Poles Apart

Finally! Now I can get a little respect for all my hard work...

Vindication is sweet.

I have three words for you:

Patent Leather Boots 

( for superior cling) 

What can i say, Amsterdam is an enlightened place.

Better late than never. I got tired of looking at that gray picture. Yes, Patent Leather boots is a must.  Othan than that, Track and Field pretty much nailed the second skin outfit.

Did my eyes deceive me or did this come on? Well, it appears to be worth waiting for. Anything in spandex and sequins gets my vote.

I really don't have an opinion about Pole Dancing except to say that it doesn't do anything for me . . .

You're hitting your stride, Peterman. Once day we're chewing on the darkest regions of the human soul, and the next, I'm settling comfortably in my seat at the bar and letting my eyes mist over with a view of vertiginous athleticism of a decidedly winsome sort. Nicely done.

Hmmm!  This is certainly a break from the usual PE topics!  I have never attempted such a feat but it's not to say that I wouldn't (in one of my temporarily insane moments or when I have partaken in too many cosmos).  However, with all due respect for my husband and the entire male species I will keep it to myself if I do ever attempt to pole dance.  It could get pretty ugly!  I will say this much...I have actually witnessed a former gymnast turned stripper perform the pole dance and it doesn't seem easy to me. She actually made it look "almost acceptable".  It wasn't as trashy as I thought it would be.  But, I think I will stick to other extreme sports like French bodyboarding or rock climbing.  

Remember, they are all working their way through college.

I actually wish I had the guts & the coordination (mostly the coordination) to take a Pole Dancing Class.  I've been told that it actually is a very good workout for muscles that don't normally get worked out on treadmills, bikes, or even in using weights. Think about it  just maybe sometimes exercise can be just fun?! 

I actually feel it takes a lot of guts & skill to do this & if Amsterdam wants to hold championships for it, God Love'em for giving these girls career goals.  

I wonder that if I sent this link onto a friend who works for the Y maybe they would start a class?.....

I knew my rope climbing skills might come in handy one day.

It actually is a good workout, especially for the legs. And yes, rope climbing skills help. So do other Oriental proficiencies, such as snake charming...

Rings you should take a bellydance class...a marginally better chance of not injuring yourself, while still working muscles you didn't know you had.  I've never had an opportunity to try pole dancing but I can almost gaurantee if I did there would be a neckbrace and a paramedics gurney waiting for me at the end of class.

My toes tend to cramp up whenever I pole dance

How do you get the right amount of slide, without losing your grip altogether and sliding off the pole?

Is there such a thing as pole burn?  Like rug burn?

PeterLake,

Funny you should mention that: My toes tend to cramp whenever you pole dance as well.

Just your toes cramp up?

Most of my favorite dancers are Russian, not Polish.

Didn't Brooke Hogan (Hulk's amazon daughter) just place a pole in her living room?  She is an authority (HmmHmm) on exercise and she says it does work muscles that don't usually get worked out by traditional core and kenetic exercising.  PeterLake there is a remedy for those toe cramps;  Toebercise!!! There seems to be a "cize" for everthing else within the plethora of infomercials.

What does the infamous Missive have to say on the subject?  I bet you can add some qualatative information.    

Women's bodies as temples, and some idiot or radical feminists telling us what to do with them. The violating of First Amendment rights to boot, so to speak...could be an interesting area. Not that I'm advocating a serious discussion, mind you.

DPR

I will report only that I'm laughing- not how many seconds it took to get it.

nachista, are you asking me or Stoney about the toe cramps?  

Actually, I just wanted to be a fireman.  When I was just a little guy I used to go to the fire station a few blocks away and they would let me take an occasional trip down the pole (don't tell anyone 'cos they could get in big trouble now . .well,.. . never mind, they must all be in their 80s by now) with a catcher at the bottom.

If this should become an Olympic event, I have this mental image of the judges.

