The Kiss Part 2: The New England Factor

It's been almost two weeks, my annual birthday celebration has come and gone. It also means that same amount of time has passed without me sitting in front of a computer screen to actively compose another blog to my legions (*snicker*) of readers.

Until today, I thought I was the only person reading this thing. Then I started playing with the blog and found something interesting. You can see how many people have visited your blog, on what device, what browser, what operating system, what country, I mean it's all very overwhelming. But insanely encouraging. I'm sure most of the visits have been a result of the recent link on Bard's much beloved blog (my personal favorite.)

Bard's blog (Neverland) deals primarily with wrestling. However, I think the greater aspect about his blog, that goes unnoticed, is that everything is dealt with in an unapologetic, genuine, and relatable voice. He talks about very real, very human emotions and experiences and that's what makes his blog so special for me. Bard is an amazing, insightful writer and such a huge inspiration to Drake as a wrestler and me as a writer.

I have no intentions of duplicating his blog (can't be done), but the spirit and the heart of Neverland are the inspiration behind this one. He can expect me to fill his inbox asking for tips in the near future as this blog finds its feet.
Balancing work with training (a regimen that is grueling <for me, anyways>) a personal life, relationship, and blogging takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, and finding a way to make it all work in tandem is near stress-inducing. But it will work.

I have to tell myself that. It's a hallmark in my life. But my story is another day, another blog, and today, you are back for part 2 of "The Kiss."

This installment opens on a young man sitting in his bed, his fingers dancing over a keyboard, and simultaneously wandering past the waistband of his athletic shorts...
(Drake: Hey! Perv, it's my turn right?)
(D2: Well...er...it c-can be if y-)

Drake: The sun is shining, everyone! It's summer time! Get some exercise, get some sun, get some matches in! It's good for you and we love hearing your stories as much as D2 hopes you enjoy ours! At the end of the day, I don't care what you think about me though.
(D2: He actually does!)


Drake: Shut up you sappy windbag, it's Drake's turn now. I'm essential, special, important, that's all that matters here.
So, as he stated earlier: "This installment opens on a young man sitting in his bed, his fingers dancing over a keyboard, and simultaneously wandering past the waistband of his athletic shorts..." What else could POSSIBLY be happening with that setup? Building model airplanes? Pfft! He's not THAT pathetic.
(D2: Hey now! *muffled*)


Drake: He does that from time to time. You'll get used to it. Anyways, back to what I was saying...
These sessions started out innocently enough, the journey nearly the same, almost every day. First we would review the new blogs (Neverland, Skull Island) just to test the waters, get the engines revving, if you will. Then we would move to BGEast, hoping (so often against hope) for an update, read the texts for matches from the amazingly vivid writers, maybe go back to look at a few classic favorites from the vaults (Nick Archer, Troy Baker... Aryx Quinn *snickers*)...


From there we would move on to sites like UCW to see what Axel (a wrestler rising in my estimation and respect) and Joker's asses were getting into. RHW to see the beginnings of some current BGEast favorites. Maybe dabble in Can-Am's aging catalog, Naked Kombat, Thunder's, you get the drift because it's an old song that you have been singing with us for years.
But the beginning of this journey (when word and deed became flesh) REALLY began with a special little site based in New England that is (moment of silence) no longer with us...HBWL (and it's short-lived progeny Beaten & Shamed).

Pretty low on the homoerotic wrestling totem pole, HBWL was a niche fetish site that primarily involved two guys in some far-fetched, convoluted scenario and then deciding to fight over something inane. The matches usually ended with one guy knocked out, sometimes bound as well, and stroked off while counting to 30. If the victim didn't respond by the end of the 30 count, the fight was over and the humiliation was on.

It was around late August, early September when we were browsing the site, kind of bored lately because of the amount of content coming from the site had dwindled significantly.

I don't believe there was really any thinking or connection involved as the cursor moved to the "Model for Us" link. Before D2 knew what was happening, I had submitted an application to the webmaster along with pictures.

I awaited the reply while D2 awaited a blow to his self-esteem.

After a long period, a Facebook message came through from the webmaster saying that he liked my look. D2 took a full-fledged backseat for the first-time in his life as I moved in and took control. The correspondence with the webmaster grew more frequent and turned into phone calls as we hashed out who I was, what I thought of HBWL, what I saw myself as, and possible storylines. We essentially began the process of defibrillating the site.

Late one night before plans were finalized for a shoot, D2 and I lay in bed, tossing and turning while still trying to clear our minds to achieve the elusive goal of sleep, one thought rose before darkness encroached:

"My name is Drake."