I admit that before I started writing this blog, I never read other bloggers. The reason was that I didn’t understand what I was reading. The websites I usually read were about specific topics. Articles began and ended. If I wanted to learn about sous vide cooking, I found material that explained what I wanted to know. On the other hand, Blogs seemed to expect that I had been reading posts for a while. The writers seemed to have less direction.

My decision to write The Male Chastity Journal was to let me provide information (see top menu) and journal my sexual adventures. I figured the informational pages would attract readers. I had no idea whether or not people would read the blog posts. Now, in our ninth year, I know. People read both. I suspect that the people who read the articles are different from folks reading our posts. I find myself avidly reading blogs that appeal to me.

What I needed to know before I began blogging is that bloggers have endless reasons they take the time to post. Creating and maintaining a good blog requires a lot of work. It’s not just about creating an online diary. Web design and site maintenance are tasks a blogger faces. It’s true that there are ISPs who do most of that work, but a really good blog is very individual and requires technical ability to make it work.

One assumption I made when Mrs. Lion and I started was that we would go back to review our past. I thought the blog would be a useful reference for us. I was wrong. Neither of us reads earlier posts. We always read current posts, but we don’t go back in time. I thought the ability to see our progress would be very useful. It isn’t. I should have realized that we are recording our lives. Our memories provide all the rewinding we need.

I also assumed that our readers were looking for insights that would help them explore their own kinks. I went out of my way to try to provide instructions. It seems that was a useful choice. What surprises me is that our regular readers enjoy hearing about our day-to-day adventures, even if they are completely off-topic.

Go figure.

Whether or not Mrs. Lion and I read back, we have provided a record of our lives since January 2014. Every single orgasm either of us has experienced is documented. Life events, good and bad, are also in our posts. We’ve strayed wildly. I suppose we would have more readers if we stuck to male submission and orgasm control. We consistently practice both. However, those practices don’t consume us. They are part of our marriage.

Our kinks don’t consume us. We don’t spend our days and nights in heat. Yes, I get spanked. The paddles come out quite often. When they do, I suffer a ten or fifteen-minute spanking. Then it’s over. It’s the same with sex. Mrs. Lion may spend a half-hour edging me. She may shove things up my ass and do other BDSM things to me. When she is done, it leaves 23 1/2 hours to fill with other stuff.

We spend that time doing what vanilla people do. We work and play in non-sexual ways. Surprised? Of course not! Our posts tend to center on the kinky, sexy stuff. That’s our charter. I think that once in a while, we need to remind our readers that we aren’t all about sex and paddles. I’m trying to write a novel. Mrs. Lion goes to work every morning. We have a young puppy who draws blood a lot more often than Mrs. Lion. We laugh and snuggle. We watch TV. And we keep you in the loop. That’s what makes this a blog and not another kind of website.

Willow is ten weeks old today. Lion says he thinks she’s teething. Ya think? I have bruises and tooth holes all over my hands and arms. She has also chomped down on my nipples, to Lion’s delight. Who knew we had a BDSM puppy? I’d put up with all the finger chewing if she would just sleep longer. I’m tired of the middle of the night pee runs and 5 or 5:30 “I’m awake, Mom!” This morning as I was getting ready for work and she was snoozing, I nudged her a few times to interrupt her sleep. Of course, she ignored me.

Lion was still feeling under the weather yesterday. I had my doctor’s appointment, went to Costco, had several months of dirt washed off the car, picked up prescriptions, and headed home with a Costco rotisserie chicken for dinner. He was hungry, so he ate it all. Only afterward did he tell me he hadn’t been feeling well. I figured if he couldn’t handle the chicken, we could always save it for tonight, but he was excited about it. Anyway, as he was dealing with another round of tummy blahs, I started feeling tummy blahs. I have no idea what caused mine. Aside from being tired, I was fine all day. Maybe we both need to go on one of those cleansing regimens. If there’s nothing in there, it can’t cause any problems.

Needless to say, with both of us feeling gross at one point or another, there hasn’t been any thoughts of sex. We’ve been holding hands while we watch TV. We’ve both been snoozing off and on. Aside from being chewed on and chasing the puppy from things she gets into, we’ve been pretty boring lately. Oh well. Things will pick up again soon, I’m sure.

