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We-Vibe Salsa Giveaway Winners Announced!

I had 50 entries and had to narrow that WAY WAY down. I’m also the sort of person for who complicated brain situations require something more visual and tangible than “on screen”. So I printed out the entries and started the sorting hat up. Some were quick to go in the YES pile, a few were quick to go in the NO pile, and that MAYBE pile saw a lot of dithering.

I have to admit, I’ve never had the opportunity to have multiple winners like this and likely never will again…..and yet I’m still feeling greedy, because if I had my way there are others I would have chosen. Picking these winners was agonizing and just so damn difficult. But I have to say, I liked this method better. I like choosing the winners. I like that there was no “necessary evil” of contest spam on the social media outlets. I like that people who are unable to gain the entry edge by utilizing all of the social media options were able to have a fair shot. And I really liked that everybody here had a fair shot – one shot – to win.

While this giveaway isn’t your only chance to own a vibrator with such awesome rumbles (despite the fact that I like the colors less, the Tango is identical and will work nearly as well for replacing bullet vibes in silicone toys so keep your eye on sales for this one), this giveaway represents most of the opportunities. You’ll have another chance in June to win one (along with 4 other weeks of 4 other equally fabulous prizes) so if you didn’t win, please come back!

Here are my winners:

Alison, a college student who has never owned a vibrator. If I had had a vibrator like the Salsa in college, well, there would have been a LOT fewer frustrating nights then and in the time between college and when I actually did finally own a vibrator.

Minivenus, who would like to actually orgasm when pegging her boyfriend. I think that the Salsa is her best bet at getting some decent vibe action going on in the strap-on dildos!

Pantophile Panic, who gave up the majority of her sex toys after finding out that they are likely toxic or unsafe, and has PGAD. I think that the Salsa can bring her to multiple orgasms on a lower setting, thereby bringing her less pain.

Somebody, who had a few life-saving medical procedures done that sadly left orgasms just outside of her reach for now. I hope that the Salsa can be the thing that helps her get back in touch with her sexuality, improve her mental health and just in general make life a little better.

Abbi (the) Gale, whose very long tale about living in an sex-toy-oppressing country, with a girlfriend in another country who has difficulty with orgasm AND is taking care of a parent, with the ladies having to make a choice between a plane ticket and a sex toy? Choice obliterated, sex toy granted!

InsatiablyTaken, who gets major props for the things she is teaching her students. That just HAD to be rewarded!!

Caite, who, like me, struggles to reach orgasm and has body issues that make manual stimulation uncomfortable at best.

Rachael J, whose well-meaning boyfriend bought her the very-stinky and too-big (and therefore useless) James Deen dildo. Dear Rachael’s boyfriend: consult her before your next purchase, pick it out together! And no more PVC dildos!

The winners have been notified via email. They have 1 week to respond and (if applicable) get the shipping thing worked out…..if any fall through, I will pick replacement winners.

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iGino One Review

First let me say that I really do applaud the individuals and small companies who try their hand at making sex toys and improving upon them, who see problems that could be solved and want to genuinely spread to joy of orgasm around via a sex toy made of safe materials. Of course many like to utilize as many advertising jargon words as possible and lay out their proclamations of being THE best sex toy, the be-all end-all, the best thing you’ll ever try, if you’ve tried the rest you’ll be instantly in love with this next new thing yaddayadda. I don’t think that the iGino has quite tipped that scale, but they do claim to be “What Women Want”. Yet despite all of these wonderful entrepreneurs trying to Build a Better Sex Toy, many fail.

That’s kinda where the i-Gino One comes into play. I can appreciate the reasons behind the developers design. It’s based somewhat on the fingertip with vibrations as well as a back-and-forth side-to-side sort of motion. The designer made what she feels is a supreme vibrator for clitoris-bearing people. The design is made to be discreet, slim enough to fit between the bodies during sex, it comes with a cap to prevent it from getting dirty, etc. All good things …….in theory. I do encourage you to please check out the information available on their website and their Indiegogo campaign to get a full picture of the intent of this design and the specs. I couldn’t cover everything, or this review would be over 4000 words.

