Archive for the 'dating' Category

Early Experiences, Part 2

Talking with Davey today, I was reminded of one bdsm/fetish relationship that I would have forgotten to mention! I dated a cross-dresser several years ago. He was into bdsm too (again, a sub who I switched with a little) and owned a wonderful array of bdsm gear. There was the spreader bar, the face harness with the leather gag that could be snapped on, the pvc maid’s outfits (gotten for him, but the open breasted one looked far better on me), various things for impact play, etc. I can’t remember all the stuff anymore. I’m still friendly with this ex-boyfriend and one time while out with a group of friends (i.e., I was drunk) I cornered him and asked what I had been dying to ask - does his wife know about the cross-dressing and bdsm? “We don’t talk about that,” was his response. Made bold by the alcohol in my system I told him that if he was looking to unload any of this bdsm equipment, to please keep me in mind. So far he hasn’t contacted me about that. Damn.

My first trip to a bdsm club was my very first date with this guy. It certainly goes down as the most interesting first date I’ve ever had. We met at La Nouvelle Justine (is that even around any more?) a bdsm-themed restaurant in New York City. He was in drag and I have to admit his legs looked better than mine. *sigh* We ended up stopping by his apartment so he could change shoes, then we went to a TV bar and hung out with a bunch of other transvestites. Next, we went to Paddles, a bdsm club, my first ever trip to a bdsm club - on a first date! We only made out in the corner but it was fun all the same. He and I would visit Paddles various times through out our relationship (just under two years), pretty much always with him in drag. I was the first girlfriend of his to know about the cross-dressing. Despite times when he’s been a dick to me, I haven’t opened my mouth and told our mutual friends about it at all. I feel good having taken the high road. We played around with bondage and spanking. I remember one time he spanked me to the point where I had to invoke a safe word. The unfortunate thing is that he stopped everything after that. Meanwhile I was in a state where I would have LOVED to have been just taken and ravished right then and there. Somewhere on my computer is a photo of my red ass from that spanking.

After my relationship with him, again I dated a few guys and maybe there was some light bondage but nothing much. None of the relationships lasted all that long. In 2002, however, I met a couple on a herpes dating site. They were both into bdsm, she a sub, him a dom, and we chatted for a couple of months getting to know each other. Eventually I got to meet them and I went back to his place with them that very first night. (Yes, I’m a little crazy. I was terrified on the way over that they were psychos and I’d end up killed.) We would get together to do bdsm play every now and then. Often, I would drive over to his place, call them on my cell phone when I was nearly there, and they’d give me instructions for when I walked in. I was to get naked, put on the blindfold on the sofa, and the cuffs on my wrists and wait. Several minutes later they’d come out of the bedroom. They’d do different things to me - he of course enjoyed seeing me and her make out, they’d take turns spanking me, various experiences. I think he once had us drink champagne out of a bowl on the floor. It was a lot of fun but I often felt like the guest sex toy. I’d see them every few months off and on until last year. They’ve since broken up, and I’m not allowed bdsm play with anyone but MasterDoc now. (The last time I saw them, shortly after I had started seeing MasterDoc, they used a big dildo on me without warming me up at all, and it left me with soreness problems for weeks afterwards. After that MasterDoc was not so keen on letting me play with them. Actually, he was never keen on it, but he was letting me ‘grandfather’ in various people I was intimate with before I met him.)

I think I’ve covered all my bdsm experiences pre-MasterDoc at this point. I might have forgotten one or two, but the most memorable ones have been captured here. Too bad I didn’t keep a blog all along. The stories I’d have details for! My memory gets fuzzy all too quick. 2005 was the first time I went to a sex party - and I went as a single woman. I had become friendly with Audacia Ray through our blogs, and she had a friend who was also a blogger (and turned out to be a real dickhead, i.e., the guy who assaulted me) who hosted sex parties in his apartment. So only knowing Audacia from her blog and from meeting her once, I went to the party all by myself (knowing only her) and had a fantastic time. My sluttiness had finally found an outlet with casual sex parties. The number of lovers I have had since then is exponentially more than I had had before. I had always loved sex, but it took me a while to embrace being a slut.

