Exploring new horizons

I'm doing something I vowed for years that I'd never do. I'm becoming a clown. 

And actually, it's way more fun than I expected. 

Why am I doing this? It's a bit of a story.

First, a bit of background info: I was happy to dabble in theater during my years in high school and college.  Somehow I was always cast as the character in charge of slap-stick comedy relief. I was also involved high school teams for Competition Drama and Competition Speech, and I always performed best in the comedy events. (Which is totally ironic, since I'm not actually a funny person...my acting style just does best in silly performances I guess.)

I competed at over 100 tournaments, advanced to the state tournament several times and really enjoyed performing. 

In college I majored in Theater as a natural choice for my interests. That lasted for a whopping one semester. 

I always chose light-hearted comedies to work on in class because I hated performing depressing drama sketches. I really didn't like doing monologues of suicidal psychopaths, divorcing couples, or girls descending into deep depression after a break-up with a boyfriend. 

One day, my professor told me bluntly to get out of the acting business. He said if I didn't want to do the dramatic scenes then there was no place for me in theater. I liked to make people laugh, and hated the thick tension from dramatic scripts. 

So.

I took his advice and switched majors. (I switched to Cultural Anthropology for a year. Then Elementary Education for 18 months. The Nursing major lasted two years. Yes, I still only have an Associate of Science degree after all those years of schooling. Yikees.) 

Moving on...

Let's jump back to today. 

One of my favorite parts of the face painting business is making kids feel really special. I love making them laugh in delight with silly stories while I work on their body art. There's an indescribable feeling in my heart when I make the kids smile. 

I imagine it like this: my body is full of radiating joy, like the bright rays of sunshine. I want to take a handful my glittering magic and share it with them, infusing them with joy. (Okay, I can't really describe what's in my mind here, but just try to envision it a bit, mkay? In my mind's eye, it's a beautiful thing.)

So- I expanded my face painting business to include a magic show and balloon twisting so I can interact more with the kids and have more fun with my job. I did my first show last weekend, in front of an audience of around 100 kids and adults. 

The magic show is super fun to perform, and I get to be as silly as I want. It's great!

My ultimate goal is to write some educational magic shows that I can perform for elementary schools to teach kids in an engaging and memorable way.  I'm currently working on a silly show to instill within children a love of reading. I also want to write a show to prevent bullying.

I'm really hopeful that I can find ways to use these new skills to serve our community and help make the world a better place for children.