I immediately signed up, and I’m glad I did since the class filled in 10 minutes!

We all got paired off into teams, so we can take turns both tying and being tied. Of course, it’s easy to practice on yourself, but it’s good to experience getting tied by someone else, so you know what they’ll feel like when you’re doing it.

We’re learning all kinds of knots, and also how to make the rope both aesthetically pleasing and comfortable.

We’re also learning about safety. I know how to cut someone out of a hogtie as well as I know how to put someone in one. I’m learning about circulation, endorphins, and shock. It’s really interesting to be thinking about the body and how it reacts chemically in this sort of context. As interested as I was in the more, er, unconventional, aspects of taking a class like this…I’m finding I’m more fascinated in the medical/sciencey aspects.

Normally I’d go on about this a bit longer, but The ladies of Behind Kink have turned out a rad piece about the class that would explain more than me talking about it. I’m in it for a little bit at the beginning. (NSFW!)

Other formats (again, NSFW!):

WMV | WMV HD | MP4 HD | iPod

I’ll update you all when I’ve finished the course!

Many of you have been asking to hear more about my personal life and my job.

From my inbox:

Hi! I’d love to hear more about your job. Kink.com must be really interesting to work at! How different is it from your average office?

Well, dear reader, I will give you an example. In my office, there is a softpack (NSFW-ish?).
This softpack does not get used for it’s intended purpose, but rather for sport.

Observe:

The trick is getting it to stick to the ceiling longer than anyone else.

Unfortunately, our poor friend has taken quite a beating from this game, and now resembles a furry animal.

& that, my friends, is one reason why my office is different than a ‘regular’ one.

aren’t you glad you asked?

This was shot at work, in one of our sets. It’s so handy to work somewhere with so many awesome places to take photographs!

The bathtub was sorta full of glass when we set it up though. haha.

This is the part where I admit to you the biggest reason why I love my job:

I rollerskate every day.

It’s true!
When we first moved in, the building took a little getting used to. The IT department is the farthest from both the kitchen/lounge and bathrooms. My excellent coworker Nicole has a pair of heelies that she skates around on, so it wasn’t long before I was inspired to bring in my quad skates!

The other thing about my job that I love alot is our company videoblog!
We have a small team that films pretty much everything that goes on in our office.

Recently, they did a piece about rollerskating in the armory…featuring me.

Check it out (wmv format & totally safe for work)!

other formats:

quicktime
realplayer

The Armory was to be the new home of my office. The first time I saw it, I was mostly just floored by the sheer size of the place. It almost takes up a whole city block!

With four floors and a massive basement, plus the huge drill court (pictured above) our company has more room than the average hollywood backlot.

from SFArmory.com:

This 200,000 square foot reproduction Moorish Castle was completed in 1914 and was used as a National Guard facility until 1976. It is full of period detail including cavernous dungeon-like basements, stone staircases, sweeping corridors, and a gigantic drill court spanning almost an acre. During rioting in San Francisco in 1934, it served as both a barricade and safety point for officers.

The Armory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and has been out of official use since this time. Previous conversion plans throughout the years have been met with much community resistance for various reasons including gentrification and broader concerns relating to social and environmental impact. Acworth plans to revive this historic building in consideration of gentrification, and social and environmental concerns while restoring and renovating the Armory to its original splendor, style and beauty.

When I first got a tour of the place, I was fascinated by all it’s odd quirks.
When the Armory was built, many military facilities were intentionally built over a source of running water (so as to provide for it’s occupants if they were ever forced to remain there). The Armory is no different, which means that Mission Creek runs straight through the middle of our building.

There are also a number of other things in the building leftover from it’s military days…like a shooting range, a gymnasium, and a swimming pool. Unfortunatly, somewhere along the line someone decided to fill the swimming pool with concrete. Nobody knows why!

There was alot of work put into the place before it was ready for us to move in. The huge ballroom on the first floor had to be converted into a working production department (shown above). We also had to build a great deal of sets, including a full size ultimate wresting ring!

Extra info:

New York Times article on Armory Purchase.
Armory building Cursed?
Violet Blue writes about Armory protests.

I will return on monday to complete my tale of our armory move, and I’ll have more pictures, video and art to share. Have a great weekend everyone!!

Everyone always asks me what it’s like looking at porn all day and every day.
My answer is simple:

It’s awesome!

I am an artist. Particularly an artist who likes to draw people more than anything. What could be more excellent for me than having an anatomy lesson every second of my workday?

The other thing I should mention is that generally, I am working on webpages. This means I look at alot of thumbnails while I change the header or background color of a given page…but rarely do I ever have to look at any content.

Another perk of the job is that I never have to watch my mouth. I can be somewhat unladylike with my language, and this had proved difficult for me in other working situations. My job at kink doesn’t just accept my dirty mouth, but in fact, it requires it.

After about a month of working here I realized that any hesitations I may have had were just silly.

Which brings me up to the next big thing. Kink.com had purchaced the San Francisco Armory building long before I started working there, but was set to relocate to the new building just a few weeks after I was hired.

It seemed like right after I got settled in at the Palace, it was time to move!

& what a move it was.…

In April, I took a trip up to SF to do a photo shoot with infrared photographer, Jake Applebaum.

One of the places I went during my visit was Jake’s workplace, Kink.com’s Porn Palace. Every Friday night they had an employee happy hour, which I had the privelidge of attending.

At the time, I was floored by the expanse of the building, the crazy sets, the cameras and lighting equipment.
But I was more impressed by how happy everyone seemed. I had the overwhelming feeling that all these people loved their jobs.

photo by Laughing Squid

Half-jokingly, I said to Jake, “Let me know if you have any job openings!”.

Months later, Jake called to let me know that they needed a web developer.
Before I knew it, I had been living in SF for two days and had already been hired as a contractor.

My fourth day in SF was my first day working at the porn palace.

It was.…surprisingly like art school.
There was a room full of macs with widescreen displays, being operated by cute people with piercings and awesome hair. Everyone was super friendly, and often chatting about their band or their open-source project. The bathrooms were even gender neutral!

Ladies and gentlemen.…I had found my dream job!

But porn?? Was I ready for such an endeavor? Find out tomorrow!

photo by Marie Lodi.

When I started this blog in July, I was really interested in sharing my life as a freelancer with all of you!
Through freelancing, I’ve learned alot about self-promotion, online marketing, and most of all…myself.

However, As many of you noticed, I stopped updating in September.

Some of you emailed me to ask why I dissapeared so suddenly, however, the truth was more horrifying than any of you realized:

I got a job.

Yes friends, I am currently employed full time as a web developer for kink.com.

I never thought I’d end up making my living coding up porn webpages, but I’m having more fun at work than I’ve had in years.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you a little more about what it’s like working here!

In the meantime, take a look around! I just gave the whole site an overhaul.

I’ll still be adding alot of new content and functionality to the site, and also ironing out a few bugs over the next few days.

Check back tomorrow for more!

xo,
Star