According to the Indiegogo funding campaign:

• iGino® integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of “what women want”.
• By improving the design, feel and innovation of our pleasure objects with sensual purpose, they stand as the most desirable products for individuals and couples alike.
• All pleasure objects by iGino® give amazing sensations and complete peace of mind in whatever situations arise. Each product blends craftsmanship, design and innovation to give it distinctive character and style.

iGino for Indiegogo – What Women Want from iGino on Vimeo.

Discreet

The shape and design of it is, I’ll grant you, discreet in that it does not resemble any current vibrator on the market or a penis in any way.  If someone where to happen upon this, their curiosity might make them explore it, wonder what on earth it is. Maybe if the colors were different? Like if this were say…black and grey, or all white maybe it could be mistaken for a tech item.  My husband thought that perhaps it was something for my e-cigs. My friend thought it was a case for candy (yeah I don’t get it either so I don’t ask), or a spare battery for a phone or an e-cig case. So I suppose that my original skepticism over the true “discreet” claim is just me being jaded. Or me having spent 28 years living with a VERY nosy mother who would most likely wonder what it is if she saw it and would try to pry it open. But for once I was able to show my husband and friend a sex toy and they didn’t at first know it was a sex toy until I took the cap off. Watching their puzzled reactions as I quizzed them “What do you think this is?” was kinda fun.

vibraMoove

This is a little harder to describe. Instead of vibrating like you’re used to, the little head there actually moves at a very high speed side to side. The speed is so high though, and the sensation fairly intense, that it doesn’t exactly feel like anything different or special. One odd thing: you can completely bring the motor to a halt with decent pressure on the head. I’m not sure this is a good thing. Logically, if you’re stopping a motor from doing what it’s trying to do, it would sustain damage over time? That’s what my logic says, anyhow. I could be wrong. I don’t think you’ll apply enough pressure during normal use for this to happen, though. Maybe during sex if your partner on top gets too close? I know that pressure can stop it because did happen to me but I’ll explain that in a minute.

SkinTouch Head

 

Here is where I’m baffled by a material choice. The entire body is made of shiny ABS plastic, except for the little light pink bit and the “skintouch head”, they’re made of EVA. From what I can tell, it’s body-safe. It’s foam. The everyday thing that I equate this with are those really lightweight sandals, or floating pool mats, I think even the soft colorful interlocking pieces of floor frequently used for flooring in kids playrooms is the same stuff. So, it’s water-resistant I guess, since it floats. Does that mean it’s non-porous? I asked iGino and they said that it IS porous but reiterated that it is “used in various medical products.”. Which is fine, I don’t believe it has any foul chemicals, there is no scent, etc. I’m just concerned that it is porous and easy to lose/destroy by accident.

The Skintouch Head is kinda silly, really. It weighs nothing, you’ll likely lose it, it gets deformed quite easily and could also very easily be completely ruined. It adds a little bit in the positive during use, but yet not.  It looks like a Lucky Charms marshmallow and feels like one, too. It doesn’t feel “warm and soft”, it doesn’t replicate my fingertip.

This same EVA material that makes up the removable “Skintouch Head” is also present as…some sort of….buffer pad? I don’t understand how it relates to being a critical aspect of function. Is it to prevent lube/fluids from getting inside while allowing the toy to do its movement? If so, it is mediocre at best at doing that job. The nature of the moving-vs-vibrating head means that there will be something exposed, I guess, unless the design were altered. But the fact remains that the manual states that the iGino is not waterproof, nor splashproof, nor should it even be placed under running tap water to clean it. This is a bit troublesome to me.  I am unsure if it has these restrictions just because of the exposed USB charging arm, or if it’s because of the gap between the head and the rest of the thing.

The manual says only to use water or silicone-based lubes; this takes out oil-based lubes from the equation. However, I asked and iGino found out that you could use a natural oil, such as Coconut Oil as a lube and it would be fine.

