The obligatory birthday post

So today marks the 36th anniversary of when I came kicking and screaming into this world. I’ve been thinking a great deal about just what to write about today. With every passing year it seems like I am sure of less and less, seeing more shades of gray in the world and that knowledge, that I really don’t need to have all the answers, is pretty gratifying actually.

Here is a list of things, in no particular order, that I have learned about myself and the world I live in this year.

1) All things, be they relationships, business plans or my own personal approach to SM, must evolve or it will stagnate and die.
2) I get more peace and sense of clarity on the saddle of a motorcycle than from any shrink’s couch or church pew.
3) Fear is the mind killer
4) No one is as prejudiced or quick to condemn your actions as your own flesh and blood.
5) Conversely, “Family” is not what you are born with; rather what you choose it to be.
6) Under the right circumstances and by select individuals, I rather enjoy being addressed as “Daddy”
7) When it comes to my SM play, I have a penchant for the unconventional (hats, doughnuts, boy scout uniforms, bowling balls & so on and so on) get used to it.
8) My partners, Tambo and Dancer, out class, out shine and continue to amaze me every day. I'm blessed to be loved so much by them.
9) The human body is more than just a transport mechanism for our brains, rather it is a fantastic machine capable of amazing things.
10) There will always be imitators, one must be the innovator.
11) I lack the discipline needed to write a weekly column.
12) For the first time in my life, I can do pull-ups. Lots of them.
13) Honorable samurai and secret European houses did not write our history; rather it was born in back alleys and leather bars by pornographers, queers and sexual outlaws. We should celebrate this rather than attempt to re-imagine it.
14) Success is not measured annual sales, number of employees or competitors out paced; but rather by the quality of those who choose inhabit your life.
15) I suck at lists

Of course, then what do I wish to accomplish in the next year?
1) Double the size of my company, again (4th year in a row!)
2) Offer affordable health benefits to my employees
3) Learn to take time off and enjoy the fruits of my successes
4) Make peace with my family
5) Spend more time with those who love me.