So, I got a puppy on Friday!
She's an Australian Labradoodle and was a total surprise for my kids -- they thought we'd never get a dog, but the wife and I decided it was finally time. Speaking of time, did you know that a puppy requires more of your attention than a baby? Go figure!
It's currently Sunday night, about 8pm, and this is the first chance I've had to sit at the computer. They get better, right?!
Either way, the way my kids' faces lit up was beyond priceless. It was magical in every way possible (^_^)
Back in March, 2022 -- and during Spring Break of 2022 (April) -- I was reading through The Memory Arts, a book that teaches a sort of "memory palace" technique to help with memorizing just about anything, including the order of a deck of cards. Immediately prior to the Spring Break trip, I "memorized" the 26 visual locations that were taught in the book, and the memory clues for card values and suits. I even knocked out the exercises pretty well and kept them up during my trip. And then, I returned home.
So, it's April 2023 -- a full year later -- and in the time between last Spring Break and this exact weekend, I haven't touched the book. I didn't practice it at all. In fact, I still haven't fully memorized a memdeck stack (Aronson, Mnemonica, etc.). But, when I took a look at the book just yesterday, I realized that I still fully remembered all 26 visual locations, in order. I could recall each one forwards, backwards, and even randomly.
I didn't remember all of the card visuals, but they came back rather quickly with an "oh yeah, I remember that" kind of reaction. Yesterday and bits of today, I've been memorizing 10 cards at a time from a randomly shuffled deck and it's been going really well. The last time I did it, I went through 10 cards in about 45 seconds or so, and then I was interrupted with something that needed my full attention (puppy training stuff), and about 15 minutes later, I fully recalled the 10 cards without hesitation! I know it may be hard to take it at face value, but I also didn't recite or practice the cards during that 15 minute interlude either -- it was legitimate recall!
I'm going to try, though I remember saying this last year too, but I'm going to try to use this method to memorize a stack in its entirety. I've decided on Mnemonica to start with. Once I have that down, I'll down Aronson, and then Redford's. They each have built-in features that are nice to work with, and since I show most of my tricks to the same group of people it would be nice to "prove" a deck is shuffled but still be able to pull off similar tricks ;)
I'll... keep you updated =P
I just realized earlier today that new episodes of Fool Us have been airing for a few weeks. I'm 3 or 4 episodes behind now it seems, and that's a heck of a lot of reviews to get to!
Whelp, looks like I know what I'll be binge watching =]
I learned something about myself recently and it's that I order a crapload of stuff that I might not actually need. /me looks shadily towards my closet full of decks
Sitting next to my desk, for instance, are 23 unopened boxes. What's in those boxes? Well, here's a quick breakdown of what I remember:
- at least 10 Kings Wild Project decks (some of the 9 boxes have 2 decks in them...)
- a Kings Wild Project giveaway prize! <-- you'll love seeing this one
- a Tannen's Magic Mystery Box that I ordered back in March, 2021 (yes, still 100% unopened)
- Kickstarter rewards from TCC
- Scribe from Ellusionist
- an unopened (like, the actual shipping box unopened) Piracy Card Box Set from Pete's Pirate Life
- decks from Momentum Playing Cards
- several complete bricks of playing cards (misc)
I plan on recording unboxing videos and/or video reviews of them all. But, how much time needs to pass before we reach that proverbial "the ship's sailed" situation?