Early Experiences, Part 1

I recently asked readers for questions or topics they’d like to see covered here. One that came up was the idea of my experiences before MasterDoc. I certainly had plenty of sexual experiences before him, but he’s my first actual Dom. I dabbled in bdsm prior to meeting him, and knew for a while that I’d like to find a Dom (but found that so many of them on collarme were full of themselves). My first bdsm experiences go back, well actually they go way back to my teen years. Now, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned here before that I was a virgin until my 18th birthday. I didn’t even kiss a boy until I was 17 and a half. So what experiences did I have in my teens you may ask? I would play with bondage and blindfolds when I masturbated. I’d tie my wrists together as best I could and then masturbate with my hands bound. It’s not easy doing self-bondage and you have to leave it fairly loose so you can get yourself out of it, but I still got a little thrill from doing it. I knew even then that it was something I wanted to try one day when I had a partner. I kept things like old bathrobe sashes that I could use to tie myself up with.

My first boyfriend and I played around a bit, I think I’ve written about that on here. We tried a little bondage, a little spanking, some power exchange role play (both of us switching). I loved being on the submissive end of the power play, but the hard part was that he did too. We didn’t get deeply into anything, but we played around with lots of experiences - real and fantasy. We played around once that we were total strangers who met at a bar and went home with each other and fucked. I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near an experience like that in real life at that age (a good thing, I’m sure) but I was curious to try new things and have varied experiences. First boyfriend and I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with stuff we’d never tried before (and it was all new) and then doing it. We weren’t successful with anal sex - I didn’t accomplish that til much later. And since he was a boy he couldn’t help me with the whole bisexual experience. (I was open with him about my desires. I later found out in a round about way that he had those sorts of desires too, but he was never open with me about them. Oh except for how he’d say that if he was gay he’d be into Patrick Swayze. Even then I kinda knew the translation was that he was into Patrick Swayze.) I eventually slept with a woman when I was 28. (That’s a little tale in and of itself.)

My sexual experiences in college were pretty standard, vanilla fare. I don’t recall doing any bdsm play during college. I can’t recall when I took up with the married guy (senior year? after college?), but I did play a little with a married guy I slept with off and on for a few years. Nothing much, just a little light Dom/sub type stuff. That was ultimately a situation that I was better out of. When I first met him he claimed to be separated from his wife, then he admitted to still being with her, then he went ahead and had another kid with her even though he’d bitch to me about how unhappy he was. Finally, just when things were winding down between us, his wife called me at work and confronted me. Whew. Not fun. That was the end of the married guy in my life. I’ve twice made the mistake of fucking cheating men, and ultimately neither situation was satisfying. I now have a rule that the spouse absolutely has to know about me or I won’t get into the situation (or won’t stay in it if I find out later that he’s lying).

As a young adult, after college, I still mostly had a vanilla sex life. There would be some light spanking or bondage with various boyfriends, but nothing that was truly a Dom/sub situation. I very briefly dated a guy who was into bdsm, but I had a long distance relationship with an Englishman then and the bdsm guy wasn’t keen on being with a woman whose heart was with someone else. Still, we had a couple of dates, we went to a movie and he fed me popcorn at the rate he decided and I struggled to keep up. I think he had me suck his fingers in the movie theater as well - a full theater I might add. He took the back of my head and lowered my mouth onto his thumb. I remember him feeling me up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We went to his place once and we played a little. He put nipple clamps on me for the first time, spanked me, etc. It was something I definitely enjoyed, although it might have been better with someone I had a connection with. He Dom-ed me over the phone a few times, and I remember being so turned on as I took my clothes off at home as his command and played with myself. He bought me a copy of The Story of O, which I still have.

I guess light bondage or spanking entered into many of my relationships, but not on the level I would have liked. I’d go through phases where I wasn’t as into kink, but I’d always come back to it inevitably. I think ultimately I’m more turned on by kinky sex than I am by vanilla sex, but I do enjoy vanilla sex. Finding a Dom has fulfilled a part of me that always yearned to be fulfilled. Eventually I hooked up with the couple I played with, and I would do bdsm play with them off and on for a few years. Details on that are for part two.

Randomness

I’m gearing up for the gang bang on Saturday. Whoo hoo! My thigh and butt muscles (not to mention my coochie) are still sore from riding the sybian. I think in the future I shouldn’t ride it for quite so long! (I also really need to get in shape.)

