Tired

The weekend wore me out, here it is Wednesday and I'm finally feeling normal again.
Working third shift has it's benefits, but it definitely has it's draw backs too. I like no traffic both ways to and from work, I enjoy having virtually no bosses looking over my shoulders, working 6 1/2 and getting paid for 8! Golfing any weekday of the week, less cost and less people on the course. But when the week end arrives and I am not working... sometimes I do not sleep the whole weekend, this last weekend was one of those, my mind won't shut down and I don't like taking sleep enhancers. I performed a magic show on Friday night and it went pretty well, all were entertained. I had a couple of miscues and of course, those are the things I dwell on, wanting the magic I do to be GREAT! I was also planning on Skiing Tuesday, I had invited my older brother John to join me. Him and I are trying to rebuild our shaky relationship. John taught me to ski when I was 16. That too was on my mind!
Saturday Joan and I attended a funeral for a friend. His 25 year old son died from an accidental drug overdose on New Years eve. I believe he died three days later.
That is enough to depress anyone!
Snoqualmie Pass was closed Tuesday because of avalanches. So our skiing plans were out the window.
I haven't worked out since Friday. I decided to listen to a friend who is also working out and his "coach" told him the body needs a rest after about 6 weeks of hard labor every day. I have been hitting it fairly hard for over two months.
I worked out yesterday and hope I don't lose momentum!
I heard from my friend Wil Bryan in North Carolina, I sent him an emnail that said:

Hi Wil, hope you are well.
I haven't heard anything from your father or you in awhile, so I am wondering what's going on with the potential magic show at the Christian Lifestyle Expo.
Has your dad watched the dvd? It's quite alright if he is against me coming or has found someone else, I'm just trying to get a jump on things from this end if it's a go.
Magically,
Your friend, Tim

His reply lifted my heart and spirits!

hey Tim :)Its definetly a go, I am browsing for some tickets now... He really enjoyed the dvd but the deciding factor was my 6 yr old niece watching it and shouting "thats awsome" at the end. I will tell dad to give you a shout, hes probably already planning too. sorry for the delay, I was slow getting him the dvd. Anyway, hope this finds you well, talk o you soon and I will let youknow what I find in the way of tickets. :)
w.

