A Professional???

Saturday arrived just as scheduled... funny how that works just like clockwork!
I was scheduled to perform magic at the Farrington Court Senior Center. I arrived an hour early to check out the lay of the land and to get set up. It was a good thing because the band I was following ended about a half hour earlier than expected.
I was tired from fishing the two previous days with little sleep. I slept for 14 hours from Friday night to Saturday morning. My body seemed to want more... Not a good felling going into your first paid gig.
But as the saying goes, the show must go on.
A good size crowd was on hand as they were having a Luau. i started my set with something for the children called the Bird Catcher. I had them come forward and make a semi circle. I explained that the two birds were attracted to small children. They seemed to enjoy the trick. One child exclaimed "Wow, that's cool!" That's all you can ask for as a magic performer. I noticed my hands were shaking a little as I started. I told myself to get over it, you have done this hundreds of times... the next effect is a card trick by John Cornelius called Marked for life. I like the trick because the patter allows the audience into who you are a bit.. It went over pretty well and I was off into my regular set of Chinese sticks, acrobatic knot, ring rope and wand... these all were handled with great chops and some fun audience reactions and participation. I threw in Gazzo's floating card routine next. This is a great gag. Much laughter was happening. These old folks were having fun!
For my finale was the cups and balls. Of course this slayed them and I overheard someone comment, "I thought I had it figured out until all those oranges appeared."
Another couple I spoke with said they never saw a thing and they were behind me. I have quit worrying about what people who are behind me might be seeing, I think this is why they rarely see anything. Your attitude portrays that there is nothing irregular going on, so they never suspect!
Since it was a Luau, I got fed some good food too!
Does gettig paid make you a professional? I don't consider myself in those ranks yet, but it was nice to get some validation for all the hard work, time, and effort over the last 4 years!