The Irish guy keeps emailing and IMing me wanting to get together. Today I responded that I’m just too busy and I can’t sleep with anyone without my dom’s permission. He replied that he’d like to take me to lunch for my birthday. Argh! The down side to being a sex goddess is that sometimes people you wish wouldn’t come back for more keep coming back for more.

Lately I’ve been thinking that I should start a fem domme blog - not because I have any inclination towards it, but then I could get sub men to buy me things. I could post a wish list and get sent stuff by adoring sub men. Sounds like a good deal to me. As a sub there’s no point in me posting a wish list because people don’t clamor to buy anonymous subs things. Anyway, I like to write and having a fem domme blog would be a creative writing exercise. Hmmm… Nah, I don’t have the time for it and I’m not sure I could be convincing enough.

MasterDoc was a bit miffed at me for not giving him credit when I said that my life is like a porn movie in my last entry. And yes, I have to admit that most of my “porno moments” in recent months have been thanks to him. I do appreciate the fun he gets me into. *grin* And his life is even more like a porn movie than mine is. Although I have to give credit to Davey and D.S. for the hot threesome we had. Mmmmm. I’m a very lucky girl.

D.S. can’t make it to my gang bang. *pout* Poor boy had no choice but to cancel and he was very disappointed to do so. He’ll be missed. I haven’t seen him in about a month now. I broke down and invited N. to the gang bang as of yesterday to keep the numbers up. (I had said to myself early on that if two people couldn’t make it to the party I’d invite N. - and now two of the original invitees are not coming.) He jumped at the opportunity. I figured he would.

Sunday Afternoon

It was so nice to have a lazy Sunday with Davey. I finally sat down and blogged about Friday night, and then of course after I posted and he read it we were both worked up and went and had sex. *grin*

Sex with Davey reminded me of a time when I was more innocent, earlier on in my sexually active life, when sex was more playful and gentle, when I wasn’t going around being fucked like a horny slut. It was kinda nice to have the contrast. It’s nice to be able to joke in bed with someone and be affectionate and loving. It’s not that other lovers aren’t affectionate (MasterDoc is a wonderful cuddler) but the dynamic with me and Davey is different. Now don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy being fucked hard like a nasty slut. It’s just that sometimes it’s nice to experience a different kind of sex.

It wasn’t all hearts and flowers though, I asked him to grab some lube and finger my asshole while he went down on me. Yup, even during loving, “innocent” sex I’m a horny slut. Fact is I embrace sex with gusto and figure I might as well get into it - otherwise what’s the point? We also 69′ed for a bit and I stroked Davey’s asshole with my finger. The boy was extra sensitive everywhere today so every little thing I did had him shuddering and breathing heavy. Davey makes me feel like a sex goddess often, as he’s so incredibly horny for me. I walk by with my top off and the boy gets an instant erection. Nothing like knowing you’re appreciated.

So I’ve decided to stop dating anyone new and who should email me but this cute English guy I’ve talked with on a dating site. He’s been around off and on the past few months and I’m totally keen to meet him as I’m hot for Englishmen (he lives here in the states). How hot am I for Englishmen? Well I dated one about 10 years ago, but to top that when I was younger and still living at my parents’ house (and didn’t have my own phone line or a cell phone) twice I dared to use the family phone to have phone sex with some stranger or another who was originally from England who I had just met on the internet. I love the accents! Scotsmen do it for me too. Anyway, should I need to narrow down the roster I think N. is the prime candidate. He’s been in contact with someone MasterDoc dates (and N. had one date with her - her view of him was scathing to put it mildly) and referred to me as a fuck buddy. Hey, at this point it really doesn’t a) surprise me, b) bother me as that’s all I think of him as. I’m just thinking that perhaps this situation has come to the end of its usefulness. I’m busy with other people I’d rather be seeing so perhaps next time he wants to see me I’ll be busy regardless of whether I’m actually busy or not. (Granted, I just might be horny and decide to see him. Ha ha. I’m a weak woman, but then again I have plenty of other people wanting to fuck me, I hardly need to keep him around.) I’d really like to find some time to see V. and totally want to see D.S. again as soon as possible and continue seeing MasterDoc regularly.
If I meet and hit it off with this Englishman then this situation with N. may become a thing of the past….