I forgot Monday’s “just because” spanking entirely. I had so many other things to do when I got home, and it didn’t even cross my mind. I may even have had to move the spanking bench during my chores, and it didn’t jog my memory. It’s just as well. We weren’t feeling all that great, and it would make no sense to spank a sick Lion. Talk about kicking a man while he down. At this point, I think I’ll cancel Thursday’s. Even if Lion feels better, will he really be 100%? Will I? It makes more sense to cancel it. Besides, if I don’t cancel it, I’ll likely forget again. Although it’s basically the same thing, I think canceling is better than forgetting. I don’t know. It feels like I’m actively taking charge by canceling. Forgetting just feels like inertia is taking over. Unless we still feel yucky, the beatings will resume on Monday.

Monday was punishment day. It’s one of the two designated “just because” spanking days. I was in no shape for a spanking or any other activity. My stomach was acting up. We ended up having toast for dinner on Monday night and for breakfast Tuesday morning. I’m grateful that Mrs. Lion canceled the Monday night swats.

Since Mrs. Lion has become such a proficient spanker, my attraction to being spanked is tempered by the memory of just how much it hurts. Of course, that’s the whole idea. Spankings, even “just because” spankings, aren’t supposed to be anything but painful. I believe they are working. Mrs. Lion is testing different paddles and techniques. She is also willing to let me know that a spanking isn’t “just because” and has converted to punishment for annoying her.

I’m happy to see her doing that. It has always been nearly impossible for her to initiate a spanking for annoying her. It is much easier to assign an already-scheduled spanking to annoying her instead of “just because.” It’s disciplinary evolution. If experience is any indication, it won’t be long before she spanks me as dispassionately for annoying her as she does for me forgetting to set up the coffee pot. I suppose the next evolutionary disciplinary step is for Mrs. Lion to add five minutes to a scheduled spanking if I annoy her.

Speaking of the coffee pot, the “just because” spankings make me a lot more careful about remembering to set it up every day. The last time I forgot, it was on a “just because” spanking day. Mrs. Lion added five minutes to the ten-minute scheduled spanking. It was horrible. I don’t want that happening again anytime soon.

Mrs. Lion has always been happy to assist me in any way she can. I think that as she feels more willing to punish me when I upset her, she also feels more positive about doing things for me. She may not agree, but I detect a general lightness that wasn’t always there. It may be a kind of yin/yang energy exchange. It’s definitely increased honesty about how I affect her. She knows that I want her to punish me if I upset her. Now the twice-weekly “just because” spankings allow her to punish me without making a “special trip” to the spanking bench. We are both profiting.

A big part of caring for each other is being able to communicate annoyance without being passive-aggressive. Granted, paddling me is a long way from just growling. Experience has taught us that, without the recent memory of her paddle, a growl isn’t very effective for either of us. We have to accept that giving me a sore bottom is the best teacher for both of us.

Lion wasn’t feeling well yesterday. He hadn’t eaten all day, and I was looking for something very bland to feed him. I suggested toast. We’d had egg noodles the night before. Toast seemed like a good idea. Lion agreed and said it was actually just the right amount of food. I wasn’t feeling 100% either, but I’d eaten lunch. We had toast again this morning to be on the safe side.

To make matters worse, he tripped over a dog toy and fell. Of course, while he was on the floor, he was in the puppy realm, so she gave him kisses and thought it was great fun. He doesn’t think he landed on his knee, but his knee was sore. Every time he moved, he winced. Walking to and from the bathroom was a procedure.

I did some chores, played with the psycho puppy, and watched TV with Lion. He snoozed a bit, and we held hands. Even if it weren’t two days post-orgasm, I wouldn’t expect him to want sex. I know, sometimes sex can take your mind off of things. This would not have been one of those times. Given his stomach situation, he wasn’t asking for anything, but I don’t mind running to get him things when he’s hurt or sick. I like taking care of him.

This afternoon I have a doctor’s appointment, and then I’m running to Costco. I don’t know when I’ll make it home, but I’m pretty sure he won’t want any sexual attention tonight either. Dinner will probably be something plain again. That’s fine with me. I’ll go with whatever works for him. If he’s fine, we can be a little more adventurous. I doubt his knee will be back to normal. I get another night of taking care of him. Lucky me. No, really. I am lucky.