My magic history
Alright! This was how it all began. I became interested in magic purely by myself. I was not influenced by anyone whatsoever. I was partly inspired by David Blaine of course. Seriously I guess if not for him, there will be no magicians at all. Haha!
My journey began in sec 1. I got to know a classmate of mine called Jarret Chow (same surname as me). I just happened to talk to him about magic and said I am interested in it. Coincidentally, he told me that his brother does magic. I asked him for some help. Then he said his brother is willing to teach me magic. This was how I got to know Jonathan, Jarret's brother. I paid Jonathan $70 to learn everything he was going to teach me. When I first met Jonathan and he showed me some tricks, I was utterly impressed. Those tricks were just simple ones. He only taught me card tricks as he is only specialised in cards, so I only learnt cards. The first sleight of hand I learn was the DL, which is the most basic sleight in card magic. At first, I find it hard to execute it of course, but now I can do it anytime. He taught me a few card tricks including the floating card. During my last lesson, he wanted me to do something which I did not expect. He wanted me to go out and perform to strangers. I was nervous that day. It was the first time which I really tried performing live. We went to different void decks and I decided to perform the tricks to the shop owner of a nearby provision shop. I performed a few tricks to her and it went quite well. She was indeed impressed and glad that I had entertained her. Jonathan did something for her as well. This was a stepping stone for me. It made me gained some experience in magic. Jonathan told me about the magic shop which he goes to, Magic Castle. I went to check it out. This was how I got to know my mentor, Jonathan. This is the first part of my history.
At the end of the year in 2004, I visited Magic Castle and got to know Solomon, the demonstrator. He is very skilled in magic and knows everything. I learnt many tricks from him and he guided me along. I feel that Solomon is the best demonstrator. Soon, I also got to know of another magic shop called Street Magic. It is another outlet which is associated with Castle. I would go there at times during the holidays. At Street Magic, I got to meet another demonstrator called Jason. Jason is very skilled and knowledgeable in magic as well. I like the way he performs and presents his magic. I learnt quite a few stuffs from him. Some time later in 2005, I also met a demonstrator called Nicky. He was working at Magic Exchange. Magic Exchange is a second hand shop located at the same place as Castle. It has been closed down now. Nicky is very skilled in manipulation especially with cards. I learnt some cool tricks from him as well. I enjoyed learning from all three of them. During these few years, I would often drop by at shaw towers. Sometimes I would go there after school. City Hall has become my favourite place to hang out mainly because of Castle. My one year membership expired in January 2006. I re-signed in september 2006. I have been a Castle member for two years up till now. I would like to add that Vijay is the boss of Magic Castle. He gave me some useful advices in magic. The thing I like about Castle is that they guide us in whatever we learn from them. This is the second part of my history.
For the third part, I would be talking about the people whom I had met through this hobby. I guess this would be the most interesting section. They are now good friends of mine. The first person I knew was Alvin. I knew him in school during a funfair back in 2005. Some students employed him to do shows for people. I was ecstatic when I realised there was a magic show going on. That was the first thing which I used my coupons for on that day. When I went in and watched him perform, I was very impressed with the way he did everything. He was the one who fooled me with the ambitious card which ends in the mouth. I was floored as I already knew that trick but I did not know that you can make the card appear in the mouth at the end. I did not manage to talk to him during the first time as I went for something else. I decided to go in for a second time of course. I had to bring another friend and I called Pin Hao. He was pleased to see me for a second time. He did a spoon bend as one of his act. When the show was done, I told him I was a magician as well. He was glad to know that and I found out he was a Street Magic member. He does not go to Castle. I asked him for his contact and I made a new friend. Now he is one of my best friends who had taught me a lot in magic. He is someone who is devoted to magic and really experienced though he had only learnt magic for a short period of time. This is how I got to know Alvin.
