Weekend

[bethlakshmi]

Let's see...

Friday was jezebelpussycat's Birthday Dinner - we went to Legal Seafood downtown in Copley Square. The food and friends were lovely - it's been a while since I was at a nice, elegant dinner with a gang. Prices were a little shocking - glad to pay it for Ms. Jezebel, but not what I'd do on a weekly basis. We followed up with an attempt to go to Finale, which was obscenely crowded, so we ended up across the street at the Italian place. All in all, very nice - though a little later of a bedtime than originally planned. Ah well.


Saturday started, bright and early, to waking up to alarm clock with the thought "Half an Hour until I strip on video!!!" - for new_man, our banjo player - Uncle Shoe, and myself were rehearsing for the Baby Dolls Cambridge gig on Sunday. We're planning to have a live rendition to Istanbul, vaguely similar to the They Might be Giants arrangement. And... (no pressure) Rosalie, the video lady, was coming to get footage, in the hopes of this becoming a reality TV show. Whee! In the end, it was fine - I did pretty good, and the peice came together.

Praticed in the afternoon and off to a dinner with The Mom. Largely a pleasant evening - we have a good time together. A little bit of a cloud - I told her about the Baby Dolls, and she's clearly a bit unhappy and concerned about me doing this. I kind of understand - in her world a woman taking her clothes off is not classy, not cool, not respectable - it's something "bad girls" do and it's a "rough life". And... in some ways I agree - I would not want to be a career stripper. The strippers I've known are hard, cold people. Something in them had to go cold for them to survive. Especially - IMO - if you get tips - I think there's something about the amount of income you make being so directly connected to your sexuality that makes it hard to say warm and fuzzy.

But... this isn't that. I'm not on a stage surrounded by groping men 2 feet away from me. I'm in a nightclub with a pretty stellar security force (I've seen Axis security at work - they rock!). I'm making a choreography and getting paid by the show, not by tips. The goal here is to do *Burlesque* not *stripping*.

But... it felt rather hard to explain this to my mom. She's never been to a strip club, and she uses a tone that suggests that she wouldn't want to. And...the general permissiveness towards nudity that is shared amongst many of my friends is even harder to explain.

A sad bit of feeling a little disconnected.

Rounded up Saturday with some very nice time with new_man. We hit the local, new Ashmont Street Grill. It's nice - but not... quite... what we've been wishing for all these years. Mostly the prices are too much for too little. For example - a $9 hamburger should include really nice fries and a salad or coleslaw. These are nice, but a la carte. I don't have much beef with desserts or appetizers - but the dinner menu is a little limited, too. But... the place is new, and hasn't totally settled their menu yet, so it may get better.



The novice schola was truly lovely. I came expecting to teach, and probably just hang out the rest of the day. Instead, I got to learn stuff! Always a win! I took:

• SCA 101 - an intro to the SCA by new_man. He is always quite engaging, and although he didn't rattle down the typical lists or processes for how-to-do-SCA, he touched on a lot of major points, and talked a bit about headspace and light persona development. I thought he struck a nice tone of "authenticity is being polite, but authenticity does not mean killing yourself". He had a nice example of non-period food - showing the balance between bringing a quick snack, and impacting the medieval experience of those around you. Sitting in class, I was mostly struck by the memories of us having some of these discussions - Yevsha played a large part in my own growth of understanding about the SCA.



• History of Carolingia - a history of our local group, by Master Kali - another fond trip down memory lane for me - Kali was one of the first people who told me about the Early Days of the Barony. It was lovely to have it all laid out, and I really enjoyed his own spin on it, as his spin points out aspects that one wouldn't ordinarily have realized just from an accounting of events. Kali is also a lovely speaker/teacher, so he could probably read me the menu at McDonald's and I'd enjoy it.



• Detached Buttonhole - by mermaidlady - a very small class - just Ygraine and I - but a lot of fun. We had kits and because we were so small a class, we were able to cover a lot of territory, since we both knew how to do a buttonhole stitch. It was so nice to be able to do hands on.
  
  Then I did my own classes - two classes on India, one on the era of clothing I wear, and one on Sari Draping, in general. The first was a real win for me, it let me go back, and review, and see where I could continue to improv. Once again my soap box about "an attempt at period garb" proves true - my thesis is we should always be "attempting". So... I've been doing one style of garb for 6 years, I have all the arts doohickeys I could get -- but I'm still "attempting". My next attempts will be:
  - faking nose rings - something I didn't realize was appropos for me
  - getting white powder/paste for bindis - apparently my era does not feature red dots, we wear a white dot and a crescent underneath it
  - getting a set of pendants for the necklace look I've seen
  - getting more beads and less inset gems in gold.
  
  All things I don't usually take into account when dressing. Time to keep "attempting". :)
  
  Sadly, most of my attendees were familar faces - ah well. India is a unique flavor - we are not mainstream, nor is it necessarily fitting that we become "main stream". This is a game, mainly, about being medieval Europeans. While I think foreigners add something cool, I don't feel a need to recruit all newcomers. Even for me - India was my reason for staying, but not my reason for joining.
  
  We ended with a feast and a ball - I was happy to see many, many new faces at both. I sure hope we get to see more of them as time goes by! Also fabulous was seeing lots of new faces at the intro to SCA classes - it's gratifying to see new folks that want to learn how to play well with others. :)