Hey there Theory 11, this is my first post on here. I've actually grown up with this site and have been through its forums since its launch in 2007. During that long time span I've never actually taken the time to become a member and post in the forums for reasons I'm going to discuss a little later in this post. First off, I'd like to introduce myself as is the apparently popular custom among the new members on this site. I'm Mat, 17 years old and I've been intrigued (notice I never mention the word "doing") magic since I was 11. I'm also a huge francophile--I study French on my own time and I'm about semi-fluent now. So Mr Bich, if you're out there, J'aime votre pays! The first trick that ever got me into magic was a simple ACR routine shown to me by an old friend in the sixth grade. It was just the first phase of most complex routines, just the bit where the top of the double lift is placed in the middle and the card appears to stay on top. I was impressed by the fact that the guy was only 12 and he did a pretty damn cool trick. I had always loved magic but seeing that made me believe that you didn't have to be this 50-something year old master like David Copperfield to get into magic.
Thus my journey into magic was made. Right off the bat I fell into the "buy-as-many-cool-tricks-as-you-can" trap that most beginners find themselves in. The first tricks I ever bought were Justin Miller's Factory Sealed and Bullet. It practised the Hell out of them and I still perform them today. But I learned by lurking through your forums that that was no way to go about learning magic and so thanks to you guys my study actually began. I picked up Card College Vol. 1-5 with the intent of studying each volume intensely and not moving to the next one until I got everything in the current volume I was in down perfectly, or at least proficiently. However, I've a medical condition that I've been living with ever since I was a little boy. I've got this condition known as Hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, no matter what the temperature, concentrated on the feet, underarms, back and the hands. What happens with Hyperhidrosis is that when you sweat, your really sweat... a lot. You drip. However, when you live with this condition, your life consists of two parts: You're dripping wet or you're dry as bone.
In my study of magic, it was never the difficulty of a sleight that was the matter--I was determined as all Hell. It was this condition, in particular focused on my hands, that was a major roadblock for me. When I'd sweat, I'd soil the cards and the excessive moisture would make any sleight harder to pull off. But when I was dry, I'd have zero grip on the cards, making running cards in an overhand shuffle or culling a card impossible. I tried and tried for a very long time until I just gave up and settled with the realisation that magic probably wasn't for me. But my interest still held on and I just continued reading the rest of Card College just for the Hell of it.
I still do a couple tricks from time to time using some tricks that I had bought and a few sleights that I managed to master that didn't involve any need for a grip of the cards. I suppose I can brag about my mastery of the classic force and my pass, which is infamous for its near impossibility for beginners and long time for mastery. But then again, those two things were all I could do and practise really. But hey, at least I've got two difficult techniques in my belt. Every once in a while I'll pull Factory Sealed, Bullet or Pressure for a couple friends at a party. And with cards I do this thing where I pull two close friends together and patter about how the closer you are with a person, the more you think and do exactly like them. I'll ask one of them to pick a card, control that card to the top and using the classic force I'll ask the other one to pick a card and not to look at it. I'll ask the previous person what his/her card was and then have the other person reveal that he selected the same card. And then I'd use that card to do a demonstration with the pass and stuff. None of this is bad, but I truly do wish I could have done more with my study of magic.
Essentially, I accepted my lack of ability to do magic when I was 15. Since then I picked up another hobby, for lack of a better word, and got really into film and screenwriting. I write and make short films all the time with friends and hope to make a career out of screenwriting--I absolutely love Wes Anderson. What sparked my interest again was that I was reading the script for an old Paul Newman and Rob Redford movie The Sting. There's this part where Newman's hand double displays a series of card manipulation sleights to prepare himself to cheat this big poker game about to take place. I really missed magic after this. After a long while of putting magic aside I visited this site after a while gone and I'm glad to say that the community is more or less the same as how I left it. And so I ask you all, with this damaging condition I have, is there any hope for me? Any alternatives I can take or how I can bypass this condition? In no way am I trying to build up this condition as an absolutely awful thing, I mean, it's definitely no cancer, thank God. Anyways, to the Theory 11 community, I love all your work in the videos you post and I apologise for this long post. It is my first post after all for lurking around this site for five years. Anyways, I appreciate replies to this, and thanks in advance!
Thus my journey into magic was made. Right off the bat I fell into the "buy-as-many-cool-tricks-as-you-can" trap that most beginners find themselves in. The first tricks I ever bought were Justin Miller's Factory Sealed and Bullet. It practised the Hell out of them and I still perform them today. But I learned by lurking through your forums that that was no way to go about learning magic and so thanks to you guys my study actually began. I picked up Card College Vol. 1-5 with the intent of studying each volume intensely and not moving to the next one until I got everything in the current volume I was in down perfectly, or at least proficiently. However, I've a medical condition that I've been living with ever since I was a little boy. I've got this condition known as Hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, no matter what the temperature, concentrated on the feet, underarms, back and the hands. What happens with Hyperhidrosis is that when you sweat, your really sweat... a lot. You drip. However, when you live with this condition, your life consists of two parts: You're dripping wet or you're dry as bone.
In my study of magic, it was never the difficulty of a sleight that was the matter--I was determined as all Hell. It was this condition, in particular focused on my hands, that was a major roadblock for me. When I'd sweat, I'd soil the cards and the excessive moisture would make any sleight harder to pull off. But when I was dry, I'd have zero grip on the cards, making running cards in an overhand shuffle or culling a card impossible. I tried and tried for a very long time until I just gave up and settled with the realisation that magic probably wasn't for me. But my interest still held on and I just continued reading the rest of Card College just for the Hell of it.
I still do a couple tricks from time to time using some tricks that I had bought and a few sleights that I managed to master that didn't involve any need for a grip of the cards. I suppose I can brag about my mastery of the classic force and my pass, which is infamous for its near impossibility for beginners and long time for mastery. But then again, those two things were all I could do and practise really. But hey, at least I've got two difficult techniques in my belt. Every once in a while I'll pull Factory Sealed, Bullet or Pressure for a couple friends at a party. And with cards I do this thing where I pull two close friends together and patter about how the closer you are with a person, the more you think and do exactly like them. I'll ask one of them to pick a card, control that card to the top and using the classic force I'll ask the other one to pick a card and not to look at it. I'll ask the previous person what his/her card was and then have the other person reveal that he selected the same card. And then I'd use that card to do a demonstration with the pass and stuff. None of this is bad, but I truly do wish I could have done more with my study of magic.
Essentially, I accepted my lack of ability to do magic when I was 15. Since then I picked up another hobby, for lack of a better word, and got really into film and screenwriting. I write and make short films all the time with friends and hope to make a career out of screenwriting--I absolutely love Wes Anderson. What sparked my interest again was that I was reading the script for an old Paul Newman and Rob Redford movie The Sting. There's this part where Newman's hand double displays a series of card manipulation sleights to prepare himself to cheat this big poker game about to take place. I really missed magic after this. After a long while of putting magic aside I visited this site after a while gone and I'm glad to say that the community is more or less the same as how I left it. And so I ask you all, with this damaging condition I have, is there any hope for me? Any alternatives I can take or how I can bypass this condition? In no way am I trying to build up this condition as an absolutely awful thing, I mean, it's definitely no cancer, thank God. Anyways, to the Theory 11 community, I love all your work in the videos you post and I apologise for this long post. It is my first post after all for lurking around this site for five years. Anyways, I appreciate replies to this, and thanks in advance!