Busy Girl

So you know about my date on Saturday and time spent with Davey that night. The next day, I saw N. for the first time in a few weeks. Funny thing is, I’m the only woman who’s regularly seeing him now. lol I think he’ll behave much better now about making plans with me (he’s gotten better about not leaving me hanging). He’s managed to mess things up with the other woman he had been seeing regularly. At any rate, he’s got a few first dates under his belt, he’s just not sure if they’ll pan out long term.

While he sometimes annoys me (I don’t think he appreciates me as much as he should), other times I really enjoy spending time with him. He’s a libertarian like MasterDoc and now that MasterDoc has been lecturing me on economics I’m better prepared to have conversations about politics. And I do like having intelligent conversations with people. Well that and fucking them, of course. We fooled around a bit and then ended up hanging out and talking some more, then he suggested going for a walk but I suggested getting naked again. (Yes, I know, brilliant thinking on my part. You’d think the man would have been the one to think of it.) As is usual our “date” consisted of some eating (lots of lovely nibbly things he had at the house) and some sex. Food and fucking - the two things that keep me happy. The fucking was enjoyable as always and for the first time he came. Something I’ve noticed about older men is that it’s not as easy for them to come as it is for young guys, but this is definitely a perk (for me, maybe not as much for them). In the months I’ve been fucking N. he hadn’t come once until this past Sunday. It was so nice to experience him coming for a change. I can be a little selfish in bed (yes, I admit it, bad girl), but ultimately I really want my partners to feel good too. Orgasms are so easy for me, but I want to make sure my partners get to have them too. He came very loudly and dramatically and it was satisfying to finally have that happen. He was spent enough to doze off for a few minutes afterward. I just relaxed, cuddled up to him, thinking that I needed to get going as I had promised the evening to Davey. (The weekend flew by so fast since I was so busy! And I must say that I’m a lucky girl to have all these lovers in my life right now. I’m having a blast!)

I don’t know how I managed to get so busy. I mean, here’s the lover tally just now - Davey, MasterDoc, N., V., (probably very soon) D.S. and I even have an appointment later this month to play with the couple (D. & L.) I sometimes see. I’m running out of days. lol I’m going to start looking forward to the days without sex because I’ll need a break. Hee hee. No, I’m not complaining at all. I feel that I’m a very lucky girl to have so many wonderful people in my life. And I think back to when I was 15, depressed, and convinced that I would spend my life alone. Yes, I was convinced that no one would ever want to be with me. How my life has changed….

Date

On Saturday I had a date with someone I’ve been talking to for a while now. I briefly mentioned D.S. on this blog before, I gave him a shout out once I knew he was reading the blog and I specifically said that he’s not a “judgmental prat” (which we joke about often, but really, he’s not judgmental nor is he a prat). He’s a very sweet, bi, poly, kinky slut not unlike myself. You’ll be surprised to hear that we didn’t have sex on our date, but then I was menstrual like crazy and riding out some miserable cramps. I hardly felt like a sex symbol yesterday. While I don’t mind having sex during my period, I never want it to be the first time I have sex with someone if I can help it. So our date consisted of meeting for lunch then hanging out at his place. We cuddled and kissed and the poor boy was all nervous around me. (Which I have a hard time understanding as I’m extremely laid back when meeting people.) He got very talkative due to being nervous and I did my usual “get really quiet” in response to being nervous. This worked out pretty well actually as he kept conversation going even while I was quiet. We watched some Kids in the Hall and I met his girlfriend when she got home from work. It was a very pleasant date and I look forward to hanging out with him again soon. Such a sweetie.

I got home around dinner time so I could spend some time with Davey. He was unsure if I would be up for some nookie considering how I was feeling (crampy and gross) but since it had been nearly a week since we had sex I wanted to make a point of spending some naked cuddle time with him. I took a shower and put in an instead cup and we had sex. Yay! It was so nice to be naked and pressed up against him. I love him so much.

