Greetings all~! I just arrived back on the magic scene after a long bout. (uh...that sounds strangely austrailian,hmmm...oh well.) Anyway. I, like many others, got hooked on magic when I purchased my first magic book at a yard sale (a few houses down) for a dime...when I was probably in 2nd grade. I learned the classic "3 rope" trick (different lengths to same, the newspaper rolled up and milk poured in then unravel the newspaper and joila!...no milk and paper is dry! and a few dozen other tricks. BEST Dime I ever spent! My parents bought me one of those magic kits and I continued to excel (cup and balls, etc...)

There were no magic shops my parents knew absolutely nothing about magic, where to buy it or anything. The internet did not exist and I didn't do magic again until I was about 18 and a guy in town showed me a vanishing silk trick. I then found about the magic shop in Kansas City inside U.S. toy.

After I moved closer to the city several years later I joined the I.B.M., Ring 129 and met several magicians and became friends with a great magician and manipulator and who is known for inventing tricks and building illusions....the one and only Dave Emerson! We became friends and I went to his house as often as I could to buy and learn magic. He gave me a magic book that helped me greatly.

My second slight (the thumbtip being the first) was to purchase a Jeff McBride VHS Tape and go right into card manipulation. I wanted to learn some of the most difficult slights in magic first...for whatever reason. I practiced for HOURS at a time and until my muscles hurt and cramped. This was actually a few months before meeting Dave Emerson.

I then married a woman from Canada, adopted her 4 kids and got out of magic because I felt guilty leaving her there with the kids all week and she had no friends here in the U.S. yet and no friends and I was going to the magic club. So I thought I'd quit for awhile until she met someone.

I got busy working and providing for my family and somehow life passed me by. My dream of having my own Branson show in 5-7 years was gone and now here I am 15 years later getting back into good ole MAGIC! It was a mistake to get out. I probably would have made more money than in IT and had a LOT more fun. Oh well...20/20.

I am back and relearning card manipulation (I never forgot how to do a single card <grin>) I lost my job April 1 after moving to NW Arkansas, SO...I went online and started to research and hunt down some good magic. I have purchased somewhere between 600-700 dollars worth in the last 4 weeks and plan on starting to do birthday parties to start out. I used to do some restaurant magic years ago and don't know if I'll get back into that or not. BUT...I look forward to it all. I am 44 yrs. old and live very close to where Dave Emerson retired and I went to his house and purchased a little magic from him as well AND he is building me a little trick I can do at Birthdays.

Nice to be here at Magic Café I have been reading posts for some time but am glad to be here! Sorry for being so "long-winded". LOL

Your friend in Magic,

Mark Evans

Hi Mark,
Let me the first to welcome you back to our beautiful Café. As you have noticed it is one of a kind;unique.Absolutely the best the best place about magic ever.You will find this as a invaluable source that you can not buy even with money. The people are so friendly as well as being helpful.The Café is such a the unique place for Magic. It is ever expanding and has over 54.000 members throughout the world. It will make a great contribution to your magic perspective. Do not forget to post often. You will find many new friends and many new ideas here. I predict you will like the Café.Please grab a chair and begin to type your next post while you have a cup of strong Turkish coffee on my bill.
We are glad that you have joined us.

We probably got our start from the same inexpensive paperback! I had a similar problem keeping things up in a rural area in the south where the nearest magic shop was a couple of towns over. I had discovered the wonderful world of catalog ordering and managed that way.

Welcome back to Magic!

-Tom

Welcome oneway7,

Hmmm, you lost your job and you're spending $600.+ on magic.
Yep, you're thinking like a Magician all right.
Seriously, you and your Wife are on the same page, right?
Because if she doesn't know ...

Don't worry about the time you lost from your Magic.
As John Lennon (and others ) said "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

I look forward to reading your posts.

Good Luck in building your Show.

-Mary Mowder

Welcome!