I Need to Get it Back Together.....NOW!

It's been a bit since my last post, haven't felt like doing much of anything as of late. I new to get back into the game magic wise, my skills in sleight of hand are deteriorating, I am forgetting routines I used to know well, I need to make time to practice, I need to make time to exercise. The only exercise I get is playing air soft once a month, the only magic I am around is the monthly club meetings.
I did do a paying show for a birthday party last month, I was lazy and just stretched a buskers set to 30 minutes,but they didn't know. They loved the show, it was hard for to be motivated to get out to do the show. I think this weekend I will go thru my videos and find an Ambitious Card routine and work on that as well as the Tarbary Rope act and work on the sleights I have studied Harry Anderson's Three Card Monarch, I want to do that at the next meeting.

VACATION.... ABOUT F%$#@ING TIME

Yes, I am finally on vacation, and it's about time. I am still bitter about work but that will fade in a day or so, it is nice to get away from that place. Sometimes that place feels like a cancerous tumour that can't be removed. The work it self isn't so bad and it wouldn't be bad at all if the folks I worked with cared about the place and would actually do their jobs. Another thing is the "Employee of the Month" thing we have, I could care less if I get this, but it's the way they give it out. Other employees are voting on who should get this "honor" so it's more of a popularity contest than a "who does their job" contest. This should be based on how well you do your job, and being in on time. I know I won't get this because I believe you should get your work done first then jerk around and I'm an ass about it. But any way, I have 15 paid days off, but I am split them up. I am taking 5 this month, counting the weekends before and after that makes for 9 days off. I am looking forward to snuggling with my wife for 9 nights, not having to rush to get stuff done at night so I can leave for work on time. Most of all, I am looking forward to spending the entire day with my wife and son. I am also taking 5 days in July and splitting the rest over the rest year and I really need it.
I spent Friday doing a show for a school assembly at Elk Plain Elementary School. They wanted a 20 min show, so I figured an extended street show set would be perfect....until I saw it was the entire school and staff, there was about 450 people there and I was thinking"What did I get myself into?" " How will a street show meant for a few people go over for an entire school?" I'll tell ya.... It went over freaking GREAT!!!!! I said screw it , just do it. I had them hooked from the first sponge ball vanish into the card tricks and KILLED THEM WITH THE CUPS AND BALLS!!!!
Sunday, I took the family to Wild Waves/Enchanted Village for a day of sun and fun and it was a perfect day. I bought season passes for the family back in February for 49.99 each, almost 50% off the regular price. It wasn't too hot or cool, the water was heated to a perfect temperature and the place was dead. There were no lines for anything the entire day!! The only down side was because of some changes in the water park area, the only activities my 3 year old son Andrew could do were Hook's Lagoon and the wave pool, but he still had fun in the water. When he finally went on the dry rides, all he wanted to do was drive the little cars in a circle, he would ride, go around, get back on and do it again. we did this for over an hour. It's O.K. this was meant to be a fun day for him.
It is an exciting week for me, my wives' birthday and oldest sons high school graduation is this week. My wife has hinted that she would like her rotor tiller fixed as a present,so that takes care of that. My sons' graduation present is a different story, I have no idea what to get him. I will figure it out.

I don't want it to get here too fast, but I am excited about this weekend, I will be performing at Meeker Days in Puyallup, WA. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully the tipping will be better this year. Looks like the weather is gonna be nice this year and hopefully there will be lots of people there this year.

Fathers' day is Sunday, my wife, bless her, asked me what I would like to do, well I am performing all day at Meeker Days that day but we could have breakfast at the Original Pancake House. These guys make some killer pancakes!!!

Grrrrr!!!!

Sometimes ya just gotta wonder, " Is there some kind of force that is out to get you?", a favorite place of mine, Tacoma Tactical Air soft, was shut down by the city. Turns out there was some issues with the building, no fire alarm, sprinklers and some other issues. They are moving to a new location in Fife, but it will be a few weeks before anyone can play. They have to rebuild EVERYTHING they have build in the first building at the new location. You would have thought the city of Tacoma would have inspected the building first! Anyway there are trying to raise some money to make the move faster, I think I will go there and pay for some stuff I ordered early and see if that will help them out.
I do have a 4 day work week, Saturday is the D-Day scenario game at Operation Paintball in Graham, so I took Friday off. Although I am not in shape for an all day war, I am looking forward to this. I do have 3 weeks of paid time off coming, but because of the shift I work, I have to split it up so I can do some fun stuff with the family.
I really wish something close to Summer would get here, I have 3 season passes to Wild Waves I can't use until it warms up, I can handle swimming in this weather, my wife and kid can't.
I am feeling burnt out magic wise, I want to learn new stuff and work on the old stuff,but I don't feel like it. I have a DVD from L&L Publishing on the Ambitious Card coming in, I do want to really work on that effect.
I have shows coming up and don't want to mess them up, especially the busking. I will be at Meeker Days again this year, busking, I didn't get the Kids stage this year, again, this year the stage went to Steve, the pretty good. The city of Puyallup says what I do is too small for the kids stage, I don't do big illusions, however, Steve's show is too big for their stage. He does do a great show and I know he can modify the show to fit their stage, but he will have to leave out several big parts of his show. There other down side is he got the worst time slot to get, the dreaded 8pm slot, the festival ends at 9pm on Saturday. I will be there to watch his show and be there for support, sometimes folks don't know when they are supposed to clap ya know.

