Thanks everyone!

Thanks to everyone on here for a great week. I had a blast and you made me feel way more important than I really am! Oh, and thanks to some of your very flattering posts, I might just get lucky tonight with the Missus!

The other day, a guy came over to the house to fix our cable connection, and I asked him, "So, where are you from?" He replied, "I'm from Texas where I was a policeman for several years, a part-time firefighter, in the Air Force for six years, and spent two years in Iraq. What do you do?" I said, "Uhh, card tricks." Boy, did I suddenly feel unimportant! LOL!

I'll tell you though, there is something very rewarding about making people, wherever you go, laugh and forget about their problems for a while, especially in today's world! I thought I would reprint something I sent into Magic Magazine several years ago, that sums it up for me. I'd like to thank my good friend/editor Paul Cummins for making it readable. I hope you enjoy it...


Go ahead…make my day!

Hotel in Spain.
Hallway.
10:00 a.m.

I’m walking along with a deck of cards in one hand and a Spanish phrasebook in the other when, turning the corner, I run smack dab into a cleaning cart surrounded by three maids taking a break. Upon impact the cards go flying, but I’m able to hold onto the phrasebook and immediately scramble through it for the apologies section. The maids have a friendly laugh at my discomfort. One of them helpfully picks up the cards and, attempting her best English, asks me, “Chew are matchic?” I inform her that I am, in fact, a magician, and in my best Spanish I ask her to “Please shuffle the jellied school bus.” Despite my misuse of her native tongue she gets the idea and shuffles the deck. Fanning the cards in front of her face I point to my eyes and then to the cards, gesturing for her to think of one. After a few seconds, she nods, and I square up the pack. To make a long story short, I show her the wrong card and place it in her hand -- whereupon it changes to the right one, the one she merely thought of. She immediately throws the card in the air and starts screaming and laughing. To top off this great reaction I’ve gotten, she tells me that she’s actually glad she came to work that day. This was the most fun, she told me, that she’d had in weeks!

I know that these seemingly on-the-spot miracles have produced powerful reactions for all of us a gazillion times before, but this particular instance got me thinking about how lucky I was to have magic in my life; how lucky I was to be able to influence someone’s day in such a powerful way and with so little effort. I walked away from these ladies feeling as though I too had benefited from the experience. How could I have not? Essentially, someone had just told me that spending 5 minutes with me was the most fun they’d had in a month. Of course, if I really believed her, I’d be a very hard person to be around, but I do know that for 5 minutes it was pretty important to her – I’d made a strong and positive impression.

Many magicians take their magic for granted. They just go through the motions. Don’t feel bad, it’s easy to do. I mean, how could you possibly do a trick for the 800th time, but still make it seem fresh and new? I’ll tell you how. Just think back to the first time you were fooled badly with a magic trick. You know the time, when your stomach felt like it had dropped to your ankles. Well, that’s the same feeling most laymen experience almost every time you perform something for them!

I think of magic as a gift. A gift I can give anytime, anywhere, any place, to anyone -- and you can too. So, the next time someone turns to you and says something that means the same as “Chew are matchic?”, drop whatever you’re doing, use that gift you’ve worked so hard to attain, and make their day. Who knows? It might just make yours too.

You're my hero Chad... thanks for the week here on the Café. Hope to see you soon.

S.Segal

Thanks again Chad, everyone had a great time and I look forward to you visiting more often! See you soon...