Fanclub

It's always nice to be appreciated. A few days ago I was doing my regular Saturday night table-magic gig at Earl's restaurant in Westhills, Calgary, and had almost finished for the night. Five minutes before the end of my shift one of the waiters came up and asked me to go to a certain table. It was a family I'd met a couple of weeks earlier - a really nice couple with their two very sweet daughters.

The younger daughter was red-eyed and had obviously been crying. When she saw me, however, her eyes lit up and she got the biggest smile I've seen in ages. A genuine beamer.

Apparently she'd been crying because she'd looked around the restaurant when they arrived and she hadn't seen me there! How's that for validation? Applause is nice but having people cry because you're not there...

Incidentally, I'm thrilled finally to have an Okito box coin magic routine I'm happy with. I've had an Okito box (the brass pill-box in the photo, just the right size to put coins in) for years and years but was never entirely happy with the routines I'd played with. I've now spliced together pieces of two routines and altered a little bit of the handling to suit me, and I'm satisfied.

Mostly.

Still needs work, but the reaction I'm getting from spectators is strong.

Success!

I know, I know, it's been ages since I've given any real updates on how the rabbits are doing but I have an excuse -- I've been waiting for our new little video camera to arrive in the mail. So now you'll be expecting a video. And I have to disappoint you again. The camcorder still hasn't come but I have good news that you deserve to hear.

You may remember that back in October, only a couple of days before we had Augustus and Snowdon neutered they started scrapping quite ferociously and we had to separate them. How long does it take for the testosterone to wear off? Apparently three months! This meant that we had to wait until my birthday back in January to begin their reintroduction.

We put them in the bathtub together once or twice and made them swim laps as a teambuilding exercise. (Actually we just made them sit and cuddle together. No water.) In a couple of times to put them in a cardboard box on top of the washing machine during a spin cycle. If I tell you they loved the experience you will have to imagine my voice dripping with sarcasm.

But it worked! There were one or two slightly aggressive moments of chasing and a few foot thumps along the way but gradually over a period of about three weeks we had them spending more and more time together.

And now they're as close as they ever were. I can't tell you what a relief that is.

The only problem we are now having is that for some reason Snowdon (aka the Prodigious Pooper) has decided that his poo-bin is an option rather than mandatory and although he never poops outside of their pen, he seems to have no qualms about spraying poo nuggets around the place like he's on a deadline.

I'd welcome any suggestions any of you might have as to how to fix this recently-developed proclivity.