Forum Replies Created

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  • Poledancefan

    Member
    June 16, 2009 at 11:25 pm in reply to: Not saving?

    In WIndows Movie Maker, you save

    Projects…and Movies..

    The project is the list of clips and sound you’ve dragged around to the timeline and cut and chopped up. You can save the PROJECT for later–like after dinner to finish working on it.

    When you are done, you save the MOVIE.

    Could this be the source of the problem?

    Also..if you have the files of clips you want to use in some sort of temporary junk file—a holding bin you are dragging the clips from–then you CANNOT delete the source clips from the junk file until the final movie is saved. Otherwise, Windows Movie Maker goes to the temporary source you imported the clips from…and they are gone. It’s like an empty pantry.

    If you don’t use a temporary holding file…and just import form the camera, or the chip…then you cannot unplug the camera from the USB port or unplug the chip until you save the final movie.

    I keep an empty folder in MY DOCUMENTS called WORKING VIDEO. I strip off the video I want to save from the camera into WORKING VIDEO. I keep the source clips there for a week or two after I put up a video.

    One time I spelled Veena’s name "Vena"–ha ha–and I had to delete the video from You-Tube after I saw it…but I had saved the project and the Junk source file. I just re-spelled "VEENA" and re-saved the video. SInce all the source clips were still there, it just put them back together…with a new properly spelled caption.

    But if you had assembled the video from your camera or chip…unplugged it without saving it…the source material is gone forever and you are stuck with whatever final movie you saved.

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    June 16, 2009 at 11:06 pm in reply to: Can you guys tell me if I’m being too sensitive?

    OK…the script was getting VERY buggy…my computer..or the server? Letters weren’t showing in forum window..

    Glitter…about my own situation. My kids are very far apart..seven years. They are so different, and I wonder if they perceive us as favoring one over the other. Jake was the first grandchild in BOTH families, spoiled STINKIN’ ROTTEN, LOL!–even by his own admission. (Even my mom calls him the "PRINCE"–not ironically,I’m afraid) Although he had his motivational issues in high school, he was the kid participating in many activities. Like my wife, he is quiet and reticient in his feelings. Jacob is clearly his MOM’s son

    On the other hand, we have not seen the inside of the middle school since he graduated, as Johannah joins nothing, participates in nothing. But then again, Johannah is clearly MY child, LOL! She is morose, tempermental, disturbingly sex obsessed for a thirteen year old girl, seeks friendships in off-beat, nerdy, or freaky kids (that was me in school), and is constantly upset and ranting and raving all the time about every injustice on the planet–including her mom, the "mega bitch", and her embarassing, fat, and digusting bald dad!

    As angry an adolescense as she is having, she always comes to me as the "go to" parent…even though we have a very difficult relationship, too. Jacob always goes to his mom!

    I’m not sure why things are this way…but again, it may be that parents just tend to "identify " with certain children more than they do with another.

    But you are making your OWN way..that is an important thing! Take pride in your independance and maturity, Glitter!

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    June 16, 2009 at 10:42 pm in reply to: Can you guys tell me if I’m being too sensitive?

    Wow, there were some very difficult stories to read inthat thread.

    Glitter, I’ll try to comment from my perspective as the firstborn son of an very bitter parent…and as the parent of a son and daughter many years apart.

    My mom was divorced very young (in 1960, when divorce was like cancer–simply NOT TALKED ABOUT)and actually still pregnant with my sister M.E. She had a professional career as a psychologist,so we did not starve…but my mom remained (and remains) a very bitter person. She was quite open about her hostility towards men (still is, LOL!)…and openly stated she thought men had all the advantages in the world (and she still does). She was raised in family of sisters…and I think she was adrift when it came to raising a son. I’m not so sure I would say she "favored" my sister. In fact, she was harsher and more judgmental about my sister’s relatively mild behaviors as a young woman than she was about mine. In a horrible, ironic twist of fate, M.E.’s husband died of Pancreatic cancer at about 38 (?) (leaving M.E. behind with my 13 year old nephew, then 2 or 3). Now by then, my sister and her were TOTALLY estranged…but my mom still shares a kind of "parallel" sympathy with her predicament…they are both single parents.

    So Glitter, what I am saying is that parents may "see" some identifying aspect with one kid and not the other. It may be totally IRRATIONAL–but humans are not always rational, I think! Maybe this is a factor in your situation, but difficult for you to know why your mom sees herself in one child and not the other.

