Recalling Saturday...

.:Blog Parteeh '07: Whoop, There It Is:.

I apologize for the lack of linkage in the posts. I guess that's an excuse for the people I mentioned by name to give me their URL's so I can edit this post to do just that. Hehehehe. Please don't kill me. I had to rush to write this post... =P

And so I met up with Jonas around two in the afternoon yesterday so we can haul ourselves to the Blog Parteeh. Jonas and I had a pretty good idea who the guests would be, so we knew what we'd be expecting for the most part.

We got to the venue after being lost for a while because while we had a map, but we forgot to take note of the actual street address. Even then, it wasn't so bad, and when we got there, there were a lot of people already. It was pretty cool meeting different bloggers, although of course, it was a bit difficult breaking the ice because there was a significant number of people whom neither of us knew.

With the party in progress, we had a few notable personalities like Mr. Abe Olandres, Mr. Migz Paras, Ms. Janette Toral, and so forth. It was really fun at my table, as I ran into one of Bessie-Moo's friends, Benj. Links to follow, once I start finding each of their sites, since I'm sooooo not savvy at that.

While things were just getting started, Jonas and I were talking about how detailed my blogging about “Sana Maulit Muli” has been lately, and how amusing it was that I was having an LSS with Kim Chiu's Whisper commercial. All throughout, they were flashing blogs on the projector screen, and at some point, they managed to hand out gift certificates to Bubba Gump, and even an original DVD set of Star Wars, to which Rico, one of the organizers, asked the winner:

Rico: So. Is this your first original DVD?

That got a load of laughs.

That being said, it didn't take long before I got settled in and I started bringing out the decks of cards to do a little bit of card magic for the people. While people were eating and chatting along merrily, our table was having a bit of a magic convention as apparently, I wasn't the only guy at the table who knew magic. After a while, one of the steering committee saw me going at a bit of card magic, and he asked me if I was ready to perform anything for intermission. I was carrying my materials with me, as I knew I just had to be prepared...

So after a few minutes, they called me on to do an impromptu magic show. I didn't really keep it too long, as I decided to use only three effects: the lightning box, the four-dimensional mind read, and of course, Liquid Metal. I got a lot of great reactions from the last one, which was exactly what I anticipated. I always wanted to perform magic for an audience that didn't expect it at all, and the element of surprise just really allowed me to delight most of them. ^_^

As I always say, it was all about entertaining the audience, and I know I did that. They especially found it funny when I made that crack that my coin trick is known as the “Presidential Trick”, and at that moment, I made the coin disappear. Well, looks like political humor works on them. Ahahaha. That was the second biggest reaction throughout the routine, next only to the much-ballyhooed Liquid Metal bit.

After the magic show, we had raffles galore, and I won a clutch bag. I didn't win any donuts or the I-Pod, sadly, but I guess it's okay. At least I won something... hehehe. From that point on, the ice was broken, and I didn't feel so awkward around a lot of strangers, as the ice was definitely broken from then on, which really helped me get through the party without that usual shy feeling I get around strangers.

I wouldn't say I was the party's attraction, as I would attribute that to one of two: the I-Pod, won by AJ (Hope I got your name right.) and Bro. Bo Sanchez. I'm just glad I managed to make people happy while I was at it, because that's what mattered most to me. If I don't make anyone happy with my magic, then no matter how good I get, there's no point to doing it.

After the party and after a few more performances here and there, I plucked up the courage to approach Brother Bo so I can show him Liquid Metal. Boy, it was a rush, and for the first time, I was very much conscious I was being videotaped, and I had to make sure I did really well with this one...

In any case, it was an awesome party with awesome people. I hope stuff like this can really happen more often, because I'm very, very proud to be a blogger for the past four or so years. =)

.:Hanging Out With The Story Circle:.

Well, apparently, they do tests for their members, which made me thankful I wasn't a member. I'd hate to be evaluated that way by even more people, when hearing from sir Bing should be more than enough verbal castration already.

That being said, I got videotaped when I crashed a table for them as well. I did a pretty good job with using a bit of mind-reading to do my magic, since I was pretty sure they've seen all the sleights they needed to see from the rest of TSC. It was all good, nonetheless, as I was still in a magical mood, since I barely scratched the surface when I was at the Blog Parteeh.

After my table-crashing, I just taught one of the guys how to play Magic: The Gathering, which turned out pretty well. It wasn't so hard teaching him how to play, as the decks he had were pretty conducive to getting to know the basics.