Fantasy Hockey 2012

I'm returning to Michigan from August 26th - September 4th and am hoping that somehow fantasy hockey will be beginning by then so that I can draft in person and defend my slightly broken and crazy glued back together "1997 Collector's Edition Stanley Cup Miniature."

I have created a hockey crossword puzzle to help my competitors beef up their hockey knowledge as well as to get everyone in the spirit of fantasy hockey! Go ahead and print it out, I made it myself. Post pictures once you finish the puzzle at the facebook fan page!

Here's to seeing you next year with another win!

Where I Stand - Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Journal Excerpt

You're about to go on a trip with me in almost every sense of the word. I'm leaving gate A12 at Houston's Intercontinental Airport. Those of you who know me should be able to assume that I was visiting Jordan, and you would be correct.

I miss her. It's been a long time, but I've done this whole process before. It's weird to now know that I'm at an age to fix this. I think it took her moving to Michigan for me to realize it.

However, right now I am alone in my seat, seat 16A. I'm taking in to account the small size of the plane, the crumbs that were on my seat, the forehead grease on my cabin window, and hearing the flight attendants talk about safety in my head.

"we're number three for departure"

We're waiting. I want to put my tray down so I have a real surface to write on. Also, I'm having separation anxiety from my cell phone, as I'm sure many of you would be.

Turn Off Electronic Devices

Here we go...

From the sky this place looks obsessive compulsive. Each building is identical to the point that I compared them to Monopoly houses and hotels. I can see towns being erected. They'll give it a fantastical forest name.

It's amazing how a vacation that consisted of essentially running daily errands and watching DVD's can make you fall deeply in love with someone. I know it's not just me too. She's writing similar thoughts in her journal, if she hasn't already, she will soon enough.

I'm debating turning my cell phone on and texting her since technically they didn't say to put it on airplane mode.

"on today's flight you will earn 1,076 miles"

As I lean forward to look out the window I feel the overhead air begin to cool the sweat on my back. I'm going to have summer instantly lost on me as I've missed Michigan's transition week. I'll be dropping an instant 20 degrees upon my arrival.

My head begins to inch a little too close to creating my own grease smear on the window. I'm seeing the ultimate high score of Sim City some thousands of feet or miles below me. I pull my slightly misused and unlevel tray down for my drink and notice more crumbs. What's the old saying? "An airline that doesn't clean it's tray tables hasn't something, something, you're going to crash."

Forget everything I said. This lady gave me MY OWN Coke can AND peanuts AND pretzels. Best flight ever!

Houston Partly Cloudy 86 degrees

For those of you that truly listen, you will be given a tour into the inner workings of my mind as I explore it myself.

I gave Jordan a big example of my thought process earlier this week. I consider myself a naturally lucky person. I know the process, I appreciate the process, and I allow the process.

The process is basically this:

If you allow yourself to believe you deserve good things and that these things will come to you if you put forth effort - then your mindset changes to make this BECOME reality. Not only will you move towards positive things, but you will also change your perception of events to SEE the good of a scenario while simultaneously ignoring the bad (but not the lessons you learn from the bad.) Bad things become "your goal hasn't been achieved YET."

I've unconsciously held these beliefs for so long that things I ask for, hope for, and wish for, seem to just happen. I understand my responsibility in this though and know to respect that I have this "luck." I must appreciate it.

I also try to respect and understand others. It's almost frustratingly hard to upset me because I feel that I understand the underlying reason why such and such event has happened.

I told Jordan that she will have this for a month. It was almost like the Tony Robbins scene from Shallow Hal. Afterwards I prayed for it to be a reality, because I always thank God when these "mini miracles" happen. I feel Blessed and that I should tell people they can have this too.

I feel really good knowing that she is going to have a good month. "There is no other option" I told her and that's what I'm hearing in my own head. "It just HAS to work out."

You can't fail if you think that everything you do is a success.

Outsourced - The System

Derren Brown - The System

I just watched an old show of Derren Brown's called "The System" where he created a system to predict the winner of a horse race. The system guaranteed a winner EVERY time. It's a really interesting show and even manages to have emotional twists and dramatic moments, something most "magic" shows don't have.

After watching it, I am just SO excited to reveal to everyone my magic stunt for 2012 (as well as to actually perform my stunt for 2011.) I'm not prepared to announce it yet, but I've been leaving clues throughout my website posts.

For instance, does anyone know what date I'm going to announce it?

Leave your responses in the comments below or join the Fan Page on facebook to chat more about it.

Anniversary

I still remember July 22nd, 2010. I was about to go out for a walk as I got a phone call from a lovely girl. She's always so giddy in these kinds of moments, these moments where she wants to impress me. We stayed on the phone for hours. I walked to the park and then took a lap around it once I got there. I can really only remember little parts of the conversation now. At one point I began to notice that I was walking slightly pigeon toed. Jordan claimed it was her fault, and perhaps it was! We had lived together for a year and a half before that and perhaps walking next to her for so long did have an impact. I have a mental photograph of looking down at my feet on that track the very minute I was saying that. It was an important moment to me and I feel that this image, this "useless" image and it's silly conversation will stick with me forever. I think there was a slight bit of water, or perhaps that was just some tar or something on the track. I was about to come up to the giant hill in the park, but I wasn't there quite yet.

