Sharazade

NOTE: If I do not post anything new before November, this post explains why.

“Do you have any flash drives that don’t look like flash drives?” I asked the sales clerk.

“Um… what?”

I guess he was just stalling for time, to mentally run through his inventory, because the question seemed perfectly clear to me. I said it again anyway, though.

“Maybe… um… what do you want it for?”

“Smuggling porn,” I said, and then we both laughed.

Except I wasn’t kidding. Well, OK, except about the “smuggling” part. I’m not looking to sell anything, I just want to transport a few things, like e-books. Given that more countries, such as Australia, are now sometimes scanning laptops for “pornography,” I didn’t want to have to explain anything questionable. Would the cover of an erotica e-book be considered pornographic? Well, probably not in Australia. But how about in the Middle East? At the border is not the best time to find out!

For short trips, I’d just leave anything questionable at home. But for a longer stay, well… the e-books are ones I’ve promised to review. It’s work (albeit pleasurable work). And I would like to be able to take my work with me.

His selection of flash-drives-that-don’t-look-like-flash-drives was limited to skateboards and snowboards (and not in very “me” colors), and they were on the expensive side for the amount of storage space they were offering. In the end, I decided to use my Dropbox instead; that way, I’m not carrying anything on my person, and I can pick up my files anywhere I can get an Internet connection (which always sounds easy…). If I create new documents, I can post them there as well, and pick them up again at home on my return.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to access this blog while I’m away, especially since it’s tagged as containing mature content. If I can post, I will (with at least one review of a very interesting collection!). If I can’t, then you’ll just have to wait for November.

Traveling to places with very different cultures is a good time to think about abstract issues as well as very practical ones like carrying computer files. Is erotica “wrong”? Clearly I don’t think so, or I wouldn’t read it, write it, and write about it. But do I want to aggressively parade that stance around the world? Well, no, no I don’t. Certainly not on a personal level — I have no wish to be deported or jailed. Do I think though that some societies are too sexually repressed? Well… yes, I do (including my own). As to how that can change, and whether a non-member of that society has any part to play in such a change, that is a subject for a longer conversation, and my opinion on it shifts around all the time. For this trip, though, I know that any good I could do would be more than undone by my offending people around me. I write erotica to please and entertain, not to shock and upset.

The final thing I did here on this blog before leaving on my trip was to empty my spam folder. As usual, there were lists of links to pharmaceuticals and sexual aids; one to linoleum flooring; a few for meeting hot girls; a sprinkling of the kind that make me laugh the most, that say that they’ve found the article “very useful for my college class” (except they never manage to spell “college” correctly); and one that contained just this line, with a few links to shopping sites:

For me I am a fan of online shopping for the reason that we need not to go anywhere.

I like online shopping too — that’s the best way for me to buy only the item that I really need, and not get distracted by extraneous things on shelves. But! It doesn’t at all override my need to go anywhere. I love traveling. I travel mostly for work these days, yes, but I love it all the same. New people, unfamiliar languages, suspicious food, surprising schedule changes, breathtaking sights, shoddy facilities/palatial facilities, I love it all. My next collection of erotic stories will also be centered around a travel theme, but this time with more of a focus on settings.

So sucks to you, Mr. Online Shopper Spam Man, I deleted your comment with double the usual satisfaction!