A solo career...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

More on anonymity

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Anonymity

I've been thinking, of late, about anonymity.

I'm pretty interested in maintaining a screen in front of the real me on the Net, but that's not what I'm talking about here.

I mean sexual anonymity. The truly random, anonymous, zipless (Erica Jong used that term) fuck. (Everyone uses that one!)

So, despite the idea that most of us never have, and never will partake in anon. sex, is the idea interesting? Do you like the thought of taking, or being taken, without knowing who the other person is? Sometimes this works one way. For instance, this first picture indicates that perhaps one person knows what's going on.

This photo is from:

Ou Le Secret du Cabinet noir, by Faverolles – Condemned for outrages against public morals. – Destruction ordered per the Cour royale de Paris on December 21, 1822

It appears they had little in the way of a sense of humour in 1822. :-)

In other cases, as ludicrous as this very cute picture by Paul Gavarni is, perhaps neither party knows. (Well, except for the face in the window)

I kind of like the idea of someone opening a door and dragging me in for a little action, I think. I'm not at all sure about putting my genitals through a hole in the wall. That could go very wrong, very fast.

So, what do you think? Tell all. Like the pics?

Passing thought

In discussion with one of my more interesting friends, I blurted out something. Turns out it was, purely by random cosmic chance, quite good:

With age comes wisdom, luck, or a lowering of standards.
Gentlebutfirm 2006

The discussion was about girlfriends. At 17. No, not me. I'm just a little older than that. :-)

So which of them applies to you?

Crackers and cornflakes

Someone mentioned Graham crackers to me this morning. I was aware they existed, but, not being an American, that was the limit of my knowledge. until now...



...a little research... [my comments]

"All kinds of stimulating and heating substances; high-seasoned food; rich dishes; the free use of flesh; and even the excess of aliment; all, more or less -- and some to a very great degree -- increase the concupiscent [Yeah, where do I get me some of that?] excitability and sensibility of the genital organs..."

-- Sylvester Graham

[Warning: This next paragraph may induce vomiting, especially in those recommended to use carbolic. Yes]

"A remedy [for masturbation] which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision...The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind...In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid to the clitoris [See what I mean?] an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement. "

-- Dr. John Harvey Kellogg

[My God, these people were animals!]

The graham cracker was developed in nineteenth century America by Presbyterian minister Rev. Sylvester Graham. Conceived of as a "health food", it is more like a digestive biscuit than a cracker [So, first off, Graham crackers are not crackers. The inventor, however, was.]. Originally made solely with graham flour. Most modern "graham crackers" contain no graham flour at all and are instead made mostly of the refined, bleached white flour to which the Rev. Graham was implacably opposed.

His original "Graham bread" was the centerpiece of the diet he created to suppress what he considered unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies according to Graham. He also warned that ketchup and mustard induced insanity [Only when used together]. He gained many followers and even set up boardinghouses, where his diet was observed, in New York, Boston and other cities.

Graham crackers are no longer considered health food, but have remained popular as a snack food with greater amounts of sugar, honey and other sweeteners than in the original recipe. Cinnamon is commonly added to enhance the flavor.

Graham crackers have themselves become ingredients for other snack foods, including moon pies and S'mores[ah, here we are, this is what I was really researching...], and are often crushed for use as crusts [just like you said, Tramp] in some baked goods.


"...Sylvester Graham was raised by a succession of relatives, working as a farm hand, clerk and teacher before chronic ill health [translation: either rampant, or nonexistent masturbation] led him to choose the ministry as a less stressful profession. Graham preached under the auspices of the Presbytery of Newark in New Jersey during the early 1830's, during which time he began to propound his distinctive, all-encompasing reformist ideas on diet and health...

...Beyond diet, he recommended hard mattresses [ooh, baby!], open bedroom windows [dirty bugger], chastity [poop], cold showers, loose clothing, pure water and vigorous exercise [but I thought... Oh, never mind...]. He became a well known, if controversial, lecturer on not only the Grahamite [go Graham, go Graham, go Graham...] philosophy, but physiology and anatomy and the position of the Bible [slightly to the right, methinks] on wine and meat, and he directed a special series of lectures toward African-Americans [Ohboy. I ain't touchin' that mofo]. "

While eating graham crackers recently, we were discussing the myth that they were invented to keep girls [not girls, specially...] from engaging in, uh, self-abuse. Is this true? How were they supposed to work? Didn't Graham realize he might frustrate an entire generation?

Frustrate, nothing. Health lecturer Sylvester Graham (1794-1851) was trying to save shattered lives--not just of women, but everybody who suffered from what Graham referred to variously as "venereal excess" or "aching sensibility". Graham thought intense physical desire, no matter how expressed and regardless of whether you were married or not, was guaranteed to have dire physiological consequences [So... is 'dire' bad? :-) ].

A forebear of the hairy-palms-and-blindness school of moral instruction, Graham said excessive carnal exercise would cause indigestion, headache, feebleness of circulation, pulmonary consumption, spinal diseases, epilepsy, insanity, and early death of offspring, among other things. He thought men should remain virgins until age 30 and then should make love only once a month--not at all if they were sickly. [You feeling sickly at all? No? Right, go for it.]

To control lust, Graham prescribed a special vegetarian diet, the centerpiece of which was "Graham bread," made from whole wheat flour. Graham crackers, which Graham invented in 1829, were another manifestation [spawn, you might say. Offspring, perhaps] of the same idea.

Graham attracted a fair number of followers, who opened Graham boardinghouses in New York and Boston where his dietary regimen was observed. But most people regarded him as a nut. [No shit?] He was assaulted by mobs on at least three occasions, once by butchers and bakers who thought he was going to drive them out of business. [The candlestick makers, despite giving their support to the mob violence, were busy at home, bonking] He was cranky [Did I say 'no shit?' already? No shit?] and aloof [!] and alienated even those who admired him, so much so that he gave up the lecture business in 1839 and lived out the last years of his life in relative obscurity.

His saving grace was that in many important respects he was right. Although he was a little [This word obviously requires further definition...] goofy on the question of sex, many of his ideas about health were sound. He advocated daily toothbrushing, once considered a revolutionary idea, as well as fresh air, regular bathing, exercise, and seven hours of sleep. During an era of recurring cholera epidemics he urged people to drink pure water.

Here endeth. And probably just as well!

What happened?

I can't believe it. I woke up today, and realised it had been a while since I'd added anything to the blog. A while. Five fucking months! My God!

It's like getting my virginity back again. As though I never learned how to ride a bike. As if my eyes were still good enough to thread a needle, I didn't have this stomach, and none of my hair was grey.

Today, as they say, is the first day of the rest of my life. And the blog needs it. :-)

A good friend of mine and sometimes collaborator pointed some home truths out to me, as well. Turns out that the blog entries pretty much matched those I send out in my newsletter. To the same people. Tidy huh? Neat. Alright, alright, lazy. And boring. No more.

If you want to see my new stories, have a look here. I'll just list them at the end of entries from now on.

Now where was I? Anyone got a broom?