Hospital Volunteer Interview

[Brett H]

I'm not sure if I mentioned it on this particular forum, but I have two goals in mind when it comes to magic:

1) teach my daughter as long as she remains interested in magic
2) be a volunteer hospital magician

I have been shopping around the city to see which hospitals would accept such a service and only came up with two: a children's hospital and a Veterans Affairs hospital.

In the meantime, I'm trying to save up for some Tenyo (like Parabox. That one is going to kill me) to acquire a 30-45 minute routine for the hospital and a 3-6 trick set for the VA hospital; I won't be able to do this until at least spring of next year. This is mainly to hammer down a routine which has about 5 Tenyo tricks (which is better considering it was 8).

Although going through the hospital processes to become a volunteer,I have found out that there is an interview process. Which now has me a bit worried as I have been focused on the routines the entire time and not something like this.

Performance anxiety.

So. a few questions:

1) Has anyone performed for an interview or volunteered at a hospital?

2) If you could use any Tenyo, what would you use? Right now I'm considering Dynamic Coins and Magic Works: Ghost Deck as the Tenyo based items.

3) When going for something like this, do you go in regular clothes, or do you go in character--if they would dress differently? I can't ask that question without it sounding awkward.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[VictorS]

Hi Brett,

To answer your question :
1. I have never performed magic show at the hospital but in orphan`s house. The orphans were mostly children with range or age 2 until 10 years old.

2. For close up : I will use simple thing because you will have limited space for your pocket and the should quite simple for the people, especially young people or the old one to understand easily. I would take
-Silk from Hanky (not necessary from Tenyo, this gimmick should be available everywhere) you can customize your routine just not to vanish a red hanky, but other thing like paper to bill, vanishing salt, etc, etc
-Magic tube : this should be also knock off available in the market since it is very difficult to find the original one from Tenyo. Transforming object to become water is a very strong effect for people.
-As you said, dynamic coins could be a good option.
-Rope to Silk
-Sponge Ball routine with combination for the climax with sponge rabbit or Growing ball from Goshman/Tenyo Product. Tenyo / Goshman Mr. Rabbit will also another good option.
-Soft coins
-Clean cut
-Parabox. The knock offs version should work. I have my own too, the size is bigger than the Tenyo one, I added sponge balls from Goshman product and also the growing ball for the climax.
-Burglar Ball
-New Koornwinder Car, but you need table to perform.
-Rising Cards
-4 D surprise could be a good option but since there are so many parts to carry, I`m not sure if this will be practicable for you. But this trick deliver a very strong effect.
-Card surgery would fit for topic hospital, but since the preparation is little bit complicated, we should need to find the way to make it more practical.

For stage / parlor, I will choose :
-In the news
-Crystal Tube combine with silk Serenade
-Chinese Stick
-What`s Next
-Salt cups, if you are comfortable to perform it.
-Balloon Illusion

3. If you can get unique costume which fit to your character, it would be a great addition. If not at least you must look like a magician. If you can involve kids and dress them with funny costume, that would become also another great moment for them. Don`t forget to bring camera & take pics...slowly if they like you, you will become their fans

There are so many other props/ things outside Tenyo stuffs which could be very useful and practical to perform. Kids like to be involved in magic. They love dove pan. Well, pets or animal is prohibited in hospital but you can replace them with the production of spring flowers, cookies or candies. I took also the appearing giant magic wand into the routine and people love it. The dream bag http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Magic-Produ ... B007MVTAV0 is also a fun prop to perform. Kids love it so much too.

Another project that could support you is the Magic Project from David Copperfield. Please refer to this website : http://projectmagic.org/ The book could help. I didn`t own the book but my friend did. There are so many simple magic that can involve patients like jumping rubber bands, magic tying knot, etc. this project is dedicated more for disability but I think should be suitable for a normal patient at hospital.

Well...hope this give you some ideas Brett

Cheers,
Victor

By the way, I `m also starting my succession plan with my old kid`s magic props. I put everything in a box and I plan to make my own magic set for my son. Well hopefully this will become a nice birthday present for him in the future. Still lot things to do

[kellebotond]

I have performed a lot in children's hospitals. You do not have to worry about these interviews, I think they are mostly for making sure you are skilled enough to perform and have good intentions.

I mostly did shows inside patient rooms while they were in their hospital beds. But sometimes I was ased to do a show in the lobby for a lot of kids.

