First Day At BiCon

Yesterday, of course, was our first “full day” at BiCon, and it made the difference in terms of feeling welcome and “at home.”

Claire and I went to a couple of welcome-y workshops: Start Here! and Getting To Know You! The timetable’s pretty well organised because despite there being up to 6 activities on at any given time, few people seem to have “clashes” in the things they want to attend: the organisers have taken care to put, for example, crafty things in different slots and BDSM things in different slots and poly things in different slots and so on so that your interests can be satisfied, whatever those interests may be.

There’s a fascinating mix of people here, too: a real mix of age, gender, sexuality (no, not everybody is bi, though it’s a majority), background, religion, ethnic group, etc. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I’m surprised anyway.

I’ve been to a variety of workshops on polyamory, time management,bisexuality, and the labels people use to define themselves. I’ve net a number of strange and wonderful people, and I’ve made full use of the SU bar. So far, so great.

Elementary Flogging

Looking through the windowed doors of the workshop room next to me I see a group of topless people whipping one another. It’s apparently the workshop on Elementary Flogging, and it looks… different. Some of them seen be stripping even further, now, and somebody’s getting a riding crop.

Down the corridor the tamer workshops are in full swing, too. The Storytelling group have pens and paper and they’re all jotting away. The Bi History group are getting some kind of lecture. Claire’s chatting away in the Transgender Identity room-

Me? I’m taking a quick break to check my e-mail and read some blogs. The atmosphere is amazing. Guess I’ll share more as it comes to me.