(Part 2) Top products from r/CasualConversation

First of all, that's great! I'm always happy to meet someone who wants to give magic a start! Don't worry about being good at it yet, it's a very involved performance art, but once you know the core fundamentals (misdirection, audience management, sleight of hand, banterful patter) it's super easy to get into.

If you want to know how I personally started seeking out magic to learn, it was around age 12 with a book called Now You See It, Now You Don't by Bill Tarr. That was my first book on sleight of hand and it covers a multitude of moves and sleights with various objects like coins, cards, and balls. I studied that book like it was a holy text and learned every move, though I didn't quite know how routines worked yet and I wasn't especially charismatic at the time. Not to sound dramatic, but that book had a huge impact on my life and very much shaped the person I would become. I still have that same copy on my shelf. After that it was the Royal Road to Card Magic for my first real introduction to card magic and card routines, but that was a much denser book. It wasn't until a bit later that I discovered online magic stores and downloadable instructional videos. They were so accessible and easy to diget, my desire to learn skyrocketed.

The first I found was penguinmagic.com when I was maybe 13? It's still my gold standard for online magic shopping; my first purchase was Sponge by Jay Noblezada, game changing magic for a kid. From there I graduated to coin magic routines from In the Beginning There Were Coins (also Jay). I recommend sponge or coin magic to start if you want an easy introduction to the principles and fundamentals of sleight of hand.

After that, just before starting high school, I found ellusionist.com and the "leather coat" magicians like Brad Christian and Justin Miller (they've since become more hipsterish, and still a great resource). They were edgy, cool, and influenced my personal style an unfortunate amount... I wore a lot of black and gray back then.

Just before high school I stumbled onto theory11.com, which had more of an artful feel to it, but it's there that I found out about Daniel Madison's Dangerous video. His card magic shaped my performance style in a huge way. He was so laid back and casual about his massive skill. I got really into gambling sleights and card control and manipulation around that time. Cards became almost my exclusive medium for years after that.

I'm 27 now and I'm more into organic magic that fits in one pocket, so less cards and more coins, rubber bands, and mentalism. I use a lot of different resources and it's mostly advanced stuff, I love the challenge of complex sleights though! Those books, those sites and those names guided me into the world of magic.

You can find some other great starting resources on the r/Magic subreddit they have a pretty comprehensive list. There are also a ton of free materials in the public domain available through libraries, google, youtube, tons of effects and fun routines you can learn quickly and easily. If you ever have any questions, need some direction, or just want to chat about where to start, I'm happy to help!

Do you have a type of magic or magician you especially enjoy?

Can I give you a list? Imma give you a list with a little from each category. I LOVE books and posts like this!

Non-fiction or Books About Things:

The Lost City of Z: In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. Cumberbatch will play him in the movie version of this.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Hilariously gross and just super interesting. Her writing is like a non-fiction Terry Pratchett. Everything she's written is great, but this one is my favorite.

Devil in the White City: All about HH Holmes and his murder hotel during the Chicago World's Fair. Incredibly well-written and interesting.

The Outlaw Trail: Written in 1920 by the first superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park (aka, the area around Robber's Roost). He went around interviewing the guys who were still alive from the original Wild Bunch, plus some of the other outlaws that were active during that time. Never read anything else with actual interviews from these guys and it's a little slice of life from the end of the Wild West.

Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi:

Here I'm only going to give you the less known stuff. You can find Sanderson (light epic fantasy), Pratchett (humor / satire fantasy), Adams (humor fantasy), etc easily in any bookstore. They are fantastic and should be read, but they are easy to find. I suggest:

The Cloud Roads: Martha Wells is an anthropologist and it shows in her world building in every series. She creates societies instead of landscapes. These are very character-driven and sometimes emotional.

The Lion of Senet: Jennifer Fallon starts a great political thriller series with this book. If you like shows like House of Cards or things where there's a lot of political plotting, sudden twists, and a dash of science v. religion, then you'll love these.

The Book of Joby: Do you want to cry? This book will make you cry. Mix arthurian legend with some God & Devil archetypes and it's just this very powerful story. Even though it deals with religious themes and icons, I wouldn't say it's a religious book. Reads more like mythology.

On Basilisk Station: Awesome military space opera. Really good sci-fi.

