A Skateboard and a Fanny Pack

Tis the season of gift giving, or gift receiving.

Occasionally, during any season, a client would give me something of theirs as a gift. I guess sometimes the gift is meant to be a tip. Or maybe the gift is simply a gesture of their generosity. Or sometimes the gift comes with strings. A gift for a favor.

Whatever the motive may be of the client, I never accept gifts from clients. Ok, maybe candy or food are items that I might accept, but nothing else. 

Accepting a gift might imply that I will owe the client something, or some special favor that I will have to perform for them (including favors of a sexual nature). Owing something to a client would not be a good business situation for me. That is why I refuse gifts. But I do so gracefully.

Not too long ago, a client offered one of his skateboards to me. The client is a skater dude. I used to skateboard. Skateboarding is one topic that we chat about during our massage sessions.

I had some free time after one of our sessions. He showed me his boards, and we wound up skateboarding around the building where he lives.

Afterwards, he said that I could have the skateboard. I didn't expect that. I believe he offered the gift out of genuine generosity. The board was used but it was in good condition. Nevertheless, I had to refuse.

Btw, the skateboard that he skates on was so much better than the one that he offered me. He allowed me to take those pictures of him.

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Since we are on the subject of gift giving, I will share with you another gift giving story.

The gift that was offered in this instance was a fanny pack. 

My client said that he noticed that I carried a lot of massage related items with me to his place for our sessions. He told me to lighten up.

He has his own massage bed that we use. And he uses his own towels and sheets. And he has me use his own massage oils. He said there was no need for me to haul so much baggage to his place. He said that everything that I needed to bring could fit in a fanny pack, so there would be no need for me to lug my duffel bag or back pack.

He gave me a fanny pack to make his point.

To my surprise the fanny pack wasn't empty. I bet you couldn't guess what was inside the fanny pack. There were packages of condoms inside. That was weird.

Of course I refused the gift and not just because of the rubbers.

His roommate helped carry my bag, even though I didn't need his help. They were two fun loving dudes, but I could only guess that they really wanted something in return.

A touch of paint and a pair of black floral briefs

I have a number of clients who are artists. 

Among the art works that this particular client creates are body paints. 

I was at his studio a few weeks back. He actually hired me to give massages to two of his clients. In other words, I performed massages on two clients of a client.

The two of his clients were waiting for their turn to get painted on. I was hired to give them massages while they waited.

I charged my client the regular rate that I charge. But I don't know how much my client in turn charged the two persons that I massaged. I guess the massage was part of the package that came with the body painting.

The dudes that had their body painted were going to some exotic Hollywood costume party. I can only imagine what the other party goers would be wearing. I got the impression it was going to be quite an erotic event.

These dudes were kind enough to show off their costumes and body paint to me. I told them that if they ever needed massage therapy they know who to call.

I got a better look at the artist's creations from the loft.

The dude wearing the black floral briefs inspired me to get a pair for myself.

I think the floral design is a very flattering look for the body.

Floaties

I like having a little fun at work, as long as I can get away with it.

Laura is a friend of mine. And she happens to be the daughter of one of my clients. 

In this instance, she also happened to be at home while I had a massage session with her parent.

After the session was over, she invited me down to the pool. I thought it was just going to be a curtesy call.

Laura has a very playful but seductive charm about her. She offered me some fun in the middle of the day, and drinks as well. I couldn't resist. Having fun, yes; but I miscalculated the limit of how many drinks that I should have consumed.

And one thing led to another.

I am glad the client didn't find out about it.

Bike on the beach

It has been a while since I did a photoshoot for Meagan.

I have been busy with work and other personal stuff. I really hate not being able to model for her. But on the positive side, she has been able to take advantage of this opportunity to use other models to showcase her clothes. Different looking models give off different perspectives.

Professional models don't come cheap though. Sometimes, the cost of hiring a model is not really worth it, especially if the photos are for the portfolio.

For this photoshoot, I was modeling classic summer clothing. Meagan created a really cool polka dot shirt. You can wear it buttoned or unbuttoned. 

I love wearing and modeling beach wear. And I love doing shoots at the beach. It is straightforward. And it is fun.

I brought my bike with me to this photoshoot. ;) 

Go Dodgers!

A lot of my clients are Dodgers fans. 

I have to admit that I'm not really a Dodgers fan. In fact, I'm not really a big baseball fan anymore. However, it doesn't hurt for me to wear a Dodgers cap when I meet those clients. 

I have jumped on the Dodgers bandwagon ever since the team clinched the division title.

It has worked to my advantage for my clients to think that I am a fellow Dodgers fan.

I have added a Dodgers cap as a possible accessory to any wardrobe that I might wear to work, at least until the Dodgers' season comes to an end one way or another.

By the way, I have also added LA Dodgers briefs to my underwear collection. Do you like?

Go Dodgers!

free membership

I recently received an offer for a free 2 week membership to a gym not too far from where I live. 

I already have a gym that I frequent. I don't need or want to pay for another gym membership. But when I learned that the gym included a spa and massage service, I decided to check it out.

I especially wanted to check out the quality of their massage facility and the kind of massages it offered. 