I've Heard it Said

that you learn more through failure than success. If that statement is true... then Friday night I learned a ton!
I performed for a small group of about 75 people at Farrington Court in Kent Washington. It was a rather intimate setting as I was set up in the Tuscany room. It was rather cramped and the audience was right on top of me and semi surrounding me. No matter, I was being paid to perform. Besides, I was excited to share my magic with young and old!
I had invited magician and friend Gary McKibben to watch me perform. I also asked him if he would like to perform an effect as well. He agreed and we had a blast.
It was Friday you know, that sometimes means I don't get a lot of sleep. Why? Because I have to stay up or get up early so I can sleep Friday night. No excuses! On with the show!
I opened with the Chinese Sticks. It was amazing to all. Gary told me later as we enjoyed some barley at H.D HotSpurs in Kent that it was a lovely, fascinating effect. It brought smiles to his face. I open with this effect because it doesn;t require much in the way of knuckle busting slights and it also gets the audience clapping right away.
Then I performed the Cut and Restored Rope with the Professors Nightmare ending by Jim Cellini. We all had fun with it and it dove tails nicely into Lassoing a card. Again, Gary mentioned that Lassoing a Card was excellent. I performed a lot of magic, maybe too much. We had an hour time slot to fill, and I wanted to fill it. You know, give them their money's worth!?
Egg Bag played really well and no flaws, then disaster! Murphy's law crept in. Actually it wasn't all bad, but the banana didn't vanish! Oh my GOSH! There it is slamming itself onto the floor. What do I do?! The Vanishing Bandanna is a hilarious effect. At the conclusion, the banana is supposed to vanish. Oh my, quick thinking needed. The audience had been laughing along with the effect up until this point... at the opening of the effect, I mention something like this as I open the box, "Oh look, there's directions", as I pull out a sheet of printed directions, I say, "men never follow directions", as I toss the paper over my shoulder. This gets a good laugh, so now, there is this banana on the floor that isn't supposed to be there, I quickly retrieve the directions and holding them up, I say, "Now you know why you are supposed to follow directions!" This gets a decent laugh and no one is the wiser. What did I learn? That the audience isn't aware of where you are going with an effect. Whew, by now I am sweating bullets.
The show must go on. I'm the star! Ha!
I move on to the Cups and Balls, and Gary is going to do an effect and I'm going to come back and end with my first ever live performance of Sterling Dietz' paper tear.
The cups and balls went smoothly until I asked a young boy to pick a cup that all the balls will return under. This is about 4/5Th's thru the routine. I show the cups to be empty that he didn't pick, as I am reaching over to pick up his selection to reveal the first orange, I accidentally knock over the cup furthest from his choice, revealing an orange, now I just showed this cup to be empty, and immediately there is an orange under it. I'm freaking out because this is not when I want to reveal this orange, but the audience is gasping because it was no more than a second or two from when I had lifted this cup and it was empty!
I make some lame comment about not getting the right cup and move on. Later when I am revealing all the rest of the oranges, I lift that same cup, but there is no orange beneath it and I WAS EXPECTING ONE THERE, another thing to ad lib, so I immediately say "Oh, it's over here," as I lift my hat and reveal a pumpkin. Again, turning a mess up to my advantage! WHEW!
Sweating bullets now profusely, I take a break while Gary performs a nice relaxing signed dollar to box routine. I needed the break! Gary did a fine job, many years of performing showed! Relaxed and confident!
I came back and closed the show with the paper tear. Technically it flowed well. But after listening to Gary telling me some advice about angles and watching the video, I have a lot to learn yet about controlling my magic and my surroundings.
It has a very nice message and I will work to improve.
It's funny, but everyone had a great time, the audience was laughing and applauding and carrying on, everyone was smiling, having fun. This is what I have been reading about in many of the magic books lately, that it is more about connecting and sharing than being flawless. Being an engaging personality rather than a stuffed shirt.
The children in the audience were entertained and the children inside the senior citizens came out a Little too. Some teenagers were leaning forward in their seats as well. (I'm told)
A boy of thirteen who is interested in magic, and whom Gary and I entertained privately a little before the show, told me, "so, you're a comedy magician." I hadn't planned on being that, but I'll take it if they all had a blast!

Long Winter Days...

Or is it short winter dayz???
I am still working out regularly, although it is getting harder to motivate myself. Been finding myself wanting to skip a work out. Haven't skipped one yet though and am glad, because It is my understanding that it is those that do what you should when you don't feel like it are the ones who get ahead! I think I have lost some weight, maybe two pounds, hovering right around 190. Actually I think I have lost about 4-6 pounds and put it back on in the form of muscle, not that I am buff yet... but I am noticing slight differences in my body!
I have been sleeping more lately also, I am not sure if it is because I am lifting weights and tiring myself out, or if it is just because of the winter gloom. Maybe it is simply because I sleep during the day, and during winter it is darker outside and that makes the room better adapted for sleeping, I don't know.
Yesterday Heath Ledger was found dead in his own bed. He was 28 years old. An apparent overdose of drugs. I read the article and noticed that he had been using Ambien. He had in the past used two Ambien sleeping pills but only slept about an hour. The article mentioned that his mind wouldn't shut down even though his body was exhausted. I know exactly that feeling. I too have used Ambien. In fact I have taken two Ambien tablets twice. I didn't feel good about doing it but I needed to sleep. I wonder if he took three? Maybe it wasn't even Ambien, or perhaps a combination of something. The article mentioned it might be suicide. I really doubt it. When I was using Ambien to get some sleep, I had a weird feeling or premonition about taking it. So I haven't had any in about two years. I wasn't addicted to it, rather on my work shift and sleeping during the day, with the sun out, dogs barking, kids playing etc. I just needed to get some sleep.
I find it rather ironic that in America today, at anytime during the day or night, you turn the t.v. on and will see advertisements for drugs of all kinds. Yet, if you want to grow your own Marijuana, it is against the law. The drug companies can't regulate and the government can't tax it, so you can't have it. BUT, if you can't sleep, or have erectile dysfunction, or restless leg syndrome, or herpes or, A D D, or or or... you can get it rather easily, but it is funny all the "symptoms" that you might get while on the drugs!
Last night Jose held a session at his home, I finally got to meet his princess bride, Cindy!
In attendance were, Myself, Jose, Leslie and Bennett. We worked on rubber band magic, some various card false cuts,(spent a good deal of time here)linking rings, and Jose performed a new cups and balls routine.