    This may seem impossible to laugh about now…but with age (Nearing 50 now!) you may share some laughs about it later with your sister. My mom would rebut EVERY argument with the following phrase…"Well, all a person needs to be happy in this world is a penis and a pair of pants!" As my sister and I drift into our senile years, we repeat this line to each other with glee every time we get together.

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    June 16, 2009 at 10:09 pm in reply to: Does anyone work out?

    In the summer I alternate Bike Riding (35 miler), Health Club (exactly 90 minutes), and Pole.

    So it’s each activity every third day. But if it is pouring rain, then Bike day is Treadmill day. And of course, Winter means that Bike day is always Treadmill day.

    I don’t have a regime at the Bally’s. I use the machines I can get on that are not crowded. But I try to get my fair share of upper and lower body stuff. I go after work, so it’s kind of insane–you just get the machine you can get, and that’s about it, LOL!

    I’m too lazy to prepare Supps…but I usually grab an over the counter shake by one of the organic companies, like Odwalla. They usually have either soy powder extract or whey powder extract–or something like that. They are kind of chalky, but I actually like the taste now! There just happens to be a tiny little upscale grocer right off the bike path in LaGrange…he’s got a whole rack of shakes for about 2.99$ a bottle…

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    June 16, 2009 at 9:56 pm in reply to: HAPPY BIRTHDAY STUDIO VEENA!!!

    Happy Birthday, Studio Veena…

    Your invitation to join…personally sent via a PM on You-Tube to me at a time when I was one of the VERY few male polers on line, was a real ice-breaker for me. You were among my first "pole mentors."

    You are such a petite and young lady…yet you have already made an ENORMOUS ripple–a WAVE, really…in the ocean of popular dance culture.

    Keep up the great work!

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    June 16, 2009 at 9:51 pm in reply to: HERE IT IS!! June StudioVeena.Com Video Newsletter

    I found your explanation of the Superman so clear and easy to follow, I was tempted to run into the pole room and give it a try. But I was wearing Khaki pants. It’s great to see you are pushing the boundaries of the pole dance movement…expanding the number of ways that people can learn about pole and exotic dance.

    Sascha, you are brave to talk openly about your experiences and your opinions about burlesque and erotic dance. Even here in relatively staid and conservative Midwestern Chicago, we have the occaisonal Burlesque revue that rents out a local "off off off Broadway type theatre"–but plays to a full house (30-50 people) on many weekends. The audiences run the gamut, single folks, couples, theatre people, groups of young adults out for a little more of a risqué evening. I got to talk to a performer last Christmas who said her Burlesque act was just part of her performance career (she was a dancer, dance hooper, and aerialist from New Zealand).

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with adults enjoying a perfectly legal dance performance in an environment that is consensual, safe, and non-exploitative. Furthermore, you’ve got a well balanced set of goals and values involving service to others in your chosen profession of social work.

    Veena, the production was superb! Picture was CRYSTAL clear on this end..nice playback, no hitches or stutters in the file. The sound was great..it picks up a nice resonant quality in your voice I had never heard before…you could sing in a band, you know!!!

    So…local cable outlet in the Bay Area next??? "VeenaTV" why not!!??

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 4:50 am in reply to: Insane rantings of a madman?

    Yes, I agree with you Veena–in that I have not had any problems with Windex…even squirting a tiny bit on my legs now and then or rubbing it on myself off a hand towel. I’ve got pretty scruffy "man-skin", LOL! so I don’t get too sensitive to stuff.

    As far as the pole surface, I really don’t even give it much thought. With the conduit surface, I can just BRASSO off anything that is a problem. Matter of fact, I played around with metal paint a few months ago to see if that would make a better finish. It didn’t. So I just steel wooled the whole mess right off the pole and Brasso’d it up nice and shiny again.

    I’m not too savvy about the difference between materials and processes used by P/S versus X-pole. Chemically, alcohols are relatively inert to most metals, like you say. Maybe P/S uses something that doesn’t go well with alcohols?

    Only other thing I can think of is that it could be one of those individual "personal" mismatches to skin and metal. My boss is one of those women that gets the green tincture under watches and rings. She told me she was convinced her husband had gotten her a fake ring and had it checked out by a jeweler–but it was legit–just something funny about how her skin and the metal reacted.

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 4:33 am in reply to: Drunken pole dancing!!