Finally, some girl on girl action

So something happened last night that only happens once in a blue moon - I had a date with a woman and we ended up in bed together. Go figure. I’m trying to figure out the last time this happened and other than one woman I fooled around with after meeting at the sex parties I used to go, the last time this sort of thing happened was the first time I ever went to bed with a woman. I was in London, just arrived on a short vacation when I met my first girlfriend in a lesbian bar. I ended up hanging out with her and her friends (my friend called it an evening early) and went home with her. We had a whirlwind romance over the next few days and kept things going long distance for a couple of months, until it was too difficult for her to deal with the fact that I had a boyfriend at home. (My first stint at being poly, before I knew the word polyamorous at all.) Most of my dates with women are rather chaste affairs, maybe ending with a quick peck on the lips, if at all. But last night I lucked out as the words “slutty, kinky and nerdy” on my profile was what attracted her.

Like me she’s an intelligent, educated woman (she speaks three very different languages fluently) who has a strong appetite for sex and an interest in kinky things. We met up for dinner and she treated me to a Japanese restaurant, where she proceeded to order in fluent Japanese. I had sake for the first time and by the time we left I had a good buzz going on. She paid for dinner, and we decided to seek out a karaoke box place where we could hide ourselves in a room and be silly singing songs and drinking. It was a lot of fun but we barely gazed at each or touched while we were there. I suppose were busy getting drunk and working up the courage to go for what we really wanted. Thankfully I had a nice light buzz throughout the evening, I didn’t get full-on drunk. After we exhausted the karaoke we walked along the city streets trying to decide what to do next. She offered that we could go to her place, she had already offered that I could sleep there if I wanted to. We got a cab uptown and she brought me into her little studio apartment.

She put some music on and set up just a few dim lights. We talked a little about kinky stuff (she’s interested in bdsm, as a potential Domme) and she showed me any toys she had in her closet. There was a little rubber semi-flogger that actually had a bit of a sting to it when you got a good whack with it. After a few awkward moments sipping some really strong, awful sake someone had given her, she said, “So do you want to kiss?” I just love when people are direct. I wish I could be more direct. And once we got started everything was easy. She’s very passionate and soon had me pinned down to the bed, our hips grinding into each other (crotches grinding against thighs). Clothes very slowly came off and she teased me, grabbing my hair and kissing me passionately. After getting naked, we ended up taking a short break to have some cherries she had in her apartment - being fed stemmed cherries can be quite sexy. She had me lay on my stomach and she stroked and massaged me, gradually working up to a few spanks here and there and some swats with the flogger-ish thing she had. We had discussed the idea of safe words briefly and she kept expressing surprise that I didn’t use a safe word. (MasterDoc has put me through far more serious pain than she did. lol) She had some cuffs that she put on my wrists and a blindfold on my eyes. I have to admit, that no matter how well an evening’s going, it can be a little nerve wracking to have a stranger blindfold you. Thankfully my instincts about her were right and nothing bad happened. She spanked me some more, never really getting as hard as I would have liked her to. She fingered me to a very wet orgasm while I was still on my stomach.

We hung out and talked a wee bit and decided to try to get some sleep. (I have no idea what time it was. She didn’t have a easily visible clock in her place so I spent the night having no sense of time.) It was particularly noisy outside her apartment and neither of us got much sleep. We got up around quarter to nine and she ordered breakfast to be delivered. We munched on bagels with cream cheese and drank some very necessary coffee. We hung out on her bed naked, talking and soon she was worked up and all over me again. I hardly needed persuading to fool around some more, this time I paid more attention to her and nearly brought her to an orgasm. I relished the compliment she gave me about my fingering skills (I’m always very unsure about them) saying that I was very good at it and much better than a man. She pampered me with caresses and a feather glided over my body, then a foot rub when I mentioned that my feet were cold. Soon we were entwined again, writhing and rubbing up against each other as we kissed passionately. I totally loved that she’s very comfortable being the one on top and in control. She brought me to another orgasm with her fingers and as the hour was getting into the afternoon, I talked about maybe heading home. She asked if I would help her get to an orgasm and I gladly obliged. Between her fingers and mine she had one finally and I could feel good about heading out. She accompanied me all the way to the train station where we said goodbye. I can see this being a very nice friends-with-benefits sort of situation. She’s eager to explore kinkiness and I’m certainly a good one to lead her down the path into kink. She’s curious about things like swing parties and would like to check one out (although she says she gets shy and wouldn’t be an exhibitionist like me.) I’m exhausted today, but it’s a good tired.

