Thursday, November 15, 2012

As I predicted yesterday there is a great variance in the level of participation in yesterday’s national strike.  Here in Valencia the official estimate of participation was 4% of the work force.  According to the unions, it was 76%.  Either way, the bottom line is that a lot of people are pissed off at the government for its cutting health, education and culture while raising taxes and do not understand how spending less is going to generate jobs and take the unemployment rate to a more tolerable level.  The current 25% rate is not tolerable.

We decided yesterday that it made more sense to stay close to home since we did not know where the strikers would gather and whether there would be confrontations with the police.  As a result, Susan did not go to her class and I did not go to the gym.  I took advantage of that time to do some work on my magic.  Susan was feeling a bit under the weather thanks to hear sinuses, so she took life easy in the morning hours.

We had lunch at home.  The menu was steak, potatoes and some green beans made with onions and tomatoes.  It was a tasty treat.  I was going to meet with Pepe at 5:00 so I thought I little siesta would be in order before I left.  Susan had agreed to meet with Juanjo, Vilma’s boyfriend, to help him with his English.  They spent the better part of two hours in conversation.  Juanjo is pretty fluent, but he needs a bit of help with grammar and he needs to work a bit more on perfecting his pronunciation.  He is a licensed pilot who is currently employed by Air Nostrum, which is a subsidiary of Iberia.  It is similar to the relationship between American Airlines and American Eagle.  Juanjo’s goal is to become a pilot who flies international routes, hence his need to improve his English.

I headed out for Pepe’s at 5:00.  He wanted to explain to me, in detail, the relaunch of Magic Agora.  The idea is to have people pay a monthly subscription fee to access the Mediatheque, which contains video instruction on every imaginable card and coin sleight.  They will also have access to Roberto Giobbi’s course on beginning card magic that deals with the history of cards, the handling of cards and a number of effects that can be done with few or no sleights.  Subscribers will also have access to a three level course called 52 Steps for the 52 Lovers.  This course will focus on the 52 sleights that one needs in order to perform amazing card magic.  The sleights will be taught in the context of an effect.  Subscribers will also have access to a forum to discuss ideas and issues.  There are a number of optional workshops and services that subscribers can purchase and subscribers will receive a significant discount on those services.  The main focus for the near future will be the Spanish speaking audience.  If this concept flies, then work will begin on the English language version.

I spent a good hour and a half at Pepe’s and I spent the rest of the evening playing around with a couple of magic ideas and trying to build a couple of the components that I will need to perform a couple of new effects that have caught my eye.  We had a very light supper and while I continued to work on my magic, Susan retired to the bedroom to watch several episodes of Castle.