They would all have hairy knuckles, be wearing sunglasses and designer athletic wear while smoking cigars. They would also be active members of the witness protection program and be identified solely by their colorful nicknames.

This means, of course, that they will have significantly surpassed the moral and ethical standards of most of the other Olympic judges.

ooops, just noticed . . . .  I've gotta go shave my knuckles.....

Peter Lake Try these - http://www.yogapro.com/ts/toestretcher.html for your toe cramps

Peterlake you just reminded me of an interview with Charlie sheen's ex-wife Denise Richards, when they were still married.  She was on a talk show and she started telling the host how much Charlie admired firemen and that he even had a firepole installed in his bedroom.  Uh, suuuuuuuuure that's a firepole.

Hey Peter I think you are going to have to shave a lot more than your knuckles if you want any tips.

rings90,

Thanks, I may have to try them.  Glad to see you made it back without visiting the Edmund Fitgerald.  Hope you had good weather and a great time.

As a guy of 'some years' my pole dancing days are behind me.  I'm not sure I should take it up, if hanging upside down, just held by my scissors-grip is smart.  What if I fall on my head?

As for how the ladies feel about pole dancing, well, I'll leave that up to them. (Maybe pole dancing could be brought into the workplace?  it could be introduced to bored receptionists as a way of maintaining their fitness and keeping visitors entertained as they wait to meet the purchasing manager.... or even made a part of 'doctor's office waits'... Hmmmm).

Peter, you'd probably not need to shave your knuckles if you emulate most of the guys I've seen watching pole dancing. Their form of metacarpophalangeal locomotion keeps the hair worn away, mostly.

You have to have really strong legs for the more acrobatic moves, especially the inverted maneuvers. And stamina...

Hmmm. I guess it doesn't matter where you get your appetite, as long as you eat at home.

I volunteer to do scouting for the future U.S. Olympic Pole Dancing team. Tonight seems like as good a night as any. Any volunteers for joining me as regional scouts? I have the Southwest covered.

Quite a few years ago, in a fair sized city on the banks of the Missouri and well before the Canadians invented pole dancing in the 1980's, the natives imagined themselves partaking of a lively nightlife.

Forgive them. They didn't know any better. Having only recently rescinded blue laws, there wasn't a decent bar within a hundred miles. Worse, there wasn't an indecent one in the tri-state area.

Nobody, the barmen, the designers of the smarmy teal and aqua lounges or the customers had any experience- learners, all.

The parking lots all held ample evidence of the belief by locals that a proper nutritional foundation for a night out was tuna casserole... with peas.

One man, Leo, a non-native, had a fix on what that city needed and he went about providing it in an interesting way- backwards.

Usually, a restaurant will open, find that it has potential and then scramble for the liquor license.

Leo's Grill got the license and created, in an old light industrial setting the kind of place where you could relax and drink unburdened by cooking aromas, menus or pesky wait staff. There was no food... or grill, come to that.

It was both the start and finish of an event known as: "Leo's Walk." Which while it might conjure up an image of light exercise, was nothing of the sort. There was a bit of walking out one door and into another but at the end of the evening it was clear that a thrown hat would have covered the entire itinerary.

There was a stop at a French cafe in a similar setting, where each of the ten or twelve men was served a crock of very excellent onion soup, a baguette and a glass of red wine. Whether they liked it or not.

A couple of galleries were next: You know, the kind of track lit stark spaces with colorful fiber balls, slumping ceramics, a few paintings and leases evidently expressed in hours.

Then, a gift shop reeking of punk, potpourri and spice candles in an effort to disguise the aroma of pesticide into which all of its cheesy imported goods had been dunked.

The penultimate and second to best , event was the scalp, facial and shoulder massage joint where asian girls would silently give you the business for ten minutes or so and after which everyone had a languid, mussed and witless look.

Back to Leo's Grill where in subdued light pierced by a vertical spot, we were treated to the serpentine descent down an eighteen foot brass pole that looked as if the place might have been built around it, of a sinuous girl in her early twenties named Neeley. Or maybe Kneely. I wouldn't really care to guess.

