Something Blew My Mind Tonight, sugar Bear!

I had an unusual experience the other night.
Well, unusual for a magician.
I blew my own mind. (Not literally)

Let me explain. No, it would take too long, let me sum up.

I have been working on a new trick. (A card trick, which contradicts my last post.) The basic effect is; A card is selected. The pack is fanned and the card is returned to the fan, sticking about half way out. The pack is squared and replaced to the card box, but sticking about half way out. (So the pack is sticking out of the box and the card is sticking out of the pack.)
I then push the card flush with the pack, count to three, wave my had in front of the pack and voila, only the selected card is sticking out.
This particular trick (Which, for those who care, is called "Jump up cards" and is by Stanley Palm. It is available in the Tarbell Book of magic Vol. 6, page 55.) had been a bit of a thorn in my side because while I enjoyed playing around with it, I just couldn't find a presentation I liked.
I had tried quite a few ways to present it. I let the pack drop so it looked like the selected card was slowly rising. I shook the pack, so it looked as though ... I don't know how it looked, I just didn't think it looked good.
Finally, just when I figured that yes, it was a good trick and all but it just wasn't magical, my lovely wife Jenifer said "Why don't you wave your hand in front of them?"
Hmmmmm, you know, that's just crazy enough that it just might work. So I took a random card, fanned the pack, replaced the card, put the deck in the case and pushed the card flush. Then I counted to three. At three I waved my hand infront of the pack, blocking movement of the pack so when I pulled my hand away only the chosen card was left.
"Hey," My wife said "That was really good."
"Really?"
"Yes, it looked good."
So I tried it on myself. I had a reflective surface across from me and I went through the motions. At the right time I counted to three, waved my hand infront of the pack and when I pulled my hand away a mere second later only the chosen card was left standing.
and I went "Whoa." (Copyright 2005. Keanu Reeves.)
Here is what I saw. The entire deck was protruding about half way out of the pack. I waved my hand, and suddenly the cards were gone and only the chosen card remained.
It blew my freakin mind!!!!!

I mentioned before that this was unusual for a magician. Let me explain. (No wait, it would take too long, let me ... Never mind.)
Magicians are used to magic. We are used to seeing it, we are used to the moves that are used. It is tough to show a magician a trick and have him not at least have an idea how it is done. In other words, magicians rarely experience magic.
On the odd occation it will happen. Just last week at my fave magic shop, The Browsers Den of Magic, the owner Jeff got me with a trick that involved two washers. So while rare, it can happen.
It is almost unheard of for a magician to get himself with a trick. After all, we are the one's that control the sneaky sleight of hand that causes the trick to happen so obviously we cannot fool ourselves.
But I did it! I got me! Damn if I didn't blow my mind.

The sad part is I'm still not sure about the trick, I guess I'll have to try it out on a few people first, but even if I never use it again I will always have that moment when I got myself.

Whoa!!

Next Post: I got myself again, but this time my wife wasn't happy about it!