I just got a call from K. Something's wrong with Tigger, my 17 year old baby kitty. She's always been a cranky old lady so I worry that it'll be hard to tell when she's not well. K noticed that Tigger was drooling in her sleep and also this afternoon. She's not a drooler. And when K went to wipe her mouth she noticed an area at her lip like a skinned knee or an infection and she screamed when K tried to open her mouth. She's not as vocal as usual. She is drinking water, so that's good. K's going to see if she eats when the automatic kibble feeder goes off this evening.
We have an appointment with the vet but that's not until Thursday morning. If it seems to get worse or she's not eating we'll take her into an emergency vet. Hope it won't cost too much - as money's tight.
I'm worrying and stressing, while several thousand miles away in London. :( I'm just so glad that K's there.
Any animal experts out there there an opinion?
Do send her some good vibes.

here are photos of our three kids

Tigger on her favorite spot


Tigger and the elusive Yoshi



King David at 5 month and King David at 10 month in the same basket





King David, first week at home and already claiming the laptop and lap. Tigger is not amused.




Yoshi shares her room and her sun with King David

Here are photos that didn't quite fit into my travel report a couple of weeks back.

[Door of Buenos Aires]


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[Architectural Features]


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[Butcher & Grocer]


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[Trail made by ants at the park. They're really amazing engineers!]

beautiful moms out there
wonderful grans out there
to the moms and grans that are no longer with us
to the nanas and great nannies too
to all the women without kids who have great maternal instincts
to all the men out there who've been great moms
to all the moms who adopted and fostered kids - big cheer!
to all the humans who became moms to animal kids
to all the moms that drive us CRAZY!
to the moms that accepted and loved their kids for being misfits/queer/HIV positive/(fill in the blank)
to all the moms who said "sure you can" when the world said "no, you can't"
to all the moms that had to give up their babies
to all the moms that would have been, that weren't allowed to grieve for a lost baby or abortion
to all the moms who helped to keep women's choice free
to all the moms who have and are fighting get the government to wake up and stop killing our kids in wars, incarceration, and fell through the cracks of the system
to the moms who pulled them selves and their kids out of really bad situations
to all the moms who read to their kids
to all the moms who actually listen
to the neighbors moms that gave kids safe harbor when their own homes weren't safe
even to the moms who don't speak to some of us any more.

You may not be my mom, but Happy Mothers' Day

crazy travel...

After nearly 10 hours in flight I land in London on Thursday at 8am. During the flight I didn't sleep at all as I was working on a column and an interview with deadlines looming over me.
At my secret hide-away I slept fitfully for 4 hours. Long flights eastwards is a real killer on the body, for anybody, if you don't get to sleep on the flight. Got myself ready for the class and trip to Paris and headed to my class at Coco De Mer where I taught the class on Sensual Flogging. Great group of students!

[Accolades and Irritation: Last year I did a salon on JoyStick Secrets: How to Please a Man, especially for the women from Harper's Bazaar UK. I flew in from Amsterdam where I was teaching there. I just saw the article and they did a lovely write up, but never once mentioned my name. I'm just the 'teacher who flew in from Amsterdam'. they mention all my cute little trade mark names for hand jobs and blow jobs, but not my name. why? sigh]

After class, over to Kumi's flat to sleep another whole 4 hours. Up at 4am to get a car at 430am to get to the train station for EuroStar. Nice smooth ride to Paris. Kumi slept - she didn't get too far on her web updates. LOL.
Off to the flat where we're crashing... Lovely quiet place in the outskirts of Paris.

I spent the day at the Centre Pompidou at the exhibition on art and faith... then to the Men's Art Gallery to see the special exhibition on Tagame Gengoro at the Art Men Paris gallery. Got to spend a couple of hours with the gallery owner.
(more on this later with photos.)

Cheap delish dinner at a kebob place. I thought I saw drunk guys in confrontation on the street. Turns out it may have been a disabled guy being robbed. sigh.