Voluptuousness and pulchritude were not the terms that sprang immediately to mind. In fact, I recall being aware of her rib cage, each of its components having been more than usually visible.

Well, that and the two lovely ever-so-slightly tanned little dinner dinner rolls that comprised her hiney.

A business sized envelope would easily have held her outfit and extra postage would not have been called for.

Quiet, soft recorded jazz played as she performed all the way up and all the way back down that sparkling vertical______ Ah, fill it in yourselves.

It was about a fifteen minute deal punctuated only by the odd cough or cleared throat and during which I doubt she was the only one to have worked up a glistening sweat.

Afterwards, she stood near and chatted with Leo as he unabashedly cupped a Parker House in his left hand while making it clear that the one not currently in use was unavailable to the public.

This was Leo's. Leo's what? Was left to the imagination.

Doc,

I like the problematic potential of including pole dancing in doctor's office waits.  A patient comes in just for a routine check-up, discovers pole dancing in the waiting room.  By the time he gets seen, he's being treated for a heart attack!

nachista,

If you continue your research, you'll notice the fire pole comment is one of the MORE intelligent things Dinise Richards is reputed to have said.

Gia,

At the risk of degrading this frothy slice of Peterman Lite into a serious discussion, I must contribute the following:  The idiot radical feminists telling women what to do with their bodies are not violating the First Amendment.  That would only happen if they attempted to impose their demands by force.

George Orwell stated that freedom meant the freedom to say two plus two equals four.  But he was wrong.  Freedom means the freedom to say that two plus two equals five, or six, or any other cockeyed statement you wish to make.  If the First Amendment protects those who insist pole dancing is empowering, then it also protects those who say it's degrading.  Each is perfectly free to ignore the other.

Anyway, enough serious stuff for now.  Sorry I had to go there.

Olivia,

Those guys don't have to shave their knuckles ‘cos when they walk and swing their arms, they drag their knuckles.

Metacarpophalangeal! Someone is getting paid by the letter.

One of my husbands classmates is a Vegas Theme Dancer ~ She has pole skills (So I've been told) when she is town I do allow my Husband to see her.  She is BEAUTIFUL & a very nice person, I trust her & her show really is about Acrobatics rather than raunchy.

I will admit I was addicted to the HBO series G-String Diva's af ew years back  it was interesting to see how much skill it took for them to do thier routines with the pole. Such an interesting documentary about a business that maybe is the healthest workout ever.

Miss Ive, You & I have to be cut form part of the same cloth ~ I totally would be asking what color was the pole & did any of the girls have an interesting Tatoo over the "Real" Details.... It kind of reminds of the part in GWTW when the guys use Belle Watlings "establishment" as a hideout form the Yankees & the respected Doctors wife keeps bugg'n the Doctor to tell her what the inside of the place looks like.   

Missive:  Sorry to hear you are under the weather!  However, I just knew you would be able to enlighten us all with vital information concerning this matter.  You are as versatile as you are intelligent!  How refreshing!  Tonight when I go workout at the gym, I will be thinking of you on the pole.  I am sure the trainer will ask why the giggly attitude?   Him, also being a minister of sorts, I probably won't share the reason.  I thought the backseat rumble was adventureous, but you make me pale in comparison...sounds like I need to step it up a few notches to keep up with you my dear.

Get better soon!  

OK, MissIve, you asked.

Best tattoo oever, Tweety bird pushing a lawn mower right into a(n)  hirsute area.   

Ladies, it would appear none of you are familiar with the mythic #1 reason for the growth of hand hair...  I HOPE it's mythic...  

Willie Trask: Is it the mythical legend of werewolves/lycanthropy?

My gym offers Cardio Strip Tease classes.  I've never had the nerve to try it, but I'm curious...  Seems liberating.

