Please, Don’t Gaslight Me

Today I spent a lot of time crafting the first draft of the eblast for my (not yet announced) telecall with Joshua Home Edwards –– who is awesome –– mid-August, including getting feedback from some of the ladies in my Mastermind Group.
It did get weird –- as it often does with feedback –– when someone focused on some small detail and/or starts to give feedback about something I’m not inquiring about at all … IE, my entire life and way of being is not raw material, just awaiting comments (however well-meant).  In fact, I felt a little gaslighted –– see further down –– although I know the intentions were good.  [But it was weird that my “Here’s a Personal Victory I’d Like To Share” Post turned into a vague critique that was totally off-topic and frankly, just wrong-headed.]
Anyway, Bikram fascinated me today because now that my friend Mandy has left SF for grad school, there’s a new teacher, one who I actually think is really terrific.  In fact, A+ level, and I’ll be attending that class weekly.  But there was one moment where I actually had the thought of stopping the class and correcting her, specifically because we were holding whatever Bikram calls Warrior III WAY TOO LONG.
She did completely stay on script and announce that it was a ten-second posture and all the rhetoric around that, but then she kept us in it for 20 minutes each time (ie, 2 sets of Right and Left sides).   So we are talking about instead of a cumulative 40 seconds, it ended up being 80 seconds.
This may not sound like much, but it was just rather weird, and truly the only timing of hers I felt was totally off.  [IE, the difference is only ten seconds each time which sounds like nothing, but she basically made the activity TWICE as long as it’s supposed to be.]
I was kinda obsessed with this fact for the rest of class, debating whether I should let her know, finally realizing I was focused on a grand total of 40 extra seconds in a pose in a 90 minute class.  Essentially, 99% of the time everything was proceeding on schedule so … maybe let this one go for today, right?
I re-watched Gaslight (1944) today because I was musing yesterday on how easy it is to be driven crazy by accumulated odd behavior which makes you start doubting yourself.  [“Maybe I never sent that email?  I don’t remember writing anything that could remotely cause this response….”] all of which echoes yesterday’s Joshua Bell posting in subtle ways, FYI.  (I leave it to my reader to figure out the thematic connection.)
Ingrid Bergman really did deserve that Best Actress Oscar she received, although I could only watch the beginning and end of Gaslight because that long period of being set-up by the sociopathic spouse was just a little too intense for me today.
In other news, although I am an avid blogger –– obviously –– I still haven’t found my rhythm or purpose with twitter.
Imagine my delight today though when I tweeted about Randy Rainbow’s new video and he RE-TWEETED it himself.  It was a rather glorious moment where I got to see how such a large percentage of the world lives … (and I still totally don’t get it.)
Anyway, Randy’s latest video is a SMASH hit on the Interweb –– let the record show, I was the 7th person to watch it and now close to 200,000 people have –– so why not share it here, too.
Enjoy!  [FYI, I hate politics, but I love that it keeps giving Randy Rainbow raw material.]