Be prepared, that there are kids who have burn injuriesn or very weak immune system and you are only allowed to go into their rooms in mask, gloves and hospital clothes and you cannot hand them props (because even a simple flu can be fatal to them).

[SimonC]

Hi Brett.
My advise would be at the interview, wear something smart as with any interview but perhaps a waistcoat to give you more magician like look (you'll also be able to keep/dump things into the two front pockets.

As fa as tricks go, dynamic coins for sure is great, do you know the kicker with the pennies?
Clean cut is a good one for kids.
Basically whichever ones are YOUR favourite to perform, that will help with your confidence, if you're excited about performing it the viewer will feed off of that, just enjoy yourself.
The best thing for performance anxiety is just to practice till you can do it in your sleep.
I used to be a busker on the London Underground and also have done many gigs with my band and on my own, I get nervous every time but I always tell myself the same thing, that knot in your gut is A feeling, you could choose to call it nerves or you could just give it another name, I call it excitement. I enjoy the fact that 99% of the time I don't have that feeling, it makes me feel alive and reminds me I'm doing something I really love. Plus I only ever get that feeling up the point of a performance, the second I start it goes. If you're nervous your audience will be nervous for you too. Bit of ramble but in short, practice, chill out and enjoy yourself mate

[kellebotond]

It is also a bit tough to do magic for kids at the neurology department and there are also kids who have serious hand or eye injuries. It is allways a good idea to ask the nurses where you should go to perform and what you have to be careful about the first few times.

So you have to be prepared to do tricks with them interacting and holding the props and also with tricks that you are able to do alone. The thing that I think everyone loves is ballon animals.

Performing for kids at hospitals is a very nice feeling, but it is many times very hard emotionally to see kids without hands, with burn injuries all over their body or with serious neurological disabilities. They say that you should not think about how tough that situation could be for them, but I was never be able to do that. Anyway you are there to cheer them up as much as you can.


I was also involved (among with other performers) in a clininical study where they acrually prooved that there were improvement in the bloodwork and certain hormone levels of the kids who saw performers during their stay in the hospital (there was a controll group for whom we were not allowed to perform during this study).

[kellebotond]

Here is a video of my 30th performance in a childrens hospital from few years ago (just to get an impresson how this whole thing looks like):



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW8a-pktK8Y

[JohnM]

Amazing video Botond. Thank you for sharing.

After seeing that and reading your posts, we can see there is a lot more involved than one would think, especially emotionally.

Brett, you might be getting ahead of yourself. Maybe you should work on your skills first at home with family and friends before taking on such a huge challenge.

Anyway, my #1 go to trick is sponge bunnies. You can do it over and over again, every kid will want you to do it in their hands "me next, me next." You can get the Tenyo Mr. Rabbit or another really nice set is Gosh 3D Rabbits.

Another great trick is Professors Nightmare that you can make yourself using really colorful rope. The routine is not that easy for me so I just do it in reverse which is really easy. Show three ropes of the same size, roll them in your hand and then pull them out and hand one to each of three kids. If you can get a short, medium and tall kid lined up then you can hand the long rope to the short kid and the short rope to the tall kid for a funny ending.

I think the Tenyo items would work better for the Veterans.

[SimonC]

I couldn't get your video to open botond but it looks like you've done a lot of good work for kids, it's great that you can use your skills in that way

Anyway, my #1 go to trick is sponge bunnies. You can do it over and over again, every kid will want you to do it in their hands "me next, me next." You can get the Tenyo Mr. Rabbit or another really nice set is Gosh 3D Rabbits.

There's a great sponge routine called 'pips a poppin' where you have a sponge version of each of the four pips and you 'pull' them from the aces, leaving them blank, it's a great twist
http://youtu.be/_RLrIL9EaCc

[JohnM]

I just added many loose Tenyo for $15 and $20 dollars in the Buy/Sell Section of the website. Most of the items are brand new or like new. Some really cool stuff.

Brett, since you are just getting started, and have such a noble idea in mind and you are a veteran I would like to offer you 25% off your order. If you are not interested, no worries, I just wanted to make a special offer because I know you want to get started with some Tenyo.