JillyBean ~ If I lived near you I totally would go with you to that class. It sounds like fun & not like owrk at all. Although I think I would be WAY TOO Busy giggling at the whole idea to even be able to do the workout...

William, I grew up with three brothers, who made a point of trying to embarrass me with every sort of reference like that. So, you can't say NONE of us are unfamiliar. How is Five-Fingered Mary, by the way?

Can't resist the wordplay, though it's in marginal taste:

Name for Dutch establishment where dancing and doobies are both on offer; POLE POT's.

I hope Doc Nolan can back me up on this so that I need not explain further: compared with what goes on in the bars of PatPong in Bangkok, pole dancing is a Disney movie. Uhh.....Doc, YOU tell 'em....I am blushing.

Trask,

I know I'm delirious right now, but I don't think I asked about tattoos. That does sound interesting, though.

MackDaddy,

I definitely think you would LOVE these classes. It's always bunches of girls, generally a bit of wine in them.

DPR,

I was thinking of your 'serious note' shortly after I posted my first note about my experience in a pole class (which was part of a bachelorette outing) and the parallel of my husband's bachelor outing.

The instructor at our class said much of her business is for bachelorette parties. I'm not even sure I can comment on what that 'means,' but it IS interesting that men are still doing the same old thing for bachelor parties—watching naked women whom they do not plan to marry. And women are doing the same thing they always do at bachelorette parties—trying to compete with the naked women their men are watching.

It's a weird mix of liberation and pathetic. Isn't it?

Rings,

I know! I'd be so embarrassed! But I think the most important lesson we'd learn is to not be...

Mark, your sensitivity is charming. But, let me ask you-can you explain the physiological, um, impetus, behind (oops) the ping-pong ball thingy? I never could understand where the driving force comes from, another mystery of the Orient? POP!

Missy, men will ALWAYS do the same old thing. It's hard wired in them, evaluating fertile females, and the reptile brain doesn't get the 'not planning to marry' part (another winsome conceit). Competition is futile, because it wouldn't matter WHAT we could do-the drive is for variety. Just ask Halle Berry. But, we DO try to compete, however hopeless that may be, since our hard wiring is for security and stability.

Pole dancing is a hell of a workout, though-especially if you're just doing it for YOU.

Missive,

I will also be thinking of you on the pole.  And I'm only going to the store.  And, if rings90 goes with JillyBean to the cardio strip tease class, can I come too?

I've been to three or four bachelor parties in my day but only the one included a club of the kind herein discussed.  One of the other guys turned white when I told him it was my first time.  "How old are you?" he asked.  "33," I replied.  What can I say?  Some of us do things all out of order.

As for the "competition", I think it depends on the individual LIKE MOST THINGS IN THE WORLD.  If that is, indeed, the purpose of participating in such a class, then there is an element of pathos there.  But I doubt that's really what it's all about for most women.  Don't KNOW of course, but that's my suspicion.

I must chew further on this last topic and will post my brain droppings later.  In the meantime, I'm off to the aforementioned store to think about pole dancers.

Sorry to come to the party so late today......financial crisis, mortgage crisis, government bail-out is keeping me busy.

I recall watching pole dancing in the bars on Patpong Road in Bangkok (I spent a year there one night!)....a cleaned up version would be an excellent addition to the Summer Olympices....hell, why not the Winter Olympics, too.

Maybe I could open up a training center.........but they already have them, I just need a liquor license. I think there's one for sale on Patpong Road....it's a start.

hopefully, the event will be likethe synchronized diving where they showed the atletes taking a shower afterwards......creepy event when it came to the mens synchronized diving, but quite acceptable fot the pole dancing event.

The article above said pole dancing  "......was making people feel better..."  I feel better already so it must be true. 

Expat, the winter olympics?  Pole dancers on Ice?  Poler Ice Capades?

Rings, Jillybean I'll come to class with you guys as long as there is a big cushy mat at the base of the pole.  I haven't done gymnastics in 13 years, I'm certain all those muscles have retired completely.

