Lakshmi Amman's Journal

After being a little worried (though jet lagged) that perhaps things would be dull... today has been anything but.

It's been a bit of a roller coaster.  First we were going to Chennai - car confirmed, all set. 

And I had a nice breakfast with Amma and Preeti - where we all shared our passion for shopping and told "Aparna doesn't like shopping" stories.  Obviously my funny teacher stories do not hold a candle to the dirt that a mother and sister can dig up.  We now have a solid shopping agenda - saris, fabric for blouse pieces, custom sewn salwar suits, a sari for a dance costume, for which we need special tailor-fu, dance jewelry.  Oh - and there's a spa across the street for eyebrow threading and pedicures.  I'm in business, glamorously speaking.

Then Arna came home from school with bad news - they are having an unexpected school day.  Don't ask me - apparently the school system has every other Saturday off.  Tomorrow was supposed to be an off-day, but he needed to be there.

Four of us were renting a car, so it started to seem a little crazy for just two (or less) of us to go.  It was a family outing.

So... no Chennai, maybe back to Hampi just Amma and myself.

But no, some finagling happened with school and the trip is back on.  The car arrives in 15 minutes.

Which is why this will be a short post.

I will be offline for a few days - the trip is Friday night, Sat, return Sun. night into Monday.

Well, I just got in, and then I slept some. I'm still probably jet lagged, and my body seems to have mummified from dry airplanes.

I'm situated in Bangalore, at the house of my teacher's sister and mother and nephew. I have my own room (woot! last time I was in India, I shared rooms and beds with my friend). All my luggage is here, and I got my beef jerky into the country unmolested. Best yet - the place I'm staying has wireless.

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First - for those from the office that are just tuning in -- Hi! (everybody be nice, I have classy office friends reading now :P).

Why are people reading from my office -- because I'm going to India in just a few days for a month, and I promised I'd keep a lot of people in the loop and plied with any pictures I can upload. Frequency of posts and number of pictures will have everything to do with Internet connectivity and time available -- neither of which I have a perfect estimate of.

But... what should a girl going to India do?

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Random, brief, update

• We played the ImprovBoston last night to a nearly sold out, totally enthusiastic crowd.  Scratch and Mina let me do a speaking bit, and Wimiweh, proving that you can, indeed, do Wimiweh and have a sprained ankle.  But... that was sort of the peak of my game... I'm exhausted!
• Today has been the day of Health:
  
  • Picked up more contact lenses - I have an unnatural affinity for destroying left contact lenses, so I'm refilling 6 months early.
  • Went to dentist - a new one, very close to work.  Dr. Kampoor is pretty awesome.  She's into all sorts of new research and stuff, and her various associates (hygenist and such) are very gentle and everyone is super friendly.  That said, my gums kind of suck.  Ouch.
  • Went to PT.  Sue (my PT lady) says the ankle is doing very well.  Still a little swollen, but much stronger and better.  So far so good. I got new exercises - raising my heels, and balancing.  My balance on the ankle ***sucks*** but everyone tells me it can be retrained, just be patient.   Feh.  Stupid Patience... WANT HEALED ANKLE NOW!!!
  • Barry tomorrow.
• As a result, I'm rather tired and sick of being worked upon.  I also missed about half a day of work running around, which I didn't mean to do.
• Had another dance class - boy, dancing sitting down is hard.  From now on, I will be encouraging sitters in all my abhinaya classes, cause it's a good, real challenge.  And I'm making people sit more often... which only seems like a good thing.  It's really a sneaky form of evil.

There's a lot of work project stress right now.  Nothing horrific, but enough difficult things that I find I'm not taking much pleasure in work.  One thing that is lovely, is that we're starting some work on a new release.  No matter how vague and unknown, I really love the time period in high level design when all things are possible.

Sorry this took so long. I was so busy/tired this week that I haven't had the time to blog.

The healing is going fairly well. I'm walking - sometimes without a crutch. The rule is - if I can walk without a limp and without pain, I can walk without a crutch - that happens about 50% of the time right now, but when I get tired, I go back to the crutch. The swelling is way down, but it wasn't until yesterday's PT that it was all the way down.

Here's some of the fun of healing this week...

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On other news, I'm not going to Pennsic.  I had pre-registered, but I have decided against going.  It was a three person decision, where each of us had reasons for not being up to the trek right now.  For my part, Pennsic is a chance to be really physically active and to enjoy teaching, learning and performing dance - I can't do those things right now.  Right now, setting up my tent and doing my daily chores are going to be about all I can do, and I'll be doing it on uneven ground.  I can't risk more injury, and I can't stand the idea of doing all that driving and work and not getting to dance.  Also, I know me, and I'm very weak when it comes to temptation.  Trying to go and just "be around" dance will inevitably lead to dancing with right now, will inevitably lead to injury.

I'm going to save some of the vacation time and the energy and do something else when I'm feeling better - maybe in the fall.