Some time in 2005, I happened to know someone called Thaddeus through an online magic forum. This kid is two years younger than me. Although he had done something which infuriated me before, I still find him a nice kid. I still remember I watched a movie with him. It was fun socialising and doing magic together with him. Thad introduced me to his cousin, Benjamin Chia. Ben is someone who I now chat with often on msn. I added him on msn and we discussed about magic. He told me he does not do much of cards and focused mainly on mentalism and cups and balls. At first, we made use of each other only for magic. He will know what I mean. Well but now, we ain't talking to each other about magic man. Our friendship has indeed deepened since the beginning and we share our personal lives to each other. I would like to add that Ben is six years older than me. He is now serving ns and studying at the same time. One thing I really respect about him is that he presses on no matter how tough life is. I think it is great to socialise with people who are much older than me. I am able to learn a lot from them as they are experienced dudes. When I met Ben, I find that he is really cool and honourable man. A humourous person I would say. We may have only met twice, but through the conversations in msn, I have understood him better. I shall reveal a secret here, the idea of my nick half a goose was from him. I learnt many useful and creative things from him as well, such as making girls have the hummmph sound. LOL! This is how I got to know Ben.
Through Ben, I got to know Shufi. Haha! Through Thad I got to know Ben and through Ben I got to know Shufi. Shufi is also a good friend of mine now. My friendship with shufi somewhat works the same way as Ben. When I added him on msn, we only talked about magic. Haha! I can talk to him about anything in the world now. He has not only helped me in magic but in life as well. Shufi is my magic supplier and consultant. I have bought many videos from shufi. He owns tons of pirated videos. LOL! I am grateful to him because he always gives me a huge discount for whatever that I buy from him. I can save a lot getting stuffs from him. Shufi is indeed a kind and generous person. Being able to meet him is one of the most fortunate things in my life. Shufi is passionate about magic and has lots of skills and knowledge. He is not only specialised in magic but many other activities as well. Besides having a life, he is very successful in everything he does too. He was from JC and now studying in NUS and was an officer in the army. With Shufi as my friend, I believe anything can be solved. This is how I got to know Shufi.
Recently this year, I met a dude called Haziq at the magic hall. The magic hall is a new magic shop. I went there a few times this year. I signed up for their membership too. Seriously I like this guy. We happened to be hanging around magic hall and he came to talk to me. We started talking a bit here and there. When he mentioned to me that he does mentalism, I was glad as I have met a mentalist. I am doing mentalism too. I then performed to him one or two tricks and he did some cool stuffs to me too. Since he is interested in the same genre as me, I decided to make him a friend of mine. You may not know how your life will be made better after meeting someone. We exchanged numbers and kept in contact. We met around in January this year. At that time, he was going to move to Australia. He is living in Melbourne now. Still we managed to keep in contact and we became closer. We met up and discussed a lot of magic. I am really impressed with haziq's way of doing everything. He is good at presenting and coming out with excellent ideas. Getting to know Haziq has made me become a better mentalist. He has only did magic for a while and is now learning really fast. He has great passion and devote himself to this art. I can ask him for advice or consult him anytime. Same with my other friends, we do not only talk about magic now. We talk about many different things as well such as hot chicks and fighting haha. He may only be fourteen but he has a crazy life. He fights a lot and beats anybody who offends his friends. Indeed a loyal friend. He knows of people who are capable of anything. He has the network. I can ask him for help if I need to whack anybody. Haha! Though he is younger than me, he is a very matured dude. I can talk to him about life. He takes life easily and knows how to have fun. Those kind who does not like to study. He is indeed an interesting person. I am glad to have known him. Even now he is in Australia, we often chat on msn. This is how I got to know Haziq.
I would like to just include one more person, Jia le. I got to know him through Alvin. He nickname is Junior. I have only met him once and bought some videos from him. He seems like a fun and interesting person too like the rest. I hope to know him better.
With this, I have completed my magic history. Many things has happened along the way, hasn't it? If you look at the beginning, I got to learn magic with the help of a classmate in my school. So if I were not in the school that I am in, I may not get the opportunity to learn magic. This is why I did not regret going to this school. In fact, it changed my life completely. If not for magic, I would not be the person I am today. I believe it is affinity that I got to meet those few friends. I can't say my life is that bad right? Magic has indeed made my life better.
This post is pertaining to fifty percent of my life. I do hope you guys enjoy reading it. I still got a long way ahead of me, so much more to learn. I do not know what lies ahead of me. As for now, I shall just take my time and do my best in everything.