For a Children's Presentation I recommend these from what I have on hand:
- Ballerina Hank (very visual, fun to do, great opener)
- Magic Pop-Up (very colorful and visual, the balls are real super balls, or you can provide a trinket in the provided container, so cool, Tenyo rocks)
- Mr. Rabbit (this or some sponge routine should be in your repertoire)
- Balloon Illusion (great trick although I have not got it right the last couple of times)
- Crash Dice (you can have them do this)

These I have and are good for Adult/Veteran Presentation (solid tricks using familiar items)
- Flash Dice (nice multi-phase routine)
- 4D Trunk (really good trick, get the one with the real golf ball)
- Shrinking Pen (great trick that happens in their hand)
- 4D Surprise (fantastic trick)
- Ultimate Shocking Pen (Tenyo's version locks)
- News Worthy Tear (classic)

Other Tenyo that I do not have that would be good:
- Crystal Tube
- Dynamic Coins
- Prison Box
- Clean Cut
- What's Next

[JohnM]

Of course everyone is invited to shop. Members of this forum will get a 10% discount. Orders over $100 ship for free in US and half priced shipping for overseas orders over $100.

[kellebotond]

I think it might be possible to ask at the hospital that the fist few times you can perform only for children with not so serious condition. Of course it is difficult many times but well worth it. What I suggest is the following:

I did my shows as a performer of a Foundation (Smiling Hospital Foundation). The foundation had a strict policy that a performer should never go alone but always in pairs. Sometimes two magicians together but sometimes a storyteller and a puppeteer and so on. I have done shows with other magicians but most of the time with my wife who is a very good balloon modeler. Going in pairs has a main reason except for sharing the workload: you can and should talk to each other after the performance of what happened. It is very important psichologically process the experiences you just had thru talking about them. I think that is very important and was very helpful for me and other performers as well.

Probably the same thing would apply to the veteran's hospital. (I have never performed in any hospitals other than children's hospitals). But for me somehow it is much harder to watch a kid with a serious illness or injury than an adult. I still remember for example I approached a bed of a 12 year old boy and asked him to pick a card. He did not say a word but removed his hands beneath the blanket. His arm ended at his wrist: he had no hands. Turned out he had an accident. This was almost 10 years ago but I still remember that look on his face. These are the kind of situations where I was not be able to treat this as professionals deal with this kind of things: not thinking about that he is just a kid and how his life is ruined because of that. But of course I stayed professional and said: "I'm sorry. Please say stop anytime you like..." and followed with the trick like nothing happened. And because magic is such a powerful tool I hope I could distract him for a few minutes from his condition. But seeing all those kids with all kinds of terrible conditions is just a part of all the patients. Most patients are just in the hospital for few days and most of them just treat it like a fun experience. Even most kids with leukemia and cancer are surprisingly happy and cheerful but at the same time much more mature in thinking than you might think (they treat there condition as a part of their lifes and as the doctors told to me most of them heal completely because the younger the body is the more it can regenarate from treatments and surgeries for this conditions.) So I think if you can prescind from the fact that they are ill and even in your mind you think about them as individuals and imagine them not as patients but kids who have the same feelings than any healthy kid. So I do not want to discourage you in any way from doing this. On the contrary: I think you should do this wether you have much or not much performing experience. I did not have too many shows under my belt when I started doing it and it has been a great thing to me to improove my performance skills. Because if I am able to cheer up very sick children than doing the same thing to healthy kids at a birthsday party is a piece of cake.

Performing for those kids in hospitals were probably the best experience for me so far. I have many stories, and I would like to share with you the best one:
In 2007 I we were working at the neurology department of one of the children's hospitals in Budapest. There has been an 8 year old boy who was always very distracted when I performed for him, he did not seem to want to interact with me in any way. He was always looking somewhere else. I do not remember what was his exact conditon, but I remember one time I was performing a routine for him where I had a squeeker and every time I touched the magic wand it squeeked. After a few squeeking sounds he started to pay attention. Because of it seemed to grab his attention: I did this for far longer than I usually do, and than I did put away the wand. He stared for a few seconds and than said: "Once more!". So I did it, and I even got him to touch the wand and I also did the sound when he touched it. This whole thing went on for about 5 minutes. He did not want to end it. And during that all the Doctors and nurses from the department gathered in the door watching what happened. After that my wife made a ballon animal for him. When we left the room everyone was watching us like we did a miracle. I did not understand their excitement because I think this is a funny routine to do, but far more not the best trick I do and we did the same trick and ballons at the other rooms befor as well. And than one of the nurses explained to me that this boy has been in this hospital for more than a year now and during that time he never did anything they asked from him and never said a single word to anyone except a few words to his parents. Knowing that and watching that boy react was one of the best experiences of my life.