I performed Sterling Dietz' paper tear, I am getting ready for a show this Friday where I will perform it "Live" for the first time!

R.I.P TED

I found this about my younger brother Ted who died on May 23rd of 2007. It was posted by his ex wifes son. Most of the pictures are of Ted with his children when they were very little. Ted was about 20 in most of these.
I miss him terribly.

Week in revue...

Last night I enjoyed skiing at Snoqualmie as Katie snow boarded in her new snow boarding clothes!


Ryan joined us and we had a great time. It was a bit cold as the thermometer was reading a chilly 22 degrees. No wind though, and the roads were nice and clean making the drive up and back a breeze!
Ryan and I talked Katie into going up on the "bigger" chair lift! The Triple 60 it is called, She did great even though she had a few reservations. She enjoyed it three times, A few more and we can kiss those smaller chair lifts good bye!
Been working out now for two months, seeing a little bit of nice results. A loooong way to go still. Maybe a lifetime!
Magically, been just working on the paper tear and getting ready for an upcoming gig on the 25th at Farrington court. This will be my third time performing there since last November! Guess they like my magic, or maybe it's my cheap price!? :)
Anyway, I look forward to it.
In March I might fly to North Carolina to perform. I have been asked by a magical friend who lives there to come and perform at the christian lifestyle expo.(http://www.christianlifestyleexpo.com/index.htm)
Wil and I are working out the details. Wil's father is coordinating the whole event.
I think it would be a blast to go and enjoy this magical experience! An adventure in life you might say!
I am really enjoying my ipod that I got for Christmas. I didn't think it would be so great to have one, now I understand!

What's been happening???

Been awhile since I posted last, I dunno why? Haven't felt much like typing... hehehe...
Spoke with My friend Tom Frank today, I always enjoy talking with him. All things magic and a little bit more.
Well rounded, not too grounded. I have been offered a tentative offer to go to North Carolina to perform at the Christian lifestyle expo.
http://www.christianlifestyleexpo.com/index.htm
A friend that now lives there invited me to perform after seeing a video of one of my performances! I am stoked about the opportunity and am very seriously considering going. It is in March of this year. That is the reason for my call to my mentor Tom.
I will be getting back to my friend Wil tomorrow or the next day, or perhaps after I type this post!
Wils' father is running the Expo, so you might say I have an in... but not so fast... This is all new ground for me, still I am very excited about the opportunity and not just to perform, but to go see some other part of the United States!
Have been trying to get up the pass to do some skiing lately, Tried on Wednesday but an accident up ahead on the highway prevented us. Today, they had avalanche prevention going on. So, maybe tomorrow!?
My friend and fellow magician Sterling Dietz has shared with me the rights to perform his newspaper tear! I am very pleased and excited to be able to perform this wonderful piece of magic. Ever since I saw him perform it over a year ago, I have wanted to present it! Now I will!
My friend Leslie Thyagarajan has been helping me learn the "tear". He has been invaluable in my learning. We spent an evening last Friday at a local Denny's working on it and other things. Jose joined us too. It was a relaxing evening of learning. I worked on linking rings and cups and balls with Leslie and Jose is working on a chop cup routine.
My wife started some more schooling last week, that has been keeping her busy. A couple of computer classes at Green River C.C. Tough classes too.
She finally sold her mothers house, closed today! Yippee! That is a nice load off her shoulders. Joan has been awesome during all this work! My incredible wife!

Later that evening...

New Year's Evening with our friends the McDowells...


We have been spending New Years with the McDowells for years, a tradition you might say, this year was at their home. Normally we get together for Christmas eve as well, but because of things being so hectic, we were unable to enjoy that time this year, so we exchanged gifts on New years eve... no worries...
My wife got into some new Xbox game using a guitar.
The McDowells threw a Christmas party earlier in the week, on Saturday the 29th, they do this every year, we were able to stop by for a few hours after attending the Dowling wedding. I think this getting ready for a party, working, and more has been wearing on my friends, so, I wish them a fantastic 2008!