NEEHU5: Intro-ish

NEEHU5. My second year. A lot has changed... but my excitement remains. As the date approaches, it transforms once again from “that thing on the calendar that you had to pull teeth at work to get time off for” to a real, genuine, happening-oh-my-god thing. The internets are abuzz and it's easy to get intimidated and caught up in the undertow, simultaneously. So many familiar faces and usernames, all to be in one place. My pulse races when I check the group postings.

I miss all of you.

And all of this.

Since last year, I've done very little hypnosis as compared to all the Other Stuff I've been up to. I haven't had the time, and quite frankly, Other Stuff has been quenching certain thirsts for the time being.

My play partnership with DaSade was going strong through NEEHU4 but blossomed into a capital-R Relationship (and spread to include his wife, cckitten) in November. We have been exploring and bonding for the past few months, and to my pleasant surprise, the two of them would be attending NEEHU5 (perhaps not entirely without my influence, if unintended).

DaSade is not into hypnosis. The play we do together is heavily psychological, which is part of why we work so well together, but hypnosis is not something he was interested in. His reasons for going to the conference were to learn, to be able to converse with me and others, and to see where that took him.

Cckitten was new to everything as well, but she and I had already talked about me hypnotizing her. I had spent the past couple months teasing her about just when that was going to happen, setting up her expectations and playing with her anticipation. And of course a healthy amount of conditioning.

The week prior, I set up a trigger with her as a mutual gift for DaSade's birthday, which just so happened to be the Thursday of NEEHU5.

But that was the extent of our experience with hypnosis as a triad. I was really looking forward to introducing them to my community. I take pride in my trancey people. I wanted to show this group of people off to my chosen family, and conversely, show off my relationship to my community.

A mixing of worlds, flavored by the thrill of new and old friends, and the one topic in this world for which my passion runs the deepest.

DaSade and cc, meet hypnosis. Hypnosis, meet my couple.

Let's do this.

NEEHU 4: Thursday

NEEHU 4: Thursday

This series will be my magnum opus of kink.

This post is preceded chronologically by the prologue.

Only posted 3 months later, almost to the day... I'm looking at you, people that joked it would be a 6 month wait!

–

Thursday, March 14^th, 9:30 pm

–

I pull into a spot at the hotel and scramble for my phone, hastily, even as I put the car into park.

First, I text SpiralTurquoise (Spiral! Who-was-the-first-person-I-ever-really-talked-to!) to tell him that I'm there. He had texted me when he arrived.

And then I shuffle through my contacts, press the “call” button, and Mephki (Mephki! Who-runs-the-con-and-who-I-haven't-seen-in-a-year!) says, “suite 611,” after we exchange hellos. So I drag my luggage out of my backseat, fumbling with the keys when I go to lock the door. The wheels of my suitcase bump merrily against the pavement as I set off, and my pace threatens to throw it off course.

I'm here. The night air is chilly, but the hotel looming above me promises warmth.

NEEHU 4: Aftershocks

(Posted a bit later over here. Relevant more to attendees, but relevant nonetheless.)

I need to write something quick before I start on properly logging this weekend.

As I type, it's 3:00 am on Monday morning, and I'm sitting in my bed at home (which is both at home and also a bed, two things that I had forgotten existed). I have gotten about 11 hours of sleep in the last 3 days. I haven't gone to bed yet.

I want to express gratitude and joy to an immeasurable amount of people, but I know that as soon as I thank anyone, I will forget someone.

(But I absolutely have to say thank you to all of the Society members who open, close, clean, cook for, and tend to the space that I've grown to love so much. The members who do that every weekend. I got a very condensed experience of doing all of that, and I have taken the work that you all do for granted. So thank you, and keep on rocking this place. Enlist me for help if you ever need it.)

--

But this isn't a "thank-you" post. This is a "NEEHU 4 is over" post. This is a "holy shit, there's a world outside of the hypnokink community?!" post. This is a "so... when's NEEHU 5 again?" post.

I hate to sound cliche (not really), but it was pretty much everything I dreamed it would be, and more. I got to provide service to the community (my community) in what felt like very significant ways by cooking for everyone; by opening and setting up and closing down the space for everyone.

And of course, there was the con itself, and yes, how incredible and exciting that was. Panels and lectures abound. The atmosphere. The feeling of openness and camaraderie and just being plain comfortable in my own skin. Quite literally, in many cases. I got to meet and talk to and even trance with people I very, very much admire, whether I've known their names for years or for days. I got to soak in the expertise of community leaders; I never stopped learning and listening.

It was an honor. Everything. Every moment, from slicing cucumbers to discussing hypnokinky issues and theory, to speaking on a panel, to streaking down the hall with my partner in crime, to showing up an hour early to clean, to having my brain messed with by some of those I quite look up to.

--

It's 3:18 am now. This bed feels too much like a bed. This apartment feels too unlike a hotel room. I miss my friends. I want to get breakfast with all of you tomorrow and make thinly-veiled trancey innuendo when perhaps we really shouldn't.

Goodnight everyone. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. But I'm sure you didn't.

NEEHU 4: A Retrospective Prologue

Two years ago, after some years of on-and-off lurking erotic hypnosis groups and mind control porn sites, I stumbled upon the existence of something called “NEEHU”, where pervy people – just like me – got together for a weekend of trancey fun. I was familiar with the “big names”; all of the well-known internet handles I knew would go and congregate for this one event.

I said to myself, after reading various accounts and downloading some new hypnotic mp3, “Hey, maybe someday you'll go and have a grand old time. Maybe someday you'll meet all these people; maybe someday you'll be able to talk about this weird interest of yours.” It was a fantasy back then – and indeed I treated it as such, writing small, personal stories about what visiting an erotic hypnosis convention/conference would be like, thinking about how much fun that would be. Some small part of me knew I'd never actually go. How could I? I was going to take this secret to my grave. And then I went back to MCStories to schlick to my heart's content.

But here's the thing:

NEEHU 4 is in just a few days.

I am on the attendee list.

I am going to be volunteering to help with the con.

I will be speaking at a panel.

...I think back on these last two years fondly; I think of how far I've come in such a short amount of time; how many people I've had the good fortune to meet and play with; how much I've been able to accomplish, as a subject and a 'tist, in Real Life. It's humbling beyond belief.

And I think back on that young, terrified girl, not able to even say the word “hypnosis” without stuttering and blushing, and I just smile, and think of how lucky I am.

NEEHU 4 is in a few days. NEEHU 4 is held at the dungeon I've been frequenting for the last half of a year. NEEHU 4 is being set up by someone I've met and scened with. NEEHU 4 is going to be attended by many people I've met, online and offline.

I am truly blessed.

I am beyond ecstatic.

Expect updates.

- sg