Compulsive Uncontrolable Purchasing Syndrome.
Compulsive Uncontrolable Purchasing Syndrome (CUPS) is the disorder whereby you just can’t stop yourself from buying any item that has anything whatsoever to do with Magic. It doesn’t matter how big or small it may be, you have to have it. It may be the latest “Steven Gore” trick, a set of 4 Osterlind DVD’s or merely a simple “Sharpie”, but something has to be bought on a regular basis.
This disorder is every bit as disturbing as any other addiction, and in my mind there should be a group to help victims through it. If there was such a group, I would be the first one there. The first one to stand up in front of everybody else and say…
“Hello. My name is Bananafish, and I have C.U.P.S. (and balls to admit it).”
Now, although this post may be considered a little tongue in cheek, Magic is for me becoming a bit of an obsession. I love magic, I want to read about it, I want to get better at it, and I want to own as much of it as possible. I want to understand it, the history of it and the psychology behind it. I want to learn more coin moves, more card sleights. I want to learn how to do a good chop cup routine and a good three shells routine. I want to be an expert at sponge magic, rope magic, magic with miscellaneous objects and mentalist Magic. Above all else, I want to get better at and more confident with performing in the real world.
There are only two problems with this. Time and Money. It’s not only a very expensive hobby, but even worse it can be very time consuming.
I reached a point where I realised that I have been buying faster than I can digest the information. I may be reading more and watching more DVD’s and buying more tricks than ever but this is all at the expense of practicing. The most fundamental use of our allotted “Magic Time”.
So my plan is to stop buying for a while. No new books. No new DVD’s and certainly no new tricks, mind you “On the case” sounds so good, and that Gordon Bean “Monte” routine sounds right up my street. I’ll just get those and then stop…DOH!
“I know. I know. My name is Bananafish, and I have C.U.P.S.”
As a footnote, I have just re-read a fairly recent thread started by “YankeeTom” called
“The Blues” and I think that summed it up nicely. One theory that was put forward was by Happy Toad who suggested that one reason for C.U.P.S. is that if [like many of us here] we chiefly perform to friends and family, then it is understandable that we will very quickly run out of tricks to perform. We may well have some amazing tricks in our personal repertoires, but once we have shown it to our limited audience – that’s it. We HAVE to purchase a new trick, because we HAVE to perform.
So here are some basic ideas for all sufferers of C.U.P.S.
Rule 1. No Pooftahs (sorry – old joke. I couldn’t resist)
Rule 2. Remember Loved ones.
Speaking as a recently married man, I would urge everyone to remember that Magic isn’t the be all and end all of life as we know it (that’s what my lovely assistant tells me anyway).
Rule 3. Read the Books, and Watch the DVDs.
Read all the books for cover to cover – making notes if need be of what are the stronger tricks, then repeat this from time to time as by then new skills will have been learnt and there may be a completely different set of strongest tricks. It is unlikely we will ever perform everything off a DVD or in a book, but what we are comfortable learning will change everytime we watch/read them. Also remember that one of the biggest things to learn from a DVD is the “performance” aspect, so re-watch this part of the DVD many times.
Rule 4. Practice, Practice and Practice more.
I have the books and DVD’s now for learning more tricks than I could ever know, so the goal has to be to practice what I have. Then when I have finished go back and practice again.
Rule 5. Try and find a wider audience
Easier said than done, especially if like me the thought of performing to strangers made me want to “cak” my pants. However, I did join a magic society (even though when I was told that I would need to do an audition I nearly never came back). Since then though, I did the audition, I entered a close up competition and have now performed as part of the society to a “real” audience.
And, recently because of all this I have now even started getting a few offers of real paid work. Don’t get me wrong. This still scares the sh*te out of me, but the more I do the easier it gets, and I now KNOW that once I get started I will have fun with it.
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Hhhmmmm. That was a bit more long winded than I meant to be, but if there are any other sufferers of CUPS out there, then I feel we all need to stand together. (Then we can club together and buy a Magic shop!).