[Foxy_Rei]

Well, Jungle, to quote Amcut in response to the thread about my husband not wanting me to post videos – people can masturbate to just about anything. Heck, some people out there would get off just from seeing your feet because they have a foot fetish, but does that mean that you should always wear socks and shoes in your videos???

Hehe after that long, deep post I just did, now I go and say something like that. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Ok now that I’ve fumed a bit I’m going to do a "Joel" post here:

In psychology, there’s what’s called a conditioned response. It’s the process of conditioning a person or animal to have a response that they would normally have to a certain object to another. It’s the experiment with making the dogs drool when they heard a bell ringing because they associated that ringing bell with food over a period of time. The example they used in my psychology class was a young couple used to meet at the same big oak tree every day, then long after the couple broke up, the girl would still get warm fuzzy feelings whenever she saw that tree, even though the relationship was over.

Unfortunately, society has a conditioned response to pole dancing, and in particular, to the pole. They automatically associate strippers with a pole because it’s how it’s always been used. It’s an icon of the industry. But it’s misplaced.

In the Bible, people always quote that popular passage as saying that "money is the root of evil". But they are mistaken – it reads that "the LOVE of money is the root of evil." The money is often the catalyst to bring out a person’s evil tendencies. The money itself is not evil – it is amoral. It’s an inanimate object. Money can be used to do good things like the offering at church being used to build a new addition to the church. But it can also be used for some not-so-good things, which you can all think of your own examples for that.

Applying the same reasoning here: a pole is not evil. It’s a THING. It’s not sitting in your room just radiating evil in a black void thinking to itself, " Oh I think I’ll make him/her do *this* tonight…." It’s a piece of frickin’ metal. It’s people’s own minds that add their own meaning to it and make them respond to it, whether that be to start pulling clothes off and humping it or to see it as a tool for spiritual expression and health.

Most of us on this site see the pole as a tool, a piece of equipment, for the betterment of ourselves. Betterment can mean physically as most of us use it to work out and keep in shape, but it can also mean confidence in ourselves. We accomplish new moves and feel empowered, and it can also venture into the more sexual side where we show that we have confidence in our bodies and sexuality, but it is by no means sinful as we are not doing it to encourage lustful thoughts of each other, and we don’t watch each other to be tempted as such. And, like Jungle, for some of us the pole is a means of expressing ourselves on a much deeper emotional and spiritual level.

A Christian college I went to for 2 years had dancing banned on campus. However, there was a girl who regularly performed "color guard" at the chapel services. She was doing interpretive dance using flags. Jungle’s praise dances are nothing more than interpretive dance using a pole – but at the same time, "nothing more" is an oxymoron as there is so much more to it.

Religious or not, we all need to learn to let go of the response our society is conditioned to give to the pole and realize that this is a beautiful means of spiritual expression that can be just as moving and emotional as a prayer.

[Foxy_Rei]

Happy Birthday! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

In your support Jungle I posted this comment:

"Dude people lighten up! Saying that a pole is evil just because it’s used by strippers is just as stupid as saying that the dollar bills used to pay those same strippers are evil, too. But people have no problems putting money in the offering plate at church, so why do you have a problem with someone choosing to dance using a pole? His dancing was in no way offensive – if you don’t like it, don’t watch it!

Jesus in His day was thought of as a heresy against religion, too. "

People piss me off…

[Foxy_Rei]

Hmmm… Veena may overrule me on this but my guess would be that the pole would be fine on that girder. You’ll only have an inch and a half overlap on just 2 sides of the dome… you may end up putting up some sort of ceiling plate, either one that covers the whole surface of the dome or the one that fits inside the top of the dome, to help with stability. The one that fits inside the dome would probably work better, that way you have an entire surface as well as the rubbery ring on the rim of the dome putting pressure against the girder. Just make sure the wood you use is thick enough; so it’s not shorter than the rim and actually touches the girder.

As far as your floors go, if you can’t even wear heels on the floor then perhaps you may want to get something to put under the base of the pole. It is a pressure-mounted pole and leaves pretty good dents in carpets so you may want to play it safe. No one else has had problems with hardwood floors but… hmmm I dunno. The rubber mat idea might work, and there are also a few people on here who have put their poles on small rugs and haven’t had problems (I’m not sure if an area rug would be recommended or not, though…), and that would be more attractive than the rubber mat. But once again, I’m no expert.

[Foxy_Rei]

Did anybody else thin the guy in the gold suit looked like Uncle Fester? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif
I’m curious about the gloves though. Might have to maks a trip to the sporting goods store. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif

https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif Yes he does! The funny thing is, guys that audition for American Idol that sound like that get slammed by Simon, but he liked this guy! WTF???