So if you would like to do this go for it. I hope you will have similarly exciting experiences than I did. And if you have any questions I'm happy to help.

[kellebotond]

And finally answering your initial questions:

I agree with what the others suggested to you:

1. You do not have to worry about the inteview. Just be yourself, it is more-or less a formal thing.

2. Regarding the tricks: You should use routines which you have already performed for a while. There will be many other things you have to pay attention to. A lot depends on weather you are asked to perform at a lobby for a lot of kids at the same time or at patent rooms separately. But I suggest you not to bring any new material at the first few occations. Tenyo tricks I have used in this situations (many cases not the Tenyo versions but knock-offs because I did not have too many Tenyos back than I was starting out with this): Silk From Hanky, cubio, A color changin records variation (a bit like silk serenade), chinise sticks, what's next, linking rings, soft coins, card toon (like animation card), ultimate shocking pen, sponge ball routine. For close-up it is very practical to have routines that reset during the performance and can be watched from all angles and without a table.

3. Regarding clothing: I always used clothing like the one you can see at the video: a colorful shirt, and elegant trousers and shoes. I never carried a suit or a tie because it is quite warm at the hospitals I visited and I also did not want to look very formal. But I think that is totally up to you and your style. Just dress the way you are comfortable with.

[SimonC]

Could've done with your help this evening botond, after all this talk of hospitals I ended up in one for a few hours! Cut my finger open on a glass coffee maker and had to go to a&e. It's ok and I didn't hit any nerves/tendons tho I did get a brief look at what I think was a bone :S I'm just not supposed to move it for a few days.
So tonight's topic is... What's the best tenyo to perform with one hand?

[kellebotond]

Simon, I hope you will be able to use your hands soon.
As one handed tricks, the fisrt one that comes to my mind is Flash dice!

[Brett H]

Brett, you might be getting ahead of yourself. Maybe you should work on your skills first at home with family and friends before taking on such a huge challenge.

Well, I am diving into this a bit headstrong, I'll admit. My goal is never to perform for profit; volunteer hospital magician is it.

I completely agree with practicing for friends and family. I want to have as polished a routine or routines as I possibly can. Between acquiring the tricks and practice in general, I'm predicting at least the beginning of next spring as the soonest I'd be doing this.

Anyway, my #1 go to trick is sponge bunnies. You can do it over and over again, every kid will want you to do it in their hands "me next, me next." You can get the Tenyo Mr. Rabbit or another really nice set is Gosh 3D Rabbits.

Is there a risk of spreading things around by the kids handling sponge balls/bunnies (unless they keep them of course)?
The corrdinator I spoke with today mentioned no facepaint, no latex, no balloons. She didn't mention sponge balls, but I've read a few things and I'm not sure if they should or would be a concern.

Another great trick is Professors Nightmare that you can make yourself using really colorful rope. The routine is not that easy for me so I just do it in reverse which is really easy. Show three ropes of the same size, roll them in your hand and then pull them out and hand one to each of three kids. If you can get a short, medium and tall kid lined up then you can hand the long rope to the short kid and the short rope to the tall kid for a funny ending.

I think the Tenyo items would work better for the Veterans.

I actually had Professors Nightmare in my lineup for a while until I changed the theme of the routine. It's a great versatile trick and I should rethink how to fit it in somehow.

I talked to the coordinator today and it looks like I can do both one-on-one AND do a routine in the play area. The area itself will have anywhere from 2-12 kids. So I figure close-up magic would be able to apply here.

So far, as far as a 30-40 minute goes, I have it centered around grocery shopping (I figure it's something that 99% of kids have done/been a part of and can connect to). Without getting into specifics (unless someone asks, which I have absolutely no problem posting as this'll be all done for free anyway) as I'm still working some of the tricks around. This is the most current version with Three-Fly and a Chop Cup routine lining as the only non Tenyo as of right now. I'm sure parts of it will change:

E1: Confined Cubes
E2: Zig Zag Cig
E3: Soft Coins
E4: Three-Fly
E6: Parabox
E7: Burglar Ball
E8: Chop Cup routine
E9: Dice magic (I'd give the kids a die and teach them how to predict the bottom number of a die no matter what number it is on top)

As far as strolling goes, I figure a 6 trick set because the age of the kids could range from 2-17. So I need to pack for two different audiences.

