Spotlight Interview #41 - Chris&Amelia

[JustAskJulie]

About the interviews

Swingers Board interviews are a way for us to get to know each other better. It is a way to acknowledge just how wonderfully varied a community we are.
Every Thursday, a new interview will start and the old interview will be locked.

Every SwingersBoard member is allowed to ask the amount of questions specified by the interviewee in the answers to the default questions. If they discover that they chose too high or low a limit, they may change their choice.

Try to keep this thread about the person being interviewed. If you want to comment about things you discover you have in common or just elaborate on a response, pm them and make a new friend or start a new thread about it. This is intended to be a friendly thread, so please don’t ask anything in a purposeful attempt to get a heated debate. Of course, nobody is required to answer a question that they do not want to.

The current person being interviewed will choose the next person. It is preferred that you pick someone that you do not know very well as the purpose of this thread is to get to know new people. If for some reason, the next interviewee has not been chosen in time for the new interview, I will pick the next person. If you would like to be added to my list of back-up interviewees, please pm me.

Also, please keep in mind that any answers you post are viewable to complete strangers. There is some risk in that. Again, all questions are optional.

The following are general questions asked at the start of each new interview.

Question limit (as the interviewee you may limit the questions on a per post or per user basis if you wish):
Gender (if not a couple):
If a couple, which one primarily posts:
Age(s):
Birthday(s):
Location:
Relationship status:
Swinging for how long?:
Prefer to swing with:
Favorite food(s):
Biggest Pet Peeve:
Brief Intro:
Picture:
Website (your own or one of your favorites):

[Chris&Amelia]

Wee! Sorry for the delay, but Julie asked us on short notice, and we gotta work during the day.

Anyway, let's answer the questions posed by Julie first...

Question limit: None right now. Fire away.

Gender: Couple

If a couple, which one primarily posts: That would be me, Chris. Amelia is more of a face-to-face person, and feels uncomfortable communicating on such high technology devices like computers or, say, telephones. Plus, I type faster. Must be those years working as a writer at a newspaper when I was much younger.

Age(s): I'm 33. She's 35. I always had a thing for older women.
Birthday(s): September 10th for me. October 10th for her.
Location: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Relationship status: Married ten years.
Swinging for how long?: About three years.
Prefer to swing with: Couples, with the occasional single female.
Favorite food(s): Tex-Mex (YEEEEHAW!) with good Italian being a close second.
Biggest Pet Peeve: People who drive slllooooowwww in the left lane on highways.

Brief Intro: First, there was darkness, and it was formless and empty. A voice called out "Let there be light" and...

Oh. A little more brief? Okay.

Me? I'm originally from South Florida. Oddly enough, I can't stand the beach. She's from New Yawk City, born and raised, and didn't get a driver's license until she was 23 years old. I got out of school and got my "dream job" working at the local paper as a Junior Sports Writer. I was rather discouraged by the cut-throat nature of it, plus the fact that it appeared that nobody, nobody I worked with, especially the Senior Writers, were very happy.

I quit and, not knowing what else to do, joined the Army to become a Combat Medic.

Amelia finished college and got her Nursing License, and for reasons still unknown to her, joined the Army as a brand-new Second Lieutenant. We were both stationed in O'ahu, Hawaii (nice place to visit, you don't want to live there). I got out of the Army before she did, and enjoyed a brief career with the Honolulu Police Department.

After her commission expired, we were more then happy to get off The Rock. We moved to Pennsylvania, where we've been ever since.

She's a Registered Nurse at a large PA hospital. Meanwhile, I'm a supervisor in the local small-town Police Department here. The net result is that we both work odd hours. We also have interesting stories to tell each other at the end of the day.

We've been swinging for about three years now, which we started to try out new things. We both realized that there will always be a temptation to cheat on each other, so why put our relationship at risk and just get it out in the open and make it "legit"? As such, it's something we do as a couple, and have fun while we're at it. For the past couple of months, due to family and professional obligations, we've been on a hiatus of sorts, as we decided that since we had so little time together, we were going to take advantage of what time we had.

