Phred

Thanks, Mistress Zhao - you made my week!

You might consider yourself low maintenance, Mistress Zhao, but you most certainly deserve high maintenance treatment.

Since we had been talking about the supernatural and ghosts, I wanted to share this clip I found on the web. The back story is that a British car company was filming a commercial on this road and, when they reviewed the footage, they saw a white wisp following the car down the road. It turns out that there had been a horrific car accident years ago and the driver died. It's possible that the wisp is the driver following the car down the road. It's hard to see, so it's best if you blow the clip up to full screen. I hope you guys enjoy !

Mistress Zhao, you have gorgeous teeth - they really make your smile shine! It's one of my favorite things about sessioning with you !

Wow Mistress Zhao! Definitely bringing a dentist's caviton to my next session - ha ha! I don't mind dental work - have been known to fall asleep in the dentist's chair from time to time .

Loved the interview! You are truly amazing, intelligent and beautiful, Mistress Kang!

Oh man, I love experiencing ALL those emotions in one session at the hands (or feet) of Mistress Zhao!

Agree - works fine in Firefox.

I'm totally a "pull my finger" type of guy. Interesting to note Mistress Zhao's discussion of "Shame", etc. Whereas I go to the movies, Mistress Zhao (and the rest of the refined Mistresses at the Fortress) go to the cinema to see films .

Thanks WW - I'm not always sure if my posts are "right' or "wrong", but I'll keep trying. Love to read your stuff too. BTW - "Goodbye Stranger" was one of my favorite songs when I was younger. This thread really has me thinking, thought I'd add some more. I strongly believe in the mantra "That which does not kill us makes us stronger". The things that teach us and help shape who we are are our life experiences, which include mistakes, defeats, screw-ups, etc. If everything we did was correct and we made no mistakes, we would never learn and life would be really boring. I firmly believe one of the most important things we can master is how to learn from our mistakes and how to turn this mistake into success. I think this is what separates some of the top CEOs, athletes, military leaders, traders, etc. (men and women) from everyone else - they didn't lay down and roll over in the face of adversity, but used these episodes of adversity as a learning experience and to their advantage. This is the trait I admire most in people I look up to. One of the most amazing feelings in the world (I think) is to overcome and triumph over a stumbling block or something that has been your nemesis for a while (be that at work, in the gym, in your personal life, at the FF, etc.). So damn satisfying to finally climb that summit! One thing I find amusing is when I try to think about this in terms of a session. When I book a session, I always look back at my prior session and think "I screwed up trying X in the past, maybe I can finally handle trying X now". Funny thing is, half the time the Mistress introduces something new into the mix, does not bring X back and I'm back at square one! Argh! Obviously, with more experience I'll be able to do more and not be so damn surprised .... Must keep sessioning.... As always, Mistress Zhao, I find your posts intellectually stimulating and thought provoking. I really, really love learning from your wisdom and experience. MOZ - you DEFINITELY have to do a spy/espionage scenario at the FF!! I did one a few months ago, and it was such a blast! I had a particular scene in mind, but the creativity of the Mistresses I sessioned with took off and we went in an entirely different direction. I won't give details, but I will say it is awfully difficult to come up with the correct 10-digit disarmament code when tied down and being tormented . AKIRAVN1 - I saw the previews for "A Dangerous Method" and really want to see it. It looks really interesting. I love in the preview when Keira Knightly is asked what she felt when she was beaten, and she liked it!

Really interesting discussion. Being new to the scene, I really had no idea that there would be so many raw emotions exposed and experienced during a session. I have found in my sessions, that both defeat and triumph lead to the same end - the desire to be a better sub. If I fail at something in a session, yes I brood over my failure, but this it spurs my desire to do better next time if presented with the same scenario. If I triumph at something (and actually survive a session ), it means to me that I can up my level of play and try different things. Either way, both emotions goad me on to be a better sub - likely the "growth" that Mistress Zhao is talking about. I would imagine, though, that the concept of defeat/triumph in a session should be mostly internalized to the sub. I think those two words denote some sort of competition. I imagine this should be more of an internal competition within the sub's mind - "can I do better, can I survive more, can I grow more?" If it were to be externalized, I think this would lead to competing against the Mistress - "she won't be able to break me today, I dare her to hurt me today." By competing against your Mistress in a session, I don't think you would be able to give up total control and submit, which would lead to the whole concept of "topping from the bottom". I am definitely guilty of this (hopefully only in the past), and I am trying to get away from it. I'm trying to see my sessions (besides being tons of fun) as teaching and learning experiences. Just my thoughts, though.

Covering up my head and diving under my desk in anticipation of the shelling that's about to commence after that comment !

Hey Johnny! That was a great story! I've definitely had a few encounters with the supernatural, both in my last house and my current one. Probably the most scary was in my last house. We were sleeping one night with our cats when we were woken up by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Our bedroom door was closed, and our cats were staring wide-eyed at the door. The footsteps came up the stairs, down the hall and stopped at our bedroom door. Then, nothing. Scared the crap out of me! In our current house, there seems to be an older gentleman who lives on our stairs. We had some people come over who used to live in our house several years ago, and they told us stories of seeing a man go up and down the stairs in heavy black boots. I've never seen anyone, but I've definitely occasionally caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, which has made me catch my breath. Always freaks me out when my cat will sit at the top and stare down the stairs, wide-eyed with a fat tail. If I'm alone in the house, I don't get too much sleep because I have one eye closed and the other eye on the stairs !

Damn! Those legs go on for MILES!!! Beautiful!