STROLLING—Children’s Hospital
E1: Clean Cut (younger kids)
E2: Mickey Miracle Ring (younger kids)
E3: Ghost Deck (I can gear this towards the older kids)
E4: Parabox (I this this'll work for both younger and older)
E5: Dynamic Coins (geared towards older kids, but kids REALLY like coin tricks from what I have witnessed.)
E6: Some sort of giveaway. Magic wand or the dice trick from 'E9'. Age dependent and up to the parents if they are in the room--and if I get the OK from the coordinator to do giveaways.

Could've done with your help this evening botond, after all this talk of hospitals I ended up in one for a few hours! Cut my finger open on a glass coffee maker and had to go to a&e. It's ok and I didn't hit any nerves/tendons tho I did get a brief look at what I think was a bone :S I'm just not supposed to move it for a few days.
So tonight's topic is... What's the best tenyo to perform with one hand?

The MAYBEs on my list are:
Flash Dice and Dynamic Coins

I'm PRETTY SURE you could do:
Vault Vision
probably all of Phantoma
Crystal Cleaver (Use your elbow to hold down the box)

I'd like to see if you get that Dragon's Altar of yours to work one-handed.

I think it might be possible to ask at the hospital that the fist few times you can perform only for children with not so serious condition. Of course it is difficult many times but well worth it.

I never though about asking that. But it makes a lot of sense doing so starting off at a hospital. I will make sure to do that.

I did my shows as a performer of a Foundation (Smiling Hospital Foundation). The foundation had a strict policy that a performer should never go alone but always in pairs. Sometimes two magicians together but sometimes a storyteller and a puppeteer and so on. I have done shows with other magicians but most of the time with my wife who is a very good balloon modeler. Going in pairs has a main reason except for sharing the workload: you can and should talk to each other after the performance of what happened. It is very important psichologically process the experiences you just had thru talking about them. I think that is very important and was very helpful for me and other performers as well.

That's an awesome system and I wish they had a sort of buddy system like that in my area. They have a few dedicated organizations like that around the States.
The ironic thing is that, despite living in Las Vegas: a magic mecca; there is very little available in terms of magician groups or volunteer opportunities for magicians. I have only found 3 hospitals that would even consider a performing magician, a seedy bar, and a magic shop at the other end of town--borderline city limits.
Not to lament about my location, but I'm read what you wrote about Smiling Hospital Foundations policy and the reason as to why and I'm shouting at my computer of how awesome it is to have that sort of system.

But man, thank you for sharing all of your experience and stories with working with children in the hospital. Just watching your video and hearing about your 2007 experience is inspiring.

[kellebotond]

Brett,

I think the reason they do not like you to do balloons is that there are some kids who are allergic to latex. Of course you have to respect that. (As far as I know this is very rare so far I have never met someone with latex allergy. But I think if someone is allergic to something he or she knows about that and simply refuse balloons offered for them.) Or maybe they simply do not like to have balloon animals all over the rooms.

Regarding infections spread around with props: there are only certain areas of the hospital you have to be careful about that (at kids with contaigus diseases and kids with weak immune system): you are eather not allowed to go to these places at all or you have to wear protective mask and clothing. I usually do not hand silks and sponge balls to them at these places only items like metal rings or cards. At all the other departments my experience is that they are not worried at all about you handing things to the kids.

I like the sets of tricks you mentioed. Cant't wait to hear about your experiences!

[VictorS]

Botond,

Slowly you can write a book / booklet about this in order to help other hospital magicians like you or Brett. It should be very helpful and there are so many things that maybe people missed to consider in their act in the hospital.

[Brett H]

Brett,

I think the reason they do not like you to do balloons is that there are some kids who are allergic to latex. Of course you have to respect that. (As far as I know this is very rare so far I have never met someone with latex allergy. But I think if someone is allergic to something he or she knows about that and simply refuse balloons offered for them.) Or maybe they simply do not like to have balloon animals all over the rooms.

Regarding infections spread around with props: there are only certain areas of the hospital you have to be careful about that (at kids with contaigus diseases and kids with weak immune system): you are eather not allowed to go to these places at all or you have to wear protective mask and clothing. I usually do not hand silks and sponge balls to them at these places only items like metal rings or cards. At all the other departments my experience is that they are not worried at all about you handing things to the kids.

I like the sets of tricks you mentioed. Cant't wait to hear about your experiences!

