Nice to meet you guys!

[eostresh]

Hello I'm Erik!
Looks like I am a bit older than most of you. I'm in my mid thirties and on my third career(English teacher in Korea). In the past I've worked on the railroad, been a graduate student, and for most of my working life I was a firefighter for the U.S. Forest service(I still miss chainsaws but not the helicopter rides!)

I originally got into magic during high school but gave it up for a good long time(all but a few card tricks I would perform regularly.) About five years ago I moved to a town that had a decent magic shop and got back in to it big time. Now that I'm in Korea Internet forums and shops are my best bet at learning and staying current in magic but it sure is nice to go into a brick and mortar shop from time to time.

For about the last year I have really been hitting card magic pretty hard and have begun a series of deck reviews on other forums. I love that exomagic has a review forum dedicated to deck reviews and I'll start transferring some of my reviews over when I get a chance. I may have a few reviews that you guys have yet to cover but it looks as if they may be just more of the same for this place. That's fine with me if it is with you guys. My attitude is that every card magician has different sized hands and a slightly different style of magic so the more deck reviews the merrier!

The three card tricks that have become my signature effects for my performances have been Aaron Fisher's "Panic," Paul Harris’s "Twilight Angels," and David Penn's "Black Eight." For parlor venues it's hard to beat Straight Jacket escapes and hand choppers. For walk around "non-card" stuff it really depends on what I have been playing with at the time.

As for fun stuff to practice? Any knuckle busting card sleight or routine. I try to keep it hard to ensure I'm equally abusive on every deck I review. I'm currently working on perfecting the Clip Shift(C. Nelson) and getting "proficient" at the one handed bottom palm. (E. Earick)

If it is not magic my hobbies are mostly "outdoorsy" stuff. I used to do a lot of Ice Climbing and backcountry Split Boarding but these days(living in Korea) it is mostly hiking and snowboarding at an area.

My favorite animal is Nate....my scruffy mutt.

My favorite pie? Does a Cornish pasty count? if not then give me Grandma' apple pie.

Favorite soda? Are you kidding? Oh yeah...I'm an old guy. Give me a fricken beer dude! Preferably an IPA or a proper English bitter.

[Web Gehring]

ERIK!! Welcome Aboard. i really love this place. I'm sure you will too! I'm sure your knowledge and forum activity will be a great addition to these forums.

Be sure to drop into tinychat when you get the chance. its a great time (ExoMagic.com - Live Video Chat >> Learn.Teach.Evolve or ExoMagic - Tinychat )

and dont forget the small talk chat box thingy-ma-bob at the top of the forums home page. it can be fun too.

my grandpa and i should be starting those boxes once all the crops are planted/sprayed once summer hits and its growing season again

looking forward to seeing you around here as well man.

sincerely,
Worldwideme

[Alex Hess]

Erik, welcome to the community! I've seen you around other boards posting reviews and what-not, they're VERY in-depth haha.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you wind up teaching English in Korea?

Cheers,

[eostresh]

Originally Posted by Alex Hess

Erik, welcome to the community! I've seen you around other boards posting reviews and what-not, they're VERY in-depth haha.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you wind up teaching English in Korea?

Cheers,

HaHa...The term card geek might be an understatement with me. I'm about done with my second deck review project and then I'll take a break from the "In Depth" reviews and start putting together a buyers guide of sorts where the information is a bit more consolidated. A way to appeal to those who don't need to know every silly detail about a deck!

As for Korea, I just wanted to travel and get paid for it so I looked on line and found a job.

[Misjief]

Big E!

Welcome to the forum!

I am very jealous of you, I studied a couple of martial arts and one of my teachers' mentors lives in Korea! He'd tell me stories and the like, in stilted 'engrish'. When we knew he was coming we'd all send him money so he could bring us uniforms. I think a lot of our dojo's weapons originated from their as well. The quality of MA equipment, obviously is much better in the orient then what is generally available here. He'd pack his suitcase with our gear on the way out here and bring back stuff he couldn't get there. LOL

What the heck is split boarding? Sounds cool as all get out!

Are Cards pretty available out there, some of my friends into XCM have a hard time getting some card in various places in Europe, which surprised me.

-misj-

[[RH]magician]

South or north korea?
Welcome!
good to have you here.

[eostresh]

I'm living in South Korea. You can find some pretty cool antique or replica weapons around here if you know where to look. If you are into sword collecting Korea is a great place to shop around. Being the main trade rout between Japan and China has given them a rich history and variety of sword design. There are even stone swords from the pre-bronze era. As for modern forges...I have no idea? I'm sure they are around but the most modern Korean sword is very similar to a Japanese Katana and thus getting one forged would likely cost about as much($20,000-$50,000) The major difference is the Korean sword was generally a "hand and a half" sword and intended to be used with a shield, whereas the Japanese sword was generally a two handed sword.