Hey Everybody,

I just wanted to write up a post to say how thrilled I am with magic. A lot of the posts on this particular forum (New to magic) are really sad and depressed because let's face it...magic is HARD. That being said, I wanted to share my own story with some of you new, new, newbies.

I restarted magic (after having done it as a kid) a little over a month ago and quickly found this forum and the other general magic resources that most of you have probably already found. I really couldn't do anything but wave around some gaffed decks really badly and a couple of really unimpressive self-workers with a regular deck.

Since then, I have learned many flourishes (fans, spreads, cuts, shuffles), some basic card control, and a lot of self-workers that are more impressive than most. With only a month or so of practice I am able to do the following without missing a beat:

-Twins (not Gemini Twins, basically "twinning" the two red or black cards of a suit)
-A basic 3 card prediction (though it is no less convincing with good presentation)
-Dai Vernon's Emotional Reaction (from Inner Secrets of Card Magic, but my own twist)
-Fearson's Aces (a do as I do trick)
-Skinner's Three Card Monte
-B'wave
-Standard Invisible Deck

This doesn't sound like much, but if I were to do all of these in one sitting (which has never happened), it would be an almost 15 minute show. If I happen to have a few things with me like a joke wand and a card changing box, it can be even longer. All of the listed things are inexpensive, if not done with a regular deck.

Also, I'm constantly working on a lot of different things that I will gradually add in. This includes double lifts, controlling cards to the top and bottom, false shuffles, color changes, and even some coin magic (Gadabout coins it my current project). Crash Course in Magic (Ellusionist) is one of my current projects.

This is after only a month of practicing. Before I had as many tricks as I have, it was hard to perform for friends because once they had seen a trick or two, I was all done. Now I can do some great, but easy, stuff and people are genuinely amazed. For all those of you who are discouraged at first, give yourself about a month and a half and see if you don't have a few really good tricks to tide yourself over with.

I think the choice of your tricks are very good, if you add in OOTW, I bet you feel fool the heck out of the people you perform.Have fun performing when you have the chance!

Oh I totally forgot that one. I'm actually working on OOTW in a way that uses a stripper deck for set-up. That way I can do all my wonderful self-workers and close with OOTW after a quick shuffle.

Thanks for the praise!