Let’s see. I got into card magic through David Blaine and found a couple of forums where I discovered Royal Road. However I found it so difficult to get through that I practically gave up on card magic for over a decade. Fast forward and I found Oz Pearlman’s Born to Perform where I finally became inspired to pursue magic further. I wish I had RRTCM here with me now though - it’s stuck in England (I’ve since bought many other books but I still find them a bit heavy, the shame...)
After all those years of on and off card magic it took learning Greg Wilson’s 3/4 across as my introduction to coin magic to appreciate the difference between knowing a sleight and mastering a sleight. You either get it bang on or you flash and totally ruin the trick.
I’ve bought about $400 worth of magic in the past six months but mainly from open boxes on Penguin or cheap Dover paperbacks. It looks bad to my girlfriend, but I think I only spent about $150... (too scared to check, mind)
I think the only genuinely innovative magic I’ve seen in the past few months is in the area of rubber bands.
I practiced the pass for over a year and still haven’t really found a trick where it’s needed.
I’ve stopped buying decks other than Bicycle red and blue. I’m too overprotective to use them otherwise.
I get angry when Rick lax’s face pops up on a video demo of a product. He really used to annoy me on Facebook before I even realised he was a legitimate magician.
Of all the magical ‘characters’ a performer make take on, be it a psychic or a card cheat or a mind reader, I find the ‘magic is just sleight of hand and no one believes anything otherwise’ type of persona repulsive.