And let us know if you find any good poling gloves! There have been several glove discussions here and I may look for a pair myself…

[Foxy_Rei]

Oh wow the challenge here is just figuring out what to do; actually doing it will be easy once that’s figured out! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

My birthday is next month, too, and my husband said he was going to buy me some Studio Veena clothes for my birthday present! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

I have some brainstorming to do… hmmm…. thinking cap! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_safesex.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

YESS!!! Thanks Lily! Nice to see I’m not completely off my rocker, here! I haven’t seen the program for kids, but he mentions it and the basics of it a lot so I know how it works.

Good luck with FPU! It’s an awesome program and it works as long as you stick with it. It’s great it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme and it’s good ol’ fashioned hard work and it really pays off. Good luck and PM me if you wanna chat about it https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

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

One of my personal mottoes is that as soon as I ask, it happens… then I feel like an idiot. But it happens every time, so now I end up just asking right from the get-go just so it’ll happen and I don’t have to go through the frustration of trying over and over again… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Haha https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif Completely not pole-related…

He’s a financial counselor and has a talk radio show on personal finances… more from a Christian point of view. I took his course through my church called Financial Peace University – teaches you how to get out of debt and stay out. He also deals with investing, real estate, retirement, college saving for kids, etc etc. I’m very deep in student loan debt and am using his ideas to help get me out… you can go to daveramsey.com to check his stuff out…

His most popular book is The Total Money Makeover, and he has an entire website and forum. Unfortunately, you have to pay for it – I went for a one-year subscription, but found the forums to be way over-crowded and highly impersonal. Great for loads of advice, but not if you’re looking for real support. His advice is awesome and extremely practical! Highly recommend him!

Apologies for completely crashing this thread!

[Foxy_Rei]

Lol like I said I haven’t… I’m always fishing for fellow Dave Ramsey fans… someone to talk budgets with https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Are you just having trouble uploading to your profile, or to posts in the forum??? I haven’t been able to upload any photos to the forums at all since I’ve been here (3 months)…

I’ve been able to upload to my profile ok, and there’s an option when you go through the pictures that says "Make Primary". It becomes your default profile pic and I would assume your avatar as well (it’s what it is for everyone else). However, my primary pic also doesn’t show up as an avatar for me either (at least I don’t see one on my computer…)

So can’t really help much, just putting it out there you’re not the only one with that problem… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Ok this is random, but I’ve only been on one forum that uses DH and similar abbreviations… and that was the Total Money Makeover forums… do we have Dave Ramsey fans here??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif Or am I way off-base and it’s more common than I think?

[Foxy_Rei]

Yeah that move at 1:30 was really cool! I was like "what the – ? I gotta see that again!" https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif

I have to be honest, that was the first time I’ve ever seen nipples tassles (spelling?) before… lol https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_redface.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

So, what’s for June????
Since we didn’t get New Zealand Music Month last month, what’s it going to be this month??
I’m a fan of dirty alt-country, so that’s my pick. (Jace Everitt, Grand Prix, Chris Isaac etc)

We can leave Vampires etc for the Goth New year / Halloween, so can hold off…

Is it June yet, Is it June yet???
Now??

Is it now??

Back on Page 4 of this thread, Veena was asking for suggestions for June because June is the birthday of StudioVeena.com… trying to think of something special https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Oh I’m so jealous! I just got married this past October, and I didn’t get any sort of bachelorette party at all… on top of that, my family had concert tickets for the night before my wedding, so I was home alone with the baby for the night. *sigh*

My husband, on the other hand, got "kidnapped" by his buddies and was taken out to every bar in the area. Got smashed… he was massively hungover for the ceremony https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

But that’s great that pole dancing played a huge role in your weekend! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Lol I can’t dye my hair either, but I thought it would be good for a laugh https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Hmmm I kinda like the ideas mentioned by the girls above, however, for those of us who have our poles in… let’s say, our bedrooms, like I do, that would just be annoying to decorate… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif Doing a dance to the song happy birthday would just be way too short, lol

Random side note: my birthday is next month, too! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

*mulling ideas over in head* Maybe have people make their own "Studio Veena – wear" and do a video wearing them??? Or have us all dye our hair random colors to commemorate or glorious mentor??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif Or maybe just something plain and simple like doing a dance/song that illustrates what this site means and has done for its members???

For those of us that have learned pole from SV (whether that be the lessons or just from osmosis like me), do a montage video of the progress made since joining the site – particularly moves that we owe it to this site for learning.

Or, Veena, do we have a Studio Veena theme song that we could do a dance to? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Haven’t we waited long enough??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Titanium and Chrome are different finishes on the pole. Titanium is usually gold in color (depending on what country you’re from… the US only has them in gold), and the chrome is always silver. The titanium has better grip, while the chrome is more slick. However, chrome is the standard, and if you can hold onto that, then you could hold on to pretty much anything.

Just as a side note, the 50mm instead of 45 is also the standard size. It’s easier to grip a 45, but if you can hold on to a 50, then it’ll be easier when you try to use a smaller diameter.