I too have heard that a magician finding a latex allergy is like finding a needle in a haystack--but you don't want to be 'THAT magician that found the latex allergy needle'

My wife and twins all have pretty bad latex allergy. Luckily it's an easy allergy to avoid in terms of supplying the house with non latex products. I've already found a store down the street that sells nitrile rubber bands so I can do Burglar Ball and can hand the band out for others to inspect. They re also SUPER orange.

When I get BB, that is.

Thank you for the heads up on the contamination and sponge products.

Going from Johns advice. I will be learning some sponge bunnies

[JohnM]

Of course everyone is invited to shop. Members of this forum will get a 10% discount. Orders over $100 ship for free in US and half priced shipping for overseas orders over $100.

I had gotten some orders from members before I announced the sale so those orders will get the discounts as well.

That goes for orders from:
BillD
MikeH
Merlin'sMagicShopMike
Rob

Also the items in the Items I Make and Sell and Other Magic for Sale sections are 10% off too and go toward the shipping discounts on orders over $100.

Sale ends at midnight (EST) on August 31st 2014.

[SimonC]

This is a great offer, the prices are cheaper than any I've seen on eBay for the same effects and they have the mazza seal of quality, not a scrap of fire damage in sight
I saw johns add ones on eBay before I'd even heard of FSO, a bit like seeing Roberto's videos too.its a small tenyo world.
I'm waiting to find a copy of black hole on eBay, There's a great range of add ons for that, I know which one I'll be going for... Houdini!
And any new members who don't have think a drink yet, get it in your pocket and never leave home without it

[JohnM]

Thank you so much Simon for the kind words.

Yes, there are never any surprises when you buy from me. I check everything out thoroughly and disclose all the information that I know about the items.

I have another special offer for Members Only. Go to Buy/Sell/Trade in the Members Only section to see it.

[John B.]

Thank you so much Simon for the kind words.

Yes, there are never any surprises when you buy from me. I check everything out thoroughly and disclose all the information that I know about the items.

I have another special offer for Members Only. Go to Buy/Sell/Trade in the Members Only section to see it.

Agreed 100%- this is one seller you can trust!

[John B.]

Performing for those kids in hospitals were probably the best experience for me so far. I have many stories, and I would like to share with you the best one:

Thank you for sharing this story! Wonderful!

[Brett H]

Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement, personal experience, and help with all of this. Especially in finding similar versions to some of the (much much more expensive) Tenyo out there.

I have the routine scripted (rough draft, of course). Added some sponge bunnies and some more crowd involvement.

The revised list of the routine looks like:

E1: Confined Cubes
E2: Zig Zag Cig
E3: Mr. Rabbit
E4: Ghost Pet
E5: Parabox
E6: Burglar Ball
E7: Chop Cup routine (relooked at my laptop/magic case and the top is flat, so I'm looking up single cup chop cup routines)
E8: Crash Dice (which transitions beautifully into the next trick, which is a give-away of dice for everyone)
E9: Dice magic


STROLLING—Children’s Hospital
E1: Clean Cut
E2: Mickey Miracle Ring
E3: Ghost Deck/Bird Watcher Too
E4: Dynamic Coins (question on this. Is the quality of the Tenyo Dynamic Coins and the Tokyo Disneyland Dynamic Coins different?)
E5: Tower of Dice into Flash Dice

I tried my hand at performing Ghost Deck on the missus.
The patter I used was along the lines of me being a beginner magician and the 8 cards of Ghost Deck forms an algorithm that ALL magicians need to memorize in order to predict any card a spectator picks out.
Long story short, I had to perform the trick twice as she was messing with me on the first go. The second time, I (embarrassingly) flashed the gimmick and we figured a way to perform it to where THAT won't happen again.
Despite that she DOES NOT like magic (she's extremely analytical and tries to mentally take the tricks apart in her head), she helped me a lot in finding a way to not flash the gimmick, worked on the patter and condensed it down.
Anything to get rid of the 'car salesman' delivery I had for her. Practice, practice, practice.

[JohnM]

Of course everyone is invited to shop. Members of this forum will get a 10% discount. Orders over $100 ship for free in US and half priced shipping for overseas orders over $100.

My end of Summer sale is still going on. You have until the end of Sunday Aug. 31st to get a 10% discount on items on the website and free/discounted shipping on orders over $100 (see above).

I added a few more items as well.
http://funstuffonly.com/tenyo/buysell/tenyo-for-sale/

Think A Drink as well as Add-Ons are on sale as well.
http://funstuffonly.com/tenyo/buysell/add-ons-for-sale/