Orfunner last weekend was amazing. It was definitely the best of these smaller events I have been to in some time. It’s incredibly rewarding that these events continue to give me so much even after attending for a decade. I think I learned some valuable lessons about myself and who I am, and I purged some stuff I needed to let go of in the effigy fire on Saturday night.
I mean this in both a literal and in a metaphorical sense of putting closure on certain aspects of my life. I was actually cuddling with some friends in the Temple of the Burning Soul when the effigy was lit on fire that night, but I went down to the bonfire after it had fallen into embers. It’s a tradition to burn things you are letting go of in these fires, and I had a few souvenirs from a recently ended relationship that had been difficult to get over. It was actually a beautiful moment — I tossed them in and watched them begin to burn and melt, when I was interrupted by a hug from my friend Maenad. Then my friend Wes showed up out of nowhere and began spinning fire poi. By the time I turned around, there was no sign I’d put anything into the fire at all — it was gone like it had never been, and I felt cleansed.
Beyond all this serious, spiritual stuff it was just a damn fantastic weekend: I danced my legs off to some amazing DJ’s, ate delicious food, saw some beautiful artwork, made new friends, smoked organic shisha in a beautiful hookah all weekend, and enjoyed a lot of amazing fire. One of the best parts of this event was how much live music there was, thanks to the stage managing talents of Amy & Mike of Ctrl V. Not only talented musicians themselves but they also cultivated the atmosphere that led to an awe-inspiring middle of the night jam session as Sunday night turned into Monday morning. Along with Interstellar Transmissions, who performed multiple fire-accented sets during the event, these are voices to look out for that are just getting their start in our local community.
For the first time I Rangered at an event for a four-hour shift Sunday night; this shift included helping maintain a perimeter around the second effigy Burn of the weekend. My only heroic moment came when a small pagoda-like temple structure was tossed into the fire by its creators to burn, after being written on all weekend by participants at the event. The top of the structure came off and fell out of the fire circle, unburned. I abandoned the perimeter briefly and tossed it back in, dodging nimbly between the bonfire and the whirling poi of a nearby fire dancer. I am grateful I didn’t have to deal with any of the very minor real ‘incidents’ that went on during the weekend on my first time out as a Ranger, but I think I will be back to experience the highs and lows of this volunteer position in the future. It was fascinating to slip this mask of non-authority on for an evening, to see how the community reacted to me before and after, and then to experience what it felt like to go back out later that night in my most fabulous Burner finery once the shift was over.
I have mostly spent the week since then recovering, as well as enjoying an all too brief visit with my pet from Houston. I’ve placed some new tie-down points around my apartment (and now tested them out), as well as put up a peg board on which to hang all my ‘implements of destruction;’ I’m feeling like quite the well-organized kinkster. My next post should feature my review of my new rabbit fur flogger, which is quite the hit with both my pet and various tripping hippies at Orfunner.
In media consumed, I watched Where the Wild Things Are. This movie made me cry and really stuck with me. Great acting, and a wonderful fusion of Muppety monsters with modern CGI effects. I’ve been reading Autumn Christian’s unpublished novel, The Crooked God Machine, and just been blown away with her twisted prose and dark imagination. I can’t wait till some future date when this is actually available and I can tell you to buy it. I also managed to catch the season premiere of Sons of Anarchy on the actual TV (as opposed to via BitTorrent as is my usual nature). Although my reaction was a little mixed, I feel like it heralds a return to form for this well written, well acted, somewhat pulpy TV show.
I think that’s enough words in this entry — look for that review soon. My lexicon and other posts for DefyAuthority.NET should return in the near future as well; Lauren ran into some hurdles launching some major music-related content, but once she is past them I will have the go-ahead to continue. Apparently she refers to me as the ‘omnisexual Jack Tripper’ of the site’s Three’s Company of writers.
In the meantime, I am headed to San Marcos for the weekend. I hope to get some writing done there, as well as enjoying two kink events and the company of a lover.
