March 27th

Today is my adopted daughters first birthday with our family!! She is turning seven. We are having a disney princess party at 4:00 and 9 of her little friends are coming over. I've performed for a huge number of birthdays over the years, this one will be a little bit special I think.

I made some over sized Hippity Hop Rabbits last year. They are almost 20 inches tall. I've been saving them for this party, she has never seen me do it. I can't wait to see the look on her little face. She has hearing loss and therefore has a very expressive face. I'm smiling just thinking about it.

I'm gonna dig out some of the old stuff my grandfather gave me 30 years ago. I have a die box he gave me with I was 6. It's still one of my favorites for little kids. In general I don't like sucker effects, but for this party I think it's perfect.

I might even make some balloon animals

Ted

Sweet. Let us know how it goes.

Balloon animals!!?!? For a childrens party??? That's unheard of!!!!

Well,

That was the most fun I've had doing a kids birthday. My daughter was SO happy. I even enjoyed making the balloon animals. I also managed to escape right around 7 just in time to watch the tarheels beat the **** out of my Gonzaga Bulldogs. Oh well................it is what it is.

Ted

Michigan State are still in.

Mich St. is doing unbelievably. I had them losing a while back.

This is slightly off topic but I'll encourage...
SERIOUSLY? You had a number 2 ranked team losing a "while back"? Why? Nobody should be surprised that the number 2 ranked team in a division is doing well. That's why they are ranked second.

Agreed.

Rankings are never that accurate, and I just didn't know they could play like that. They absolutely crushed Louisville, no one saw that coming.

Actually, the rankings in college sports are usually pretty accurate. When was the last time you saw a number 20 ranked NCAA football team win the rose bowl? It's almost always one of the top 10 teams. And look at the final four bracket this year, first ranked team facing second, and first ranked team facing third. And you're trying to tell me that they're usually wrong? I'll just disagree that's all, don't take this as an attack, I don't mean it to be.

Hey, to each his own.

Thanks SO much for using the proper phrasing of this. It annoys me immensely when people say "to each is own" instead of your proper phrasing. Gah!

tedricpancoast, thanks for recommending me you're performers journal, I really liked what I read so far, you inspire new things with kids, looking forward to your next entry.


lierke

Thanks man,

I've been doing magic for about 30 years, and I really like some of these newer effects. The Self Tying Shoelace has been a great ice breaker for me, I think if I had that on and an invisible deck in my pocket I could walk around and sell out an entire weekend of stage shows in about a week.

I've been building huge stuff. Stage illusions based on Osbornes plans. People keep asking me about my shoelaces though, go figure. Good magic doesn't have to be huge.

Lierke, maybe for your show this summer what you need the most is performance experience. Put a few tricks in your pocket and just perform everywhere you go. That way you can find your natural presentation style. All the great magicians say, be yourself. Don't try to copy someone elses style. Find the tricks that work for you and do them a lot. Then you'll be GREAT!!

Good luck
Ted

April 10th

7 days to opening night. I was at the theater all day today rehearsing and setting up. I'm happy with the staging of the show and I think the entertainment value is going to be great but I've got more than the usual pre-opening night jitters. The props are looking GREAT. I'll try to post some pictures if someone can tell me how to paste them in.

The 7 shows here in Kettle Falls are all sold out. That's almost 1500 tickets (it's a small theater). I've been working on the show non-stop for almost 4 months. I have sound techs lined up. I have light techs lined up. We have rehearsals all next week. Somehow I still have this dreadfull feeling that I'm going to forget something. It's a little strange really. I'll be so glad after opening night. The last 6 performances will fly by I'm sure.

I'm having the whole show recorded and made into a dvd. It's going to be just over an hour long. I'd be happy to send some of you guys the dvd when it's done. Better hit the sack. Tomorrow morning I'm getting sword choreography lessons. I have 3 Hatori Hanso (spelling?) replica swords from Kill Bill that I'm using in a sword box effect. I know nothing about swords so I'm getting some help with the handling.

Ted