Friday

The day started with a bit of yoga. I’d never tried it but Polly has some experience with it. She has a dvd we popped in and got busy on these rubber mats. Everyone in LA is issued one of these mats upon moving here. It’s part of the welcome wagon gift pack. It felt good to stretch in new ways, focus on our breathing and find our centers in strange balance positions. I think were going to try and incorporate some daily yoga into our lives.

At noon I split for the Castle. Friday lunch at the Castle, dining with Aye Jaye always a hoot. Had a nice chat with John Lovick then headed downstairs to pay Mr. Goodwin a visit in the library. He was doing some research with John Armstrong. My pal Sam Rapp was also down there doing some research of his own on street performing. I guess I could call Sam one of my Busking/Pitching students. He’s been trying it out at Hollywood and Highland. I asked Billy what the trick of the week was and he busted out an interesting version of Copper/Silver/Brass. I introduced myself to Mr. Armstrong and told him that I had heard good things about him. I asked him if he wouldn’t do a trick for me. He kindly obliged with a nifty faro trick. More than the trick itself, I really liked how well he sold the routine. He didn’t just walk through the routine, he performed it. Afterwards we discussed the virtues of various techniques of dumping extra cards following the faro, as well as other options like taking a break after the shuffle at the base of the thumb and double undercutting or as Homer liked to do a pass at that point under just a few cards.

Along with Aye Jaye at lunch another fellow named Jerry Newton sat at the table. As we ate and discussed a variety of topics, I made the off hand comment that I was considering releasing a spanish version of 101 tricks with a stripper deck. Just one of the many things that I think about. I didn’t expect him to bring Rafael Benatar down to the library to meet me. Mr. Benatar as well as performing translates to Spanish. He gave me his card and told me to call him if I move forward with this idea.

Wanting to beat Friday rush hour on the 101, I left the Castle around 3PM. I was home in 10 minutes. It was hot, so I thought a dip in the pool sounded like a plan. Laps and sunbathing, more laps and more sun, cigar, palm trees and happiness.

Came home, spent some time with Polly, then went to work at the City Walk. Did my thing, came home with money slept good with my woman.

Not a bad day in paradise.