Having not had any meaningful time off from work in some time I thought I’d take a few days off and spend some time in Vancouver and pop over to the Sagacity birthday bash. I’ve never been before so I thought I would check it out; Jim & Usha, who were presenters, there also kindly offered to share their room with us which was a fantastic deal.
I flew out on the Wednesday to spend some time with friends in Vancouver (including Jim & Usha who I would be sharing a room with at Sagacity). Wednesday was fun, my Vancouver friends had an X-Box and we ended up playing Rock Star on it. That + the stupid amount of liquor I consumed made for a fun evening.
Thursday was a chance to spend some time with Jim & Usha. We borrowed a car from our hosts and I was shown around the part of town where he grew up. We went for a walk in Stanley park and also had a walk in a park where his mothers ashes were scattered. I felt pretty privileged to have him share this with me and it’s always interesting to see where people are from and what their childhood was like. He was less than impressed at the state of his childhood home back yard however!! Apparently the tree-house/fort and other parts of his growing up were all gone and the back yard did look to be in pretty rough shape.
We took the ferry over to Victoria on the Friday morning sans most of our luggage which the partner of our gracious Vancouver host was going to bring over that evening (and boy did we hear about that). The Sagacity folks took care of our transport to the hotel which was nice. My girlfriend, who met us at the hotel, also received the same hospitality by being picked up from the airport by the Sagacity organizers. It was a reasonably scenic drive to Victoria and the island is very green! I’ve never been on the island before (except on the way to the location of the Vancouver hook pull (another posting which I should really finish!) which was on Saltspring island in the summer) so it was all new and interesting to me.
We went for a bit of a wander around Victoria after we arrived. The one thing it reminded me of the most was my time in the UK as it had a very English feel to it. The wide sidewalks in the town centre and the shops. Unexpected but a very pleasant wander and brought back some memories of times past for me personally.
The Friday night was a social/dance/demo combo in the main ballroom (the layout of the ballroom was really good, I like the 2 levels it had). Jim staying with was doing a demo that night on fire flogging which I was looking forward to. He asked me to help out so I took the job of lighting the floggers after they were soaked in camping fuel and just watching out for anything that may happen. He started by doing some basic flogging on my girlfriend who was the demo bottom for this and that went well. The time came to do the fire flogging and when he was ready so I lit his floggers and was hit with a wall of heat from the flames. He then started his Florentine flogging with them and it was an awesome sight to behold. He is a pretty imposing figure to start with being 6′4″ and pretty heavily built but with the addition of the huge flames he was wielding, the whooshing as they went by and the wall of heat I could feel from being so close was truely an amazing sight to say the least. Unfortunately it was cut short as he set off the fire alarms in the hotel which was disappointing to say the least. I am just glad the sprinklers were not activated as that would have been a disaster. The demo had to stop and we managed to get the floggers out (usually you just use them until the fuel is used up but we had to put them out quickly as there was clearly no point in continuing). We managed to get them out and just waited to see what would come of this. The fire department showed up and then came in and had a look around and talked to the organizers to see what was the problem then left (which probably disappointed the uniform fetishists in the crowd as I am sure firemen were more than welcome). It was amusing to see as they left and walked up the stairs out of the ballroom that they were shaking their heads. I guess this was probably an explanation they had not heard before and probably did not know what to make of it. I’m sure looking around the ballroom they probably got a good idea of what was going on though. You never know, some of them may be back as participants next year 
This brings me to another point. I overheard conversations over the weekend that were aimed towards this demo and I was not happy to hear the vitriol that was aimed towards my friend. “What was he thinking”, “he didn’t even touch her with the floggers”, etc. Folks, this was an organized DEMO that was fully sanctioned and approved by Sagacity. If you have a problem with it take it up with them as he was given the green light to do it and Sagacity even ran out and purchased the fuel prior to the demo (which was why it was a bit late). The comments about “he wasn’t even touching her” struck me as equally uninformed. Think about what he was doing! Do you think his line of sight or vision is the best with 2 huge flames whooshing by your head? He was working his way closer to the target being sure of his aim when the alarm went off so never got a chance to complete what he was doing. Some people really amaze (and disappoint) me.
We spent the rest of Friday meeting new people and checking out the venue. Lots of interesting people and I was looking forward to the workshops on the Saturday!
Saturday workshops. I spent the day dressed en femme as well which is a nice thing to be able to do at these events. I attended a full set of workshops and enjoyed them all.
The first workshop I went to was “Esoteric Caning” with Master Konrahd & Slave Melissa. I found it quite interesting and it whetted my appetite for learning how to use a cane a bit more. It’s not something I’ve really considered too much in the past but this made it much more accessible to me so I will be looking into it in the future with interest.
The second workshop I attended was “BDSM: The Limits of Consent” with Sir Henrik. I know Henrik from Edmonton (he was the one who did the legal work for when I bought my house) and I enjoyed his presentation very much. It was a very stimulating discussion on what you can/can’t consent to and he gave a couple of legal cases from the past for people to look at and judge what they think the right outcome would be. The real results of the cases were revealed afterwards and highlights the fact that justice is indeed blind (but is getting better).
