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Veena PLEASE lol…you could wear any of them…but I think the black and white ones would be great on you

Agreed! You know what’s funny? Before I even read your comment I thought of Veena when I clicked on those black and white waist high ones! They would look amazing on her!

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LMAO!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

500 points to Veena for hilarious usage of safe sex icon!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

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I don’t have much guidance on exercises but I want to wish you a speedy recovery! No matter what you do, please be careful. My dad had a rotator cuff injury a few years ago, and he didn’t realize how bad it was because the pain was deceptive. Just during the course of normal daily activities he put so much stress on the injury that he almost wound up needing surgery. Fortunately, we dodged that bullet.

If you have continuing problems with it, I’d suggest going to a sports medicine dr. Particularly one who works with swimmers or baseball players; my dad went to a guy who treated MLB pitchers because rotator cuff problems are so common with that, as men’s major league pitching is totally destructive. No matter what you do, please make sure you give it adequate rest. It’s really easy to wind up in a bad spot with r.c. injuries. I hope you feel better soon!!

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Runemist: Nope, I use the standard cup grip. It is less stable than some other grips, but it was what felt best for me, so I took particular care with building my strength so I wasn’t taking any unnecessary risks. Just anatomically, that was what was most comfortable with me. I’ve had some troubles with my elbow so some of my first attempts at veena grip and foreward grip, I felt a pinch in my elbow. Now that my joints are stronger, veena grip works too. Using standard cup grip just felt more comfortable to me, and I did go to wikipole and try them all. Cup felt best, so cup’s what I stuck with. What’s really important if you’re going to try any grip, and I think veena put this in her awesome SM lesson, is that the pole be on the correct shoulder for whatever your dominant hand is. Just watch her SM lesson, she talks you through the positioning really, really well.

I wonder why I’m a weirdo and cup felt best. Maybe it’s just because my biceps are so strong, and cup grip utilizes that.

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Thanks for the info!
Shipping from Veena to Canada is $60.00 plus the price of the pole, so I’m looking at around $360.00 US (then add on the extra $$ for the conversion to Canadian $$). That’s the only reason why I was even considering the cheaper pole. But a cheap pole is exactly that, cheap!! I looked and I couldn’t find any reviews outside of their website, so that made me nervous. I did send them and e-mail asking them a few questions about their pole (the number of ball bearings and what the top dome is made out of). No way will I buy a cheap pole without asking a bazillion questions!!
But after thinking about it, I will most definitly be ordering a pole from Veena (if and when I order a pole). I’ve looked everywhere and Veena offers the cheapest X-Pole (thank you Studio Veena!!). https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

She definitely does have the best price, no doubt about that! I’m glad you decided to order from her, now you’ll have access to her expertise plus the official x-pole customer service, which can answer just about any question you’d ever possibly have. Congratulations on your decision, I know you won’t regret it! Now get that pole and put up a vid so we can all clap for you!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

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I didn’t meant to condone locking the fingers. That’s a bad idea for exactly the reason you said, no way to catch yourself if you fall. I just meant to say as far as all the standard grips go, it seems the key to SM is just patience no matter which grip feels most comfy.

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Yes Friday is chat night. For future reference, there are like 5 million threads on this forum entitled "help" so you might want to put a more specific title if you want people to read. The subject is for letting us know what we’re about to read, "help" isn’t much of a descriptor.

Hope to see you in chat on friday! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

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The reason you don’t see all the fakes listed under the same name is that these ripoff poles (and I PROMISE you that’s what you’re looking at) are constantly having to change their names because they’re constantly being chased by lawyers! They keep switching the way they list the poles so they can keep selling their CRAP. While it may look the same in pictures, I guarantee you the upper dome will probably be plastic, which WILL crack completely open when you tighten the pole.

If you look at all the reputable professional poles, x-pole, lil mynx, platinum stages, even hardcore poles, you will notice that they all fall into a very similar price range. That’s because the materials involved are NOT CHEAP and machining all the pieces is a highly labor-intensive process. If they were not perfectly machined, you will wind up having serious problems with putting it together. Ask yourself, what must they have done to this pole that they can manufacture it for $200 less than a quality piece of equipment? There’s no good answer.

PLEASE save your money for the real thing. You are probably the 25th person I have seen looking at the fakes, and in literally every single instance you wind up with a broken ripoff, and just having to go back around and get a real x-pole anyway, then you spent $500! Just save your pennies and order an x-pole from veena on this website. She doesn’t even charge for shipping, so you’ll get a wayy better deal than you could on ebay, where the shipping will be $40 flat rate to the US. If you save your money for an x-pole from veena, you will have a piece of equipment that I have seen engineers absolutely marvel at, and it will potentially be with you for the rest of your life. Don’t underestimate what you’re paying for with an official x-pole from veena. I myself was skeptical about whether x-pole was worth the money, but it is a rock-solid pole, and the safety and the peace of mind that come with it are literally priceless. If you don’t trust your pole, you won’t give your all when you’re learning moves. And you deserve the fun of throwing yourself all over your dance partner! Good luck!

