by Rassilon » Oct 15th, '16, 08:12
Hello, and please pardon this extremely late introduction. My mind hid the fact that I had already registered on this forum for nine years! That must have been some night....
After lurking here, and on other magic forums for quite some time, I came to the decision to start actively participating in one. I've had a passion for magic since I was around 8 years of age, and saw a magician for the first time during a Sunday brunch. Soon the public library and magic sets were good friends, and I focused mostly on sleight of hand and close up magic, with the occasional classroom performance of larger things. In my mid-teens I finally was fortunate enough to go to a real magic shop, and among the many items demonstrated were two effects - Mental Logs, and Larry Becker's Flashback. I almost passed over them at the time, but luckily my father told the man at the counter to add them in (in my naivete I wished my budget to go to thing like sponge balls and trick coins!). While I still focused on close up, little did my father, or myself realize the impact that those tricks would have years later. As I grew older, I still did close up, but little by little drifted more into mentalism as time went by, picking up Annemann here and then Waters (I encountered Corinda MUCH later!) as well as the odd effect or gimmick. As an adult, life happened so magic in general has been an on again off again love affair, never fading completely although at times put on the backburner, but I am now at a point where I am involved quite seriously once more. Mostly mentalism, but as my love for magic overall is strong, I still engage in other areas, reserving straight magic primarily for family, friends, and the occasional child as well as watching mentalism and magic whether televised or live every chance I get.
The existence of communities such as this where people can come together and share thoughts is a great idea. I hope that I shall be able to contribute in a positive manner, and look forward to many a good conversation!
Carter