Saturday Night Contest - Resolutions For 2019

CaseyRudd

Director of Operations
Team member
Jun 5, 2009
3,393
3,801
Charleston, SC
www.instagram.com
Hey guys, hope everyone is having a great weekend! As 2018 comes to a close, we are reminded of everything we have done over the past year and where it has gotten us heading into the new year. It's always exciting to begin a new year, so first and foremost, happy new year from all of us at theory11!

We want to know - in your own words - what you feel you have accomplished over this last year (2018) in magic and / or cardistry. Some of you may have performed your first professional show, others may have come up with a cool idea or concept that found its way into your repertoire, or maybe you just discovered the art and want to share how it's impacted your life. The contest tonight is simple - tell us about it.

In addition, we want to know what your resolutions are for this next year - 2019. What are your goals? What would you like to see yourself accomplish in magic and / or cardistry over the coming year? We want to hear about it!

Because this is a written contest, everyone of you is free to participate. Submissions should be posted as responses to this thread - and all entries must be in by tomorrow, Sunday, December 30th at 11:00pm EST for judging. We will review the posts and announce the winner (selected at random) once time is up. Note that submissions can vary in length - but are limited to 500 words, maximum.

The winner takes home 1,000 Elite Member Points, a deck of Black NOCs, 6 Decks of our upcoming release Navigators, and 7 spins on the Holiday Wheel!

We look forward to reading through all of your accomplishments, aspirations, thoughts, and goals!
 

Stu-pendous

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2010
276
425
Perth, Australia
www.facebook.com
The past year I've had a break in actually performing magic (only did one or two shows) to focus on my commercial cookery course and become a qualified chef. Everything in my life from my daughter to my relationship with my partner have all improved so much and I couldn't be happier.

For 2019 I am ready to get out and perform again, starting off with a bang with two fringe festival shows coming up in January and February. Very excited.
 
Mar 15, 2017
239
251
In 2k18, I would say there was some good progress made. I finally have a set repertoire, so I have an official patter (though, I'm still kind of socially awkward, so some times I kind of forget about it, but yeah, work in progress). I also finally performed for some people, so yeah, that's good. I finally gave up on my only "sleights" mentality, since I've realized the potential of using gimmicks. Overall, I'll say that this has been a nice progressive year.

For 2k19, I'm hoping to perform to more people and also finally get down the Ambitious Riser, since that move has always been a problem to me.
 
Aug 10, 2017
46
46
This year I gave up learning magic and messing around with my cards. This you might think is the exact opposite of what this whole contest is about, but I think beginners can learn from the mistakes I made. I started off learning from YouTube whereas I should started off with a book because they behold the mastery behind the mystery. Not to mention, be bold. I could not grasp that concept earlier so I think it didn’t set me up for success at its fullest. I think if beginners can become performing and not care about making mistakes then have a greater percentage of success. Lastly, I gave up cards because I did not strike a very good balance between homework and magic. So I leave beginners and maybe more expierenced magicians with this message: strike a balance between magic and the other parts of your life so the passion does not fade away but thrives, and start off the right way when learning.

Thanks
 

Furrukh

Elite Member
Jul 24, 2010
780
679
Karachi,Pakistan
2018 was a low year for me in terms of learning magic. I took a backseat and instead of learning magic I appreciated magic all the year starting with Penn & Teller fool us. Then it was Shin Lims AGT performances and omg wat a great first audition it was? I still sometimes watch all of his performances when I'm free. The only achievement that I had this year was that I made a web app that could allow u to make prediction videos with 8 possible outs.
For 2019 my first resolution is just laying in front of me in the shape of the butterfly deck. I need to learn its marking system and be smooth with it. Second I want to get into magic that is more organic. Chapslick is one trick that I will probably get first thing in 2019.
And last but not least my aim for 2019 is to win one SNC that is skill based

A happy New Year to everyone
 

DominusDolorum

Elite Member
Jul 15, 2013
893
1,114
31
Canada
2018 was amazing. I made some new friends in the magic community (shout out to the nonagon fam), collected some new resources for magic, and performed more for different people.

For the upcoming year I have this goal to pass on some knowledge to the next generation of future magicians. I completed my first internship at an elementary school and loved it so much that I am returning in the next couple of months to start a magic club for some students during lunch hour. I cannot begin to describe how excited I am to start this up!

I also have some presentations at the back of my mind that I want to flesh out in more detail; so my other goal this year is to fill up my notebook with different ideas and handlings for tricks.

Have a great year, everyone!
 