The next workshop was the one given by my friend Louise titled “SM – A contact sport?” where she gave a demo into punching, slapping and kicking. It was pretty intense watching her go to work on her stunt bottom Rowa and but quite enjoyable. She plays HARD and I look forward to a session with her at some point in the future (ok grrrrrrfriend?).
The fourth session I attended was with Ruby Slippers entitled “Damsel in Dis-Dress” and it was just good fun. It was a chance to learn about and work on some burlesque moves and I can now make my hips move The presenter was a blast and it was very much an interactive workshop which made a nice change.
The last workshop I went to was Elwood’s “The Cup Runneth Over”. It was a workshop on using a cupping set and all the fun and games you can have with that. I’ve seen most this content before but anything Elwood presents will be entertaining and is worth a look. The cup on the wound he created with the blood-jello-o it produced was particularly cool.
A large group of us wandered into Victoria after the workshops for some dinner. We went to this awesome noodle/Asian restaurant (something like the Wok Box in Edmonton but it’s name escapes me right now) and had a bite to eat. The downside to wearing full makeup is you need to avoid the super spicy dishes as sweating really doesn’t enhance your looks!
The evening was the play party and social. I enjoyed a cigar with Jim and had a hot play session with my girlfriend and we ended up in Elwood’s room drinking Tequila till a stupidly late hour. A top evening all and all.
Sunday, the day after, as always was a bit more subdued. The flight home and saying goodbye to the friends you’ve made is always a bit sad. We had a nice breakfast in the Hotel with Elwood and his partner along with Konrhad and Melissa. I had a chance to talk to Konrhad a few times over the weekend and I always enjoy my conversations with him. He is one of the most intelligent people I’ve met and he can converse on many topics at a very high level. If you get a chance for a one on one chat with him I say go for it. He also gave Jim & I a couple of cigars to enjoy. His taste in cigars is really good (and expensive). I don’t know much about cigars but I’ve certainly enjoyed the ones I have had with him and it’s something I’ve been looking into as an occasional treat.
The Fishes (Sagacity organizers) gave us the fare to take the hotel shuttle bus to the airport. I think this was a wonderful gesture well above what was required and it was definately noted. I don’t know if all out of town guests receive this treatment or if it was because I was travelling as a companion as one of the speakers but it was a very kind gesture.
One of my jobs as a Lupercalia organizer is to attend an event or two each year to check out speakers and see how they are run. There were some nice things about Sagacity that I think would be good take home lessons for us. Their run books were 1st class. I especially like the Fridge Magnet supplied; that’s a nice touch. I did find the signupsheets for the classes a bit odd as they did not seem to be enforced in any fashion and the sign up board for the play party I had mixed feelings about. Yes, it’s good to book a spot so you know when “you’re on” but it also gives you a fixed time limit. When you start a scene I think having a fixed time limit is quite limiting as you don’t know where it will take you. I know when I start a scene I don’t have a time frame in mind and you just play it by ear. You lay out your toys and you might use them all or you just might use your hands the whole session; who knows? I did like the H’odeurves that were served during the meet and greet on the Friday; that was a touch of class.
The demographics of the attendees seemed to be different to the Edmonton community. Overall it seemed like it was a slightly younger crowd which gave it a slightly different energy.
All and all a good weekend. Would I attend another Sagacity birthday bash or recommend it to my friends? YES!
I really enjoyed getting to spend an extended period of time with you and show you around my home town. It was great sharing the Birthday Bash with you as well. Hopefully this becomes an annual treat, but without the fire alarms.
Thanks for the write up – gives a nice idea for those of us who weren’t able to be there but were hoping to go (and will hopefully go next year instead!)
Dawn
Louise’s “SM – A Contact Sport” workshop was one of the best at Lupercalia last year. She was knowledgeable, informative, and did a great job of keeping everybody’s attention with humor, anecdotes, etc.
Re: The timelimit on playing. This was actually one of my issues (which I’m told several others have already addressed with organizers via email after the event was over) with the play party at Luper last year. Myself and my Sir were standing around for a good 20 minutes in the play area, chatting with a DM and waiting for a spot to open up until we eventually decided to just play against the wall. Yes, play parties give people an opportunity to play with equipment that they otherwise don’t have access to or can’t afford; however, I think it’s still important to be considerate of others.
Cheers & Best wishes… Your blog is an informative look at the pansexual D/s world that I otherwise don’t really have access to.
cgylthrboy –> Thanks for your kind words. I still have mixed feelings on time limits at play parties. I can see both sides of the argument as, like you, I’ve ended up on the ‘waiting for people to finish’ side of the coin. Just going for it and using the wall is a good solution though! Like Louise’s workshop sometimes what you are with there and now is sufficient!
Dahling,
Little late response but I just came to your blog. It was great seeing you in my neck of the woods and spent time with all of you where we just had time to hang out!
I know the time limit thing is a bit odd. I prefer not to have one as I usually disappear into my bubble where time does not even exist. I also don*t have a plan in mind when I start and just see what happens with the energy and the spot I have available.
On the flip side…. It does give everyone a chance to use certain equipment or finally do a scene they can*t do somewhere else.
Can*t wait to see you in February. Can*t wait to create the oppurtunity to play.
Love ya
Louise
* have fists, will travel*