    I must admit I do get a little worried when I see poling after drinking alcohol. I guess that at my age, I am really sensitive to issues of safety and injury. At nearly 50, stuff does not heal as fast as it used to. I already have a fairly high risk profile because I ride mainly at night ( to avoid sunburn–35 miles a day, I’d have a high UV exposure) and I have had a few close encounters with bicycle versus car, city bus, and at least once..stray bullets from a nearby liquor store robbery. I never wear a bicycle helmet. I know I should–my wife is angry that I don’t. I drive lots of mileage during the day for work. Just the other day three squad cars blew across the intersection doing 50-60MPH. I thought to myself..OK, that’s the 10th, 11th time this year. How long before I get t-boned in this Honda S***box?

    So when I pole, I am SUPER CAREFUL. I ask everyone not to yell down the stairs or startle me. One time the phone rang in an invert and I almost broke my neck, LOL!

    I am of two minds about Fleur’s point on being sexy and confident without alcohol. I sure did my share of drinking in life…and I would be hypocritical and dishonest if I didn’t admit to needing a few beers to loosen up and dance at a bar. I guess men have it lucky in the sense that we rarely have to "display" our bodies to measure up to judgements from the opposite sex. If we are clever enough to avoid weddings, we never have to face the dance issue but once (at our own, LOL!)

    I see this contrast in my two kids. My son (age 20) actually thinks his "freshman 10" is cool. He rubs his belly and pats it like it’s a newfound chum. He’s stopped shaving, grown a 7 inch ‘Fro, pulls his hugely oversized 17 inch collared shirtails out and stares at himself adoringly in the mirror. He told me yesterday that this is the "Rustic" look and girls think it is sexy!

    My daughter, 13, has developed a serious weight problem (not just appearance, but really a health issue, too). It’s put me in a real bind…it’s agonizing to criticize, but seems irresponsible not to address the issue of eating, exercise and health.

    Oh well, I have SERIOUSLY rambled off topic. This is a TOUGH issue–body image, weight,confidence, and all. It’s on my mind a lot now because I have a daughter whom I know is suffering and my wife and I are, too–not knowing how to handle it….

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 3:46 am in reply to: Insane rantings of a madman?

    It’s possible that this might work. Alena Downs HAS mentioned 7-up as grip product. She jokes on her forum about using simple household products and disliked Windex because it can be corrosive.

    Both 7-up and Coke in the 2 liter bottles are considered super saturated solutions of sugar water. That is why–against intuition–2 liter bottles CAN be safely stored after opening without refrigeration for a few days. There is so much sugar that bacteria do not grow that well in the solution. I found this out the hard way when I wrote a citation for a nursing home for storing opened pop bottles in an unrefrigerated cupboard. The state sanitarian kicked the citation, called me on my cell phone and gave me a very stern lecture. I had to drive back to the nursing home and apologize for the write-up!

    Sugar is sticky when it dries…so maybe that produces the grip.

    I think Amcut hit it on the nail. Grip is a mystic art. It is a matter of experimentation, too. I’ve tried a lot of things. For me, the old standby Windex–and a tiny bit of resin stick (which actually is Maple sap) works pretty well.

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 3:16 am in reply to: Leigh Anns dvd

    Jenna, you are thinking of Alethea. She won the title Miss Sexy at USPDF in New York in 2009. She is awesome on the pole. Her floorwork is UNBELIEVABLE…she’s like a tightly coiled spring rolling and bouncing and twisting all around on the floor. Truly one of the most talented dancers out there.

    I will say that Leigh Ann has started responding quite a bit more to her comments on her You-Tube channel. I used to get a little frustrated when she did not respond…I guess I like to spend a lot of time really studying each performance video and it’s always nice to get a little "thank you" from some-one. I looked at my earlier comment and thought maybe I was a bit too negative and harsh. I like to keep it positive…and I know she is a busy business owner…

    As for the DVD set, I don’t have it. Well, even if it was light on instruction…she and Alethea are pretty awesome. It would be a pleasure just to watch them dance!

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 3:07 am in reply to: Need your opinions!

    PS: One more thing:

    I do really hope I’ll meet many of you one day. But…I promise I’ll bring my wife along.

    And YOUR husbands and/or boyfriends/or partners can spend the afternoon talking to MY wife about how frustrating it can be to hang out with someone who is literally addicted to and talks constantly about all the incredible things that can be done while flying around a metal cylinder!

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 3:01 am in reply to: Need your opinions!

    My wife wasn’t all that thrilled about me posting videos on You-Tube, either. But we always joke that because we are a marriage of two first borns, we are both used to getting our way. So we agree to disagree on a lot of things. Over the months of me getting into the poling thing and posting videos, she’s gotten used to it. She’s watched a few of the videos. Usually it ‘s real late at night when I finish editing them. She’ll come downstairs to the basement and I’ll start the video. Usually she is FAST ASLEEP by about the 5th minute. One time she actually tilted over onto the pillow on the couch, LOL!