Drinks with Kumi and the Nuit Elastique fetish club night at the local rocker club, a very cool place called Les Furieux. I was so tired and jet lagged I was falling asleep at the table. lol

back to crash pad. nice long bath reading manga. Slept for 12 hours.

more later. Kumi needs her computer back for updates.

ciao!

tired.
smooth thru immigration / customs.
Long n expensive taxi ride.
Unpacked.
nap now...
class tonight.
I hope that I have a demo bottom.

off to Paris tomorrow.
Signing and tiny demo Saturday night with Kumi

This is a copy of my newsletter that just went out. If you'd like to get this directly go to http://www.planetmidori.com/html/news.html

MIDORI'S NEWSLETTER April 30, 2008
1. A Season of Gratitude
2. Be My Hero! My California Adventure
3. Looking for Bunny Stuff & Bunny Outfit
4. May classes/events (SF, London UK, Paris FR, Chicago)
5. June preview (LA, San Jose, Toronto)
6. New columns, new venues
7. Hang out with me! My on-line haunts
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Laura Antoniou storms through San Francisco, offering both new classes and discussions and old favorites. Check her out at these fine venues!
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(Come celebrate my birthday with me!)

Official blurb
= = =

An Evening of Glamour, Gayety and Celebration of Life
Midori's Birthday Bash at Beach Blanket Babylon - Fundraiser for AIDS LifeCycle and the SF AIDS Foundation
When: May 2nd, 2008, Curtains at 9:30pm
Where: Club Fugazi, 678 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94133 US

Tickets available ONLY through:
http://www.PlanetMidori.com/bbb

A fancy, festive, uniquely San Francisco cabaret experience! The City's favorite sexpert and columnist, along with her partner Kelly B., want to blow the birthday-blues away with you and a big party.

The main floor's been reserved to celebrate life! Hostess will be none other than the glamorous Miss Ginger Brewlay from Los Angeles. A fantastic theatrical treat for everyone. (It's the later show with a bar so it is 21+)

100% of the evening's proceeds will go to AIDS LifeCycle and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Dressing up encouraged! Cycle gear, costumes, nice dinner theater threads, drag kings, drag queens, etc!

Tickets available ONLY through:
http://www.PlanetMidori.com/bbb

Front cabaret seats $58 Rear cabaret seats $50

Please feel free to share this invite with your friends and network! More the merrier!


(Special treats from the San Francisco Chocolate Factory at the door!)

Yowza! What an amazing night! I think it keeps getting better every year.
This past Friday was the fourth year of Bang4TheBuck women's party in SF.

Some stats...

190+ women and transfolk got wild and wicked (Lots of new faces too!) filled the The Citadel
37 amazing volunteers helped to make the evening fabulous. Couldn't do this with out you! (We hope you enjoyed the volunteer thank-you bags.)
$ raised for AIDS LifeCycle = $2044 !!!!

Chocolates provided by San Francisco Chocolate Factory
3 big tables of raffle goodies, sex toys, books, fashion from , Good Vibrations, Stockroom, Stormy Leather, Social Kink, Master Andre's Flogger, ID Lube, Twisted Monk.

The Center for Sex & Culture provided the stage and stripper pole.

The awesome Bang crew!!! OMG, what an amazing team. Each year the team works, through out the year, to make the the party in Seattle and SF possible. It's all donated time and efforts and creative thinking - to make doing-good a hot thing.

Miss Indigo Blue, the sparkling goddess of burlesque taught an giggly fun class... and than MC-ed the Strip-O-Rama. OMG, the last lap dance delivered by her on a happy, blushing volunteer boi, that was fun, funny and even raised a lot of dough.
Lydia McLane in her sultry outfit was the tally mistress for the Strip-O-Rama and the goddess of raffle...
Lee, our beloved handi-butch, seemed to be everywhere, getting everything to work and assemble smoothly
Kelly B - volunteer coordinator and head of Operations - she's my ying to my yang. My ideas would fly off like pretty butterflies without her.
In fact, my ideas wouldn't even pupate if it weren't for Miss Indigo Blue, Lydia, Lee and Kelly.... and the tireless volunteers... and the rockin' partying folks! Each of you make all the work worth it!
I really get a high from creating this event with all of you.

Thank you thank you thank you

Doing the world a good turn can be fun and sexy!

In his kitty bassinet next to my desk. It's a large African market basket.
He's nearly 10 month old. About 24 inches from nose to base of tail. Aproximately 12 lbs. He's taller at the shoulder and hip than both the full grown girls. What exactly is in his bloodline?