That's it, I'm definitely going to this class.  My real name is Matthew and I'm big and cushy.  So I will be at the base of the pole at nachista's request.

Is there pole dancer insurance?

Do you think pole wax is tax deductible?

I hope pole wax is tax deductible....I'm buying as many tons of it as I can wholesale for the killer retail profit I'm going to make........my source is in Bangkok....agreat little place on Patpong Road

And was getting depressed over the economy.............

Olivia: If I understand your question, the answer is Valsalva maneuvers.

ExPat: If you need/want a business partner with some capital, I am in.

All: Mooselini's (aka Palin) polls are dancing downward to limbo levels.

Why it's simply amazing! It's a miracle!........ I think we've discovered the fountain of youth.

All it took was an essay and follow-up discussion on pole dancing and I've been transformed from an upper-limit-middle aged-semi-mature adult male back into a High School sophomore with a one track ........

See ya tomorrow; I'm going to go cruise the downtown.

Miss Ive, I thought you wanted to know about "details" from the club experience.

um that would be tattoos. I didn't see that one first hand, but have cherished the thought of it.

Olivia, I refer you to Jackson Browne and Rosie:

Rosie you're the one...

My thinking is that the famous breach of contract discussion scene in THE PAPER CHASE was made more meaningful because of the hairy hand and its implications...

not lycanthropy,  MackDaddy, just onanism. As in How about  just until I need glasses?

 Hey everyone, i just joined, i got the user's manuel and thought i'd check out this website

does anyone know what the user's agreement means, or what time zone this is? thanks

Welcome Sunshine,

That would be Eastern Standard Time.  As far as the user's agreement, mine still has the original shrink wrap on it, or in other words, I took a leap of faith and just clicked "I agree".  It's already to late.

Hope you enjoys the site.  Every day is another turn of the page of a completely different story.

Willie-Is that Rosie Palm?

Mark-I fear for their cardiac status, with all that vagal stimulation!

Peter, you're living proof-boys will ALWAYS be boys, given the right stimulus...

Nachista-you know, dear, I'd bet any money that the boys are all laughing their arses off at your reference to pole wax. I mean, if they went to high school at all, at all. There is a vast mythology which you've tapped into there, intentionally or no.

Welcome, Sunshine. Just in time for our highbrow version of the Algonquin Round Table. I believe the site is administrated from the Eastern time zone, although last night there seemed to be some discrepancy.

The user's agreement means that, as the youngest member, you are our plaything until someone else joins. Just kidding, I have no idea what it means, and I've found it entirely benign and unnecessary anyway. Just agree and carry on...

Ahoy, there! Haul your wind, and sharpen your sword-any approaching sail is fair game!

Administrated? Arrgh! Administered...

Olivia,

I've got to be something . . . .it may as well be just a boy.

Tell Kermit I send my best.

It's not easy being green.....

Maybe I'm just easy to impress or I need to get out more often, but I think it is so awesome that at any time throughout the day there can be a 2, 3 or 4 of us, spread out across the globe, either just reading, composing or hitting the send button within minutes of each other or even at times, simultaneously.

Hold on there, Olivia.  The Algonquin Round Table was the highbrow version of the Algonquin Round Table.  And if I can ever get any of you guys to come look me up in New York, I promise to take you to the Algonquin for a look at the beloved table (not the original unfortunately but it's still in the same spot and it's still round).

Yes PeterLake, I also find this (that) amazing.  I try to keep track of where on the globe each of us is, but sometimes I loose track.  I don't use this computer very much, but I do check this site daily while I'm ashore (home).  I feel like I know these folks. We could all be sitting down at the bar on a rainy night....although I would probably just be listening to all the "wisdom".

Peter-Kermit says HI.

Roberts-In view of the evening's topic, and our fun with sophomoric responses to it, I was being sarcastic, Mr. Sensitive :P

no one have insomnia?

