Best Halloween Party this side of P-Town

Everything is this side of P-Town.
The cheerful, creative crowd voted Man in a Cage most original, though I cast him as scariest. I loved the organ grinder and his monkey, but they didn't stay together the whole evening to be the best duo like the Siamese twins did. I voted for me, Flowerpot lady who claims to be Mother Nature, as funniest, but I guess Zippy the Pinhead captured the cartoon shtick really well. They liked the headless man as scariest, and his costume was very good.
Dancing was good, too. The Cotuit Center for the Arts had taken down their huge stadium seating that can cover the whole floor.

"This American Life"

An NPR episode about Middle School, including broadcasting from school dances.
All that embarrassed and uncomfortable chat.
Chaperones ready to break up whatever like the 'grinding' we've heard about, the type of dancing they do on MTV. The high schools don't even have dances any more since the students refuse to do any other type of dancing.

Sideshow or Masque Event?

The Cotuit Center for the Arts has a sideshow theme this year, a darker slice of life. Will there a two-headed character, a costume that could win Halloween prizes at manys the event. I would rather be in a circus than a sideshow. Shades of the Midway at the Barnstable County Fair, a corridor I tried to keep my boys away from.
The Arts Foundation has set up a mask contest. Will the artists be inspired? Who will ante up the $100 to attend at the Wychmere Country Club? Doug and Kimberley will be on hand to promote ballroom dancing to those who can afford it, or anything else.

Steps for West Coast Swing

There's a million steps in this dance because it allows for so much play time, once you get the basics down. Structure that you can build on. So I spent an hour writing up the basics for students.
Now I have to provide a playground. I can play more West Coast music at my dance, or people can dance West Coast to Foxtrot music like the real Westies do, just staying in the middle of the floor, so the Foxtrotters can dance circles around them. There's room for all. West Coast to Chacha music - happens all the time.

This week DWTS

For great DWTS moments, I thought the first two dances, Rob K. and Nancy G., were delightful, showing improvement and humor, musicality and performance.
Rob's family is still awful. His mother coming into rehearsal and telling him he has grown up and starting to cry, so embarrassing. His sisters razzing the judges and texting madly throughout, as Tom told us.
Nancy was odd in rehearsal, asking for content and then accusing Tristan of giving her too much and planning for her to fail.
Ricki had a lovely dress finally, and Derek's choreography showed her off. I liked her response to Brooke's comment about losing weight. "I don't know. Maybe 20 pounds."
Chaz, well, today we can breathe a sigh of relief. I just kept thinking, "Go away, go away, go away."
Maks apologized and I guess we are to remember that English is his second language. In some way, I think he meant it when he said, "It's my show." Then Tom said, "I was going to ask him for a raise!"
Finally, JR looks like a winner all the way, and we don't see the face as horrifying as we did in the beginning. I wonder if more reconstruction can happen.

Will Power

On my way back to the Cape, Bob Edwards Weekend had a story on Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister. Willpower as a 'muscle' in our brains that gets stronger through being exercised and needs glucose to work. Diets don't work because we need to eat to be able to resist overeating.
The same greedy part of the brain does decision making, so judges tend to give parole, a harder decision, earlier in the day. Quarterbacks get decision fatigue.
Personally, I had just gone through hours of decisions on the stuff my mother has been collecting for 50 years. Taking breaks was important.
I loved listening to the section about children who could resist eating a marshmallow, usually by distracting themselves, not by concentrating on defeating the marshmallow. Later studies showed willpower as a prime predictor of success in life, measured in ways like finishing school, marrying happily, and staying out of jail.

Not dancing, not on Cape Cod

In fact, my weekend was quite active. My older sister and I cleaned out a few corners of my mother's house. Three stories, along with an attic and a basement means a box of rubbish might need to go down four flights of stairs.
Meanwhile, here in Falmouth, Joe said Sweet Melissa did one of her best sets ever at Grumpy's.