Two Shows. One Day...

.:Now I Know How It Feels...:.

There was a time when Bing once told me about how it was to have to do multiple shows in a day, and now I know how it feels.

Considering that my oral exams with Dr. Kaelin was going to be a relative success, I was generally in high spirits about doing two shows in a row, since one was hosting and walkaround for a children's party, and so my usual bag of tricks was going to be sufficient, while the other was going to be a sorta stage mentalism show, which meant I was going to be in my element despite it being a stage show.

.:Bowl Me Over:.

It was a really great day in the bowling alleys of Eastwood, as Santino celebrated his 7th birthday. I met a few guests who were also there during Gianella's party, so it felt like a mini-reunion. The parents of the celebrant had me over to host a fun bowling tournament, and to award not only the top three bowlers, but even the two best bowling teams for the day. They pulled out all the stops. They had trophies, medals, and even loaded Power Cards for the winners. The food was courtesy of Magoo's pizza, so you know what to expect, although they had some Lechon on the side.

It was a pretty easy-going time for me, to be honest. Close-up magic was never a problem for me, so performing for kids and adults alike didn't intimidate me one bit, and the kids were charming to work with. They were every bit as nice as the kids during Raphael's party at Hard Rock were a pain in the whatchamacallit. Of course, that simply meant that I wasn't going to have any problems at all, and hosting the party with cooperative albeit enthusiastic kids was going to be loads of fun. I was tempted to bowl, even.

After two hours of bowling, the winners were announced, everyone went home with a loot bag, and I ended up with a disc that I needed for the Ring through Rope routine, courtesy of the celebrant.

Definitely one of the best children's parties I've ever performed for, especially since I did both magic and hosting for them.

.:Reedley's Freak Show!:.

Yes. I cater to skeptics and hecklers, too!

I hustled back to Reedley immediately after the walkaround, and found myself with only a few minutes to prepare before it became my turn to do something freaky for the school's Thanksgiving Day. This was despite a certain issue that happened the day before which we must not speak of.

Anyways, I had a couple of warm-ups by doing Sufoku and "Thinking On Your Feet", then followed it up with O.R.B.S., Plunge Of Death, and then Liquid Metal. By the time I performed Black Ops Hypnosis, everyone was sufficiently freaked out, and if I do say so myself, this was one of my better performances.

I'm a bit miffed with all the attempts to "break the code" of my performance, as it were, though, because it's rather offensive and disrespectful to me. To put it bluntly, I performed for free and for people's entertainment, and for them to adversely affect my performance by attempting to debunk it, well, even if their attempts were easily disproven, I found it a tad annoying.

Despite that, I got quite a lot of good feedback from my performance, and I definitely cemented my reputation as a mentalist that night.

Even then, I couldn't hold a candle to Mr. Vengco, whose mind-splitting performance really brought the house down, as he broke watermelons with his head.

It was an awesome time. Other than the slight annoyance, I had a great day all around.

It's A Heavily Booked Month!

.:Finally, Progress:.

January has been a surprisingly good month for magic and mentalism, as I can count four bookings so far, with the potential for one more in the wings.

It's funny though, because most of my bookings have been for children's parties. That being said, I had no choice but to start learning some standard stage effects that they use for parties, which means I'm trying to bring my children's party magic up to par with my mentalism.

While I doubt that they genuinely are at pace with each other at this point, I can safely say that I've improved my kid's party magic a lot, what with some new effects I've been working on, such as sponge balls, Richard Sander's Fiber Optics, and a few touches from Mel Mellers all the same. This is a great month, and I'm having the time of my life learning new things. It's been keeping me from being stagnant.

.:Magic Club Adviser...:.

In case you didn't know, I was nuts enough to start two clubs in Reedley: a Philosophy club, and a Magic club. Being adviser to those two clubs is just really an amazing experience.

Sure, the Philosophy club is also great, especially since they're watching "Battle Royale" at the moment, but at the heart of it all, it's the Magic club that really challenges me to improve. I'm teaching them magic, and when you get down to it, I can't teach them if I'm not particularly good at it, so I've been working extra hard to make sure that I have enough material to teach them outside of plain old card tricks.

For the third quarter, progress with the club has been slow. I was limited to teaching them card tricks, so I was trying to get them to learn the mechanics of classic card effects, and struggled while they were figuring out how to do the Biddle trick. Do realize most of these kids have never been exposed to magic before I came along, so their knowledge of magic would mostly be limited to 21-card tricks and the like. I had to teach them Oz Pearlman's four effects from "Born To Perform Card Magic": the Biddle Trick, the Ultimate Transpo, the 2-Card Monte, and the Ambitious Card.

All in all, the students are managing, but when I left that behind to move onto sponge balls and ropes and rings, they were really enjoying the club more and more, particularly when I started giving them tips on where to get magic items that would be really useful to them and such.

They were especially amused by "Over The Head" when I performed it, mainly because the volunteer who was the subject of my routine had no clue at all what was going on, and there was much laughter when I made her cellphone disappear right under her nose.

I am really enjoying running the club. My students are all understandably over-enthusiastic, but despite that, it's all good. With kids I have to teach new magic to on a weekly basis, I have to learn new magic regularly myself, and I've been improving on that count very steadily, as I've really learned how to work sponge balls and at least a third of Fiber Optics already.

Yep. This is a really promising time for magic. Here's hoping I can sustain this all through the end of the year.

The Weekend Report...

.:Talecraft!:.

Well, after having given them ample demonstrations, it looks like I'll be doing a little something come the comicon for Talecraft. I've developed a mentalism finale that will suit their cards just fine, so I'm glad I have this opportunity.

