Something strange

So I arrived at the Pier today and immediately noticed that something was a bit off. I didnt recognize any of the cars, and there were no other buskers there. Now when I say this, I don't mean that there were three of us, I mean I was the *only* one there. The office where the admin people are was also empty.

There were no buskers. There was no list. It was like suddenly everyone had just walked away. It was very strange.

So I decided that I'd wait 'till 11 to see what was going on. But 11am rolls around and no one comes out of the admin building. 11:15, no one.

3rd Street Promenade also seemed rather barren.

So I have no idea what's happening. I do know that parkour is tonight, and I'm looking forward to that. 2 weeks off means that tonight may indeed suck.

Like a brick to the face

You know what I really hate? More than politics or a mouthful of spoiled milk? It's when the solution is right in your face and you're too close to something to realize it.

Writing crisis solved.

Writing...

I think the worst part about writing is getting stuck and not knowing how to continue. I'm at a point where I'm just not sure where the story is going. I have the first 45 pages and the last 15, but how do I connect them? What is the main character actually doing? What is he going to find? Why do we care?

Someone is screaming obsenities at someone else outside, so I may about to get stabbed.

*EDIT: Turns out that the guy wasn't screaming at someone, just screaming. Everything he said was freestyle rap, all of it mixing together and all of it rhyming. His eyes were a terrifying shade of blue, and in them you could see the pain of a thousand lifetimes, the anger of a thousand deaths. He was crazy, or maybe he was too sane, I'm not sure. All I know is that he was the first person I've ever been truely afraid of.

Scrumping!!!

So for the last 3 days, I have gotten the opportunity to go scrumping! Now some of you (those of you who don't know me or haven't seen Bill Bailey's stand-up comedy) are asking yourselves right about now: what is scrumping? Is it some sort of strange new plastic or perhaps a hip-new trend that involves the combination of juggling hedgehogs while doing slant rhyme?

No, sadly scrumping usually has little to do with hedgehogs (but more things should involve hedgehogs) and nothing to do with plastic. Scrumping is harvesting fruit from a tree that you don't own. In our instances, the trees were on public property and no one was using the fruit, so no harm done (except for the scratches on my arm from the orange tree.)

So we've managed to get oranges and elderberries. The oranges are amazing, and we are making jam out of the elderberries, very much like we made jam out of the plums that were scrumped from the tree outside the building.

It's all very exciting!

Other than that, I have a friend coming over to do a photo-shoot this evening, which should prove fun. Also I'll be emailing the guy from the studio my copy (read stuff that you put into a brochure) so that I can start teaching lessons there soon.

Anyway, off to take a look at possibly hitting 20,000 words on my novel today, depending if any other scrumping comes up.

Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. It's where all the fruit is.

Shirley MacLaine 

Last Night

So the show last night went well. Lots of good people watched me produce a cantaloupe from under my hat.

Today is prepping material for the studio that I will be teaching magic at, looking over my promotional materials (BTW, y'all [my family] are going to have a few small packages come your way. Don't throw them away!!!!) and figuring out how to update the website, as well as doing an after-action report on my show last night and cleaning up the kitchen.

Demo Video

So tonight I'm shooting a demo video and am about as ready as it gets. The shot of rum is wearing down nicely. After five (six?) years of performing you'd think that you'd get over being nervous before a show, but you don't really. I'm sure that glorious moment of calm, cool collectedness will descend upon me in the final moments before the show; the rum's for the moments leading up to those.

I've got a pretty good set down. I apologize, because you not-magicians won't fully understand the effects named here, so feel free to skip this part. The set is as follows:

• Audience hand twisting trick
• Here-then-there
• Coins through silk
• Steel ball routine (Lou Serrano)
• Two Card Monte
• Ambitious card
• Cups and Balls with Cantaloupe ending
• Bill to lemon finale

Stevie has also spent all day cooking an amazing dinner for everyone and our neighbors have prepared a pork loin! The only thing missing is the people, and they are on their way!

So here's to a great show!

~C

Preparations for Tomorrow

Just got back from the fabric store (by the way, people look at you weird when you try out every piece of fabric with a deck of cards...just saying...).  I also went to the grocery with Stevie this morning where, apparently, you get a $5 or so discount for using your own bags. $5 per bag. Awesome!

Now I'm about to head downstairs and clean the picnic/lounge/filming area for tomorrow and figuring out exactly where the best spot is to film. After that, I'm reworking my table with the new fabric ($# down from $30...I'm awesome) and prepping my routines.

Then...making croutons and zesting lemons and juicing said lemons (and some limes). After that? Probably cleaning up around the apartment and getting my stuff together for tomorrow's meeting with the studio in Venice that want's me to teach magic there.

So yeah...busy day.