Hygienic Cap

The design completes its weird look by having a cap. This is to prevent the massager head from getting dirty. Ok, fine. I guess. It’s plastic. How dirty can it get? Problem is that the Skintouch Head can’t stay on if you want to put the cap on. Now, I was able to figure out that the cap will go on and stay on if I put the Skintouch Head bit up inside the cap, off to the side, but the bare minimum manual doesn’t tell you that. I think you’re meant to maybe keep it separate. Which means you will lose it. It will become a cat toy, or something your dog will eat in one gulp. Something your kid will ruin in 3 minutes flat if they’re young. Something a baby or toddler could choke on, since it does highly resemble a cereal marshmallow. But while the Skintouch Head is stored in the cap, something happens. When you flip the switch from off to on with that in place, nothing happens. No sound, no vibration. It’s because the pressure is preventing it from working. Which could be a good thing, unless that means that the motor is burning up….because if you’re traveling with this, there is no travel-lock feature and the slide button on the side is fairly easy to switch on.

Using the iGino One

This is, obviously, an external vibrator only. I’m going to go ahead and narrow this down even further: this design will best be enjoyed by people with small outer labia, who are not “plus size” and do not have a “fleshy” pubic mound and outer labia or crudely put, a fat cunt. I have a fat cunt because, surprise, I’m fat. My clitoris is not visible when I spread my legs, I need to part my labia for it to be visible. This is therefore a requirement for me to obtain contact between my clitoris and the vibrating portion of this massager. In fact, a lot more of the body of this massager gets in contact with my fluids and skin than I think was meant to. My body and vulva shape are just not meant for this type of sex toy. Simple fact. It’s similar to the Fixsation in that regard. Both products claim to be universal, “every woman” will like them, although iGino is less obnoxiously forceful about that implication.

While the iGino One is “discreet” in appearance, it is not during use. I’d say that it’s nearly as noisy as my electric razor. You would never be able to use this in the bathroom. This could be heard whilst under the covers and from outside the closed-door room. If your house is quiet, it would be heard down the hall, even.  The Magic Wand is more noisy, of course. I tried looking around for another vibrator that would be almost as noisy, and I couldn’t find one. It was so noisy that it woke up the cats who were soundly sleeping 3 rooms away and made them come investigate what the sound was.  Below is a simple sound clip:

And here is a very crude video shot from my cell phone to show you what it looks like during use. At the end I’m manually moving the head back and forth with my fingers without it being turned on just to show that it does indeed move side to side.

There is one, single speed. This speed is NOT for a person with a sensitive clitoris; if you can get off fairly easily with just your fingers? Stay away. If this speed is not enough for you, you’re out of luck. I pretty much never endorse a vibrator that has only one speed. 3 speeds are generally a “must” in all but the most rare circumstances. The feel of the vibration is somewhere in between buzzy and rumbly. It’s hard to classify. It’s also hard to like, but I think that also is down to the fact that the portion of the iGino One that actually vibrates is so goddamn tiny. It is not easy for me to use, at all.

The design is also meant to be slim enough to fit between bodies during sex. When I shared this fact with my girlfriend, she looked at me funny and then looked at the vibrator and then gave me that same, confused look. I asked her if it would work for HER body for it to lay flat against her pubic mound and she agreed that no, it certainly would not touch her clitoris in such a position. She is of slim build, and doesn’t have my “fat cunt problems”.

The charge vs use time on this is also ridiculous. It says that the iGino does not arrive charged, but mine did. I was able to turn it on to an eyebrow-raising speed immediately (my girlfriend’s eyebrows raised, not mine, they’re too jaded). However, the manual states that for a “one time use” you should charge it for 8 hours. I would say that mine has been turned on for no more than a total of 15 minutes and it is not yet showing any signs of decline in the vibration/”moove” intensity. A full charge is achieved in 12 hours, and the vibrator will last for 40 minutes.

12 hours gets you 40 minutes.

12 hours gets you 40 minutes.

