Eric Northman

For me the term seems fairly accurate. It's not a lifestyle. It's just something I do for fun occasionally and most terms and descriptions of 'us' are pretty negative and derogatory. Hobbyist seems fairly innocuous and I think if you were to look back you'd see that it arose precisely to have a term to call ourselves that doesn't make us sound like like criminal perverts. As has been said above, you're welcome to come up with a better term but I, for one, prefer having a little code that we use here that won't be part of the general vernacular.

Fun story. I was actually in Waterloo when all that Gillian Jacobs stuff went down. We went to the rallies and were getting quite rowdy. The police were trying to keep order and the crowd was hemming them in, rocking their squad cars, etc. Lots of topless women around. Great fun for a young guy at the time.

I get that a lot of guys are jerks but sometimes you ladies seem to get pretty prickly about perceived offenses. Perhaps this gentleman was not asking for a discount on his first session but was curious to know if there could be a discount if you and he happened to establish a regular relationship. I know discounts are a huge taboo/turn off but then again, you ladies also love to have regulars and it's absolutely not unprecedented in the business world to provide loyalty rewards to valued customers. I've definitely heard of arrangements where one pays for a number of sessions up front at a slightly better rate. Say normal rate is 220 but if you buy 5 in advance it costs $1000 so $200 each. Good deal for everyone. You get money up front and he gets to know his next 5 sessions are locked in at a good rate. Anyway, none of my business how y'all run yo' bidness but I sometimes feel like some of you are so ready to be offended that innocent (albeit ignorant) questions from guys who perhaps don't know any better get you all pissed off. I suppose in this profession it's better to be safe than sorry but I'll tell you, this thread definitely can make you feel like you're walking on eggshells.

Yeah, it COULD be coincidence but I'm inclined to suspect much more sinister explanations. Funny thing happened again just yesterday. Wife had sent me some information from work on some very specific home renovation materials. Searched for it and mailed from her work computer. Later in the evening, she's looking at her Facebook and calls me over. "Hey, these are those things I was looking at when I was at work. How the heck are they showing up in my Facebook timeline?" I ask her if she uses Facebook at work and she says no. I ask, "Never?" and she says that she may have logged in at some point in the past. So yeah, it's using tracking cookies and doing sneaky shit that's breaking browser security. Count on it. http://lifehacker.com/5843969/facebook-is-tracking-your-every-move-on-the-web-heres-how-to-stop-it Consider that SO many websites have little 'like' buttons and what not for Facebook and friends. Every one of those can notice that you've arrived and report back to FB that you've been there.

I remember something (cartoon? TV Show?) where two CIA officers were talking. First officer: "It used to be so much work to gather all this information on people. Trailing them, stealing documents, hacking their computers. Who knew people would just give it all to us without asking?" Second officer: "Yep. Facebook is definitely the most successful program we've ever run." So to clarify for those who feel I shouldn't be surprised, the reason I'm surprised is this. I work in high-tech and I'm pretty familiar with how all this stuff works and I was being VERY careful to keep my identities separate. Not to the extent of using TOR but still, pretty careful. As far as I know, there is no 'legal' mechanism by which Facebook could have gotten that info. By legal I mean, "based on the rules of how browsers operate" as far as cookies and other information. So that means either they're doing something very sneaky under the covers or they have some VERY clever correlation/inference type data mining going on to link seemingly unrelated data together. Either way, it creeps me out. Fuck Zuckerberg.

So wanna hear a strange story? I'm pretty careful to keep my hobby and 'real' personas separate. Separate emails, phones, always use incognito browsing mode, etc. Should be no real link between them. I have a Facebook profile as my 'real' self but because of privacy concerns, there is almost literally nothing on it. No friends other than my wife, no photo, data, anything. I use it for a few sports related groups and that's it. Every now and then Facebook sends messages saying, "Hey, do you know these people?" Mostly they're people that the wife knows, sometimes it's based on searches I did while logged in, sometimes it's just hilariously random. Well, the other day, I got one of these and thought to myself, "hey, she totally looks familiar". Well I clicked on her profile and what do you know? It's someone I've seen before from here. And there she is, real name, pics of her on vacation with family and kids, etc. So one of two things has happened. Either Facebook is using some form of shady data mining bullshit, reading cookies, bypassing incognito mode, whatever or it's just a wild coincidence. Considering her and I have nothing in common other than the one encounter, I'm inclined to distrust 'coincidence' as an explanation but man, I can't imagine what kind of connect the dots games are being played out behind the scenes. Keep your identities guarded my friends. Someone got outed to me and I wasn't even trying. Imagine if someone was actually stalking you?

I just saw Stacy again and it seems like each time we meet it gets better. She is warm and sweet and sexy and we just seem to click on every level. I don't know what else to tell you. I wish I could keep her for myself but you guys would be totally missing out if you didn't go see her. What are you waiting for?

