SO... Just a quick re-reintroduction/"hello". I fell in love with magic when I was a kid. I was one of the kids constantly bullied and harassed (we were poor, I was big, shy, you name it. Basically, I was a walking bully target ripe for the picking, pun fully intended). Magic was a great escape. I have great memories of going to the local shop (man I miss those days) and watching the guy behind the counter demo stuff. My parents always let me pick one thing (very low budget, of course), and it was like Christmas every time we went. I think the first thing I saw (and purchased) was the old mind reading color cube. I performed that for anyone that would put up with me for a couple of minutes. Anyways.. fast forward to my 20s, I decided to get back into magic. I had met a local magician while on a cruise, and seeing him perform really re-ignited my passion for the art. I got a bit carried away, and I amassed quite the stockpile of stuff. No doubt I had a lifetime supply (and then some) of material. (Strong Magic, and the AOA series of books alone was just staggering in how much theory and material I had to work with). Well, life happened, we moved a couple of times, and my magic box o' stuff went into storage. Fast forward again to a couple weeks ago (i am now 47), and the itch came back, and this time I aim to not stop scratching it. I decided this week to go dig out my old trunk of magic out of storage, so I am super excited to get back into it, and STAY in this time. I actually signed up for Steven Faulkner's online course. It's been great at getting me re-acquainted with the basics, as well as keeping me inspired (and accountable) as I work towards starting to perform again. (I am a musician by trade, so I am on the road with a reasonably captive audience on a regular basis. This will be a great test bed for me to start performing again and getting comfortable). Anyhow ; just wnated to say "hi" and.. it's good to be BACK! See ya'll around the Cafe!