Honestly?

I was reading an article posted by our fun loving fiends over at iticks. It's about Carl Ballantine and there is a bit I feel every magician needs to read (or at least the ones who peruse this corner of the web)

He was performing straight magic with poker chips, playing cards and money in an act called the River Gambler in 1940 when he underwent a career reassessment.

"The act wasn't successful in nightclubs," he told Hyla M. Clark, author of the 1976 book "The World's Greatest Magic."

"I had to make a living, so I looked at myself in the mirror and said, 'You don't look much like a magician.' Then I put this other thing together."

The other thing, Clark wrote, "soon became one of the most successful of contemporary magic acts."

It's very hard to do what he did and that is Be Honest With Yourself. Some of us want to be the big star illusionist so we buy the boxes and women and whatnot. The problem is that's not what you're supposed to be. Don't fight your role in life folks. Some of us are destined for comedy, others for seriousness. The problem? How do we know?

We don't. That's what sucks. Pay attention to where your strengths are... or even your weaknesses, which can become your strengths. There is a happy medium to everything and you can find your balance if you just come to grips with your own reality.

Good luck.

Bizzaro.