Good Vibrations Pilgrimage!

Back in November, my husband was asked to attend a work-related conference in San Fransisco. Naturally, we jumped at the chance to leave the cold and miserable MidWest and head out to sunnier climes for a long weekend. We have family in the area, so there was another incentive to make the trip.

While hubs was at his conference, I spent a few days wandering around the city, doing all the touristy things. I took a tour of Alcatraz National Park, visited the Cable Car Museum (and got to ride on one!) and the SFMOMA. I even got a private tour of the American Bookbinders Museum (one of the city's hidden gems).

But no trip to San Fransisco would be complete without a pilgrimage to Good Vibrations! Our hotel was only a 20 minute walk from the Polk St. location, and while there was a store a little closer to us, we really wanted to see the Antique Vibrator Museum! (or at least, I really wanted to see it!) So we took a nice quick walk... uphill... the entire way... I mean, I know intellectually that San Fransisco is all hills, but it's different when you're actually climbing them.

But every minute of that climb was so worth it! It's been years since I've shopped for sex toys in person, and I didn't have the best memories of it (visiting seedy adult "novelty" stores as a young woman, feeling so unwelcome and out of place). Good Vibes was so different though! It was clean and well-lit, with a big sign outside proudly proclaiming the name of the store, and a big, open picture window. The selection was huge! And the staff were helpful, but not pushy. I quickly found a few toys that I wanted, but lingered to browse and enjoy myself. I didn't feel like I needed to grab my purchases and leave before I got creeped on.

 And.... and there was the antique vibrator museum! Which was just beyond cool. I was super impressed with how many antique and vintage vibrators they had, and how nicely they were displayed. It really was like a little museum!
It was neat to see some really old vibes, and some that looked... kinda familiar. I'm looking at you Hitachi Magic Wand!

All in all, my husband and I had a great experience at the store. It was worlds away from buying crappy jelly toys at the local adult bookstore when I was just a wee little thing. I really just felt like I was in any other store, picking up something that I needed/wanted. I didn't feel creepy, out of place or ashamed. I just felt happy, and glad to be there.

Thanks Good Vibes, for being such an amazing store, and an amazing place to buy toys. I probably won't be back to your brick-and-motor store(s) any time real soon, since I don't like in the right area, but next time I'm in the City by the Bay, you can bet I'll be stopping by!





Thanks again to the staff at the Good Vibrations Polk St store who were friendly and funny, and didn't mind me asking a lot of questions about the museum! You guys really made the experience memorable.

Also, if you're curious, I bought the Stronic Eins in purple and the Pop Tops Deluxe G-spotter, also in purple. I'll have reviews for both of them coming up in the next few months or so, so stick around!

Septimus Still Reviews!

So… Some of you might have noticed that I’ve been gone… for almost 3 years. That’s a long time, I know. But I promise, I have a good excuse. Or rather, excuses. (Why come up with one when I can come up with 3?) Anyway, here goes:

First of all, I was in grad-school. I know I had tweeted about that a few times, but grad-school kind of ate my for 2.5 years. It was… fun? I’m very glad that I stuck through it and finished my program, there was more than one point where I wanted to just say ‘fuck it’ and quit. But still she persisted, and after 2.5 grueling years, I now have a shiny Master’s Degree to show off (It’s a Masters in Library and Information Science, for those who are curious. And yes, I’m a librarian in my “real” life).

Second, depression. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but I suffer from depression. I’m not on any medication at this time, but I’ve taken anti-depressants in the past, and I’ve also seen a therapist on and off since I was a kid. My depression hasn’t been bad in the last several years (moving out of my parent’s house really really helped), but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t impact my daily life.

For the most part, I’m fine. I can get through every day with little to no symptoms. But when I’m stressed (like, trying to write 2 papers and get my ass to work on time), my depression tends to be worse.

Excuse number 3, and it’s a big one: I have ADD. ADD and depression you say? Isn’t she lucky! Yeah… Anyway, I’ve been dealing with symptoms of ADD since I was in middle-school (and isn’t that just the best time of our lives?). It’s been mostly under control since I finished college, but then again, I haven’t had to write papers, and do reports and surveys, and keep track of my own deadlines as intensely as I had to when I was in school. And then, well, I went back to school. I was very impressed with how I did in grad-school, but it was because I hyper-focused on school and work. If it wasn’t a paper for school, or something that paid my bills, I couldn’t focus on it.

This is also tied in to my depression. When I slipped up, or fell behind on an assignment or work task, I got stressed, which made my ADD harder to deal with, and depressed me. Being depressed makes it harder to concentrate on tasks… and well, vicious cycle and all.

So, where does this leave poor Septimus? Not reviewing, that’s where. Not only does depression decrease your sex-drive (which makes it a lot harder to review sex toys), but it makes it harder to get and stay motivated to complete tasks at all. Plus, with me having to hyper-focus on school and work, there just wasn’t a lot of time for me to be blogging.

TL;DR? I let my blog slip over the last few years because of grad-school and the ADD symptoms and depression that can with it. I lost my domain and stopped blogging at all. Luckily, I had all of my reviews and was able to re-publish them on blogger.

I’d been thinking about getting back into blogging since I finished school in December, but a week or so ago I was approached about reviewing a new toy from a company I already love. That was the kick-in-the-pants I needed to get my blog back up and running.

So…

What can you look forward to here?

A new toy review coming soon (I hope)

A write-up of my pilgrimage to the Good Vibrations store in San Fransisco

A renewal of my own domain (though it might be slightly different - update your links!)

And much more!

Stay tuned folks, I’m back.