We both enjoy reading and we're both avid videophiles (a friend of mine recently classified our DVD collection as "insanely large"). Both of us also enjoy shooting... she's a revolver type of girl, I stick with semi-autos. We enjoy travel when we have a chance, and we're in the process of getting our passports.

Oh, yeah. We have three dogs, as well.


Picture: I'd rather not. While we're certainly not a "pillar of the community", due to my occupation, I'm fairly well-known (and loved by some, hated by more) in this region of Pennsylvania. We've both been out as far away as 100 miles from where I work when I'll bump into some person who will see me and say "Hi Officer! How ya doing? Everything okay over there? That's great, bye!" Amelia will look at me and ask "who's that?" I usually shrug and answer "I have no idea."

Website (your own or one of your favorites): Our favorites are Something Awful , Blue's News, The Digital Bits, Ain't It Cool News (The Drudge Report of popular entertainment), and the Arcata Eye (California) Police Blotter

[NotsoNew]

Welcome to the spotlight! Just curious about your reason for swinging. How did that intitial conversation go? Who initiated it? And what was your first experience like?

[Chris&Amelia]

Well, our initial reasons were because we always realized that there would be a tension, or temptation, or cheat. It's in our biological nature to mate with as many people as possible, right? After being monogamous for seven years, we were looking to spice things up.

I brought it up, and after much discussion, she agreed that she thought about having sex with men other then me. She felt shamed by these thoughts, as the was worried about being "unfaithful". After talking about it, we agreed that we would go to a local club to "check things out".

So, we went with the understanding that she was in charge, and what she said was law. If she wanted to leave, we would leave. We were introduced to the club by the owners and given "the tour". They took us downstairs to the dance floor and the first thing we saw when we got off the stairs was a woman, totally nude, dancing with some guy. "Well, that's it, we're leaving for sure!" I thought. I look at Amelia and she considers it... "Well, let's see what else is happening."

We met another couple who were also newbies. We became friends with them and one weekend arranged to share a two-bedroom cabin with them at a campsite*. The rest was history.

* - It should be noted that the women set this up. Sneaky minxes!

[dutch51]

Hi Chris and Amelia! It's always fun getting to know people. What is your favorite restaurant? Where would you like to travel to once you have your passports? Do you have a lot of snow right now?

Have a great day!

[Chris&Amelia]

Thanks for the kind words!

Right now our favorite restaurant is Don Pablo's. We're thinking of spending some time in somewhere tropical... Jamaica or the Bahamas. And, finally, no, we don't have that much snow right now, but they're saying we can get as much as 16 inches tomorrow!

[BradAndJanet]

Man, the Arcata Eye blotter, what a hoot that is! I haven't read it in ages, but I've got to hit that site again soon. Someday I've just got to pay a visit there.

I already know about nurses, being married to one, but what's the best and worst thing about being a cop?

-B

[TNT]

Since you mentioned no children in your intro, I assume you have none. Do you plan on having children one day?

Have you ever written any kind of stories or books?

What's your favorite booK/author?

Where/how do you meet your play partners?

Does the fact you both have odd hours hinder you when it comes to playing?


Ok, that should be enough for now

Teresa

[Chris&Amelia]

Sorry for the delay. As some of you may be aware, the northeast area is getting some pretty heavy snow. That's keeping me pretty busy (some people just don't know how to drive in winter weather). Amelia's at work right now for the same reason, so let me try my best to answer your questions.

BradAndJanet -

I already know about nurses, being married to one, but what's the best and worst thing about being a cop?

The best thing certainly isn't the pay! While I can mouth the usual platitudes about "I love serving my community" and "I'm here to make a difference", while all true, the best thing has got to be that it's simply a fun job. A wiser man then me once said "Police work is 99% routine patrol, 1% utter terror," which sums it up nicely. I've seen thing and done things that most people will never experience. I've done everything from rescue a raccoon from a tree (don't ask) to serve as a pool attendant at a teenage pool party (please don't ask). I've walked into a swinger party once with three couples, entirely naked, diving for cover when they saw me (oh, the stories I could tell about "swingers behaving badly".)

There's also a brotherhood (the only "brotherhood" that includes women as well!) that you develop with your fellow officers. I've never seen this sort of camaraderie except when I was in Basic Training in the Army. It's unlike any other job in the world.