Hey Peter, did I pass you "draggin' main" coming out of the movie theatre just now?  I think you were the guy who yelled "Nice truck, I think I'd look great in your bed!".

Olivia, I'm almost 30 and a licensed massage therapist, totally legitimate...but I've had clients who thought otherwise, believe me I know a double-entendre when I make one.  Sir Boyscout and I had a conversation while we were dating that went something liek this...

Me:Wow that sounded dirty.  SB: What sounded dirty?  Me: (air quotes with fingers) "Would you like a SPORK with that?"  SB: Oooooh I get it.  Me: Well anything sounds dirty if you say it slow enough, wiggle your eyebrows and make air quotes.  SB: Oh like "Your MOM does the dishes".  Me: No get with the program short-bus that's a "your mom" joke, totally different.  SB: No YOU'RE Different.  Me: Yeah well You're MOM is different.  SB: Hey my mom is a classy lady.  Me: *slapping forehead* No I was demonstrating the "you're mom" joke.  SB: Maybe we should have gone to Wendy's instead, then I could have dipped my "Froon" in your frosty.  Me: You learn quickly my young Padawan.

'Cosmic coincidences' amaze me, and this one I took as a very personal 'welcome aboard' of sorts:  I had peaked at Peterman's Eye on occasion (but no other body parts of his, I assure you!), and finally signed up to participate just after midnight on October 8, 2008.  The odds of the Forum being on Pole Dancers on this very day would be quite slim, given all the possible topics, and all that is going on in our world just now.  I worked as an exotic stage/pole dancer off & on from my mid-20s to my early-40s, and am now (a young-looking for my years) 52.  (My photograph on here was, in fact, taken September 2008.)  I unapologetically loved that job as one of my favorite 'skill sets'!  I got to 'play dress up' in glamorous costumes and over-the-knee boots or sexy high heels; I got to wear intense, exotic make-up and body glitter that I couldn't have 'pulled off' in other lines of work; I took whatever sexy song 'hit' as I got on stage and creatively expressed it with the interpretive punctuation of my own impassioned body movements; it was great aerobic exercise; you experience as one woman the empowerment of watching a roomful of men clearly fantasizing about you while well-protected by a Bouncer + the added appreciation men show toward your womanhood when they tip you for that, as well--- it remains the best money I have made in any employment so far because men are more generous in what they will compensate a woman for her job if it doesn't directly compete with their own  and provides something unique which they themselves simply wouldn't be able to experience without it being provided for them (by nature of the real differences between the genders).  I got to wear sexy, feminine clothes to the dinners and outings these men invited me to socially.  There was one period of time lasting about six months when I didn't have any food in my kitchen as there was no need for it due to all the continuous lunch and dinner dates with various men that became fans of my dancing/pole skills.  Besides whatever ill effects there may have been from working 7 - 9 hour shifts in very dark, smoke-filled nightclubs, suffering from occasional foot blisters from breaking in new shoes and the general strain dancing in high heels can put on your feet; and hearing too much sexually-charged conversation from men to manage to continue trusting their motives toward me as humane (or to hold onto any belief that even one from their gender would ever have it in their heart to love me), I thoroughly enjoyed myself and my life as an exotic/pole dancer--- live onstage--- and would love to still be doing that rather than really boring-to-me 'regular' work where my finances have been so diminished that all I can afford to do anymore is look at pretty, glamorous, or dramatic clothes and dream about having them--- and somewhere to wear them.  I felt the true, designated power of my own femininity and sexuality as a Pole Dancer, and  got paid well doing it!

Nachista-I thought you probably "knew what you were doing", but I just wanted to "hop on that pony and ride a little" too.

ROFLMAO-I can't "keep it up", it's "too funny"!!!

Thanks for the giggle, girlfriend!

hello Peter haha thanks, yeah it seems like i joined at a fun time : )

 Woo Hoo! Hi Olivia, hey looks like Candle is the youngest now haha!

Welcome Candle, how much do pole dancers make an hour on average, tips included?