Speed Camera

I guess I had a “eureka” moment the other day when I came up with my penny idea. I’m not sure why it took me so long to figure out that if I want Lion to have rewards, I just have to give them to him rather than give him the option to take them. To a point, I understand his point of view. If he decides when to get a reward, then he has a certain amount of power.

However, if I want to give him a reward, there’s no guarantee he’ll be receptive to it. Well, that all depends on the reward. I don’t think he’ll ever turn down the chance to not be punished for gaining weight. He might turn down an orgasm if he isn’t in the mood, but never a punishment reprieve. So I just have to make sure the rewards are something he wants no matter what.

I have to decide how many pennies Lion has to have to earn a reward. Should it be different for each reward? Does a punishment reprieve on a regular punishment night cost more or less than a punishment reprieve for not losing weight? Of course, I’ve only thought of those two rewards so far. There may be more as we go along. And we’ll have to see how fast he accumulates (and loses) pennies. If I decide he needs ten pennies to avoid the gaining weight punishment, but he never gets there, we’ll be done before we start. What happens if he has one penny and is rude to me? Can the balance ever go negative?

Rules are frustrating. Not just for the recipient. The rule maker has to figure out every angle. Not that Lion will try to find a loophole. There are just a lot of “what if”s. And then I have to keep my eyes open. It’s not like I have a speed camera that will snap a picture of Lion being rude and automatically mail him a ticket. Wouldn’t that be a great invention, though? Nah. It would take the personal investment out of the equation.

Naturally, Lion and I will work through the details and when we find something missing, we’ll try to fix it. Nothing we’ve tried has worked out perfectly the first time around. Isn’t that part of the fun of doing it?