by Teeebone
The Hump started its fourth year with much fanfare and great expectations after tying with the Grind for the Member's Choice Award in early January. And those expectations were right on target, because 2011 brought in more people, more challenges, and even a crisis that would affect the Hump in the future...
On January 21, 2011, (the Friday before the Hump's Third Birthday/Anniversary) I got to debut my first "solo project," a sex-focused party scheduled on third Fridays called Luv Shack, though later on it would be rebranded as OMG SX! Basically, it was set up to be like the Hump on a Friday night, from 8pm-2am. (Stay tuned for more deets on this party in a future article!)
In April, TK began her EC training. While she was one of our favorite DJs, she also was involved in a number of other parties and projects, like Monday Madness. After this training, she started helping out with the EC duties for the Hump as well.
During the spring and throughout the year, there was a push to promote CSPC events, news and networking through CenterSpace, a website run by the CSPC with user accounts for CSPC members and some basic web page editing capabilities for posting events. The site didn't get as much traffic as FetLife did, however, which by this time had become the unofficial go-to site for many CSPC members.
In July, an incident occurred at the Hump that would change the party forever. A little background first: Once upon a time, impact play was actually allowed at the Hump, just as long as it wasn't too noisy– as in not louder than the dance music. That night in July, a group of attendees thought it would be a really great idea to have a rather loud impact play scene in the Back Room (which was reserved for sex on its many mattresses or its sex sling) for about two hours, much to the detriment of everybody else.
Some attendees belatedly came to us to tell us about it that night and the next day after I had sent the EC report with the details, the Director notified us of an email from one of the attendees. She then recommended that we no longer allow impact play at the Hump, though playful birthday spankings would still be permitted, and asked that the definitions of sex-focused activity and BDSM-focused activity become more detailed and enforced.
That was on Thursday. Over the next two days I analyzed and re-wrote the rules for both the Hump and the Whump to better define what was expected at both parties. Suspensions, rope bondage and sensation play that didn't involve breaking skin would still be allowed at the Hump. The Whump rules were then written to match the rules of a typical CSPC BDSM-focused party. Since the Hump was held in the Main Space and the Whump was held in the RAW Dungeon, there was a degree of separation between the two to help create a different environment for both. By the end of the weekend, the new rules were up on CenterSpace and FetLife.
In October we celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day (October 19) by having a Pirate Abduction Taster at the Whump. Members were encouraged to sign up as pirates or abductees with prep and negotiation done with the staff. It was truly a unique one-of-a-kind event.
On December 23, 2011, a new party put together and championed by TK called Power Play Mixed-Tape debuted and was such a big hit that it was given the third Saturday slot on the CSPC schedule for the next year. TK put me on as the closing DJ for this event, a post that I still hold to this day.
On January 18th, 2012, the Hump's fourth year ended with the party being canceled due to one of the Seattle area's rare snow-pocalypse weather events that make all road travel hazardous for everybody. 2011 was a difficult year, especially during late July, but all the hard work was worth it whenever we read a sincere thank you note like this one:
The Hump...Thank you :)
Thank you for this wonderful space. Thank you for the beautiful middle eastern and other beats. Thank you for a fun opportunity to put on some belly dancing pretties and dance for my man. It was my first night there to play. Ever. And it was WONDERFUL! Thank you for the strawberry scent in the back room and the nice curtains that provide a semi-private space... But a little voyeuristic too. Heh. A very special night. Looking forward to my next visit…
Until next time… :^)