Yes, that did bear repeating.

This thing charges via USB, with the cool looking USB port arm that swings out. You can plug that directly into your laptop, or use included extension cable, or plug that extension cable into the included wall socket adapter (you’ll get both voltage types of wall plugs). I can sort of appreciate the cool factor of charging via USB, of plugging this into the side of my laptop (if I had a laptop, which I don’t, I’m a desktop girl who dabbles in tablet) but it’s no longer a feature that tips the deciding scale for me.  It used to be, but like I said…I’m jaded and frankly, all of my USB ports are taken. Yes, even with a hub.

Here’s the thing. I pretty much knew by looking at the design that I wasn’t going to like it, and I was very up front with the designer when asked to review this. She responded with “I can not be sure that our product can meet your personal needs, but we believe that our technology works well and your personal honest review would be much appreciated. ” and I respect that. I really do. So that’s why I’m trying hard not to be snarky or mean, despite the fact that I would not recommend this to anybody. I think that the design, style, vibration type, etc is going to only appeal to and work for a very small portion of the population. I don’t think that it is worth $99 for that reason.  I actually dreaded having to use it for a second time to see if I could reach orgasm¹, because I at least owe the review a fair shake at that aspect. But the angular case just isn’t ergonomic and frankly, it’s not a pleasure to use. It’s almost worse than a boring, weak vibrator! This also reminds me of the Fixsation, with how I feel about it.

My recommendations on improvement would first ask that the EVA foam pieces be changed out for something more practical, more sturdy. That little buffer piece? I ripped mine while poking around the vibrator. Good thing they give you a few extras. The massager should also be at least splashproof. If this means concealing that USB port and changing the head, then so be it. Also, the color scheme and design is very much Japanese-cartoonish and overtly femme. When you put the Skintouch Head on the massager, it looks like a flower. Not every clitoris-owning person is feminine or even likes pink. Give this thing at least 2 speeds, an on/off switch that won’t be so easy to activate, and a better charge-to-use ratio. Ditch the “velvet pouch” because it looks just like every other cost-50-cents-to-manufacture “velvet” pouch out there and it attracts dust and fur better than a Swiffer. A plain, cloth pouch (see: Jopen, G-Vibe, Extase) would look better and perform better.

iGino One is still in the process of being funded. If you think you’d like this sex toy and would like to own one and see it hit the market, you should contribute. 

*Disclaimer: As I mentioned above, I was provided this massager in exchange for an honest review by the iGino company.

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Posted by Lilly | 51 Comments

We-Vibe Salsa Giveaway

I’m here to play Fairy DildoMother and give away a bunch of red We-Vibe Salsa vibes. I’ve raved and swooned over how much I love this vibrator. I do like the Tango, too, for it has the same motor and all but aesthetically I preferred the shape and colors of the Salsa. I found that the pointed bullet tip of the Salsa allowed it to easily replace the RO-80mm bullet vibe and others that look just like it, like the Tantus bullet vibes. This takes the vibrations in your dense silicone toy from “meh” to “heyyyyyy that’s nice!!”

It was a dark day indeed when I discovered that Standard Innovations decided that the Tango was a better seller and that they needed to cull their catalog so my beloved Salsa got the axe. Luckily though they sent me a whole bunch to give away!!! I always like being able to choose more than one winner.

For years I hunted high and low for the type of vibrations that just right for me, like a sex toy Goldilocks or something. Too weak, too buzzy, too powerful and buzzy, etc. But they really hit the jackpot with this vibe, in my opinion. I adore the deep, rumbly vibrations. They go well beyond just stimulating the surface of my clit, they really dig down and stimulate the inner clitoris and for me that’s the key to an easy orgasm. 9 times out of 10 I never use a vibrator on anything other than its highest setting. With the Salsa/Tango I’ve actually been able to orgasm in the right situations by having it on LOW.

