Worlds Colliding?

I have recently discovered some long lost friends on Facebook, and because of my friendships in the past, I have decided to post a little tidbit of my past here on my blog. So why is this post called "Worlds Colliding?" Well, whenever your 16 year old life comes back into contact with your 27 year old life, the people who knew you then are bound not to know you as well now. And your friends now are bound to say "you did what when you were in high school?" So here it goes.

This is me. Well this is me, my mom and my dad. I was about 8 years old in this photo and it was right around the time that I found one of my greatest pleasures of my childhood... Magic. No not like the card game, like hocus pocus and abracadabra. The short version of the story is this. I started doing magic with my dad when I was really young. About 7. We had our own magic business called Mystical Magic and I was my dads assistant. However, that didn't last long. Year after year I'd get more involved in the show, and before you knew it, I was doing over half the show. By age 14 I started my own magic business and doing shows for kids birthday parties and at small amusement parks. That's also the year I started going to magic camp. Yes magic camp. Stop laughing now. It's this week long camp that was at the time held on Long Island, NY. You learn magic, perform magic, compete in magic competitions, etc. This camp really taught me how to perform more gracefully and just overall be more professional. I learned how to present myself and create a show that was more tailored to adult audience. No, not that kinda show. Just more evening style more what you would see in a theater downtown.

During the 4 years I went to magic camp, I developed several different shows, but the one that stuck most was the one from which this picture comes. I was 16 in it. Again, stop laughing. While I now look back and see how slightly embarrassing this photo is, the memories behind it make me smile. The magic act that went with this photo was a 7 minute elegant stage magic act. There were no rabbits, kids, doves, etc. It was just pure classical magic, with lots of silks and roses mixed in. Oh yea, and my grandmother hand made the outfit for me. While some of you may be thinking how dorky it is to be in high school and into magic, consider this. My "high school job" was doing magic. This job paid $100/hour for kids parties and $250/7 minutes for my evening stage show. When I was a senior in high school I had the opportunity to be in a larger magic show (I was the second act in the second half) and we did 8 shows in 7 cities over a 6 week time. It was awesome. I was also fortunate to have performed in New Orleans, Vegas, and other awesome places across the country.

... And then came college. While a lot of my friends and fellow magicians encouraged me to take up magic as a full time profession, I knew that I wanted a more stable job. So I went to college. While I tried to keep up the magic stuff during my freshman year of school, it soon became too difficult. Doing and engineering degree is hard enough without having to drive 3 hours back to my parents house each weekend I had a show to perform. And while I still try to do close-up magic (non-stage stuff) every once in a while, it has surely been a long time since I last set foot on a stage as a magician. I miss it sometimes, but I also know that I have moved onto other exciting and adventurous times in my life. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get back into it.