We had decided by the end of the conversation what we were going to do next.

Thinking back to that day, one year ago, reminded me of March 2009. It was the first time we had seen each other in a year. I can remember the chill in the air, the partly cloudy sky, the feel of my light jacket, and again, that giddyness. I still can hear the music she played in my car from the cd's she brought with her. I remember the joy of driving up to Novi to surprise my friend Dan. He had no idea she would be there or that we were dating again. Ah, and the Big Boy we ate at before we left. I showed her off to everyone that week. I took her to eat with my mom at Hockeytown cafe as well as conspiring with my mom to drive to the top of the parking complex and wait up for us so that I could ask Jordan out again.

She was just supposed to stay for a week, but she missed her flight and decided to stay forever. That was the basis for the next year of my life leading up to the first paragraph in this blog.

Now my decision to come to Texas may not have been as quick as her decision, but I wanted to make sure that everything was going to be as solid as it could before I jumped into it. Plus I couldn't just leave my home of 25 years in Michigan. Now I have a job making more money than I ever had (it's not that much, I'm just cheap and generally have no care for working!) I have an amazing apartment, I'm starting to get my bills paid off, and I even feel like a success in my magic career.

Well I'm going to get to bed in just a minute. One last thing I'd like to mention is something I've been working on. I'm attempting to learn how to quickly and accurately name what day of the week any day was on. For instance, my first Christmas was on a Wednesday. December 2nd, 2010 was on a Thursday. That's the basic idea. Once I get better at it I'll find a way to incorporate it into the sneaky things that I do.

- Steve

1. 1 9 9 4

"Everybody's got their own songs. There should be so many songs out there that it all turns into one big sound and we can put the whole thing into a pickup truck and let it roll off the edge of the Grand Canyon."

"I set my hands on fire - I have to write whatever comes to mind pretty fast, before my hands burn off. I just let whatever comes out, comes out without thinking about it too much."

"Oh, the tragedy and the anguish. You just gotta Rage Against the Appliance, man. The toast is burning and you just gotta rip it out and free it before it fills the house with smoke. Rage Against the Toaster" - 1994

Hip Hop

Outsourced - :{1 9 9 4]

'Go get in trouble. Go commit yourself to something you're not sure you can do,' - Stephen Colbert

discuss

Magic Monday - A Look Inside

On Mondays I usually sit back with some music on and any distractions put away in order to work on routines and come up with new magic effects. This Monday I have the day off from work as well, which is great. However, since I'm still new to Texas and don't have a lot of things to do (and my mind wanders during a ten hour work shift) I've been thinking of magic much longer than just my Mondays. So instead of trying to come up with something new, I am working on simply improving my current routines and performances.

I thought that I would give you a little behind the scenes into this process.

I've not performed to any of my intimate friends for a while, so I'm looking to get back into that. I'm also looking to move away from PERFORMING and more into an area where magic is allowed to happen and it is part of the environment.

With those thoughts comes a mental shift, and that is away from my deck of cards. I'm starting to feel some tendonitis and similar things and I need to take an approach away from the constant sleight of hand performances. However, I constantly have a deck of cards on me because I always want to be doing magic - hence the shift towards creating magic in any environment instead.

My ideas start as a sentence, a question, or a thought. Sometimes I try to answer or expound on them right away, but most of the time I just write it down and move on. Later I find myself coming back to that thought with a new insight or idea. I gather all my thoughts and take a shower, allowing the ideas to sort of simmer. I notice that after the shower I have the direction that I want to go firmly in mind.

Hopefully you'll see these shifts in all my future acts of magic.

With that said, there is four weeks left until I announce my 2012 magic "stunt." I will be working on that further today as well.

Fan Obsolescence - Neo Soul

Fan Obsolescence 3 - Neo Soul by tebe2k

Bramble - The Cave Singers
Curses - Beck
Thus Far (alternative) - Reggie Watts
Get Some - Lykke Li (Beck Remix)
So Light is Her Footfall - Breakbot Remix
I Found a Whistle - MGMT
My Beloved Monster - Eels
Dreamscape - Jordan Kelley of Finelle
Shed Your Love - The Helio Sequence

Steve TV - "How to Get Kicked Out of Barnes and Noble"

Finally! The return of www.TheUsedMagician.com! Steve TV is also back with a new video back from the first day of filming for the 2011 Steve TV series. Full 20 minute magic show on the Steve TV page of the website with new uploads every Thursday. Click the link and you can also discuss it on the Facebook Fan Page here.

Magic Monday - The Challenge

Five weeks from today I will announce my magic project for next year. This has been three to four years in the making and will take the entirety of the next year to complete. There is no guarantee that I will be successful and it will be the largest challenge I've ever put before myself.

- Steve