Lakshmi Amman's Journal

I don't blog much about work these days, partly cause I can't blog from work (so I don't blog much at all), and my mind isn't on the work topic when I do blog. But also I don't like discussing company stuff publicly.

But this is not company-related, and it's too good to not pass along:

Smith College and SWE present
From Specialist to Strategist
http://www.smith.edu/execed/programs/ScienceTechnology/SWE/

A week long conference for women who are in a technical field, but who are also transitioning to leadership positions.

( for geek women and those who love them )

I'm free tonight. Not booked or overbooked, not desperately needing to sleep, or catch up on something, not on the road... just a little tired and not overly eloquent after a hectic week and a late night at work. I'll be putting in time over the weekend... but I'm just toasty enough that being here tonight would not be good.

Any ideas for a good place to blow off steam? A dance club appealed but I'm not sure where folks go these days. Or a dinner with a friend if anyone's up for it...

As you might notice, I'm posting during the weekday. I got a swanky new toy - a MOTO Q9C, that can get to LJ. Chances are I still won't post or read daily - my work is too busy these days to allow much time. But if anyone out there uses a mobile phone and has suugestions on how to use LJ painlessly. I'd welcome thoughts.

So... here's another funny thing - after all the photo shoots lately, I find myself trying to get a professional photo submitted for a leadership conference at Smith. I have a ton of fab pictures from the last few BBD years, but they are all Glamour Girl shots. Not one is serious & intelligent. While my inner new age feminist grumbles about the ongoing divisions between smart and pretty, the practical professional looks for suggestions on getting a fast and free (or cheap) businessy photo. The best one I have is an ID pass to a fort!! And it isn't good enough res to survive scanning and sending!

I made my first ever hiring decision today. I have now got a team that has a majority of members who are more experienced that me. Including a former boss - karmic return at its best. :)

On other things:
- If you've ever ridden the London Underground - here's a kick:

http://www.emmaclarke.com/fun/mind-the-gap/spoof-london-underground-announcements

- There is, for the record, NO SMILING DURING THE ICY GLARE OF DEATH

- Watching the West Wing Season 2 is making me cry. I can't tell whether it's the fact that our President isn't nearly so awesome, or the fact that I wish I was so good at being a leader as these people. If I could inspire my people the way these characters inspire me... we'd have a damn good team.

- It's just a little scary when IT seems to recognize you when you call. I've tormented many a sub-contractor or support line in my day, but never the internal IT organization. I did, however, get them to promise to sing me a little song when they deliver my wireless card. Which song has not yet been defined, but I'm hoping for something to the tune of "today is your birthday... it's my birthday too, yeah!".

So - first for the non-geeks that read this, I'll start with the general life stuff you don't have to read any further. If you don't read past the cut tags, you should be safe from too much technical jargon.

I am officially out of the market for a job. My company offered me my dream job out of the blue. With a manager I really like and a chance to make life pleasant around here. There's still alot about the corporation as a whole I don't like. But having my dream job - software task manager - makes up for a lot.

Plus the fact that the job hunt had sucked so badly that I had given up for a while in the hopes of defending what scraps of ego still remained mine. But now I'm not "taking a hiatus" from the hunt, but really and truly giving up.

The job is being a software task manager, and this time I get to be REAL one - responsibility for schedule, purchasing, and sign off of people's time cards. The other times I've done this, I've done most of the work, but it hasn't been my butt on the line. The project is with a manager I worked for 2 years back, who liked me so much he requested me and got me off another high profile project. The feeling is mutual, so I'm excited to have a manager I like so much.

( want a job? )

( now the geeky stuff )

So... I've had this post kicking about in my head this week, but as I had writing-with-a-goal in mind going on offline, I hadn't gotten around to spewing this randomness until now.

This Pennsic I had a really good time practicing every day - I did so from 9-10:30ish every day in little half hour blocks of stuff. All of it Indian, since doing Burlesque at Pennsic kinda breaks the Lakshmi Headspace for me. When I got home, I got to do two wonderful weekend days of dance the weekend after Pennsic. My teacher has scheduled us to take part in the Waterfront Festival on Sept. 8th, and so between the 4 regular hours of dance, plus the new Kola Attam number for the festival, plus Indian Serendipity where the 1 hour Kalari class becomes two hours, plus regular Babydolls rehearsal - I spent easily 10 hours of time in scheduled dance activities, probably 12 hours if you count practicing.

And I loved every minute even if I hurt a bit on Monday. And my practicing paid off to my instructors, and I felt better in class for having done the work.

I'm keeping the momentum going this week - practicing most mornings and most evenings, too in a nearby park, because my dance room isn't big enough to do the Kalari Mei Payattu - which is a long exercise regime to build stamina and correct form.

So.. here's what I've been thinking about...

( How to get good at dance? )

To see someone even more crazy than you! Yep, I'm prepping for Pennsic, renovating my bathroom, letting three different Indian dance teachers kick my butt, and helping to prepare for two major Burlesque shows with the Babydolls. I'm gunning to have them put my picture in the dictionary next to the word Overcommitted. :)

But, the Burlesque show promises to be truly fantastic. We have gone above and beyond with our new numbers, and we're bringing back and embellishing quite a few of our favorites. I think the show will kick major ass.

