The Magic Hour

I missed my calling, I think. I should have become a magician. I have perhaps only a passing interest in the field, but it comes pretty naturally, and I'm often told I have real talent. Of course, my biggest trick was when, 5 years ago, I made my wife's taste in men disappear (*rimshot*), but I'm far from a one-trick pony, you can bet your sweet bippy. You want proof? OK then, watch as I pull off my thumb:




Not as impressive legerdemain as Darryl Unger/Joe Thanks's ability to seemingly make gerbils vanish into thin air, but I've found kids get a kick out of it. If you really want to knock their collective socks off, though, there's only one trick that'll do the, uh, trick: levitation.

The trick is easy, provided you have the right audience (ie. kids) and the right angle. I know many readers of this illustrious site teach children; if you do and want to wow them, have 'em sit in a chair, about 5-10 feet away, while you perform this trick. Turn your back to them slightly, so that you're facing away from them adjacently. Make sure you're wearing pants (which automatically disqualifies 90% of foreign teachers in SK...har, har), preferably black or dark grey, with closely matching socks. Then simply push yourself, slowly, up on tiptoe on the foot farthest from your audience, wobble a bit (but obviously not too much, lest they see your other foot), and finally come crashing down. The trick is to make sure you don't go too far off the ground. If you've done it correctly, they should be stunned. I tried it today on my daughter and a few of the kids in our building whom she occasionally plays with (all of whom are between 6-10 years old), and they ate it up. If you do it correctly, they'll be putty in your hands. Make 'em steal their dads' whisky and give it to you if they want to see it again.

Here's an (admittedly shoddy) example:



Note that the audience's eyes, if higher up from the angle shown here, should miss the right foot.

Hey, it beats hangman.