#gratitudeNow: Karma Going, Not Gone

I have this wi-fi hotspot, a Karma Go.

An ex of mine gave it to me. I’ve had it for a couple of years now. Back when I was actively working on a side project (Project Drummond) I used that thing constantly.

But I stopped working on Project Drummond with vigor a while ago, and in fact killed the project altogether late last year.

However, since last October I’ve been working like a demon on a different side project, Project Longbottom. Which by the way, is going incredibly well. I’m actually in beta with it now. I’ve got 30 users banging away on the thing, each and every day.

I need to take a long train trip this weekend, and the X hours I’m going to be on the train will be absolutely prime time to put my head down and code away. So, time to break out the trusty old hotspot.

I was nervous about it. I haven’t used it in ages. I know my account is still current. But it’s a finicky beast, prone to losing charge. Plus, the companion iOS app for it had vanished from the app store, which I didn’t take as a good sign.

But I booted the sucker up this morning, got it charged, and it’s just fine. Moreover, when I contacted the nice folks at Karma, they told me the reason the app isn’t available anymore is because they’re busy upgrading it, and it’ll be back soon.

Whew! Glad to have it.

#gratitudeNow: The Ponder

So every day, I have a few, “rituals” I guess you could call them.

The very first thing I do, every morning, is consciously make the choice to think “oh good, another one.“ But today I want to talk about the others. I also meditate every day. Usually, this happens in the shower. As I stand under the hot water I follow my breath until my mind becomes silent.

I’ll stay that way for a minute, sometimes a lot longer.

After that, I contemplate. What I mean by that is, I’ll take some idea I’m working on and sort of put it up on my mental chalkboard, and look at it. Lately the one I’ve been working on is sadness, sorrow. What even is it? What can I do with it or about it? So far what I have is that sadness is a means to connect with other people, and also a sort of built-in warning system for myself.

Things which bring me sorrow, also become things I focus on, to see what I can do about them.

Anyhow that’s just an example. This process, of meditation and contemplation, it’s immensely valuable to me. Often when I’m done doing the contemplation part of the process, it leaves me with additional thoughts that I find myself touching and exploring throughout the day.

I even have a name for that phenomenon, I call it “the ponder.“ The ponder got me to post something thoughtful to Facebook, and to go out of my way to message a few folks about something.

I’m grateful for the ponder, because for me it’s often a call to action, to see how I can do better for myself and the people around me.

#gratitudeNow: Dishing About Service

So I had this realization today. It was after work, I was home, and chatting with my friend Bunny. She’s like me, an age player, who also has a service relationship with her big, her Daddy. We were talking about the nature of service, doing chores, and how it makes us feel.

I was cleaning the kitchen as we chatted, taking breaks to snap off a quick response to her as I went. I had finished loading the dishwasher when I sent this:

It’s hard work for her to take care of me, because in a way, I’m a boy who never grows up, never will. So it’s really important that I actually do grow in some ways, however I can.

Become a better listener, become well behaved, actually respond to, learn from, and be shaped by the way she disciplines me. I think one of the pivotal differences between play and service is taking it seriously.

After that, I saw that while I had loaded the dishwasher, and set it running, there were still dishes left over, including a big pizza pan which really doesn’t fit well in there anyhow.

so I washed that sucker by hand, as well as the rest of the things which hadn’t yet been cleaned. I dried them and put them away. The kitchen is sparkling like the top of the Chrysler Building, as the expression goes.

And I feel like I’m making my best effort to be the very best behaved boy I can be for my mama. It feels damn good.

#gratitudeNow: Frandom

Over the years that I’ve been an author, and we’ve been creating the podcast, my work has made me pretty well known in the ageplay and kink communities. I’m always leery to use the term “minor internet/kink celebrity” because of even the slightest whiff of Gilderoy Lockhart style self-aggrandizement. But it’s true, I do have fans.

I love hearing from people how the podcast has helped them, or how they enjoy my books. It’s super gratifying when a complete stranger, someone I’ve never met, and wouldn’t know otherwise, reaches out across the aether to let me know that my work has had meaning to them in their life.

Relatedly, I had the nicest thing happen to me about two weeks ago. I was hanging out on a discord server I like, “MDLB and Friends!” just chatting when I struck up a conversation with someone, Danny.

I told Danny about my secret project I’ve been working on, Project Longbottom. It’s a software tool, an app-as-a-service for age players. I’ve been working on it like crazy for several months now, and it actually just went into beta testing a few days ago.

We were chatting about it when Danny told me he was a fan of my work. He’s listened to the podcast for ages, and had recently bought and was actually in the middle of reading Concerning LIttleton when we were talking. He told me “I bought concerning littleton and started to read it, I just got to say how amazing it is.”

So we had this lovely conversation.

And just like that, he went from fan to friend.

We’ve become fast friends, me and Danny, and his lovely wife/mommy Steph too. They’re helping me to test Project Longbottom and their help has been of immense value to me.

I feel incredibly lucky to have good friends like these.

#gratitudeNow: Sounds like service

So this is an experiment.

I was getting ready to leave the house this morning, and had some house chores to do. Which gave me some ideas about service, and what it’s really like, now that I’m really doing it.

And gave me the idea to record myself, so I could do my chores and blog at the same time.