Magic Demo

Here we are, friends. This is a short(ish) compilation of my progresses since leaving. Hope you enjoy.

Hey All!

I've started fulfilling my dream. I've been in contact with the large TV channel here Romania about doing magic, and they're starting to be interested... Until then, I've been filming some David Blaine style magic on the streets of Zalau. If you're interested (which I'm sure you are :D),
the link is as follows:
http://www.ztv.ro/video.html?task=videodirectlink&id=2194

Hope y'all bin doing well.

More later.

To Produce Multiple Cards at the Fingertips

Behold! My creation lives, now, forever.

Romanian Update. Late Breaking News in the Magical Community!

My Romanian has truly come back, through my own personal trial by fire: performing magic.
When I left Zalau (my exchange city) four years ago, I was under the impression that I had fairly well mastered the local dialect and had a pretty good handle on the situation. Perhaps this was youthful exuberance, or maybe I now have the brain power to truly understand how complex the language is.

Consider this, these days I am more prone to speaking in a slightly prosaic and archaic manner,
to give the feel of a gentile Englishman who has been transported from the 18th century to the present. What I lacked in Romanian was the breadth and depth of vocabulary to express myself in the manner to which I am accustomed. In 2004-2005 I knew the words and the gestures of everday speech: Hi, how are you doing, et cetera.
Now, I recognize that this simplistic verse does not lend itself to complexities of magic; or at least, not the way I want my magic to be seen. I want to create an atmosphere of elegance, and that is what I am working on now.

Let us take a quick look at some viable alternatives to commonly used words:

Common-
Tare (Means hard, or in slang, cool)
Ce faci (What are you doing/ what's up)

Prosaic-
Stras(h)nic (Means powerful, strong)
Cum te port(z)i? (How do you carry yourself?)

As you can see, not only do the prosaic words/phrases translate better, they also sound REALLY COOL.

And, on the magical front:
I have been conversing with several internationally acclaimed magicians on a topic of a card production. It turns out, I have created this move, as it has never been seen or heard of before!
I'll drop in a link, or a video here in the next couple of days so you can see it, should you so desire.

And, finally, a joke, so as to end on a humorous note.
(Ardelean is a man from Ardeal: the region that encompasses Zalau and several other cities. Also well known from being very slow in action and speech.)

So, a man from Bucuresti, Maramures, and Ardeal decide to have a contest to see who can gather the most snails in an hour.
After the alloted time has passed, they all reconvene.
The man from Bucuresti opens his bag and shows 125 snails.
The man from Maramures opens his bag and shows 250 snails.
The man from Ardeal opens his bag and shows it empty.
When asked why he didn't pick any snails he explains:
"When.. ever.. I went to pick up a.. snail, the snail... went... whoosh!"

Have a nice time you all. Stay safe.

Photos Thus Far

Just where exactly is Ausfahrt? It seems to be all over the place, but once you get there, it's gone. The answer to the geographic riddle is that it means 'Exit', for all of you non-Germans.










Here we have the facade of Il Duomo. Again,
for those of you without any Italian background, Il Duomo mean 'The Dome' (Those Italians really know how to name things don't they. Personally, I didn't see anything even remotely resembling a dome... but that's just me.)








A lovely twelve hours with my dear cousin Katherine. We finished our whirlwind tour at a lovely little pizza joint that you can't see any of because I'm not a genius with a camera.










A nice little tidbit for you all: Deportation papers!
These were my second servings, and I (understandibly, to my way of thinking) ripped them to shreds and then burned them.










And another cousin filled picture. Andrew and I outside Nansdietchweiler (Germany) after driving all day.







Whew.

ROMANIA!

As many of you likely know, I spent a year in Romania thanks to the Rotary Club. I have now returned, akin in image, as the Prodigal Son, it would seem. I was greeted by my second host father with (pretty much) anything a guy my age could ask for after travelling by train for 36 hours from Milan.

(Though I managed to visit with my cousin Katharine in Milan for 12 hours, all of the hostels were completely booked, much to my dismay.)

So, my 'father' greeted me with open arms, a hot meal, a hot shower and a bed if I wanted one.
Which I didn't, as I had so much catching up to do with my second homeland.

Well... it has changed. The internet joint place I used to frequent has disappeared, as have most of my friends (understandable, though, as most of them are going to college somewhere else).
I have, however, discovered Stefi (pron. Sht-eh-fee) still living here, and that has made my return very joyous.

I'll send some photographic verification shortly.


Houston, the Eagle has landed.

Italia, Sweet Italia!

When last we left off, dear readers, I had succeeded in getting into Europe.
Apparently my desire for punishment went unquenched, as I, in a misguided
motion, attempted to regain entry into the U.K. Needless to say, they held me
in a cell, yet again, for 8 hours this time before shipping me back to Germany.

On a side note, if you are ever looking to get detained in an airport, London Stansted
is the place to do it. The staff is much more genial than the folks at Heathrow... and they
have a rather impressive selection of movies to while away the time with.

Unfortunately, Stansted could not send me back to my airport of departure (Zweibrucken),
and instead shipped me to Karlsruhe Baden, which is about 100 miles away. After spending
a night in a very nice, relatively cheap, hotel, I hopped a train to Basel Baden, and then
got an Interrail (an alternative to Eurail) pass for a couple of days, and proceeded south
to what would be (hopefully) warmer and more hospitable climes.
Hospitable, yes. Warmer... eh, not so much.
The fabled Italian sun is, thus far, hiding, and teaching me how much I should have packed a jacket. Alas and alack!

What have we learned thus far?
A) Screw the British.
B) Bless the Germans.
C) Eat with the Italians.
D) Pack warm clothes. Seriously.

More to come later.

VICTORY!

At long last, I have finally succeeded in infiltrating European society!
Now, nothing can stop my worldwide conquest. Well, nothing except more deportation...
but we won't even think the word for fear of jinxing the rest of the trip, will we?

More to come soon.

God bless the Germans.

We'll Have to Start Again.

So, in breaking news, I have started my journey. And have had it abruptly end far sooner than I had envisioned. I arrived at Heathrow Airport with joy in my heart and adventure in my mind, only to be detained by the immigration officers over GIGANTIC mistakes on their part: apparently, I was planning on staying for 6 months... not the 3 or so weeks I had thought. Because of this misinterpretation I didn't have enough money to support myself, and was deported back to the U.S.A after a 6 hour stay in a holding cell.

God bless the British.

The Start

So. The journey begins in 5 days, 18 hours and 19 minutes.
I will attempt, for the sake of coherency and posterity, to update this
corner of my brain every week, perhaps more, depending on the
events of the day.

Here's to the world.
Cheers.