As for the worse part... well, again, I've seen some things that I would rather forget. I've had a young woman die in my arms once when her boyfriend, in a jealous rage, cut her throat (we caught him, he got life in jail). I never gotten used to having to put crippled deer down on the side of the road. And, let's face it, this isn't the most beloved profession in the world. Some people just can't stand anybody who wears a badge, either because of past experiences or because of how they were raised, and I've been called everything from "pig" to "faggot" to "racist" (always a ready standby whenever I deal with somebody of another skin color). Being called a "racist" after the person has already rained down a couple choice slurs onto you is always good for an ironic chuckle, but we're supposed to let it roll off our backs and not bother us.

I had one occasion where a man got stabbed in the shoulder with a 9-inch kitchen knife by his brother, because he tried to prevent the brother from beating up his wife. I get there and the guy is bleeding quite heavily. The stabbing-brother had already fled. The victim looks at me and says "I hate fucking cops. Don't fucking touch me." What could I do? It's not against the law to GET stabbed, and I can't treat him without his consent. So I leaned up against the wall and watched him bleed out, until the medics arrived.

But, given the choice, I wouldn't do any other job.

[Vespertine]

Originally Posted by Chris&Amelia

"Prehende uxorem meam, sis!"

I love your quote!

I used to use this one on another site:

"Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?".

[Chris&Amelia]

TNT -

Since you mentioned no children in your intro, I assume you have none. Do you plan on having children one day?

You would be correct in that assumption. We have no children, nor do we want any. We're both quite happy being DINKS (Double Income, No KidS). I've never been much a "kid person" (even when I was a kid!), and we have a considerable role in raising our gazillion nieces and nephews. Also, with our odd schedules, raising children would be problematic, at best.

Have you ever written any kind of stories or books?

While some of the reports I write at work can be considered the Great American Novel, no. I don't think I would have the patience to do it.

What's your favorite booK/author?

We're both big fans of Terry Pratchett (Thief of Time being my favorite Discworld novel). Amelia also likes Andrew M. Greeley, while I'm rather fond of Carl Hiaasen (Basket Case). We're both working our way through Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

Where/how do you meet your play partners?

Generally through the club that we go to. Sometimes it's through an introduction from mutual friends, but that's rare. We don't look for playmates through classified ads.

Does the fact you both have odd hours hinder you when it comes to playing?

Yup. I'm expected to work on most weekends, and Amelia has every other weekend off. Since most reserve their playtime for weekends, it does make it difficult at times.

[Chris&Amelia]

Originally Posted by Vespertine

I love your quote!

Thanks! It's Latin, and translates to "Take my wife, please!"

I used to use this one on another site:

"Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?".

Heh.

"Is that a scroll in your toga, or are you just happy to see me?"

[JustAskJulie]

HOw did you guys end up in PA? What made you decide to move there? If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

I too hate phones, love the computer though. So why do you think it is that Amelia shuns non face-to-face interaction?

[Chris&Amelia]

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

HOw did you guys end up in PA?

When she got out of the Army, her family had moved from NYC to Pennsylvania, and she wanted to be relatively near them.

If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Good question. I've really come to like Pennsylvania. Before we moved away from Hawaii, we decided that if we were going to stay in the state of Hawaii, we would move to one of the other islands (maybe Kauai or the Big Island of Hawaii). One of our favorite places in the world is Volcano National Park on the Big Island, and we would like to visit again one day.

I too hate phones, love the computer though. So why do you think it is that Amelia shuns non face-to-face interaction?

I'm just theorizing because she's not here right now, but I think it's because when she was brought up, her family wasn't very technologically orientated, and the only experience with computers she had was in school and college. Believe it or not, she had never been on the Internet until she met me!

As such, she feels uncomfortable using them to communicate.

Also, she prefers to looks somebody in the face when she talks to them. I think it's a Puerto Rican thing.

[JustAskJulie]

Tell her not to feel bad, I had never bee on the internet or really dealt much with a computer until after I was married (early 97 was when we got our computer). I broke it a few times but I learned in the process... and look where it got me. I still hate phones tho!

Since she is not a big fan of phones, how do you guys go about verifying people you meet through ads? Or do you meet people through ads?