Another true measure of my adoration is this: I’ve been reviewing sex toys since 2008 and was a frustrated consumer for a few years before that. I’ve owned over 200 vibrators. In my current rotation is the Lelo Smart Wand Large that gets used when I crave g-spot stimulation, the Pure Wand for intense g-spot stimulation and sometimes the Vanity VR6. But there are 3 vibrators that never leave my desk unless I’m traveling.

A black Salsa, a red Salsa and a purple Tango. Yep, multiples for when one dies so that I’m never without.

These give me no-fail orgasms. This is a breakthrough for a woman who spent years either not having a clitoral orgasm or having such a slight one that I wasn’t quite sure if I did or not. A breakthrough for a woman who many times had the Hitachi Magic Wand get too hot to use before an orgasm would appear. It’s not the level of power, it’s the type of vibration.

SO.

How can you own one of my all-time most bestest favorite vibrators in the universe? Not through Twitter entries. Or Facebook follows. I won’t ask you to do anything involving social media, at all in fact. This giveaway isn’t about me or a company trying to get more Klout or followers or a better Alexa rank. Would I appreciate the hell out of it if you introduced a few friends to my blog? Sure would. Subscribed to my RSS feed? That would be lovely. But it’s not a requirement.

All I want is for you to tell me why (via the comments section on this post) I should send you one. Convince me as to why you absolutely need to win a Salsa. This won’t be a random drawing, I’ll be choosing with though. Did I mention there will be multiple winners?? 

Rules:

• Don’t make up shit that you think will score with me. Be honest.
• Don’t write erotica.
• The vibes are not being sent from the manufacturer, these are in my possession, therefore the shipping charges rest on me. For that reason, I require that if you reside outside of the United States, you be willing to cover the shipping via Paypal before I send it. If you fail to do so within a reasonable time after the contest is over, I’ll pick a new winner. Live outside of the US and don’t want to pay for the shipping? Don’t enter. If you don’t live in the US please list your country in your comment.
  
  • For postage-calculation purposes, the shipping weight is 9oz. Go here, select your country, select generic “package”, enter in 9 oz weight, and you’ll have the cost of shipping. Generally have to poke around to find the 1st Class option, but it’s there. Example, Canada is going to run about $9.
• One entry per household/IP address. Attempting to create fake entries will get all of your entries deleted.
• Obviously, you’ll need to give me your mailing address (privately) should you win one of these. Keep that in mind. I won’t be responsible for lost packages should you try to have it sent to a fake name, to your workplace and they refuse it, etc. If it comes back to me I will have to pay for that return shipping, and that’s not cool.

COMMENTS ARE CLOSED. Thank you all for entering, but as this is not a random drawing, it’s going to take some effort on my part to narrow it down to 8 winners out of I don’t even know, more than 40 entries at least. I will notify the winners via email. If one doesn’t respond within a few days, I’ll choose a backup. 

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e[lust] 45

Welcome to e[lust] - The only place where the smartest and hottest sex bloggers are featured under one roof every month. Whether you’re looking for sex journalism, erotic writing, relationship advice or kinky discussions it’ll be here at e[lust].  Want to be included in e[lust] #46? Start with the newly updated rules, come back May 1st to submit something and subscribe to the RSS feed for updates!

 ~ This Week’s Top Three Posts ~

 Bringing Toxic Sex Toy Facts Out of the Attic

How Do I Get My Wife to Dominate Me?

I Need This

  ~ Featured Posts (Molly’s Picks) ~

Speaking the unspeakable

#safetytipsforladies

 All blogs that have a submission in this edition must re-post this digest from tip-to-toe on their blogs within 7 days. Re-posting the photo is optional and the use of the “read more…” tag is allowable after this point. Thank you, and enjoy!

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Posted by Lilly | 3 Comments

Would you buy a sex toy with a handle bar attached?

Because I think I would.

One of the many reasons why I love my Njoy Pure Wand is because of the lazy-C-shaped design. Bringing the controlling handle back closer to my arms means that I don’t have to do crazy contortions. The shape tends to be also why many sex toys on the market don’t work out for me – they’re straight. The controls for the vibrators are sticking out of my vagina by an inch or three, which means my hand has to reach that far. Guess what? It doesn’t.