Thoughts

I’ve got a lot of blog ideas floating around my head at the moment, just things that I’m thinking about. I’ve thought about the theory that women who are promiscuous are that way because of low self-esteem. I don’t think that’s true in my case. I seem to have more sex and more adventurous sex when I’m feeling confident. If I’m feeling depressed or insecure I shy away from sex. This theory sounds too much like an excuse to put down sexual women to me. “Oh, if she likes a lot of sex she must have issues, because, well women aren’t highly sexual.” What a crock of bull.

One theory I might have to give some thought to, however, is that sex is my drug of choice. In order to feel super-great and get a rush some people take drugs, some drink, some jump out of airplanes. Me? I have sex and act in an exhibitionistic way. I don’t have sex to get people to like me, I have sex because it feels good physically and mentally. I don’t do it to bolster my self esteem although being desired by a lot of people certainly doesn’t hurt my self-esteem. The point of it for me is that it feels good and those good feelings are enough of a reward for me to keep doing it. So long as I have safer sex and don’t put myself into dangerous situations it seems to me a far healthier option than doing drugs. No artificial chemicals being put into my body.

Anyway, that’s what’s floating around my head today. N. called me last night - just about when I was getting ready for bed. It’s funny how he makes time to talk to me when I don’t talk to him. I mean, he rarely calls me but I haven’t emailed him in a week and so he calls. It’s also interesting to note that one of his long-distance relationships has fizzled out and the woman he swings with is going away for two weeks, so no wonder he’s taking time to talk to me. He’d be woman-less without me for a couple of weeks. :-P It might not be the reason he called, but it sure feels like it after he avoided time with me so much over the past couple of months. I think he really means to be a decent guy, but I’ve grown increasingly cynical about him. I don’t doubt that he enjoys my company (and not just the sex) but he seems to be in touch with me only when it’s convenient for him. Anyway we chatted for a few minutes about life in general and I did my best not to fall asleep as I was so tired after my busy morning and afternoon/evening at work. There was no mention of getting together over the weekend, which is just as well as Friday I have a date with that woman I was talking to (whoo hoo! and she seems eager to play) and Saturday Davey and I are hoping to spend time with two friends we haven’t hung out with in months.

Tame Weekend

This weekend was far more tame than the last one. I had to work on Saturday, and then after I ended up going out to the movies and dinner alone. I had plans to visit a friend I haven’t seen in ages but she canceled at the last minute. Davey treated me to the movie and dinner (I’m perpetually broke) as I was willing to go out because he had a date coming over.

What a change of pace, him having a date and me not! Seeing as it was likely he’d finally get some this date (about the fourth or fifth date with this woman, but mostly they’ve met out and about so they haven’t had anywhere to go for sex) I certainly didn’t want to cause him to cancel. Oh no, I couldn’t bear to do that to him. So I went and saw the Simpsons movie and then took myself and the book I was reading to a restaurant and had some dinner. Then I called Davey to say I was coming home.

They had finished dinner around the time I called, and I hoped that after spending the afternoon out and alone that he finally got some. And yes, he finally got some. Twice. Hooray! It was worth it. I hung out with them for a while and we watched some tv and then played her PlayStation 2 karaoke games that she brought along. (I love karaoke.) And lucky me, she lent us one of her microphones and game discs. Whoo hoo! I had an afternoon karaoke session today. Bless Davey for putting up with me. I’ve found that I do a great rendition of Dido’s Thank You.

Davey declared today to be Girlfriend Appreciation Day and we could do anything I wanted. I mostly wanted to spend time at home since I spent most of the day before out. I did ask at one point if Girlfriend Appreciation Day included a back massage and gladly, it did. This of course led to sex in the afternoon - first time for me this weekend (we were both tired Friday night). Yes, sometimes the wild sexual woman you know and love is somewhat tame. We all need breaks. lol

I actually got a response on a dating site from a woman today - something that is as rare as the dodo. I’m chatting with her right now so I’ll cut this short and go do that. :-)

I have plans with MasterDoc in the morning to look forward to.

Ok, Stupid

More from the files of how not to get a girl:

I just got this from someone on okcupid - ” hi prety, u are looking cool. i will love to meet u.”

I sooo wanted to write back saying, “Dude, you’re 37 years old and you haven’t learned how to spell “pretty” yet?” I just deleted it instead.

I get a lot of illiterate emails. It depresses me. I only date men who can compose coherent sentences. Intelligence attracts me.