Jan 14, 2017
159
150
This year was a surprise for me with respect to my magic (hobby). In addition to being a lifetime magic enthusiast I have also spent my life toying with technology. As a professional software developer, I did a bit of 'hacking' to create an improvement/add-on for a popular Magic application*. It was my 'pet' project and when my progress was leaked on a community board there was a very big interest in it. It was gratifying to have so much interest in my 'little hobby project'. I was pleased to share it with the community. The demand, however, became overwhelming. { It involves multiple servers and I was happy to spend around $100 a month to support it, for a few users; as part of my hobby } When the costs to support the hundreds of additional users reached several hundred dollars a month I had to ask for some help covering the costs.
It is difficult to remain humble as I explain that the value of my creation to those magicians (some of whom are working professionals) was sufficient that they were willing to pay for it.

An amazing side-effect of all this was making connections with so many magicians around the world. Many of the "names you would know" and so many more who are just like me. One of the key facets of this, as a hobby, for me is the important relationships and great sense of community that exists.

For next year I am hopeful to add features and functions. The burden of 'covering the costs' has been relieved but I feel a strong responsibility to keep growing the product and meeting the requests for new features and functions. That will be my continued goal in to the new year.

This success has encouraged me to work on a few more ideas I have where technology can be applied to create wonderful magic.

*It is not sold on Theory11 so it would be unfair to name it here.
 
Jan 31, 2015
90
138
This past year, I've been able to gain the courage to perform magic for strangers, and I now feel more comfortable interacting with strangers to show them magic. I've been going to magic shops more regularly and I've met many new people in the magic community.

In 2019, I want to make business cards and get hired for a show as a magician.
 

ShekC

Elite Member
Dec 11, 2014
67
64
I've been doing magic and cardistry for some time - but I wouldn't go to the extent of calling myself a cardist. I've learnt moves here and there but would sometimes change the closer as I didn't really like how it looked, for example in acridid, the hand coming behind the back to toss the packet back onto the deck always looked awkward to me. However, it wasn't until recently that something clicked, and I understood why the move was designed the way that it is, and there's a certain rhythm and flow to it where your hands are in the right place at the right time and it all connects that makes it work so well.

So my resolution is to continue this and understand cardistry at a deeper level. I still, in my opinion, don't think 'weaving' flourishes where your fingers are connected and packets have to interlock and weave through each other look very visually appealing, BUT maybe with my new found appreciation for understanding why moves are designed the way they are, I will come to understand that.
 
Nov 25, 2013
34
42
This year, I designed my first deck. It was more of an edit than a design, but I still did it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could, so with no experience with Illustrator, I sat down and made this back design and tuck case in 7 days, for the free trial. I didn't get everything I wanted to in that 7 day window, but I still love what I made. It was an edit of an orbit deck, which I was able to show to Chris at the orbit jam in November. In 2019, I want to continue making edits and designing my own decks since I got Illustrator for Christmas.
 
Jul 1, 2018
56
74
2018 for me was an excitint year for my "magic carreer" because i started learning magic!
Although im not really good at it yet, i got some awesome achivments! I performed for lots of people, created some tricks and, the most amazing, i won the SNC once!
I hope That, in 2019, i get able to do the pass! Hope starting doing some amaxing tricks too!!!
 

Lal

Dec 1, 2017
18
22
This year has been a great one for me. I've took a tough decision regarding Magic , I decided not to take Magic as a profession and to consider it only as a hobby and to perform as an amateur. This way I shouldn't have to worry about performance aspect of Magic since I'm very bad at it.
In 2019, I would like to dive through deep and find more aspects and advantages of perfoming as an amateur. And I've decided not to spend too much time on the internet. I've deleted all my social network accounts.
 
Nov 26, 2017
109
75
This past year I performed a full show for my family during vacation. I also built up my playing card collection (now almost 30 decks). This was a fun year, I purchased some new tricks, and overall learned a lot.

In 2019, I hope to learn some new visual magic, film at least one street magic video, and make some new effects on my own.
 

JoshL8

Elite Member
Aug 5, 2017
409
393
WA state USA
With this year coming to a close many people find this is a natural time for reflection. In looking back it is important to look at our failures as well as our achievements. After all we must learn from both lest we miss an opportunity for improvement and I had plenty of opportunities to learn from this year.

I grew this year as an amateur performer by putting the iron in the fire so to speak and learning from some tough situations I put myself in. No longer did I just find my audience from members of my family and friends but now unsuspecting strangers. Local outdoor gathering places and festivals were great fodder to ply my practiced routines on. I had many great experiences delighting strangers and a few hiccups that exposed my lack experience.