OK, so if you haven't read new_man or mermaidlady -- I sprained my ankle last night.

In dress rehearsal for Wrathskellar.

No, this didn't have anything to do with the knees and making myself into a curry-smelling version of Big Bird.  The knees were much better - they are a typical grumpy-making thing, and I've learned to work through them over the years.


So.. yeah, I sprained my ankle.  First time I've ever sprained anything.  For an amazingly clumsy person with a notable short coming in the common sense department, I've been able to avoid most major injuries.  I've twisted ankles and knees, and bruised, burned and slashed myself a fair number of times.  But I managed until now to stay away from breaks, sprains and dislocations.

I'm pretty bummed.  I'm not sure "bummed" really covers it, but I don't want to go into self-pitying detail.

I won't be in the Wrathskellar this week - I will be resting my big swollen ankle.

And I'm not sure I'll be going to Pennsic.  I realize that plenty of energetic people have managed Pennsic on crutches, in wheelchairs and a variety of other painful conditions.  But I'm not sure I'm ready to take precious vacation time, drive many hours, set up camp, and then not dance, teach dance or learn dance.  And that is quite likely what Pennsic will be for me.  

I haven't said "absolutely not", but I need to see where I am in a week before I make a final decision.


I'm trying to find things to be thankful for - everyone around me has been overwhelmingly wonderful.  Dominique and Joshua skipped the show and took me to the ER, where they patiently tended me and my periodic outbursts in tears.  Aparna and Anil bullied their way backstage (they came to see the show) and Anil took a look and said "go to hospital".  I had to admire their ability to appear like the fantastic and mysterious Indian gurus and then disappear again with hugs and support. 

Scratch, Mina, Honey and Amber came by after and overwhelmed the revolving hospital crew.  Scratch and Mina got both me and my car home.  And Scratch was willing to shlep me by Barry Meklir's house to get some ad hoc body mechanic holistic help.  You have to love your body worker when he comes running down stairs at midnight with a collection of enzymes and pain remedys and says "don't worry about it, call me tomorrow".  Then Scratch and Mina got me tucked in, while managing to endure intermittent attacks of tears.

Today at work, none of my management would let me do anything.  People carried my backpack around and got me stuff for the 1/2 day I worked (big corporate demo tomorrow).  And, for a bunch of geeks, many of them were quite understanding about how awful it is to miss the show you've worked for for a long time.

Since I've been home, I've gotten a wonderful set of support emails and LJ messages from those who also read new_man or mermaidlady.  

Barry and Anil have now cooked up some blend of kiri (the medicinal pouch therapy) and lasers.  You got to love it when the two body workers (one Ayurvedic and one ...umm... whatever Barry is...) get together and develop your treatment plan without you.  And Aparna and I will start music lessons again tomorrow along with work on the Ashtapadi.  Aparna and I both agreed that if Aparna's teacher (Venkatalakshamma) could teach and perform sitting down -- then I could certainly do OK learning for a month sitting down.  Particularly with an Ashtapadi, which is 95% kick ass abhinaya, and only 5% being able to move.  This is a hallmark of Aparna's style, and I was halfway through and I'm really eager to learn the rest.  

(If I'm still ankle-hurt, I plan to trade ruthlessly on teacher goodwill and see if I can convince her to teach the Rated X Ashtapadi...  tell me that doesn't sound exciting)

She's also letting me read her dissertation, which she doesn't think of as exciting, but I do! 

I'm working on concocting other fun, sitting down, things to do that don't depress me.  Things I often don't have enough time for with endless rounds of dance.  Painting my stair rail...  organizing my fiddly little sewing things.   The thing that is most out is Lakshmi Clothes, or dance costumes... too upsetting.

I'm also trying to think of "instead of" options for Pennsic.  I don't have limitless resources, but I do have enough around to have a fun time-- later in the year, when I can walk and dance with less limitations.  And I'm not above maximizing on the fact that I don't have kids and therefore am not constrained to having a vacation in August.  I don't want to blow the bank....  I plan to go to India next year.  But I'm up for moderately fun ideas that aren't in the Boston area...

Who knew this was a monthly edition? :)

 

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Regular life stuff:

- Current Babydoll Adventure - the Wrathskellar - who would be crazy enough to stage a show 2 weeks before Pennsic?  We would!  We would!  It's going to *rock* - I'm working on 3 new numbers plus participating in a group number.  It's a very different show for us - dark cabaret, and I've had great fun integrating the aesthetically pleasing violence I've been working on with Kalari.

- Performed for a fundraiser for Aparna last weekend.  Should have advertised it here - she did a party at her house, and I performed the Pushpanjali to professional quality music, that was very fast.   Got some really nice, rare kudos from both my teachers.  Made me itch to do more performance... .maybe, just maybe, I will petition to do the latest ambitious endeavor - a tilliana, if I'm up for it, at Pennsic this year.  It'll blow your doors off.

