I appreciate that it's Halloween, but I'm sure I can't be the only person out there who doesn't just absolutely adore dressing up for it.  

But Endi, you're probably thinking, don't you dress up all the time? Don't you love it?!

It's not that I don't love dressing up, it's that there's pressure to dress up.  I'm that kid who loved playing the piano when I was growing up, until I started being required to practice.  I love moving my body and working up a sweat, but I hate having to go to the gym.  I dress up all the time, but I like coming up with unique and nontraditional costumes that take months to prepare.  It's a big effort.

....and that's why I am always elated to perform at HOWL!  I get to spend a month, or more, getting inspired and excited about costume ideas with my best friends, collecting fabric and props, crafting, and eventually spending one night dancing the hell out of it.

This year I'll get two nights of dancing the HELL out of stuff because Saturday night, tomorrow, is Get on Up ("Monster Mashup" Halloween Party) Nov 1st w/ TAKIMBA, Dj Saucy & Redi Jedi $5

And then of course I'm going to remind you that this inspiring and motivating and planning and creating that I love to do is, in part, with your support: my loves in Cloud City Circus and I want to do this MORE and BIGGER and BETTER ... for us, sure, but also because we want to share our exuberance and talent with you on a BIGGER and BETTER stage!  Please do donate -anything at all! - to our indiegogo fund!  We are just over halfway there, but we've only got two weeks left!

Joe taught me how to mix music on an iPad last year on our way down to Burningman.  It was fun for a few minutes but I put it down and didn't try again until about a week ago.  

I've been spending minutes here and there practicing, with the intention of devoting real time and focus to this as part of November's 30-Day Creativity Challenge.  On Saturday night Joe and I practiced mixing a couple songs then letting the other mix into a couple, then trading off again.  What I didn't realize was that Joe was recording the whole thing!  

I figure this sets a good baseline from which I hope to improve next month.  And, it's pretty good listening!  Enjoy!

This Saturday, November 1st, will mark the beginning of my third 30-day challenge of 2014.  It's been such a great motivator and director of focus that I thought I'd start a new one, but instead of movement or conditioning, this time it's Creativity (or really, anything you make of it!)  

Please consider joining me for November's 30-Day Creativity Challenge!

For this month I'm going to focus at least 30 minutes a day on pursuing creative hobbies that I've long since intended to master (or at least accomplish).  I have a long list of creative things To Do, but at the top of the list will be developing my DJ skills.  This will help me very much in the world of dance performance, as I will be able to mix songs together into a seamless set.  It'll also mean that I can create my own playlists for lessons and workshops so that the flow is not only seamless, but dynamic and timed perfectly for the drills and choreography I'm teaching!

Start watching my Soundcloud page because I vow to upload the stuff I'm working on periodically!  I changed my username to N.D.ME.N. and I'm hoping that name will catch, 'cuz it's easier to figure out how to pronounce and spell than "Endymienne"... but you're here at endymienne.com so you may proudly boast that you are one of the few folks who can figure out the name at all.  Now you'll know how to pronounce it, too!

Here is your To Do list for the week!

1. Pick a PowerPuff Girls character
2. Hang out at home, maybe with some friends, and make your costume
3. Go to HOWL on Friday
4. Go to Get On Up (Monster Mash edition) on Saturday
5. Sleep
Bonus: donate to Cloud City Circus' indiegogo fund!

Bridgetown Revue is back at HOWL performing at the 3rd Ave outdoor "GROOVEYARD" stage, located on a giant steampunk pirate ship.  Your gogo performers, and DJs, will be dressed as POWERPUFF characters.  Join us for the PPG fun!

Before you go thinking I'm taking time off, come check out CIRCUS CHURCH!

It's like regular church, except it's the opposite.

I've got a few really great announcements for November coming up soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks so much to Cody Augustine!

If you like what you see here, donate to Cloud City Circus' production project!

NEWSFLASH
it is my birthday very soon and I've been thinking about it a lot.

Like, logistically, a lot.  You probably don't want to know how many spreadsheets and lists I have going on, but I'm sure you'll be happy to know that they are all organized with a table of contents.  I have things timed such that I should be able to get there for early check-in on Thursday (*knocks on wood*) despite performing the night before at the Happy Hour Sip n' Strip with a new routine, which involves rehearsing and costume-making (yipee!  I hope you'll come see!), a business meeting tonight with Bridgetown Revue (which will commence at the fabric store and conclude in my sewing studio while we craft up some costumery for Convergence!).  

Since it'll be a milestone birthday, as I mentioned before, I'm giving myself an ultimate gift: the allowance to dream.  I'm letting myself indulge the daydreaming that I never usually do for fear of jinxing it or setting myself up for disappointment.  What is not unique about this year's birthversary is that it is a month-long event.  I get so excited about celebrating my birth that I begin to talk about it weeks before it occurs and, subsequently, have people wishing me a happy birthday all month long.  I have NO problem with this - in fact, I welcome you to celebrate the fact that I was born all year round.   My birthday season is the one time of year that I allow myself a sense of entitlement - and not just to "stuff", but to attention, to being treated specially, to sitting back and thinking about the things I really dig about me, to indulge in searching for and calling out the things that make me happy.  To ask for what I want.

So right now I have a carport, a lot of frozen cookie dough, and a bag fulla onesies ready to go for this weekend.  It's all falling into place!

...except for the ecstatic dance, and the sunset silent dance party at the Skidmore Bluffs.  I'm so stiff!  If this is how I feel after only a few hours of dancing, I'm feeling it would be smart to schedule a massage for next Monday's return home from my birthday weekend.  LMT takers?

Another awesome thing happening this week: Hump Day Happy Hour Sip 'n' Strip!  I get to try out my new burlesque routines here occasionally before taking them On The Road, because it's such an intimate and supportive show and, something about being up close and personal during a burlesque act feels more natural than doing so on a big stage.  Please, won't you stop by for a nip---nibble?

...the moment when I hop off stage and dance amongst the audience!  Wouldn't you love to see the rest of this performance up close and personal?  Donate to Cloud City Circus so we can create bigger, better shows FOR YOU!