That den of insecurity known as Twitter has always seemed slightly ridiculous to me even though I know quite a few people who like it a lot. There are in fact lots of bondage models and photographers on it and some of them I’d like to follow. So after much hesitation – heck, I’ve held out for a couple years now! – I finally signed up a few days ago and made a profile. I have no idea if I’ll stick with it or simply give up in bewilderment and frustration in a few weeks.

I certainly don’t “get it” at this point and can’t imagine how anyone could possibly follow more than maybe twenty-five people without being overwhelmed. I see users who are following hundreds, even thousands, of people and I just think, how? Obviously there’s no way to read that many “tweets” (I can’t believe I just used that word for real). I’ve also seen some users who tweet something like forty or more times a day, which almost seems rude to the poor folks who are following you. I think the most I’ve tweeted was four in one day, and I felt like I was really over-doing it at that point.

I also briefly followed an anonymous non-bondage person who asked me to, but he was so active that my timeline was suddenly filled with this guy’s tweets and re-tweets. I felt bad to do it, but I quietly hit the “unfollow” button. Anyway, if you are on Twitter, I don’t even know if I would recommend following me or not, for I am far from sold. Believe me, I will not be offended if you choose not to (and of course, I won’t know anyway!). So with that glowing endorsement – hey, yeah, follow my exciting tweets on Twitter!

From time to time I’ll come across online profiles from other CDs who are using my pictures as their own. It’s kind of annoying and kind of flattering and yet I don’t really lose much sleep over it, since I know it’s gonna happen either way. And most of the time I don’t even bother contacting the websites where the profile is located. If they’ve left the “watermark” title on the picture, then I really don’t sweat it, as it might send someone to check out my site (though usually they crop it out).

Here’s a nice example on CollarMe that someone on Fetlife took the time to tell me about. You’ll probably have to fill in those annoying boxes to “prove” you’re over 18 to view it (I’m really annoyed all over the place today, aren’t I? ;-) Of course, if you look at the other pictures she has posted, it looks like there’s also another CD and two genetic women giving head and none of us look alike at all, so maybe we can be generous and say this is just a nice photo montage of things that inspire and titillate the owner of this profile, with no intention to be tricky or mislead.

Seeing that picture does bring back memories though. That was probably within the first hour of meeting good ol’ mysterious Ringgag (who’s sadly no longer with us) when he had me chained up in that strappado. Fun times!

You know, the worst thing about that CollarMe profile is that the spelling is so bad! I’ve always prided myself on being a decent speller (when I see mistakes on this blog I just wince). I mean, hey, I got gold stars back in grade school! I really wish there were a place to leave teasing but good-humored comments on these profiles, but what are ya gonna do? (That “ya” was intentional, by the way.) So yeah, this “tranny whor” in N. Carolina is lookin’ for fun!

It must really suck to work at MySpace, what with the amazing success and dominance of Facebook, which I’ll admit I don’t even like that much, but it’s just become so ever-present (well, if you let it be – and I suppose I do). I recently got several new friend requests on MySpace, though, so I logged on and found a message from someone who’d written, uh, seven months ago! Oops, my bad! (as the young people used to say). I probably should just cancel my account there but can’t seem to commit and pull the trigger. So it’ll probably be another seven months or so and I’ll be answering another email there. I just hope they don’t think I’m a total jerk for my silence. Like I’ve said many times here, with all the email that comes in from the site, it’s so easy for me to overlook messages and then if a few days go by and more emails have come in, the old ones just drop to the bottom and sometimes I never get to them. I wish I had two extra days a week just to write people, because I actually enjoy email (when it’s manageable) but I can’t possibly stay on top of it.

I’m really looking forward to being at FetishCon in Tampa again next month from July 27th to August 1st. It’s always great to see friends whom I only get to see once a year and make some new ones. If you’re going, drop me an email and let me know so we can say hi. Or if you go and see me walking around, do come up and introduce yourself, even if I seem preoccupied (Yeah, I’ve sometimes got that aloof manner, but I don’t mean it – I’m actually friendly!)

I’m working on setting up some photoshoots while I’m there, with hopefully some extra-special ones! It’s always a fun time and you never know what’s going to happen. Hope to see you there!

My friend AmberKatt sent me this link to a very popular LOLCat site. The caption is actually kind of disturbing when you really think about it but it seemed fitting…

I’m sure quite a few readers here have seen these drawings before, as they’ve been re-posted on several sites and have been online for over ten years. Obviously they were drawn by a French artist, and although they’re very simple and unpolished, I’ve always thought that they were incredibly sexy and beautifully convey the helpless damsel in distress scenario. I also like the modest and overly feminine style of the dresses that the girls are wearing, with the high necklines and the bows in the hair, and the strange wrinkles in the fabric with the tight pinching ropes. I’ve found probably 35 of these drawings over the years, and I think they’re so good in their own unique way that if the artist had a few hundred of them, he or she could easily open their own website and get quite a following. Does anyone know who drew these and if they have a website or anything? I’d love to think that maybe there are lots more of these out there…

A while back a friend told me that I should put up a gallery of pictures on DeviantART, so I finally took the time and did it – here’s the page. I really hope that it’s viewable with a free membership.