    Now this doesn’t bother me one bit–because it affirms my intention to have a purely technical video of pole gymnastics, fitness, spins, inverts, and aerial tricks.

    Maybe some viewers think my vids are sexy…ha ha..that would not bother me one bit. I mean, we are all thousands of miles away from each other–except for Glitter (one day we ARE gonna meet for coffee, right? You, me, your boyfriend, and Laurie, LOL!). So it’s not like I am going to hop on a jet airplane and consumate some fantasy love affair with a sexy lady who poles on You-Tube…I mean come on, we are all adults here!

    As far as the fantasy element alluded to by JC and Amcut–as to what men (and maybe women (?) ) will do in the privacy of their own life–that’s OK with me. I enjoy making the videos, posting the videos, and the wonderful feedback from the people who watch. It doesn’t bother me if it "excites" somebody–that’s a private, mental thing and we are all entitled.

    And yes, I DO enjoy watching the sexy videos posted by the female polers. I think we all know that there is a pleasure we all get in both producing a sexy performance…and enjoying one produced by another. But in the end…they are videos…and when we do choose to deepen a relationship (say, like the pole jams of Fleur and Veena) into a friendship that is face to face, we can and should involve our significant other in negotiating the terms of those situations.

    Foxy-Rei, I think the most important thing for your husband to know is that after the video is edited and uploaded, and the computer is turned off–HE’s the one you get into bed with every night. And that’s not a video…it’s the real thing!

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 2:22 am in reply to: Dangers of a Spider.

    Glad to hear your daughter is OK

    Nothing is more frightening than having something the matter with your child and not knowing what is going on.

    Later on, a bee sensitivity test might be a good idea. She can get an epi pen to carry with her. I think they have one that even a child can dial the syringe out to their body weight and self inject the epinephrine. I used to have one years ago…but my asthma and allergies have improved with age.

    One thing about your story concerns me…and it mirrors a trend I see as an inspector in the health care field. Hospitals are too quick to discharge patients–especially children–before making sure that the patient is stable. Any physician in this situation should have seen the potential for anaphylactic shock. They should have admitted for observation–especially since the swelling site was so close to the airway.

    I had this battle years ago when my son…then a toddler..had bronchitis. I wanted him evaluated for pneumonia. The radiologist was off duty and the resident wasn’t confident about his x-ray read. They wanted to send us home with an AB…"call us in the morning…" –type situation. I insisted they admit him.

    Well, I turned out to be totally wrong..it was just bronchitis…no infiltrate, no pneumonia. The pulmo guy came down to the room and he was actually pretty decent about it. He said, "yeah, well–I got a kid, too. I probably would have done the same thing…" It’s your kid and you wanna be safe…

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 30, 2009 at 2:02 am in reply to: Homemade Pole?

    Hi Everybody!

    Just ran into this dicussion about homemade poles. Yes, mine is a simple piece of 2 inch electrical conduit that I cut with an aluminum conduit cutter. I did use a piece of plywood from a craft store to make the base. Now I would recommend a slightly sturdier piece of plywood as a base. I did end up reinforcing the wooden base with some steel strips because it had started to crack. The wooden base isn’t officially attached to the floor other than by the friction from sandpaper staple gunned to the bottom of the wooden base. I don’t worry about the pole wiggling or "traveling" much because it is bracketed to the basement ceiling with 4 or 5 steel brackets. I reinforced the ceiling joists with a few strips of carpenter’s steel (they are about a dollar a piece) and an Oak board on either side of the plank where the pole is attached.

    I didn’t have to worry about appearances..after all it’s a basement..so I had a lot of freedom to just keep hammering away until the contraption was strong enough to be safe. I weigh nearly 200 pounds. The pole does not budge a millimeter on spins. It’s pretty sturdy.

    The entire process is documented in a series of videos from July in 2008. I think they are still all up on You-Tube..somebody even assembled them into a playlist.

    Joel

  • Poledancefan

    Member
    May 8, 2009 at 4:59 am in reply to: My First Spatchcock

    Wow! Doesn’t even look humanly possible, lol! I’m staring at the picture, trying to figure out the friction and contact points. …and how anybody can bend down that far into a split, AROUND a pole (?)!!!!

    WOW…just plain WOW!

    Joel

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