- Can't wait for dance parties at Pennsic.  It feels like it's been years since I danced just for fun.  Not that performance isn't fun... but performance is about doing it right.  Dance parties are just about doing it.

- Made 2 new costumes for new show.  Very pleased.  They are both from fabric from my stash, they both came out great, and I managed not to trash my sewing room (more) in the process.  Go new Ikea shelving!

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Hi there gang,

So, I’m doing this crazy Kalari massage treatment program where I learned how to give and also receive a massage that is part of a Kalari Payattu training regimen. It’s based in Ayurvedic medical philosophy, although it has a particular style unique to practitioners of Kalari.

It’s been very intense and very cool – so I thought I’d blog a bunch about it. That way I can natter about my thoughts and anyone interested can read it. It will also spare all my friends and family from hearing me babble about it excessively in real time conversation.

So, if you’re interested in this stuff, read on… it’ll probably be interesting if you are fascinated by Indian culture, Ayurvedic medicine, massage, martial arts, or wacky body mechanics stuff. If you want to actually learn how to do it, you’re out of luck… I have personal notes, but I don’t plan to publish them here. If you are totally tantalized, you’ll just have to come to Boston and learn from my guru. If you hit your timing right… your masseuse may even be me, as I hope to continue practicing and learning.

The Setup

 

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YO!!!! BOSTON BURLESQUE EXPO!!
Be there or be.... clothed.

No wait, be there or be less amused and covered with glitter than you might otherwise be if you had gone... yeah. That's it.

The weekend looks likely (knocking on wood) to be our best yet. We have lots of people booked into the hotel, tickets are selling like hotcakes, and communication with teachers has been the best ever. We have a full docket of great teachers and performers each day and night, a thriving fashion exhibit, an art show, a vendor room and more.

Better yet, the staff is really coming together. Having worked with the regular other heads of stuff - Scratch, Chad, Hunter and Fancy - I've always known they were all super-competent. But this year we seem to be hitting our stride - god willing we've hit the point where we know a bit about how to work together and compensate for weaknesses with strength and foresight. Or at least that's how it seems. A dubious part of me is just waiting for something to 'splode in a fiery ball of doom.

Also - Babydolls vs. Quincy

If you haven't heard, we're in a battle with the town of Quincy to try to open a dance studio. The town politician giving us grief doesn't seem to realize that we are opening a studio, not a performance venue. Or else he doesn't get that Burlesque and Burlesque classes are most often enjoyed by the intellectual elite, and that a studio won't bring down the neighborhood. In fact, it'll most likely be an artsy improvement that enhances the local options of Asian dining, Irish pub, tattoo parlour and liquor store. This has become a battle about kids and morality, when I'd wish it was about town revenue and creating a bit of a cultural vibe. With a local T stop and plenty of cheap housing, the area could become a cheaper Cambridge/Somerville, if there was some interesting stuff to do at night that didn't involve crime.

But perhaps the closed minded posts on the site here:

http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x1243558450/Oh-baby

Suggest that Quincy isn't really interested in something a little bit fringe. They'd rather have a safe, predictable town that heads toward decay.

Anyhow... if you are so inclined, especially if you live local - register and drop a friendly word of support. We sure could use some votes of confidence.

I had a long grumpy rant going.  But I've deleted it.  I'm in a bad mood.  Have been for 3 days straight.  It's not anything awful, it just feels like death by 1,000 paper cuts.  But life is what you make of it, and I don't have nearly enough to whine about.  Not with the crappy economy hitting so many people, and so many friends having to face serious and scary health stuff in recent year.  Nope.  I do not deserve to whine.


I do however, deserve to tell you all that I hired a maid.  This was maid #2.  Maid #1 was expensive and didn't do a good job.  Maid #2, we love.  We definitely love Maid #2.  We will name her Margarida (cause that's her name).  She rocks.  House is now clean.  Cleaner than I would have cleaned myself.  When she had a question (and a very fair one), she called.  

We love the Margarida.

We love the clean house.

We will now love the clean flannel sheets in the nice clean bedroom, after first visiting the nice clean bathroom and brushing our nice (soon to be) clean teeth.

Yeah baby, yeah.
( me = bad mood )

Two announcements:

1 - Boston Babydolls - Unlucky in Love Valentine's Day Week!! Come see the show!

Another Boston Babydoll Extravaganza! If you haven't seen us in a while, see our three new dancers! And even if you have seen us recently - you haven't seen this show. We have a ton of new numbers, some beautiful, some hilarous, and some downright amazing! Including two new numbers by your's truly as well as the revival of two well-loved group numbers that make me realize that I certainly have a way with girls flirting with a girls. :) Come see for yourself.

2 - Barry the Wonderful Body Wizard - is going on vacation Friday Feb 13 and will not be back in the office until March 16th.

During that time, he'll be available by email only, and will likely be delayed up to a week in returning email messages. He asked me to post, so ya'll would know.




( Lakshmi news )