I have booked my first party. A buddy of mine is having a halloween party, and I’ve been asked to provide the entertainment. He’s an incredible artist, so we’re bartering my performance for his creating a poster for me. It’s going to be a low key thing, with a mix of strolling and parlor magic. It’ll be a great opportunity to get my business cards out there and also get back into the swing of perfoming. I’ve got an idea of what I’m going to be doing (kinda) which is a first for me.

The other day, I met with him while he was on break from work and prepared Devin Knight’s glass box prediction. It’s my first time audience testing it, and I hope it goes well. I’m very excited to finally try it, and will definitely report back.

Also, I’ve decided to build my own website. After having a friend say he’d help me and then let me down a couple times, I went to Half-Price Books and bought a few “Web Design for Beginners” manuals. I’m not gonna lie, it’s quite intimidating. I know absolutely nothing about how things work behind the scenes, but I figure it’s time I learn. Since I’m using the Internet for just about everything I do, I should probably learn something about how to make it do things I want to do.

It’s probably going to take me a long time of trial and error before I get anything decent up. I kinda liken it to someone saying, “I need a new place to live, so I’m going to the library and check out ‘House Building For Dummies’!” It’s probably not going to end well. And chances are I’m going to be emailing some of you for help with really stupid things.

Anyway, I’m going to go write my first bit of website now. Wish me luck!

Andster

Just a quick post while messing around on my ps3 just to say I did.

I’m taking advantage of a rare moment of peace and wireless internet to catch up with some stuff online. I went through a pretty good posting period a while back, then seemed to drop off the face of the earth again. That’s how it seems to go, isn’t it?

I started a new job about a week ago. I was unemployed for about 14 glorious hours, and boy was it relaxing. I’ve left the “wonderful” world of the convenience store and have moved onto greener pastures at a dollar store. I traded my title of ‘Assistant Manager’ in for ‘Lead Cashier’ and took a quarter-an-hour pay cut, but it’s worth it. I couldn’t take that place anymore.

It’s been really good and refreshing so far, although I have had a couple lousy days and I’m not so thrilled with the schedule. Although I must admit it’s nice working for a store that actually closes. I’ve been with 24-hour joints since I was like 17 or 18. It’s good to know that no matter what, I’m going to be walking out that door at 9:30 at night.

On the other hand, I’ve come to a standstill on my magic. Again. And I’m sick of it. I want nothing more than to be a full time working pro, but I can’t seem to balance everything in my life to get that to happen. I feel like what I need to do is to have no day job, no lifeline, so I can focus all my energies on magic. But I can’t take that step.

I feel that if I didn’t have to work, I could spend 8 hours a day practicing, routining, cold-calling, booking, performing, and actually get somewhere with this. I’d also have the incentive to get going because I don’t have a paycheck coming in. It’s either find work or don’t get paid. But in the real world, I have bills to pay, a gas tank to fill, food to buy. I need that steady check for the times when the gigs peter out. And then I think about how my job applications are going to look if I need to go back into the workforce after giving this a shot. Would anybody take me seriously when I explain away my yearlong gap in my work history as the time I took off to go try to be a magician?

I don’t know how or even if I’m going to be able to make this work. I’m still going to try, but it’s depresing as all hell. I’ll keep you all posted. Wish me luck.

Andster