the other weird thing I do is remapping the meta keys,

cmd => caps lock ctrl => cmd

so they are waaaay more accessible. Emacs used to hurt my pinky, because I had to curl it in a weird way to access to ctrl key. Now I use my thumb for the ctrl key, and ring finger for the cmd key. It works well for me, like a poor man's kinesis. I NEVER EVER use the ctrl key at the bottom left corner of the keyboard.