the previous novel, such as the details surrounding that "old queen," Mr. Deacon's death are expanded upon. Also several of the artistic set from the previous novel have moved on to become established in the respectable world, while some of the old Edwardian artistic set cling to former glories and try to remain relevant as the modernist movement takes root.

Characters introduced in the first novel who appeared destined for greatness are now struggling with alcoholism, divorce, and a general discontent, while those seemingly destined for the dust bin have found their way into middle class success. The characters have all grown in unexpected ways. The college loser is moving up, while the privileged are in slow decline. Of the three novels in the first movement, I thought this was the weakest; however, I think it sets the characters up nicely to transition into the coming war years.

I need a break from Nick and his gang. I am jumping ahead to the next book on the list, which is an adventure set in the back woods of Georgia. Is that a banjo I hear in the distance?????

A little snark is required to end this post: Should the list be renamed as the 120 Best English Novels of the 20th Century? I am still feeling as if I have been just a bit bamboozled. And there is another multi-novel entry coming up which will push it to 123 Best novels - hmph! I better get back to it - time is wasting and I am not getting any younger.