24 [M4F] #CA #BayArea Switch exploring rope/shibari and seeking top/bottom/switch friends for attending classes, events, and parties

Please note that we'll be initially (and possibly primarily) playing within public contexts including classes, rope jams, and dungeon parties - I'm also open to practicing privately (can't host), though I would definitely recommend attending at least some public events for learning purposes. Public venues would be involved within the SF Bay Area kink scene including Voxbody (Oakland off MacArthur BART, rope only), Stopgap (SF off Civic Center BART, everything), Nocturnal (downtown SJ, everything), and possibly Filthy Studios (Oakland off Fruitvale, mostly rope). I primarily attend Nocturnal and Voxbody for events, don't attend Stopgap that much but can drive up for events I'm interested in.

I'm also happy to share my Fetlife and can share references of play partners and organizations for vetting purposes, and would encourage everyone to do the same when exploring with anyone new.

Anyway, I'm dipping my toes into shibari again after a three-month hiatus, and I'm very interested in exploring rope (and potentially more) with someone who identifies as a top, bottom, or even switch! I have about three months of experience and would consider myself a "beginner-intermediate", in that I'm familiar with the Somerville single-column and some hitches, and have some experience with entry-level ties including a basic TK (boxtie), futomoto, etc.. I'm not saying that I'm experienced by any means, so I'm being upfront with that - this will be a learning experience for both of us! I would consider exploring shibari and kink in general very mentally explorative and liberating for me, especially in community safe(r) spaces where I'm more comfortable exploring submission and other emotions, feelings, and sensations - a mental "deep tissue massage", if you will. I would happily drone on and on about my experiences and philosophies exploring kink if given the opportunity, so you're more than welcome to poke my brain on that topic!

If you're potentially interested in discussing more, please introduce yourself with the following (as much as you're comfortable with) just so we have a good starting point for conversation:

• Your experience with kink in general: I would love to learn what you love about kink, and what makes you tick! I would also appreciate if you could share how much you know about communication, consent, and negotiation in a kink context - I'd really recommend everyone learn as much as they can if possible, just because being proficient at the three aforementioned skills will make everything so much smoother!
• Your experience within the kink community: Perfectly fine if you don't have any, but would like to know how much introduction to the scene is needed for those attending public events for the first time. I'm more than happy to attend a munch (vanilla gathering of kinky people) or social, if that would help ease you in - or otherwise meet in a vanilla context as well for coffee, food, snacks, or otherwise.
• What you're looking for: Also for encouraging more conversation :) Are you interested in exploring specifically rope, or also looking to explore the kink scene itself more? I love talking about this stuff so I'm more than happy to recommend events and venues for anyone who's interested (even if you're not specifically interested in my post) and maybe should just dump everything into a Google Doc eventually.

Thanks for reading through!