Now, all I really need is to develop a proper story that I can use, and I'll be all good to go, for sure.

I can't believe how short my blogging has been lately! Blame work and Monster Hunter Freedom 2 for that, I guess, because that's what's been eating up most of my time lately.

.:Missing My Beloved...:.

I'm a bit sad I haven't been seeing her long enough lately... truth be told, she's had lots of free time, but I'm the one who's almost eternally occupied, sadly...

.:Guys, Guys, Guys...:.

... could you let up on teasing you-know-who? She doesn't appreciate the attention much...

.:Work Is Burying Me!:.

I'm bushed. I really am. Lots of stuff happened, and last I remembered, I was doing, of all things, a substitute class for P.E. for one of my three favorite classes!

I swear, that just really made me freeze for a moment.

I'm no slouch, but I'd be the last guy you'd expect to teach P.E. class, so I was really amused that I ended up doing substitution over the weekend, to say the least.

Now, time to get off the computer for a bit because I *really* should be recording papers already... gah.

Weekend Report...

.:PTC Day?:.

Last Saturday was the first time I took part in a Parents-Teachers Conference, and I must say that it was very interesting to say the least.

To protect the identity of my students, I won't mention any names, but let's just say that the whole gamut of requests was practically run past me, although I am glad that I got along well with most of the parents, and it was definitely a good, engaging time with most of them. Truth be told, I was really just glad to find the opportunity to meet some of the parents, and they have been very encouraging, and the students have been telling them about that other thing I do lately... so yes, there was also a bit of mentalism.

Well, it was a pretty great day, and hopefully, I continue on this fairly good trend of getting along with my students and their parents...

.:Bessie-Moo's Birthday!:.

Well, Estelle actually had her birthday last August 20, but despite that, she had her party last Saturday night, and it happened in RJTV bar. It was a laugh and a half, particularly since there were two magicians and a stand-up comedian in the festivities, and I must say that performing over-the-head with a confederate really slays your spectator.

That being said, I'm glad Estelle had fun at her party. I brought my A-game there, and I'm glad to hear how Jay has been complimenting me on the stuff that I've been up to. I had a similar congratulatory note from sir Bing last time I dropped in on him, so that has definitely made my day...

Apparently, my presentation style is so lively and engaging that my actual skill is of little relevance to the show already, since they're almost more interested in what I have to actually say! =P

.:Sunday Was Loaded...:.

Well, it was loaded in that I ran into some tournament players. I didn't even know there was a tournament yesterday, so I was just glad that I got to hang out with some people.

The After-Partymath

.:So I Have This Friend Named Audrey...:.

Funny thing about one of my co-teachers, Audrey Tong.

Apparently, her middle name is Uy, making her Audrey U. Tong.

That's just wrong. =P

.:Must. Make. Weekly. Plan. First.:.

This is the last non-teaching day I have in Reedley, so now is a good time to make sure I acclimate myself to how a weekly lesson plan ought to look like.

Unlike Philosophy and unlike college teaching, high school teaching has an inherent amount of difficulty to it, marked by its incredibly rigorous way of dealing with students, in contrast to the generally more laissez faire method employed in college teaching.

For the longest time, I always said I will forever hold elementary and high school teachers to a different level of regard from even my favorite college teachers. Yes, my favorite college teachers are all brilliant and shaped me in unbelievable ways, but at the end of the day, what Ms. Rivero did for me in high school will forever be on a level all its own, regardless of how huge an influence the likes of Mr. Bulaong or Mr. Calasanz have managed to exert on me.

And now, I'm heeding one of the most challenging vocations on Earth: teaching high school. I can't even begin to tell you how daunting it is to someone like myself, but it's a challenge I will myself to face.

.:Taste Asia 2: When Sequels Outdo Their Predecessors:.

Picture taken from Aileen Apolo. Marcelle the host, and Sorsi, the head-banging rock star? You be the judge!

Taste Asia 2 was a success, much kudos to SM Hypermarket and Aileen, and I'd like to give a shout-out to my co-host, Sorsi, as we just really enjoyed hosting the event for the 400++ strong crowd composed of bloggers.

It was a fun-filled night, and congratulations to all the winners, of course including the likes of Anton Diaz, and the grand prize winner himself, Anitokid!. With so many raffle prizes to give away that we ran out of calling cards to draw from our fishbowl, practically everyone who came there did not leave empty-handed, or at least did not leave with an empty stomach. As I always do, I did some magic for the people there, although Tiffany promptly made my jaw drop by showing me how to really solve a cube. Turns out Tiffany is a speed-cuber, and she can solve cubes in a minute, flat. My best time, whether blindfolded or otherwise, is a mere two minutes, so much respect to Tiff for that feat.

In any case, it was an awesome night, and funny quips left and right were thrown throughout the event. The food was really great as usual, and the people were a joy to perform for, particularly when I actually did magic for the Taste Asia people already, including even the waiters, along with the management. It was a really good run, as I did a bit of Liquid Metal, some Ultimate Transpo, and of course, the Closeup Illusion. The Wizard Manual also served its purpose, and all in all, I was really on a roll, and hosting the event was quite an experience in itself. It did my heart much good as well when someone from SM Hypermarket told the people watching me perform that I wasn't a magician: I was a mentalist. Finally, the notion *is* catching on!

I hung out for a while even after the party to just talk to friends here and there, and it was all good. Much thanks to Shari for letting me hitch a ride home, and a happy birthday to her dad as well.

Again, a big shout-out to everyone who was there, and it was a really great experience! One can only hope this is just the second of even more events courtesy of SM Hypermarket.

You can be sure I'll be around to support them in any way I can. =P