Routines I once thought to be fine had now been exposed showing me flaws that now seem obvious with the power of hindsight. Having routines that were too single minded, bad flow and or lack of meaningful patter being the major hurdles I encountered. Armed with new knowledge earned from putting theory into practice and my growing book library I redoubled my efforts in addressing these shortcomings to improve my magic.

Many of my routines have now gone through several iterations, barely recognizable from what they were at the beginning of the year. This goes beyond my routines I have been working including single tricks I perform every now and again. I have learned this year that to be a better magician I have to put myself out there despite my fear of failure because even in failure there are opportunities to learn and make my magic more personable.

This upcoming year has the possibility to be full of such opportunities as well as continuing to build on what I learned this year. I usually don’t make New Year Resolutions but I am willing to make an exception here to put myself out there more in the name of growth. This year I plan on taking the advice I read from book by Jamie Grant called “The Approach” and to perform at a local nursing home this year at least once. I also will start “Magic Mondays” where I will perform a trick for interested people every Monday. These situations will certainly give me experience to learn from whether they go smoothly or not.
 

Khaleel Olaiky

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2013
535
573
In 2018 I performed for over 300 people on the talent show that my university organized and held this year as a charity for a hospital, I did not win the talent show but the experience was amazing.

I also went to Malysia and there I’ve visited for the very first time A MAGIC SHOP, made some friends bought few decks and then I came back.

Hey 2019 I hope you have some interesting challenges for me.
I’m planning on entering the talent show this time too + I have a new goal and that is performing on the TEDx stage that will be organized in my city the next October so excited for this.

Lastly, I will try to practice more cardistry cause I love it but I still suck at it. LOL

Thanks for everyone, thanks Theory11 for the amazing year and I wish you guys a wonderful year full of achievements. :)
 
Sep 10, 2017
347
231
2018 was one of the most important parts of my life. After lots of studying, I was accepted at medicine in one of the best universities in my country. Because of that, I had more time to focus on my magic and sleight of hand.
Magicwise, I discovered my burning passion for gambling sleights and false deals and was able to almost have a perfect bottom deal. With the help of Jason England videos, I started learning more and more about this type of sleight of hand. And for all that, I have Jason England to thank for.
But after all of this, probably the highlight of my magic career was starting to finally learn from books. After watching a lot of videos and spending lots of time and money on them, I finally bought some books and started learning from them. I've understood that most of the stuff that fools me, or used to fool me are actually published in old books. Therefore a lot of them have the ability to fool magicians.
All in all, it was a happy year of my life, and I'm pleased to have spent it with the Theory11 community.
 

Zeede

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2018
243
203
It all started this year with watching some card magic on YouTube, one of the previous seasons of America's or Britain's Got Talent. My six year old son was fascinated and wanted me to perform some magic for him. I learned a few rudimentary tricks via YouTube, and soon thereafter discovered TheGentlemanWake and the wonderful world of custom playing card decks! I saw his review of the Citizens deck, purchased one and soon thereafter found myself with many more Theory11 decks, and on these forums.

My resolutions for 2019 with regards to card collecting, magic and cardistry are simple:

Card collecting: Slow down! I need a third shelf for my cards so I resolve to exercise better control and will not buy a fourth shelf in 2019.

Magic: As a hobby I really enjoy it, but I'll continue to refine my techniques and card handling. I don't watch YouTube videos anymore to learn tricks and I think it's better that way. I resolve to really mastering my existing repertoire of tricks. Quality over quantity.

Cardistry: I am really rubbish at this, but I resolve to learn to spring cards properly.

Thanks to Casey and Lyle for curating a really awesome forum!
 
Dec 1, 2017
9
6
2018... what a year! This year I got back into cards in general. I used to be into magic and cards, and then I had a period where I just wasn't as interested. In late 2017 I picked it back up and I'm so happy I did. I discovered the different magic and cardistry communities and learned as well as shared through them. My collection of cards has increased incredibly and I now own more decks than I'd like to admit. I've started learning cardistry and in 2019, I'd like to try out some magic once again and grow in terms of my knowledge of both magic and cardistry.

Have a great new year everyone!
 

Chris I.C.T.M

Elite Member
Mar 9, 2013
13
5
This year (2018) I actually refound my passion for magic after a year and a half break. ( "performer"for 8 years.)
I guess I let life and work get in the way of doing what I wanted , but Im glad I picked it up again.

Anyhow , for 2019 I plan on just continuing practice in this art , and would love to eventually design my own deck of cards and create my own unique effects.
 
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