Just home from a night shift... and it was the most fun night shift I've had for ages! Primarily because it was so quiet so I plucked out my deck of cards and decided to show a couple of the guys a couple of tricks!
I wanted to do the 2 card monte, as I've only just learnt it and really wanted to try it out. This ones got a fairly bold slight/transfer which I've never tried before... So I got Andy to hold the card, messed around for a bit and had a laugh with the trick, and before I knew it, there was a small audience of around 6 people! Which made the end, which worked so smoothly, such a buzz! There was an incredible look on Andy's face when he turned the two cards over, which in turn, that told the audience to be impressed! This is certainly a trick I'll be doing lots! (So thanks Alec, for showing it to me ages ago!)
Now I'm not a card magician by a long shot, (I hate to use the M word to describe what magic I do, but... ) that said, I've put a fair bit of work in to my card magic over the last few months because it's a great skill to have and when people find that you're a magician, they want to see something. I remember a lass I used to go out with, she'd spent so long learning the piano, but needed sheet music, so when someone asked her to play something at a party, there was no sheet music, and despite all her practice she was unable to do anything! You can imagine how she felt that night! Kind of ruined the party for her... So I decided that a few really good and impromptu card tricks were kind of essential! And it seems that maybe I'm a little more of a cardie than I care to admit! I now have a little bundle of decent tricks that seem to get good reactions, are fun to do, in the main don't require to much set up so are pretty impromtu. Plus I've been really working on my presentation and performing skills, Strong Magic and the 5 points have rarely left my side of late!
I'm waffling a bit (Well, it's 08:20, I've been working (ok, doing card tricks) since 23:00, what do you expect?)
I'll try and cut to the chase... if there is a chase...
I did quite a lot of card stuff this shift, and the two tricks that got great reactions, more than I expected were Liam Montiers "Sucker" (a UV reveal which I presented as a subliminal influencing thing) and a slightly tweaked version of Bannons "Trait Secrets". It's so nice to experiment with new tricks and find things that really work for you!
Hmm.... there's no real point to this post, just that I've got that "been performing high" and figured that Talk Magic is the place for me to talk about doing magic...
And maybe I've got three things from tonight as well. Firstly, my hands can shake a lot when I perform. At first I thought it was nerves, but really, I'm not nervous when I'm doing magic now, and after reading some posts here, I found someone rather wise had had a similar problem and discovered that its adrenalin! I have to agree, it seems to occour more now because my magic is just becoming more important to me. But by doing the 2 card monte first, and having a blast doing it, I relaxed and the whole thing became a fun experience.
Secondly, Bannons "Dear Mr Fantasy" really is good!
Thirdly, it's great to get out of your comfort zone and learn and do new things! I primarily do a more mentalism style of magic, so it's nice to do something very different
Thanks for sticking with this post to the end!
Chris