I saw her a few months back. Not sure why I didn't leave a reco since I usually do. Must have forgotten. She's lovely, gives great service, fantastic body, pretty good location although a bit far from downtown. All in all, I had a great time.

I would make an argument that the main reason for offering any sort of discount is to increase volume. Ladies set prices such that they are achieving close to their desired volume. When a lady offers a 'special', I imagine it would usually be to increase volume. Another reason for specials is to attract new clientele. This is where the notion of targeted advertisement (student rates, seniors discount) can be used to cherry-pick the demographic of clientele you wish to attract. The general consensus around here seems to be that young men tend to be more problematic than older ones so there's really no motivation for a student discount. They neither wish to increase the volume of young men visiting or attract young men as new clientele. Based on the general preference for older and regular clients I could potentially see motivation for a seniors discount but again, as others have pointed out, logistic concerns abound. Certainly the notion of discounts for regulars could be used as a way to both establish and keep regular clients if that's what someone would like to do. Doesn't devalue the ladies service but rather serves as a 'loyalty rewards program' to show regular clients that they are appreciated.

The only 'discount' I've ever heard of offered by an SP (aside from promotional prices) is the notion of a 'retainer' type arrangement whereby you pay for a bunch of sessions in advance but get a premium rate. So if the normal rate was $250 an hour, she might say "Pay for 5 sessions in advance and I'll charge $220/hr". Not sure how viable that is in general but I could see where a well trusted and established provider might offer something like that to valued regulars.

Signed and tweeted. Elections should be won, not stolen.

You have to do that intermittently...if you do it constantly how will you go to the bathroom? :-P

Ooh, one other thing that was interesting on a slightly related note. There was a study done where it was found that fasting before chemotherapy prevented a significant amount of white blood cell loss. Additional Comments: Agreed but I definitely got used to it. I don't mind food, cooking or thinking about it when fasting at all anymore. True enough. We tend to only eat dinner together so it's not as big a problem for me. For a long time I just did two fasts per week which was pretty easy to map into my lifestyle.

Well, I certainly wouldn't postulate that any given thing works for all people. Keep in mind, however, I'm talking about a very specific method of fasting, not starving oneself. There is a fair bit of science and research behind this dating back to the 50s. Humans never evolved to eat constantly and would have spent much of the time in a fasting state so our bodies can clearly handle it. Big difference between the starving state which happens after multiple days or weeks of little or no food vs. a short term fast. In any event, this is not opinion or conjecture but rather something that works for a great many people and has solid research behind it. I'm just sharing it because it works for me and has seemed to work for a number of people to whom I've recommended it.

In case any of you struggle with your weight, I thought I'd share something that works for me. I think it's becoming more popular lately but as someone who's been doing it for going on 4 years, I have a bit of experience. As we all know, dieting and losing weight is hard. Many (all?) diets seem to work initially but are hard to maintain, leading to cycles of yo-yo weight gain. Around 4 years ago I was reading up on the health benefits of calorie restriction and I thought I'd give it a try. Over the course of about 3 months I lost 25 pounds and now, almost 4 years later, I've continually been within about a 5 pound range of that target weight. The nicest thing about it is that I've not had any difficulty and have never needed to give up any of the foods I like to eat. There is a beginners guide that gives a lot more information but the summary is, the benefits are much greater than simple weight loss. There are health and longevity effects as well such as improved insulin sensitivity and potentially lower cancer risk. In fact, the National Institute of Health says, "Caloric restriction (CR) is the only experimental nongenetic paradigm known to increase lifespan." That's right, the ONLY proven way to live longer. My current schedule is alternate day fasting. There are lots of ways to do it and I've done quite a few variations over the years but this is the one I've settled on and found easiest. It works like this. Every second day, I skip breakfast and lunch. That's it. 24 hour fast ever 48 hours. So you think, "Not eating for 24 hours? That sounds really hard." Well, it's not EASY but it gets easier the more you do it. Compare that to dieting. You have to stop eating particular foods or count points or some other type of discipline. Long term. All the time. It gets harder and harder. You start to crave carbs. Or a juicy steak. Or you slip up and forget to count your points. With this method, I simply don't eat. It's actually easier because all of a sudden, there's a few meals a week I don't have to think about. Don't need to buy or cook anything; don't need to plan or shop. Just don't eat. So now I'm thinner and have more energy and generally feel healthier than I ever have. I try to eat well on my feeding days but you know what? If I feel like pigging out on a poutine, I don't beat myself up because I know I've got headroom and besides, I'll just be fasting the next day anyway. It's so easy that I even do it on vacations. No more coming back from the all-inclusive 10 pounds up and hating yourself. Anyway, long story short, if you struggle with your weight or simply want to try to be healthier, consider intermittent fasting. It's working for me.

