Monday 17 May 2010

The Panic Sets In...

Well, perhaps the title is a slight exaggeration but in a few days I am off to do shows and lectures in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Los Angeles. It seemed like a good idea months ago, but now....

I guess that I should spend a happy couple of hours packing tricks into travelling trunks to cover more or less every every eventuality, and I know I will still be doing that right up to the moment we leave. Then there is all the electronic stuff I take, two computers, video camera, still camera, multiplugs, cables...

I mustn't forget Debbie...

Her department in all this is the clothing and little things like passports, tickets, where we are staying and all that jazz.

The worry at the moment is that I asked the organisers of the Master Classes that I am giving to ask their customers who had registered what they wanted me to talk about, get answered, learn about and so on. So far not one question! As I am going to be on my feet for several hours I hope somebody comes up with something.

I have been to all three places before and I am looking forward to seeing them again. It will also be good to see all the friends we have over there too.

On this trip, having suffered the rip off prices I was charged for telephone usage in Barbados last time, Skype is already loaded up and tested. I really do think that it is time that the various governments took a look at what phone companies are charging. Now that calls are digital and travelling via computers, surely it costs no more to call New Zealand than it does to call my next village? Even if it does cost more, the infrastructure MUST be cheap to run because why else would all the major companies have us calling India with our queries?

When I'm king......

2 comments:

Dale... said...

I dont know why people have not asked questions. Maybe it's because they know what ever you say, will be worth listening to.
Cant wait to read all about it on the magic N.Z news letters.
hope you both have a Safe trip!
D.

Tom Noddy said...

Paul, clearly this is not the place to send this comment but I don't Twitter but I saw my name mentioned in your recent Twitter ... um ... tweet (I get Google Alerts when my name goes out online and it showed me your tweet). So I hope you'll forgive this piece of misdirection until we are lined up on the same page. You mentioned that I was still performing Bubble Magic and then you wondered aloud about the cigarette smoke thing. Check it out ... I've used a few different small fog machines for years now. This shows me with the one that I'm using these days http://preview.tinyurl.com/326jhz7 it shows me on a German television show. As you'll see, the TV version of the act is much the same (with several more pounds for the same price) but, the live version is usually 25 minutes and when presented at universities and science centers and such there is an additional 35 minutes of Q&A where I talk about the science and the how-to. I know a lot about the physics and less about the mathematics of soap films but, as I warn them, it's much more entertainment than schoolroom ... I'm funnier than I am smart.