I personally have a 50mm chrome. Everyone has their preference; if you don’t plan on using any other pole except you’re own, then it won’t matter what you get. If you plan on using other poles, then you may want to consider getting something more standard so you don’t have problems when you transition. That’s just my 2 cents. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

But to answer your question, chrome is more slippery than titanium. There are a few other topics on here about how different finishes grip, so you may want to consider poking through and seeing what else you can find on the subject. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Thanks Joel! My husband finally came right out and said he was being a bit jealous and possessive, and as long as I wasn’t posting videos of me acting like a stripper (with the exception being our May Challenge https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif), it was fine. He sounded like he was choking on the words a bit, though https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif I don’t think it was that he was worried about the internet freaks; he was probably just using it as an excuse.

But I will try to keep my videos more on the, um, shall we say "tasteful" side. Meaning no crazy stripping, no outfits showing more skin than needed, and none of my actual undergarments (as in "real" bras and such). Trying to meet in the middle a bit. Besides, I, and I know most of the rest of you are, too, working against the stereotype that pole dancing is just for strippers, so there’s no need for all that in anything I post, anyway.

Thanks, everyone!

[Foxy_Rei]

For the floor piece, I know what Joel did: he bought a piece of wood from a craft store, glued a piece of non-skid rubber stuff to the bottom (or was it sandpaper? I can’t remember…), then screwed the bottom flange for the pole into the top of it. I don’t believe it was screwed into the floor at all.

He also has exposed beams in the basement where he put up his pole. The top of the pole is attached to the side of one of the beams with brackets. He had to reinforce the beams a bit, just in case. The only drawback of his way of doing it is part of the fixture for the bottom part of the pole has exposed screw heads; they stick out a good quarter to half an inch. He had to wrap it up good with electrical tape and some foam.

Here’s some links to his videos:
Doing the base: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POM-hW2Silc
"Part 1" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abSwZ0DC_i4&feature=related
Installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpCQT_iyfOw&feature=channel_page
This is when he went to buy the parts when he changed to a larger diameter pole, dunno how much of this is repeated information or not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS3_1Eusd34&feature=channel_page

[Foxy_Rei]

Good decision! I haven’t heard good things about that pole. I started off with a Carmen Electra pole and was mad because I spent $150 on a piece of crap. I wished I had just gone for the x-pole in the first place and saved a few bucks, but at least I didn’t spend all that money to find out poling wasn’t for me…. I just spent all that money to find out I should’ve just gone for it in the first place! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

Pretty much the only poles recommended by anyone here, including Veena, are Platinum Stages, Lil Mynx, and X-Pole. X-Pole is the favorite here and it’s what Veena sells. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

I’ve used both a digital camera and webcam. My digital camera worked much better than the webcam – better quality, and I had audio. I just uploaded the video to the computer and edited it using Windows Movie Maker; then saved it as a movie file on my hard drive. Then the camera died…

My laptop has a built-in webcam just above the screen. I can’t seem to get it to record audio for whatever reason, even when the microphone is on. If you use Windows Movie Maker there’s an option to record using the webcam through the program. I had to add the music back over the video and match it up with my movements… annoying.

I don’t own a camcorder, so I can’t help you there https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Well I installed Ubuntu this afternoon, keeping Windows for now, and I’m already experiencing some very good and very frustrating things.

First the frustrating thing: I’m new to this whole partitioning thing and must have not done something right because I haven’t saved anything to the new OS yet, and it’s trying to install updates to Ubuntu and it’s saying there’s not enough space. Oops. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_redface.gif Looking like I’m going to have to re-install and manually set the partitions. Oh well, I haven’t saved anything yet so nothing lost. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif

However, in my quest to look for more information on partitions and such, I’m finding a wealth of information. Lots of support for problems and questions, and I just found a chart with the Ubuntu equivalents to Windows programs – including all the ones I want like iTunes and Photoshop. The good news is some of these alternative programs are ones I already use like Firefox, Pidgin, and Open Office. I’m going to have to use Gimp instead of Photoshop, which I’ve tried before and really didn’t like, but I think it’s just a matter of getting used to it. And I don’t have to sacrifice updating my iPod because there’s a program that can do that, too. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif So far so good.

Torrents is going to be a challenge because it’s a whole new ballpark for me. Does Linux do any direct downloads at all or do you absolutely have to use the torrents??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif *sigh*

Any general tips and advice would be appreciated for anyone that uses Linux (and Ubuntu), either here in the thread or a PM. I swear I catch on to this stuff pretty quick it’s just more annoying when I’m trying to get it figured out by myself! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_ugeek.gif

EDIT/UPDATE: it’s now 11:15 PM eastern standard time and I finally got things running the way they’re supposed to! I had to find out how to uninstall Linux because I ended up with 2 (almost 3) Ubuntus on my computer, so I had to uninstall to get a clean install. Apparently this doesn’t happen often and it took me an hour of Googling, trial and error, and just taking bits and pieces of everything I read to do it. So I now finally have Ubuntu and it’s partitioned to just over half of my hard drive…. whew! Windows was a bit stupid when I tried to run it again, but it still worked. Now I can finally get settled… yay!