Here's the official blurb:

--------------------------------------------------

The Boston Babydolls: Red, Hot, & Blue
Saturday, July 21, 2007, 8 p.m.
The International Lounge
184 High St.
Boston, MA 02110
http://internationalboston.com/location.htm


The Boston Babydolls return to The International Lounge on Saturday, July 21 with an all-American romp. This burlesque revue stars Miss Mina, Betty Blaize, Dominique Immora, Honey Do, and all the rest of The Boston Babydolls in a summertime salute to the good ol' U.S.A. More than just dancing, the show has comedy, feats of derring-do, and more.

Tickets are only $20. Feeling like a big shot? A limited number of V.I.P. tickets are available for only $10 more! These $30 tickets are down front, where you get the best view of the show – and the personal attention of the performers!

Our last show at The International SOLD OUT. Advance tickets are strongly recommended.
Valet parking is available. Purchase tickets at

http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=BOS1

or by calling (212) 868-4444

So last night I was feeling pretty down on myself. A combination of stuff that I don't really feel like whining about. But I'm pretty sure I'm just in the doldrums - both chemically and situationally just now.

After staring at my piles of fabric planning to sew something for my Babydoll commitments in July, I finally found that I couldn't get my relentless brain to settle on anything. I did, however, realize that I have a lot of some truly stunning purple fading to grey silk-like synthetic fabric that is too light to be anything with lots of seams... but too pretty to keep sitting in my stash. I'm thinking I want to make a basic Burlesque panel skirt out of it. And maybe a matching bra and hip belt out of the scraps.

And found a wonderful silvery grey satin that I could use to make a fan dance dress - which is a goal for July. This is (I hope) a good compromise for several points:
- Scratch said to be simple with the dress, so I'm doing just a well-cut sheath possibly with panels for the skirt. If it's gonna be simple, I think the fabric itself has to be striking.
- Satin is relatively nice to work in and flows prettily
- I wanted to be black and white with this outfit, the fans are black, and I want them to stand out against the dress and against the ubiquitous black backdrop found in at least half the theaters of the world.
- Scratch aptly pointed out that me & white & stains do not make for a good combination (you could say I'm a little accident prone)
- It is in my fabric stash already, so using it costs no additional $ and frees up space in my house

But I was unable to settle on a pattern... so the fabric is sitting there staring at me still.

Finally realizing that I was too weird in the head to do much of importance, I settled on a random project I've been wanting to do for several Pennsics now - garb for Horatio. Horatio Q. Pigg is my pink plushy traveling companion on my various adventures. He's been the comfort pig for work travel as well as all SCAdian camping trips. The pig dresses very well - sporting a slammin' leather jacket, jeans with a money clip and a red belt and a couple different snazzy T-shirts. He's very urban chic for a pig. It could be said that he has new_man's taste in fashion, but then since new_man has been the Pig Fashion Consultant and Occasional Shopper, that's not so surprising.

Like any good SCAdian - Horatio also has a persona. Did you really think he'd be hanging out with the likes of Yevsha, Morwenna and myself without one? In the SCA he is Hamzurnama Piguntalis, and that's how he's pre-regged for Pennsic.

Up until now, he's tended to dress in a sort of Chola style, since he's been being costumed by me, and I had neither the time nor the inclination to make garb not of my time period. But... he's been whining. He really wants to be Mughal. Partly cause Muslims don't eat pork. And partly cause the shapes of Mughal garments are much more flattering to one who is quite dense in the middle with very thin arms and legs. Horatio has demonstrated his disdain for Chola garments several times by unwrapping his dhoti spontaneously during the day, so that I return to the tent to find him frolicking about in just his choli.

So... I had some choli making left overs in some really sumptuous fabrics, and I've made my first crack at a Mughal jama. It still needs trim and the finishing tie wraps, but for a project of 2.5 hours, I'm fairly pleased with it. And the silk dupioni makes Hamzurnama extremely comfortable for snuggling, even if the jama does bulge out and make him look a little bit like a cake topping.

He'll need some pants to complete the set, and I'm going to have to figure out how to wrap a turban for him. I'm hoping his ears will help keep it on.

If you see him at Pennsic, don't ask if it's a dress. He's a little sensitive about this. Because he has very short legs, and no knees to speak of, the jama kinda looks like a dress on him, especially with no pants. He is definitely a boy pig and he does not want to be mistaken for a girl pig. So all references to dresses should be avoided.

I promise pictures when I'm more finished with this little endeavor.

She's actually been back for a few months now, but now she's kicking into high gear with some great new dance workshops:

Kalari Payatu and Mohini Attam
Workshop
Saturday, May 19
10.30am to 11.30am (Mohini Attam)
11.45am to 1pm (Kalari Payatu)
$15 for one, $9 for two
Somerville, MA

http://www.navarasa.org/upcomingshows.htm

I won't belabor the already good descriptions on the site with what these workshops are. But I will comment that it's very cool, and I've not seen teachers for either of these types of movement in Boston before, and I doubt very much that the opportunity will occur again anytime soon.

If you are already an over committed dancer, Saturday is a great chance to get a drive by taste of these unique styles. Or if you are looking for a new dance form to commit yourself to, come and get in the loop as they start planning what the summer classes will be.

I've gotten to meet both the teachers and they are both expert dancers. I expect the classes to be beginner-friendly, but a mighty good workout.

( more about me )

If you missed Babydoll Magic at the International, and you have two X chromosomes, come see us tomorrow at the Coolidge Corner Cinema! We're doing Burlesque By Women For Women and tickets are selling fast. Sorry guys! It's gonna be a great show!

No deal, they couldn't get over my vocabulary. Screw 'em. No Mathworks for me. :(