GKE 2013

Hello readers! I hope you are enjoying the crispy cool Fall weather and all the fun holidays and events that come at this time of year. Halloween, Hallowmas, Pumpkin Picking, Thanksgiving, NaNoWriMo...and GKE! 

GKE stands for Geeky Kink Event. It's a convention held in New jersey and New England (I went to the one in Jersey), where adults who love kink and all things nerdy can gather together for a weekend of science, nerdiness and debauchery.  

I actually went to GKE last year and had a fairly good time. I went with my primary partner Mike, and we stayed in a hotel room with friends. Which was fun, but slightly awkward at moments. We had made plans to stay with a couple we sort of knew, but between planning and the con they broke up and we ended up with the girl and her new bf we had never met before. There was also a matter of a lack of privacy since we had a small room with two beds.

The con itself takes place inside a hotel. they turn the big conference rooms into class rooms and the big party space is transformed into a fantastic dungeon with suspension setups, St Andrews crosses, cages and even a medical play area. last year, despite buying a fair amount of expensive new toys, we never made it to the play space and barely used them in the room we had. 

This year was a bit different. We knew no one there (friends all backed out for various reasons) so we had all the time in the world to do anything we wanted. Which meant sitting in on some advanced classes (violet wand play, fire play) and then getting to try it out. My favorite thing was the fireplay we tried out. Here is the set up. I woke up that morning and drank a good amount of water and shaved my legs from toe to thigh very thoroughly. When we got to the dungeon I grabbed a massage table and laid out some medical pads. Then we plugged in the solid state wand we have and set up our fire play equipment.  

The fire play stuff we have is pretty simple. the torches we use are a small piece of wood wrapped with gauze and then set with a sleeve of finger gauze (all easily and cheaply bought). The ignition fluid is simple rubbing alcohol. For normal fire play 70% is used, but for this technique we used 91%, which ignites easier, but also burns much hotter. The alcohol is put in a small pyrex dish so the torches can soak. Two is all you need and they can be reused. 

Next you need a towel, a fire extinguisher (just in case) and some water (you might get a bit warm and thirsty). I laid out on the table and Mike used the torches to spread a bit of alcohol on me, careful not to let it puddle or drip all over. Then, using the violet wand and a metal tip, he ignited it by holding the wand a few centimeters from my skin and allowing it to arc and spark. The flames are very hot and spread pretty fast so Mike had to follow right after with his hands, smothering the flame and spreading the warm feeling around. 

it's a very nice feeling to me. the spark is a sharp, sticking kind of shock and the flames and warm and soothing but also keep you a bit on edge because, you know, you're on fire. The alcohol is rather cold too, so add in that sensation and you have a good idea of what it was like.

I also got to wear some cute outfits! Most were a bit nsfw, but my Starfleet uniform was so much fun to wear! I have the red engineering jumpsuit, and I was a petty officer first class while Mike took the place as Riker.