I Know It's Been a While....

It has been a while since my last post, the last few weeks I haven't felt like doing anything other than sleep. It may be a side effect of the meds, maybe I am in a rut, I have made an appointment with my doctor to see what's going on. Before things were going down hill a bit, the family and I did have some fun, going to the Spring Fair and Demolition derby. I really got to pull my head out of my ass, I have a paintball D-Day scenario game, the Roy rodeo, and I will be busking at Meeker Days. I need to get into my den and PRACTICE!! my routines or I won't make shit there. I also have some stuff I hope to sell there, really easy magic tricks for kids. I have about 150.00 invested in those tricks, I hope to at least double my money.

Now Where and WTF???

Things have been up and down the last few months, I posted some time ago what my daughter did with the cell phone that I was paying for. This was October and she hasn't spoken to me since, I think she is being unreasonable, she ran up the charges, she should have to pay for those charges. That was the second time her phone was shut off and I told her it would not come back on, she did finally pay for the charges. The phone stayed off though. She was also upset that I didn't save for her college. I haven't exactly been a great spot to do that, I made a mistake several years ago that cost me my freedom, and left me with some pretty sizable fines, and being where I was, I couldn't pay child support. The state is like the Mob, they don't care what your situation, it's like they say in one of my favorite movies, "Goodfellas" "Fuck you pay me".
I worked two jobs for almost two years to pay the back child support, fines, and the cost of court supervision. I worked my ass off to dig out of a hole, and after rebuilding a life she sticks her hand out. At this point I'm glad I didn't give money, I found out that she got a nice sum of money from her mom and is just blowing it on every thing but school!! I say if she wants to go to school so bad, join the Service or get a job. I won't coddle her, but now what??

New Medication Working?

I have been on a medication called Abilify for the last few weeks ,my mood seems better, I have motivation to do stuff. I just need the time, there are so many effects I want to learn and practice, I don't know where to start. Working on the Rings, Cups and Balls, Thumb Tips, Ambitious Card and who knows what, I have been working on these things at work when I have a bit of down time.
I just got some cool stuff in the mail today, L&L Publishing had a special, 8 Dai Vernon DVD and his book for 175.00, that's too good a deal to pass up. This company has had some great deals as of late, so I'm building up my DVD collection. I need to take a break and stay off that site for a while.
Went out and played Air soft late Sunday night with my stepson, Jasper's coworkers from Best Buys Geek Squad. Oh boy!! These guys had no clue how to handle a weapon that is not in a video game.... this was a blood bath. I am sure if this was a video game, I would be the one getting my ass kicked, It was still funny though.

Well, I Guess I Can Stop Bitchin..... For Now!!!

Yes, I can stop complaining for now, maybe it's because of the new medication I am on or the pep chat my good friend Tim Flynn gave me. Or the combination of both, he said that instead of complaining on the bad stuff, take a minute and look at the good things in your life. That's what I have been trying to do. My wife, son, more motivation to do magic, play airsoft and paintball. I can't wait to get back out there and show them young whipper snappers what an old army fart can do! While they are running around like a bunch of idiots, I am holding my position waiting for them to enter my crosshairs!!

My new den is as done as it's gonna get. looks fine, I have space to work uninterrupted but still hear whats going on in the house. I have been working on an Ambitious Card routine with cleared plastic cards, the kicker is at that the end of the effect, the spectator is holding a solid block of plastic when they thought they were holding the cards. I have also been working on Simon Aronson's Random Shuffle Shuffle Board. Great effect

Got to see an old friend from my Army days, Bernie and I were in the same squad while I was stationed in Egypt. I found him on Facebook, we shot some messages back and fourth. Then on Saturday while I was at the butcher, I checked my email on my phone and there was a message from Bernie saying he is in town for a 4X4 swap meet at the Puyallup fairgrounds. I met up with my wife, handed her the meat and shot down to the fairgrounds. I sent him an email via facebook and surprised the crap out if him. I guess he wasn't expecting me there so fast... Hell, I haven't seen him in 15 years. My wife and I met up him the next day, it was funny because I have told so many stories of those days overseas and it looked like she didn't really believe some of them. One when I was trained to be a combat life saver, or when some of the squad left our outpost to head to the little town to get some beer for everybody. He confirmed every story!

It was good seeing him..... hopefully it won't be another 15 years........