Hey all, I'm just venting. Truth is, I don't have anyone in my life to talk to about this sort of thing so you guys are pretty much all there is. Question my motives all you want but I'm telling you, I just came here for some support. I found it very stressful and upsetting and it really ruined my day. I was in a rotten mood for the entire rest of the day and something that would normally made me feel better and relaxed actually gave me knots in my stomach. I'm not knocking the lady and I'm certainly not naming names. This is in no way a negative review. She was cheerful and professional and there was nothing wrong with the service. I just hate that business model. I've never encountered it before so I didn't know that it was something that I had to look out for. Now I know so I was simply sharing my learning experience. Yes, I understand, the blame is mostly on me for not doing my research but everyone fucks up some times and sometimes you just need a hug after you fall down. So in conclusion, ease the fuck up okay? This is a community and it's shrinking all the time because everyone seems to be so quick to jump on people if they say anything the slightest bit out of line with their own world view.

So just when you think you're an experienced hobbyist and don't have anything to learn. I made a mistake today. Rookie mistake in some ways but it seemed like it was going to work out at least at first. I booked VERY last minute, spur of the moment, but she was advertising here so it seemed like it should be fine. Arrive, very nice, sexy lady. I present an envelope and have a shower because that's just how I roll and then we start with the making out. This is going really well; looks like a good time will be had. But then I say something along the lines of, "Hey, you wanna do [insert innocuous activity here]" where said activity is some pretty normal foreplay stuff and really not out of the ordinary. "Oh, that's extra." "Uh....what?" "Yes, that's [insert dollar amount here] extra." Well now I'm in a pickle because I'm both horny AND confused. "So," I ask, "What other things are extra?" There was a bit of a language barrier here so it was a bit of a tough conversation but the short answer seemed that pretty much everything was an add-on. I was completely thrown for a loop. I didn't know what I could do, what not to do, etc. Very off-putting. In any event, it really ruined it for me. I'm quick off the draw the first time around so I generally count on being able to have at a couple goes in the course of an hour booking. I could just see the whole thing becoming a boondoggle so in the end, I took my one shot as quickly as possible and left her with the full hour rate. Really disappointed because I could never relax and enjoy anything about the experience. So all you ladies who do the whole girlfriend thing? Just keep doing what you're doing. A lot of ads say things like, "I don't like to discuss menu items but prefer to let an encounter flow naturally." Well I'm with you on that. This approach was a total mood wrecker for me and this is my lesson of the day. Do a bit more research and figure out what you're getting into. I understand that this is a job. I truly get the fact that the reason these encounters happen at all is because money is involved. As much as I'd like to be able to get with tons of beautiful women purely on the strength of my good looks and charm, that's just not the reality of it. The transaction aspect of this fades, however, when an envelope changes hands at the beginning and then everyone can just relax and enjoy each other. A constant reminder, a hand held out, feeling like I'm with a vending machine rather than a woman...wow. Not for me.

I feel like there could be an argument for an assault charge there. Some precedent in Canada for that sort of thing in the case of people with HIV knowingly having unprotected sex without informing partners. You did not agree to sex without a condom therefore taking it off without consent should meet the definition of assault.

Might want to go with an Asian agency...a lot of those girls are hella tiny.

Dammit Summer. I was supposed to be a special butterfly. ;-)

This is so important. When I started out, I used to put so much pressure on myself to get a lady off, I'm sure that it came across. I've had much better success now that I don't worry about it so much. Probably because I don't stress her out with expectations. I do my best, try to read her mood and body, apply what I've learned in the past and hope that it works out for her. I never worry too much if I don't succeed though because really, it's never 100% on you. It takes two to tango and a lady is just as much responsible for her own O as you are. Keep in mind, pleasure is a feedback loop. If you're feeling good and showing it, she will respond to that as well.

No replies from the ladies but I suppose it's possible this has been answered before in another thread. I'd do a search if I were you. From my experience, the ladies you will meet are, quite simply, women. Sometimes they have Os, sometimes they don't. It depends on their mood, their attraction to you, your skill as a lover and so on. I've had many encounters where both sides have had 'release' but I've had just as many where it was more one sided. I think that the normal rules apply. Take your time, foreplay, read her body language and look for clues to what feels good. When in doubt, ask. I almost always ask ladies about favorite positions and what works best for them. Again, they're human. One gets off doggy style, another likes to grind in cowgirl. Some can get there via oral, some not so much. And some simply enjoy it without ever hitting the O at all but that doesn't mean she didn't have a good time. Treat a woman like a woman and things will happen as they do.

Hannah Star is pretty tiny. Certainly no taller than 5'

Finally got to see Stacy again and as always, just fantastic. I mentioned in my last reco that she's my first 'regular' and I'm really beginning to appreciate the value of that. We're comfortable with each other, communicate well and are able to explore new things together that are only possible with the extra intimacy coming from familiarity. She's a beautiful woman who is great to spend time with. Get to know her and you won't regret it.