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Funnily enough, standard cup grip with my hands less than 6" apart is the grip that felt most comfortable for me to sm, but I worked really hard on learning to walk up and hold with various grip before I EVER tried to actually flip myself over, cup grip was just what I took to in that process. I waited to actually invert from SM until my holds felt so comfy there was no extra effort involved. Now I’ve started learning the Veena grip, but I can’t comfortably invert that way yet so I’m back to walkups and holds with it. From what I’ve seen, everyone is more comfortable with one over another at first, but unless you’ve got a specific discomfort with a grip they can all potentially be just as safe as the next if you learn them properly and don’t rush the inverting process. The SM in and of itself is not a terribly natural-feeling movement, so strength and stability in any particular grip be it cup, veena, whatever, is dependent on whether you’ve given yourself time to build strength before you go turning yourself on your head. If you don’t have the strength to maintain pressure between pole and shoulder with a cup grip while you’re actually flipping over, you’re going to find yourself making a very graceful dismount *cough*.

In other words, NO sm grip is stable unless you’ve learned to sm properly, and none of them seem to be inherently riskier than the others if you’re willing to take the time to learn slowly and properly, since I’ve seen experienced (read: years) dancers SM with at least 5 different grips. It’s just not worth busting your skull to try to nail some "power-move" the first time you try it. Do your holds like a good student https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

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You should try some dessert recipes that call for silken tofu, like vegan pumpkin pie. That can be a good way to ease into it, too. The trick for getting it into stir frys imo, is to make sure the pieces are tiny, like 1cm thick at the largest. Like amcut said freezing can help, just gotta get nice firm tofu. Sautee in wok with the oil/whatever you’re using for sauce so it browns and cooks and add other ingredients as needed. Just like if you were using meat, you’d brown it in the pan with the flavorings first (or at least that’s MY philosophy https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif ). Then it cooks longer than anything else in the pan and by the time the noodles or rice are cooked it’s got a texture more appropriate for a protein. Read: not gooey. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

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"Most waivers are unenfforcable. Or rather a waiver does not actually allow a company to take away a persons right to sue. A contract giving away your right to legal protection is unenforcable."

If only it worked that way for everything….the independent contractors hired by the US military in the middle east have been using contracts which swear away right to sue to cover up incidents of our female troops being violently gang raped on those private compounds by male employees. I wish the same held true there. I guess that’s the lesson for those of us who might have a tendency to think it’s unfair for a studio’s waiver not to hold up in court. For protection against frivolous lawsuits, contracted waivers sound like a great idea. But, just like victims of rape who have been denied a right to sue, imagine if a waiver was held up in court for a pole injury that had resulted in spinal column damage/paralysis–or God forbid, death– at instructor’s error. It would only be right that the student/her family be compensated at least enough to cover her care, and I’d be just as furious that a waiver prevented her from collecting as I am when I see those private contracts held up against our female soldiers. If the lawsuit is truly frivolous, it can be declared frivolous by the courts and the attourney for the prosecution has a dark, dark spot on their record which can even kill their legal career (just saw this happen recently with a case in WI-it does happen!). We try to place enough safeguards in the system that, if judges and juries perform their duties ethically, prevent frivolous cases from getting through a trial. Obviously, it doesn’t always work, but what a terrible wrong it would be if our allowance of contracted waivers caused some genuine victims who had been grievously wronged to be denied the reparations to which they would be entitled. /steps off pre-law soapbox

Sorry to be so wordy, but lawsuits like this can have soo many sides to one coin. All parties deserve equal consideration in the eyes of the law.

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Amcut: ricotta pancakes are fluffy delicious heavencakes! 

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I decided to wait another year. If for no other reason than now I can turn 100% of my attention to having an awesome last semester so that when I do go, I’m the best possible candidate I can be. Reading all your responses was the biggest help of all, more so than talking to my parents or anyone else. And your stories stuck with me big time. ESPECIALLY what amy said about fear being a bad reason to plan my future. I appreciate your advice so much in all of this. It’s mad me realize it’s ok to slow down a minute. I love you all!!

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It makes me sad to see how many people don’t k ow how to handle tofu, because it’s a great addition to the diet even for meat eaters like myself. My personal favorite way to use extra firm tofu in a dinner is to cut it into really small pieces and put it in a noodly stir fry or lo mein sort of thing. It works in fried rice, too. If you use whole weat pasta and organic veggies, it’s a very healthful meal. Really intense Asian flavors work great with tofu, just play replace the protein. Not to mention most kids I know totally dig Chinese food. 

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It’s honestly the academia part of it that I wish I could fast-forward to. The relationship I have with my academic peers and my professors is so awesome. I know I want to teach…maybe not my whole career, but being young and teaching college definitely appeals to me. I think what scares me is what you said, that I’ll start to hate philosophy. It’s not even the subject matter per se that would grow old on me, it’s just exactly what you said with all the frustration and effort…I just DID that for 4 years! And I KNOW the challenges I face with my grad work will make my undergrad seem like a walk in the park, so I just don’t know if it’s 100% wise to rush off to grad school when I’m honestly feeling a little burned out https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_neutral.gif

The other problem is that I go CRAZY without the mental stimulation so I’m not sure I could handle a year totally out of school either. I had an idea though. There’s a community college a few miles north of where I go to school now with a nice culinary program. I guess there’s always the possibility of taking the year off to do culinary school so it puts a time limit on how long I’ll be away and gives me something to do. So I think if I wind up not going, that’s what I’ll do. My parents encouraged me to still apply for a few schools, saying that even if I’m hedging my bets on a few places, if I get into a dream school, why not go? I just feel like SUCH an ass going to profs for letters that I haven’t turned all my semester’s work into yet. UGH.

But congrats and good luck on your PhD, deetron, even if you are worse for wear at the end of it. Once you pass the defense (and I’m sure you will) no one can ever take what you’ve just done from you no matter how hard they try; you earned it and you’ll have that milestone forever.