I was poking around patents when I just merely looked up “sex toy”. The first thing I see is something that I don’t think ever came to light but I wish it had!!!

From the Background of the Invention portion:

Throughout history, humans have sought sexual gratification by artificial means. Such artificial means have included orifices to simulate male organs. Other artificial means have included phallic devices to facilitate vaginal or anal stimulation. The present device is directed to the latter.

Typical phallic devices or dildos are hand-held and require that a user either have a partner or contort their body in unusual positions to achieve proper and repeated insertion. Many have attempted to design an improved sex toy, both manual and mechanical, that facilitates insertion of a dildo. Such mechanical devices can become large and cumbersome which could interfere with a person’s desire to be discrete or private when using such a device. Further, manual devices can likewise become large and awkward to use.

Accordingly, there is a need for a sex toy that is compact in size and easy to manipulate. In addition, there is a need for a sex toy that can be easily moved with minimal strain on the hands, wrists and forearms. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.

Yes, there IS a need for sex toys that can be easily moved with minimal strain on the hands, wrists and forearms! I can’t say I’d choose the rabbit styles but a nicely curved g-spotter? Yup.  I think that if I ever could be a designer of a new line of sex toys, I’d want to partner with this person and build off of this so that people with disabilities or just not blessed with long arms and a thin body could more easily get off.

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So, Catalyst happened…

This is a viewpoint of Catalyst from a person with serious social anxiety issues which sometimes manifest into mild agoraphobia. Add on top of my social awkwardness a “neutral face” that makes me look forever pissed off + food allergy issues turning me into a manic panicked individual minus the cool hair color….and yeah. I got through this as best as I could, albeit I wasn’t at my best this year. It bothers me, it has made me feel like shit about myself, and compounded my self-doubts. I tried. I failed a lot. I fucked up. Hopefully next time is better?

I’ve been trying all week to put my finger on what went wrong for me at CatalystCon this weekend. I’m not saying it was bad. It just wasn’t exceedingly awesome for me, as awesome as Momentum had been the two years prior. I think it was me. I mean sure, there were issues, we don’t like in utopia. The restaurant, while being extremely willing to make me a safe meal, was still having the same major issues as last year: a 30-45 minute wait on your food. When the weekend is so jam-packed, that’s a big problem. I didn’t eat there much, and in fact snarfed down a sandwich alone in my room every day. There are the catacombs of Crystal City, under the hotel, but the fact is that they’re large, confusing and not at all accessible to someone who can’t do steps – or someone with a baby stroller (forget if you are in a scooter or wheelchair).

I wanted to attend Dirty Bingo, since it seemed to be the thing to do and I enjoyed it last year, but when we got there it was about 90 degrees in the room and jam packed. At least 3 times as many people as last year. I was NOT dealing well with overcrowded spaces this past weekend, which happened a lot. A “Sexy Soiree” party after dinner Saturday was the same – crowded, loud and too warm. I ran away fast.

Lest I sound like I took nothing away from the weekend, I want to sing the praises loudly of the session I’d waited for since CatalystWest had announced it last fall, Toxic Toys of course. This session alone made it worth my while and that session has lit a fire under me like nothing else. And even though I felt kinda invisible the whole weekend, I was still appreciate of the wonderful people that exist in this bubble of the world.

I decided to hang out this time and put that over sessions. There were sessions I had wanted to attend, but I only went to Toxic Toys. I tried a few others, which were popular and/or the room was way too warm (the panel that the Swingset crew did I saw about 1.5 minutes of before I had to either exit the room or pass out). 

