Stumbled into Cards and Magic...
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:10 am
and I thought it would be a cheap and fun hobby. I was wrong, at least about the cheap part.
This hobby started with a book, no not Expert at the Card Table but a more recently published book about magic, cardistry, etc called Fooling Houdini. At the time of starting this book I had not knowledge or understanding of how storied and deep a history exists in the world of magic let alone playing cards. For those of you who are interested check the book out, I haven't quite finished it but it is a good read it follows the journey of the author and aspiring magician through some interesting experiences.
Back to magic and cards. So I was introduced into this thriving sub-culture of magic and playing cards that I had no idea existed, and I was intrigued. Not only was it thriving but it seemed to be growing fast, and it looked good. All you have to do is visit the websites of Ellusionist, Theory 11, Dan & Dave to get a taste of the direction magic and playing cards are going. Needless to say I was impressed with the sub-culture and the current stewards (which includes this forum).
This is when the trouble started, I began finding myself constantly going to these sites I listed above (and searching for more) and looking at the beautiful cards. I then started to found myself wanting to buy a deck, and this actually took me a couple of weeks to justify the purchase. The reason being is - "who buys custom cards"? I had never heard of such a thing, nor did I know anyone who had done so (unless they were a closet card collector). I finally fell to the curiosity of playing cards and magic.
I don't remember what the first card was I purchased, at this point it doesn't really matter. After several months of feeding this addiction I find myself spending way to much money and looking for my next card that I need to have. The problem is playing cards are always going to be made, and at some point I need to let my wife know I have started a new hobby. I am not sure which of those is the bigger problem.
With that being said I have added a few hundred decks in the matter of a couple of months (need to catch up on lost time) to my collection and I hope the pace of additions slows a little bit (no thanks to Black Friday). So there you have it, I collect playing cards, added a few things onto my bucket list and suck at magic.
This hobby started with a book, no not Expert at the Card Table but a more recently published book about magic, cardistry, etc called Fooling Houdini. At the time of starting this book I had not knowledge or understanding of how storied and deep a history exists in the world of magic let alone playing cards. For those of you who are interested check the book out, I haven't quite finished it but it is a good read it follows the journey of the author and aspiring magician through some interesting experiences.
Back to magic and cards. So I was introduced into this thriving sub-culture of magic and playing cards that I had no idea existed, and I was intrigued. Not only was it thriving but it seemed to be growing fast, and it looked good. All you have to do is visit the websites of Ellusionist, Theory 11, Dan & Dave to get a taste of the direction magic and playing cards are going. Needless to say I was impressed with the sub-culture and the current stewards (which includes this forum).
This is when the trouble started, I began finding myself constantly going to these sites I listed above (and searching for more) and looking at the beautiful cards. I then started to found myself wanting to buy a deck, and this actually took me a couple of weeks to justify the purchase. The reason being is - "who buys custom cards"? I had never heard of such a thing, nor did I know anyone who had done so (unless they were a closet card collector). I finally fell to the curiosity of playing cards and magic.
I don't remember what the first card was I purchased, at this point it doesn't really matter. After several months of feeding this addiction I find myself spending way to much money and looking for my next card that I need to have. The problem is playing cards are always going to be made, and at some point I need to let my wife know I have started a new hobby. I am not sure which of those is the bigger problem.
With that being said I have added a few hundred decks in the matter of a couple of months (need to catch up on lost time) to my collection and I hope the pace of additions slows a little bit (no thanks to Black Friday). So there you have it, I collect playing cards, added a few things onto my bucket list and suck at magic.
