Rubberstud of the Week #207

Rubbout Aftermath

I am still trying to recover....still a lot of cleanup to do. I'm trying to get some of the sponsor shipments sent back today; I'm fearful of the costs, but that's a part of doing business. Financial review tonight.

We got lots of accolades about the weekend, some even saying it was the best time they've had in Vancouver in years, however we were trampled attendance-wise at the Slick Dance on Saturday night due to the barrage of events going on earlier in the weekend, plus several other factors we will need to review at our discovery meetings in the coming weeks. There are still areas where we fell short, and as a organizing committee we didn't meet some of our main objectives. We'll be lucky to break even; despite being happy that the party made everyone else happy, I'm personally debating whether the 150+ hours I put towards the weekend are worth it considering Rob and I might be looking at personal financial loss over the whole thing. At any rate, I'm just glad to be having a few weeks after this one to just relax and start gearing towards looking for a new job and getting back in shape. Maybe my attitude on the whole thing will wane in the coming weeks. I think I'm crabby because, once again, I didn't get much play in during the weekend. I did make it over to Rouki's room at the hotel on Sunday for a couple hours of vacuum bliss and abuse in the vac-bed.

Anyways, lots of pics to come on Rubberzone, Rubbout.com, Leatherati.com and here too.

Full Microbreathe

Next TORN Event

Rubberstud of the Week #206

48 Hours

Lots of stuff going on, of course. People are starting to arrive, lots of tasks to do before Friday afternoon. It's hard to believe, but Rubbout is here. I think we're destined to have a great weekend; the weather is improving immensely and there's a full moon on Friday! My apartment looks like a rubber flophouse right now; there's rubber hanging from every possible place to hang! I got my Honour of London skinny jeans on Monday; they look good, though in these pics I see how big of a task it's going to be to get myself back down to my target weight. Oh well, I wanted to be in better shape for Rubbout but shit happens. Once this madness is out of the way, I can focus on self-improvement for a change.

Weekend package bags to stuff today, running around picking up equipment and sponsor stuff in the morning, printer pickup, then getting ready for Rubber invasion tomorrow night. I think I'm going to go with this look :)

Maybe the green polo shirt would go better?

Countdown

The first Rubbout under my command is now only three days away. Last week was a lot of hours dedicated to the cause. I am feeling a little lucid today. I'm not completely sure why, I think part of it is fatigue but part of it is also knowing that we have things under control. I have the feeling that I won't get excited until Thursday but between now and then there is still a lot to do. I did do the approval and order for the sponsor banner and the weekend program printing and I must say the weekend program looks AMAZING. I updated the financial forecasts today and everything looks okay as long as we can push Slick Dance ticket sales this week. This is my only concern. We have the challenge of being heard in a cacophany of events screaming for attention on the Easter long weekend, but our winning hand is that we are the only big party on Saturday night in Vancouver gay world. I know tickets weren't even close to being sold out until the day of the event last year, I would like to think that sales might be a bit more indicative of success earlier on this year, but I won't hold my breath. A lot of people still think of Rubbout being a rubber-only party, which it is, except for the Slick Dance which we want to make a big, sexy celebration for all gay kinksters out there, local or not.

At any rate, I am very happy with how the events this past weekend went. The Gear Swap at Pumpjack in the afternoon went very well. Everything was put up and out quickly, taken down and packed quickly and a lot of items were sold. In total, Rubbout made almost $1100 in proceeds from the sale. This gave us some enthusiasm going into the Recon Gear Party in the evening. It was another evening of other competing big events going on, but the bar event pulled in a healthy consistent crowd throughout the evening and it appeared everyone was having a lot of fun. Doug and I were able to ham it up onstage for a few minutes which was fun. The Recon Signature Rubber clothing was worn by four sexy guys at the bar that night who helped us pass out bar cards and Recon lanyards to the crowd.

I feel very fortunate that Saturday evening, I was able to don my latex catsuit and jacket at Mr. P's and walk the three blocks to the bar event without putting on any coverage. I got hysterics from a group on Burrard on the way there and another from a group on Drake on the way back, but it is quite the rush for me to be able to walk through downtown Vancouver in full rubber and get away with it! Maybe I am stupid for doing that, but time will tell. I got home that night and intended to go out again once my rubber was doffed but I got into the shower with the catsuit on, the KE microbreathe hood and some gloves and poppered out for a bit in the shower.

I will be emboldened to do that and more next weekend when there are lots of guys in rubber walking up and down Davie from the Village to the host hotel. Mr. P's is right in the middle of the action.

My Honour of London latex skinny jeans with suspenders showed up today. I tried them on quickly in between meetings today. The fitting is okay but not excellent but they will do. The big issue was that I was hit with $107 in duty and taxes to pick them up. They ended up being a rather expensive pair of latex jeans in the end, here's hoping they get lots of action in the future. I am already trying to figure when I'm going to get the chance to wear them. I still have to pick out a wardrobe for next weekend! Yipe! My apartment is a complete disaster area right now, with sponsor packages piled high in the living room, hangers all over my bathroom drying various rubber outfits - not all of them mine, and the bedroom still has a pile of Macabail's donations that haven't been put away yet still laying in various states around the room. I'm supposed to be hosting the bag stuffing on Wednesday so I had best get stuff organized around there....a task for tomorrow, no doubt.

So, it's possible that the next entry might be from Rubbout ground zero. The Invasion is about to begin! Follow Rubbout @Rubbout on Twitter and I will be updating throughout the weekend. I will also try updates to the blog as I get pictures from each day. If you're coming, get here soon but safely, if you're not, we wish you were here and hope you'll plan for a Rubbout in the future! :)

I am blown away by the way people will rise up to pull an event like this off. The volunteers for Rubbout deserve so much appreciation, I wish we could show them our gratitude better than we can this year, given the mandate to maximize profits to propel Rubbout 22 to new places. I was in awe watching them work this weekend. I am excited to have the team working with us this year!

Rubbout Feature in April V-Rag Fetish Edition

V-rag, one of the local Vancouver gay arts and entertainment magazines brought out their April issue with a 1 page feature for Rubbout. We appreciate the publicity!

Scenes from Vancouver Recon Party

There was a lot of party competition on Saturday night, but a great crowd turned out for the Rubbout Kickoff at the Recon Gear Party hosted by Rubbout and Vancouver Men in Leather. It was a better turnout with more energy than I had anticipated, so how fun is that?

Here are a couple of pics of the models in the Recon Signature Rubber line from Saturday night

More to come!

Rubberstud of the Week #205