This week’s column:

Real Sex, Virtual Worlds

And the podcast:

Excerpts from interviews

We have a silly thread in the forum about whether Birkenstocks effectively dampen all sexiness of a situation, whether it’s you or your partner wearing them — it started when I discovered that a hot sexy scene in a movie cannot interest me when I’m wearing my Birkenstocks, but when I take them off, it can.

I should wear them to Pirates of the Caribbean next Friday and see if Captain Jack Sparrow can be the exception to the rule.

Anyway, for our research, I took two pictures, comparing feet in Birks and bare. I think they prove my point that even a cute pedicure can’t make Birks sexy.

I was sick, but now I am well.

I’ve started one-on-one kickboxing lessons after a couple of years away from boxing and kickboxing classes. One 30-minute lesson is like a whole hour of group class, I’ve found.

I got new carpet and after they put the furniture back and left, I moved all the furniture into new places all by myself.

A few people have emailed me with praise for my book — yay! — which always feels really good. (Feel free to post it to Amazon too. Hehehe.)

I got fitted for contacts after 10 years with just glasses, so I can ride the Ducati without the glasses frames in the way. And the Ducati sunglasses made especially for riding are amazing — thank you Seth!

What else? My sister and niece visited last weekend and while I got exhausted too soon (due to having had stomach flu the week before), we had a blast at the beach. You haven’t wave-whomped until you’ve done it with a six-year-old clinging to your back.

New column and podcast live tomorrow — in fact, if the podcast is live now, it’s here. But it won’t be official until tomorrow morning.

I imagine the SiVG folks are only now getting home, getting settled — and bam, it’s Monday, just like that.

‘Twas lovely to meet you all.

If you want a copy of my slides, let me know and I’ll email them to you.

Whatever your feelings about the invasion of Iraq, people are dying every day in that country. Why? One of the stated reasons is that the U.S. has to free the Iraqi people and create a democracy. Democracy includes elections. If democracy and elections are worth killing and dying, they are worth standing in line and making your mark.

If you don’t vote today I don’t want to hear your complaints when the government you get isn’t the one you wanted. (If you do vote, critique all you want — I do!)

And saying “they’re all corrupt” is a cop-out.

i’ve had the kind of week that makes me feel like my spirit was being flayed alive. every little thing, personal and professional, was a struggle. i messed up at the day job, i turned in a weak podcast, i hurt a friend’s feelings, i couldn’t get anything write [[update: i noticed this homonym on a second read but decided to leave it here to illustrate the point]], the words wouldn’t line up, the points wouldn’t organize, i couldn’t sleep in the night or stay awake in the days, and i cried at least twice every 24 hours for no real reason other than “everything.”

it was very much like a strong PMS week except I shouldn’t start PMSing until this tuesday. i coudln’t figure out why until earlier today when i remembered that i get double PMS when i skip a period. i suppressed my cycle for the vacation — that’s where you don’t take a break between pill packs, you just start the new month right away, so you don’t have a period — and that’s really convenient for the week but it does bring on an earlier and heavier PMS emotional ride.

naturally, i’ll be at the height (or the depth!) of it on thursday, the day i’m scheduled to keynote at the sex in video games conference.

but instead of doing work i really needed to have done, i spent the day relaxing with the boyfriend. we had breakfast at the dish, we caught the 11am showing of x-men 3, he napped while i outlined a column inspired by the movie, W came over and we washed our dogs in the yard, the boyfriend and i went to fosselman’s for hot fudge sundaes, and we almost saw the da vinci code but decided to have mexican food and come home instead. he has a headcold so no nookie, but i suddenly remembered, right in the middle of some, er, forays into almost nookieland, that last week in cancun, i named my breasts.

spontaneously, accidentally, and i’ve no idea where the names came from, they just popped out after he said “careful, leftie is about to pop out” (we were in heavy surf and my new suit is not very secure, dratted thing). and i said “leftie? that’s not pretty, that’s not feminine, it sounds like a wannabe gangster, why can’t they be named L___ and I____?” and from that moment on, they were. haven’t assigned a name to a particular one, but it was just really silly, and it’s cheered me up all evening to know that no matter what hell i go through this coming week to right some mistakes i made before i left, the girls have been christened.

Want to know what it’s like to be a member of an adult community? What goes on there? Buy:

webAffairs

I am referencing it as I prepare my talk for the Sex in Vido Games conference next week, and am struck yet again at how accurately author Show-n-tell captured the community. My experience was in text chat, with webcams separate/private (not part of the chat room but a lot of us had cams going in separately) while hers was in a webcam chat room specifically … but … it’s the same. Conversations, insights, heartbreaks, joys, relationships … Show-n-tell is an artist and a professor of art and her book has a museum installation that goes with, but the book alone really is beautiful, and insightful, and much more accurate in showing what people do online than any sociology study I’ve seen.

… and having a terrible week. But here are some neat things we did on vacation:

• Saw a gigantic (5 ft?) great barracuda while snorkeling (for size perspective: dead one)
• Toured ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza
• Snorkeled an underground river
• Swam in a cenote in a cave with massive stalactites and small blind (eyeless?) black catfish (pic1, pic 2
• Frolicked in the Caribbean sea
• Read novels by the pool
• Got massages
• Ate delicious shrimp, avocados, pineapples, chocolate
• Visited a coral reef aquarium where everything in the tank was alive
• Saw a huge parrot fish while snorkeling
• Drove a speedboat through the lagoon
• Sipped tequila wtih lime
• *ahem*
• Planned a dive trip to Bonaire for next year
• Aqua-aerobics class in the pool
• Watched a thunderstorm light up the sky
• Spent a whole week together

  Can’t beat that, eh?