Highlights included a truly lovely dinner with Tantus and fellow Tantus reviewers; hanging out with my beloved Crista and her wonderful boys; having my brain filled with geeky facts from Lorax of Sexand SexualScientist; chatting with MarvyDarling/Sarah – she is tiny and energetic and freakin cute, she is wonderful; I got to hang out with Sandra from SheVibe, and her crew, and I love her so hard; ohgodtoxictoys talk about my ultimate thing right there; Metis introducing me to Tom of Sportsheets who really wanted me to see a rusty metal ben-wa ball (and that’s going to be a post, oh boy, will that be a post); all of the time I got to spend with Jenna of Tantus, and just general awesome conversations with friends. I wish I’d had more, though. I had hugs from some of my favorite people (good lord Tim can give hugs like nobody’s business, I heart that man) and just talked about sex toys so very much. This was wonderful. 

I think Catalyst outgrew that hotel. Which is a good thing, on so many levels. But it became so difficult to find people, to move, to talk. And that all led to me becoming more introverted than I wanted to be. I couldn’t handle it. I was so overwhelmed, that by Sunday’s (fucking awesome) closing keynote with Carol Queen and her husband Robert Morgan Lawrence, when Robert said that the whole room was filled with sex educators, that we were all educators my first thought was “Can I put that on my business card?” but instead I tweeted and wondered if he really meant us all, if me with just this blog could use that term too, I couldn’t stand up and ask the question. Lorax did it for me when I shied away. I simply did not have the ability to speak up and stand up and have everyone look at me, in case I would say it wrong or dumb. My social agoraphobia was just in full swing by then. After the closing keynote was over, I wished I had had the ability to go up and say something to Robert and Carol, but I did not. I retreated and shrunk. *sigh*

The dynamic of this year compared to previous years for me was SO different that it has a small part of me questioning if I’ll attend next year, if there is another CatalystEast. I have an idea for something that might make Saturday evening more my style, but I have a feeling that it isn’t something that can be pulled off by me.  I would like to take the ideas that have been done this year and past years for a “party” gathering, where food is served, but those were held in rooms that are on the hotel room floors called Presidential/Executive suites – they are small, and end up being so crowded that you can’t hardly move and so loud you can’t really hear. And hot. And overwhelming to people like me. So my idea then is to have something on Saturday evening for a few hours, extremely casual. Pizza. Utilize one of the meeting rooms like the sessions were in. I’m thinking a few hour event for sex bloggers of all types, hosted by the Sex Blogger Co-Op, sponsored by a lovely store/retailer, where the bloggers can all talk to each other about bloggery things and sex toys, and the sex toy manufacturers that are in attendance can talk to us casually and we can talk to them and it’s all just….casual. Networking, sort of, but mostly just being able to hang out with and geek out with our crowd. Perhaps a trivia game thrown in with some prizes of sex toys. I think there were a number of sex bloggers there that I never even got to meet this time. Anyways, since this idea of mine isn’t as big as the other things that go on, like readings and Cinekink and bingo, I doubt I would be able to make it happen the way I envision.

Am I wrong in assuming that many of the bloggers who are bloggers like me are social “misfits” like me? Not everyone, of course, but many? Or am I really just that much of a special snowflake? ;)

Oh, and to update those who were wondering: I had planned on doing the big silicone lube vs silicone sex toys testing at Catalyst. But when Jenna and Lorax and I started talking about it and doing it, especially after hearing about the bio-cumulative effects of cadmium, we wondered if perhaps there could also be a cumulative effect of the silicone lube. Like that maybe a few minutes wouldn’t do much, and maybe 24 hours wouldn’t do much, but what about doing it all over time, again and again? So IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE I plan to hack up various brands of silicone and start performing even more in-depth tests. The results won’t be done for a few weeks. But it will happen!!

And finally I’d like to send a really huge thank you to Laura and The Tool Shed, my latest site sponsor who heard my last minute “Oh shit, life fucked me over and my funds for Catalyst are dangerously low” moans, and their banner resides over there in the sidebar. I was so sad that Laura was too sick to attend this year herself, because in addition to running a freakin awesome sex toy shop in Milwaukee, she is an awesome lady all around. The Tool Shed is super sex-positive and is a member of the Progressive Pleasure Club. Anything that The Tool Shed carries is a safe item.

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