In the seventh grade I checked a book out of the school library on juggling. It was an odd little book filled with cartoon diagrams and curved arrows indicating where the balls were to go. I bought a can of tennis balls to juggle with and in three weeks of chasing boucning balls all over the house, I learned to juggle. The book also covered clubs, rings, and fire-all of which I juggled with a fair amount of success. And yet there were still no calls from Ringling Brothers.
Not that I really expected there to be. A few years later I ran across a much newer and more polished book that included Diabols and the Art of Passing the Hat. This book seemed to be under the impression that lived in San Fransico or London or New Orleans, where street preformers are a common sight. Outside of the local Ren Faire, I have never seen people preforming for spare change.
So I leanred to juggle for the fun of it. I got good. But I never became great. To make money you pretty much have to be great, or have two or three other knuckleheads that like to juggle and go without food for long periods of time as well.
Magic has always been a big disapointment for me. The books are all filled with dreadful card tricks that involved massive amounts of setup, and the videos and real tricks cost a lot of money. I was a huge fan of the Fox Magic Revealed Specials that showed in great detail things like how to cut a woman in half or levitate on the street.
Like so many things, I have just dabbled in magic and juggling. They are fun and I have learned a few things, but nothing that would get me a gig on a cruise ship. This is one of those paths that I don’t have major regrets about. I don’t think I would have ever been David Copperfield, or ever The Great Randi. But it is still fun to think about from time to time.
Hmm, Descartes would be a great name for a Mentalist. . .
