Chapter 1
Introduction: A Sneak Peek into Kinky Shorts…
The idea for this weekly series came as I sat through the pandemic along with the rest of the world. While listening to stories online of fellow humans lamenting the then burgeoning loneliness epidemic, I heard various experts tell us that as a result of the countless serious current events happening around and to us, we had forgotten how to play. Podcasters warned that social media had made us become anything but social, that our creativity had collectively checked out.
I actually traveled quite a bit for work while the world was at a stand still. I witnessed a very stark overnight change in our physical connections. Public transport interaction during and after CoVid stamped out what existed prior.. small talk.Was it the mask wearing that had made us wary of having to talk for too long? To assuage our social distancing scars, did screens make it easier for us to keep contact with people physically farther away as opposed to right in the same room, train, car, bus? Has the act of shortening all of our main conversations into text and audio messages help or hurt our ability to communicate? Over time we’ve become experts at sitting through podcast episodes and listening to other people talk for long periods of time; or we’ve grown accustomed to being spewed content in less than a minute at the other end of the spectrum. Are these reasons whyour interactivity is being quashed?
Whatever the extenuating circumstances, the effects are enduring.
Every single day I ponder these as I spend an hour long train, then half hour tram/bus commute, jam packed with passengers and yet eerily quiet: no conversations, no music, not even phone rings can be heard and, yet, I glance around and notice almost no one without a phone in their hands, ear buds in their ears or noise cancelling headphones on their heads.
I won’t judge, I just can’t quite get used to it though.
In my own personal life, after concluding what seemed to be a never ending divorce, just before the first lockdown I met someone with whom I felt extremely connected, only for our life situations and the shut down to keep us apart. Neither of us seemed enchanted with the idea of beginning a relationship at a distance, especially not within the confines of the endings of our respective relationships..
Soooo, I had time to reflect.
I started writing down how I imagine an emotionally, sexually, and financially healthy relationship could look.
Herein I imagine a partnership where both sides feel seen and heard even as they intentionally go about the task of evolving together to make 1 + 1 = 3, remaining hand in hand even when inevitable discord arises.
Enter Kinky Shorts (and yes, it’s where every pun will be intended).
About the two main characters:
(They don’t have names for now. Maybe they never will. I could potentially decide on pet names they can call each other indefinitely, but nothing seems to stick in that department either, at least for now.)
In the beginning, these two hesitated at the idea of becoming a twosome because they seemed to be opposites in many ways.
She needed to be on the go constantly.Any pretext was a good one for taking a trip somewhere and exploring some place new: discovering sights, sounds, and sensations were all very important to her.The mere thought of performing the same activities in the exact same way each and every day was enough to set her dozing.And, since she’d launched her podcasts and online classes, she could literally work from anywhere in the world at any time of the year.
In his case, it wasn’t that he was attracted to a fixed schedule kind of existence, it’s just that he needed physical diy ventures to occupy his body and mind: building one thing, fixing something else, gardening… steadily evolving a house into a veritable sanctuary was his idea of a good time.And working from home meant that he could accomplish his self appointed tasks between meetings, even using them as a way to come up from air during those moments when work pressures intensify.
These seemingly opposite positions are exactly what they admire in one another, and it solidifies their partnership. She adores his house. To her, it feels like a safe haven, a cocoon in which harmony, comfort, and style reign.He’s always tickled and encouraged at how she walks through the door at the return of each trip, as if discovering their home through new eyes from the time before, ooh-ing and wow-ing at every novelty her lover has orchestrated in her absence. She sincerely admires the projects he concocts without even having to try, because they share a mutual taste in beautiful and well-crafted things, which is his talent to a T.
He, on the other hand, loves traveling with her when he can: no detail is left to chance, she’s a remarkable trip planner and take them on whirlwind tours to faraway places, with or without their respective children, so that he becomes the wide-eyed one as they trot the globe together off the beaten path: going on a silent meditation retreat for days at a time just the two of them is a mutually agreed upon idea of a good time.
Each thoroughly enjoys witnessing the other bloom in their favorite element. Watching the other passionately express themselves is an incredible turn on for their relationship, providing a source of intimacy and exploration.
This is the back pocket of Kinky Shorts: Bitesized stories about endless foreplay.
I call them tiny adult romance stories where victories and challenges can happen side by side.
I hope they will inspire us to connect more, use love to make us better, and choose to make time to love better.
If this sounds like something you’d like to read, come back to this space each Wednesday as I release a new chapter in their lives.
Welcome to Kinky Shorts!
Paid subscriptions will be required to continue past episode 2, but you can join and support right away for 4.99 EUR/USD/SF. My intention is to create 52 episodes.
Thank you for being here.
See you next Wednesday!