I went over to the gym the other day. The workout area was nothing special. It was like any other gym. But like I said, I really went to check out the massage facility.

The facility was rather Spartan. The tables were very basic. It was nothing like what you would find at a spa. I tried to sign up for a massage, but no one was on duty at the time. Maybe I will try some other time before the free membership expires.

I guess I won't have to worry about the gym becoming my competition.

The pool area was decent. It was clean and quiet. It had a nice circular pool within a pool. Most gyms do not have a pool. So having a pool is a plus for this gym.

Overall, I wasn't so impressed that I would want to pay the regular membership fee.   

another trip to mexico

I traveled down to the northern Baja area of Mexico again last week. It was just for a day and a half.

The trip was a mixture of business and pleasure.

The person who invited me to Mexico wanted me to take part in a photo shoot, partly as an observer and partly to do some modeling. How could I refuse.

I got to stay in this charming hut, which is part of a larger resort. It might look primitive on the outside, but inside, it has all the comforts of a resort hotel.

I spent a lot of time in and around the water, which is where the photo shoot took place. I was mostly an observer. I did a few poses but as an accessory to the main models. Mainly, I just enjoyed my time there. It was more like a short vacation, and I needed it.

I had a chance to goof around with the other models.

Pink trunks

I had a interesting encounter at work yesterday.

By the way, you will notice that I was not wearing my typical work wardrobe. No t-shirt or shorts or anything of the kind. I wore a nice dress shirt and trousers for the day. One of my clients that I worked on yesterday made a request early on that I look "respectable" whenever I would meet with him in his apartment. He told me that he didn't want his neighbors to see him dealing with a "sloppily" dressed person. 

IMO, I don't look sloppy, even when I am wearing a t-shirt or shorts. I am a massage therapist, not a banker. Besides, why would I want to look sloppy in front of my clients? I always try to wear clothes that are appropriate for the job and for the client. 

However, I go with the philosophy that the client is always right. If a client wants me to dress up, then dress up I shall.

Anyway, back to my encounter ... after I finished the massage session with my client, and as I was leaving the apartment complex, I bumped into this dude. The dude was wearing pink swim trunks. Actually it looked more like underpants.

He was heading for the pool. He was definitely drawing attention to himself.

Anyway, he noticed that I was carrying a massage table. He came up to me and started asking me questions. We chatted. I told him that I was a massage therapist. He said that he was interested, that he could use a massage. I gave him my info. I haven't heard from him yet.

I thought that it was ironic that I was, relatively, dressed up for work so that I would look "respectable", but then you have this dude who is a resident there who was hardly dressed at all. I wonder what my client would think if he saw this dude strutting around the complex.

model behavior

I was hired to do a photoshoot by a colleague of Meagan's.

I am always happy when someone hires me for a photoshoot.

We did the shoot a couple of weeks ago. It was a two part photoshoot.

 The first part, we did in front of an abandoned building. I was modelling urban street wear, or hip hop wear.

The second part was a bit more challenging. I had to interact with another model.

The theme of this shoot was "sweet innocent girl falls for a bad boy". I played the role of the street tough dude that this nice girl falls for.

It was challenging, but it was fun. The girl that I worked with was super cool. I give her credit for making the shoot go smoothly.

Massaging, hot tubbing and almost throwing punches

Would you believe some of the things that I have done to please my clients?

Like hot tubbing.

Yesterday, I hot tubbed with one -- actually two -- of my clients. 

The clients were husband and wife.

 These clients have a beautiful landscaped yard. They were very proud of their yard. They allowed me to be photographed in it.

About the hot tub matter ...

The wife wanted to be massaged before getting into the hot tub but the husband wanted to get his massage after hot tubbing.

The husband could have used the hot tub while I was working on his wife. But no, he wanted to watch first and then have his wife join him in the hot tub after her massage. And after that, that was when he wanted his massage.

I go with the philosophy that the client is always right. If that is what the client wants, the client will get it.

But there was a twist. The couple wanted me to join them in the hot tub. I didn't want to. That just wasn't part of my job.

They told me that they didn't want me to be moping around being bored while they were in the hot tub. That was why they wanted me to join them.

I politely told them that I would take a pass. But they were persistent. And they did it in a good natured way.

So I ultimately said yes. 

Don't stare

But there was one more twist. The couple hot tubbed in the buff, which I couldn't care less about. But they encouraged me to do the same. I didn't want to do that. You shouldn't cross the line of professionalism with your clients.

Again, I ultimately did obliged them. I didn't want to upset the clients. And I didn't want to make it seem like it was a big deal. Just wanted to get it over with. 

It was really awkward being in the hot tub naked with them. I managed to get through it. At least, the couple was easygoing. We had an awkward but sort of interesting chat in the hot tub. It was surreal.

 She is their children's nanny. She is the one who took that naughty picture of me. She's cool. I have had good interactions with her in my past visits to the house.

By the way ...

We met up later that night. She called me and told me that I left some items at the house. She called me in the middle of my workout. I went to pick it up. When I got there, I got my stuff and she told me that she needed a ride, so I gave her one.

I didn't feel comfortable just dropping her off in that part of town. So I walked her the rest of the way. I almost got into a fight because some a-hole was harassing her. 

It was a long day.