While I’ve downloaded some nice drawings and photos from the site in the past, I have to say that the navigation and ease of use for setting up a profile and posting pictures is really horrible. I hate to be so negative, but it probably took me an hour and a half just to upload 30-some photos. Sadly enough, it’s set up like a site that you would have found back in the late-90s, where each picture has to be uploaded one at a time, with numerous drop down menus to maneuver and boxes of text to fill in and absolutely no “batch” features for uploading multiple pictures. It’s really wildly frustrating, I hate to say, and could really use some streamlining. That said, I posted several pictures at the above link, including quite a few older ones from Ts in Trouble. Ah, the good old days!

Yet another year has passed with Trannies in Trouble online now for eight years. I’m always amazed when March rolls around, and usually this time of year I mention the Iraq war, which was just gearing up when I went online with the site back in ’03. Well, the war’s apparently officially over, though of course things are still a mess over there. Barring any unforeseen catastrophe – such as the internet imploding – I’m looking forward to the site humming along for many more years to come. I’ve really got my eye on year nine and especially year ten, which will be here in no time, and then onward into double digits. Really the site has been one of the best things in my life so far and I can’t imagine not doing it. And I have to give a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported the site over the years – I really couldn’t do it without you! So here’s to the next year and the next and onward!

I promise I won’t turn this into a big Biblical blog, but this guy the Reverend Smith (who is described as “both highly presumptuous and extremely vain”) made a bunch of Bible illustrations using Legos. The one on good ol’ Deuteronomy 22:5 about crossdressing is pretty amusing. You can check it out here and be sure to click on the little forward arrows on the right side of that page to see the other illustrations. They’re all really clever – I especially liked the ones on “Homosexuality,” “Bestiality,” “When to stone your children” and “Sexual Discharges.” Funny stuff.

I almost feel sorry for the folks at MySpace, what with their recent redesign of the site, which frankly is completely unextraordinary and still as slow and sluggish as it’s ever been. I only log on there a few times a month to quickly answer some emails and click on friend requests, but it’s always an exercise in frustration. You click on something and the site churns away for ten seconds before it replies. Facebook, while it has its own negatives (and the recent David Fincher movie is fabulous!), does seem to be much peppier and responsive.

My favorite is still Fetlife, which has become THE site for kinksters. There’s another one that I also feel sorry for, MyDungeonSpace, which has just been blown away by Fetlife, with good reason – not to be rude, but it is stunning in its lameness. Then there’s Alt.com (where I actually met a very close friend) and Bondage.com (rarely ever check it anymore) and CollarMe. I’m on almost all of these sites, except CollarMe, but Fetlife is the one I use the most. If you’d like to look me up on any of them just search for Sandra Gibbons or my old kitty_friend_99 (I think I use that on ALT but my profile may be turned off at the moment – Yeah, I check it that often). They’re all major time wasters but we seem to be stuck with ’em. You won’t however ever find me playing “Farmville” on Facebook. Even I have my limits ;-)

An online friend sent me the link to the New Releases Page at that terrific Japanese bondage site (Bound Beauties Photo Salon) that I like so much. The pictures down at the bottom of the cute girl in the nurse’s uniform are incredible! And the stewardesses are pretty awesome too. Enjoy :-)

I recently saw some really nice free full-size pics of a pretty girl in a leather sleepsack over at Straitjacketed.com. If she were gagged they would have been perfect, but they’re still very nice and sexy and worth checking out.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Tyler’s Porn Reviews just posted a nice review of Trannies In Trouble. It’s listed among the transsexual and shemale sites, which may not be the best fit, but I understand it’s hard to pick a category – bondage or TV/TS? But hey, I scored 8 to 11 points better (there’s two different scores) than Kink.com’s TS sex site TS Seduction – and they’re a huge company! Thanks, Tyler!

Recently on Fetlife I saw some amazing 3D damsel in distress pictures from a very talented guy named SPAZ who runs ActionBondage.com. We’ve been exchanging some emails and he very graciously agreed to let me post a guest gallery on Trannies In Trouble. Here’s the Preview / What’s New? page that links to it. He also sent me a couple cool pictures with me tied up with my favorite of his heroines, Vicky! I’ve toyed around with a little 3D animation over the years and it’s really hard! So I was just amazed when I first saw SPAZ’s site. Not only is he technically very skilled, but he’s able to really capture that sense of danger and peril. Check it out and enjoy!

I was surfing the web late last night looking at naughty pictures and found the most amazing YouTube video called “Voodoo,” (update: the link has since been removed but go to my post of 01-05-09 for a link on MySpace) from an Italian guy who goes by the name AgenteWGA. It’s pretty dark at the end but has to be one of the sexiest things I’ve seen in a long time. There’s a nice set-up scene with the girl wearing a fabulous outfit and walking around in a shopping mall while being watched that really creates a feeling of impending danger. He also has another shorter video on the above profile page with some nice moments. Enjoy them while they’re still online.

Whew, I’m so relieved to finally have this password problem all resolved. If you’re still having any troubles, just go to the public homepage and send me an email from the email link.

There are a few manually entered passwords for some of the models and photographers and other friends I’ve worked with that got lost in cyberspace, so if you have one and it’s not working just let me know and I’ll add it right away. Whew, I got a few new grey hairs from this! Thanks so much for everyone’s patience – I really appreciate all the support!