The Beethoven of Porn

"The Beethoven of Porn?" How arrogant is that? Don't worry, I can back it up. I'm not claiming to have anything like Ludwig Van's talent or skill; I just share one very specific aspect with him. I'll get to that.

Saturday is March 8. Seven years ago, on March 8, 2007, I was sitting in a hotel room waiting to meet Ashton and Mia, the very first LostBets.com players at the very first LostBets.com shoot. I've told that story a few times already and won't repeat it again. What I haven't said is the reason why I was in that hotel room. This post will be fairly personal, so if you don't care about that sort of thing, skip to the end.

I never planned or expected to become a pornographer. I had a career already. I was a software engineer, and a fairly successful one. I've worked for some of the biggest companies on some of the biggest projects; it's a good bet you've used at least one thing I've helped create. I loved my job and was pretty damned good at it, too. I'd been a computer geek since a very young age, since long before there was an Internet. I'd thought stripping games were sexy since first encountering Artworx Strip Poker on the Apple ][ at a formative age, and as I and the Internet grew up together, I found myself wishing that somebody would create a site dedicated to stripping games. Communities formed for fans of the genre, and people frequently expressed the wish that there was more content out there. I thought about being the one to make that content, but it was always a silly pipe dream. I had other things to do.

2007 was a watershed year for me, with a lot of major, life-changing events. The biggest one, and the one which would eventually catalyze the creation of LostBets.com, was being diagnosed with a serious and incurable neurodegenerative disorder. That sort of thing can make you re-examine your life, think about what's missing, and think about what you might regret never trying. I bought a video camera, put an ad on Craigslist ("Play strip poker, get paid!"), rented a hotel room, and the rest is history.

Now 7 years have gone by, and a lot has changed. What I thought would be a hobby has turned into probably the largest library of stripping-game related media in the world. There's no way I can describe how incredibly proud I am of that. But also, my condition has (as expected) gotten worse. In addition to other insalubrious effects, the disease has gone after my optic nerves, causing severe deterioration in my vision. I'm not blind by any means, but I certainly can't drive, and reading is only possible with the text size turned way up. Everything looks like there's a layer of Vaseline smeared over my eyes. (I'm not complaining. Many people with my condition have it much, much worse than I do.) It's in this sense that I compare myself to the hearing-impaired Beethoven. I can still come up with ideas, and I'm still there to direct the shoots, but I can barely see what's going on.

This, along with the other effects of the disease, brought my software engineering career to an end a few years ago. (Don't feel sorry for me. It was an awesome career and I got to do more incredibly cool stuff in my abbreviated employment than many engineers will do in their lifetimes. No regrets.) When I started LostBets.com, the money wasn't at all a consideration. I didn't expect it to make any money, or if it did, I didn't expect it to make much. I had a good job with a good salary, and I honestly, I had as much money as I needed. Now that circumstance has changed, and it's you guys who keep a roof over my head and food on my table.

I've tried before to express how much gratitude I have towards all of you, and for more than just paying my bills. At a time in my life that could easily have been very depressing, you've helped keep my spirits buoyed up. I don't know where I'd be today if it weren't for you, but I'm certain it'd be worse. As it is, I get to make videos of hot girls getting naked. I slipped out of one awesome career and into another. I'm the luckiest guy on the planet, and I owe it all to you. "Thank you" just doesn't cut it, but it's all I've got.

Okay, enough of this maudlin crap.

Today's Episode 389 brings back Kimberly, whom we haven't seen  in quite awhile, along with Heather and Lela, whom everyone wants to see more of. Two out of three of these girls have pretty restrictive limits, but it's still an embarrassing (and sweaty) forfeit for the losers. Those of you who've been waiting with various degrees of patience for more hardcore will find it in next week's Episode 390. You won't be disappointed.