So far he's been doing well with the harness and leash for walking in the back patio area. He's mastered "Up David" pose of grabbing my hand and standing on his hind legs. He's even done it for Miss Indigo. He's gotten used to walking through the "hoop" - a badminton racket gutted of it's strings. I need to find a bigger hoop to have him jump through. Any ideas? Something about 2 feet in diameter would be good.
I got him a white and blue doggie sailor shirt. He got used to it after a while. It's cute on him. I'll get a photo for you King David fans.
The other cats glare at him with disdain.

Sorry I've been absent a bit.
I just returned from Philadelphia where we had another fab Rope Bondage Dojo (R) Stage 1 weekend with wonderful students. With meetings before and after that, plus travel I just wasn't able to get on line much at all... in fact I'm totally behind on e mail! Yikes!

This week is crazy busy and really exciting for me!

Thursday 4/24 night I have a class on CBT titled "Fun with His Bits!" at Stormy Leather. This link will get you to the online ticket sales. I hope my favorite demo bottom can make it! Stormy is making a special Weenie Wall for me and this class!

Friday night 4/25 is our Bang 4 The Buck, the wild, debauched women's party! www.Bang4TheBuck.org

Also this is the last week or so for the on-line ticket sales to for my Beach Blanket Babylon Birthday Bash on May 2nd. I hope you can make it. Make sure to get tickets in advance or you might be stuck at the door with no tickets available. http://www.PlanetMidori.com/bbb



I'm nervous and excited like I am every year about this. Miss Indigo Blue, one of the Bang Crew members, is already in town. K is here. The sexy Lydia McLane will arrive soon. The volunteer list is filling up. The hottie DJ Davina Suicide is geared up. The goodies for the raffle and prizes are rolling in from the sponsors.
Who's coming?

(OMG, so much to do!)

This past winter we had several nasty windstorms. After that the hummingbirds, the ones that stick around and don't migrate, just disappeared.
By now we should have many buzzing around the feeders... but none - until a couple of weeks ago.
I've seen one coming by.
I hope more will return.

[Sun 4/6]
Theme: Yes, I’m a tourist.



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[Sat 4/5]
Theme: Gardens, Art and Food Discoveries


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Good Vibrations the fabulous sex positive shop and their on line magazine are doing something special for Bang4TheBuck.org Women's Party.

Btw they're one of the uber cool sponsors of the party, providing tons of fabulous toys for the raffle.

They're giving away 2 pairs of tickets, that a total of 4 tickets.
The give-away info is at the end of the interview here

Good luck!

The party is on Friday, April 25th at the Citadel in San Francisco.
More info at http://www.bang4thebuck.org

pass it on!

[Fri 4/4]
(all the photos at the end because there are so many!)

Theme: Colonial Beauty

Up early, again… It’s a hot day here in Buenos Aires. At 8am people were already in tank tops and shorts. This is their fall. It’s beautiful, but we’re glad to be out of the heat this day.

We hope a cab to the ferry terminal. We’re heading to the quaint little townlet of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_del_Sacramento
Yup, another country, and it’s only an hour’s boat ride way from down town Bs. As. It’s the oldest city in the nation of Uruguay, founded in 1860, and it’s now a World Heritage Site.
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Where I've traveled so far.
(Ok, I also included brief trips to one city in a country but the program paints the whole country as visited...)

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Guess what these images are! (Answers below)
Don't they look sort of, well, naughty?





[Thrs 4/3]

Theme: Spendorphines

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[Wed 4/2]

Theme: Feeling fragile
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I miss Kumi.

While traveling here in B.A. I'm only getting a shred of on-line time so I wasn't clued in on what was going on with KumiMonster's LJ.

(Currently I write my journal off line and then up load it while doing a fast e mail down load. Having one ethernet connection that often goes down, shared between 4 people and our vacation schedule, I've not been on line much.)

blogs/LJ are, in the end, about personal journaling, ergo totally subjective and opinionated. It's just really sad that childish, tantrum-like behavior from someone reading her opinions would result in this. I totally understand that LJ management has to respect abuse reports... but what about when the abuse report system is used abusively by an individual? It's just silly.

I've signed the petition. I hope it helps. You can read about the situation and sign it at this link.

http://community.livejournal.com/kumicorps

Please spread the word.


ok, I have to log off now...