Grimspace: Pulpy space opera. Brain bubble gum instead of serious reading. But that's fun sometimes too!

I also want to talk about your definition of "made it in life." To me, that sounds like you probably mean "rich and/or famous", which I don't think is a sound yardstick by which to measure yourself. I'm pretty successful by the traditional yardstick - I've got a good job and a good house. But I don't really care about that stuff, it just enables me to do what I want to do - to be successful at what I care about. Which is my relationship, my dog (3 months old, woo! A dream 8 years in the making), and woodworking.

You're invested in Psychology, which is an amazing field with so many interesting twists and turns! I've loved books like 'Thinking: Fast and Slow', and it seems like a fantastic field! But you're probably not going into Psychology with an aim to make money - you're probably doing it because it interests you, and you love the idea of being a Psychologist. That's your success measure, not anything extrinsic.

On that note - before I went to University I wanted nothing more than a Ph.D in Physics, and to become an academic. For me, that didn't work out - I started again after finishing my second year in Physics, and started again in Computer Science. I then went on to start a career as a Software Engineer type person. At the time, I thought myself a massive failure for not managing to achieve my dream - but I'm happy now, and I've got no regrets. It didn't take long to get that way either. Remember your yardstick can change, as long as it stays yours.


I'd thoroughly recommend reading "The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck"
It taught me how to care passionately about specific things, and see those goals as successes. And to tune out the rest of it.

I also absolutely loved "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelious which talks about our place in the world, and our duty to it.

Meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy may be able to help you.

>The experts we spoke to agree that, when looking at the science on the benefits of mindfulness meditation, there are three conditions with a strong and convincing body of evidence to support its effects: depression, anxiety, and chronic pain.

>Although the research still is not definitive, the positive effects of mindfulness meditation on these conditions “is holding up to the strongest, strictest standards of research” in well-designed, well-powered trials, Vago

https://www.self.com/story/mindfulness-meditation-health-benefits

>Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective for a wide variety of mental health disorders,1 including anxiety disorders.2-6 CBT has also been associated with improvements in quality of life in anxiety patients.7 CBT is typically conceptualized as a short-term, skills-focused treatment aimed at altering maladaptive emotional responses by changing the patient's thoughts,behaviors, or both.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610618/

A really good place to learn CBT on your own is the books of Dr. David Burns. This one is a good start: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0380810336/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_lBtNBbBVT5CM4

Here's a good webpage on CBT too: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets/

> I'm always focused on me me me (like this post) and as a result I feel I've become detached from the feelings of others around me. Or otherwise I'm busy judging other people to make me feel more secure in myself. It's a terrible loop. Anything I do for others is usually framed by my mind as "oh this will make them like me" resulting in me feeling very fake. I'm always looking at how I can use people to my advantage/how they can be of use to me.

>I'm always living in fear and as a result I think I've lost what ever love I had for the outside world.

This strikes me as something particularly able to change with meditation (well, and cbt too). One of the effects of continued meditation is loss of the strength of your ego, of your self conception, and stronger authentic interest in others.

A type of meditation that you can also engage in is "loving-kindness meditation", which is exactly directed at meditating upon developing a sense of love and kindness towards other people, without any self ego in the picture. It'd be best done alongside regular mindfulness meditation.

Finally, you may consider this one odd, but I wouls recommend possibly experimenting with psychedelic therapy in a safe environment, if you can find such a thing. Please don't just go out and take a drug right away, but perhaps read up a bit on that subject, what you find might interest you.

But anyway, I'd really strongly recommend the first two things, meditation and CBT.

A therapist is going to be able to help you with this way more than anyone here (especially since apparently half the people here are suicidal). They're specifically trained for this kind of thing and can give you techniques, behaviors, medications etc. that are tailored just for your situation.

That said it sounds like your problem is concentrating on negative things. There are a lot of options to help with that. Mindfulness helps a lot and can be worked on with meditation. Keeping your life in general good order is another important step (exercise, sleep, nutrition, being social, keeping an active mind). After that I think the important thing is to identify what you really care about (your values) and stay busy working towards them. It's hard to be so negative when you're in the moment and things are going well in your life.

There are tons of books that can help too. Here's a fairly simple one that I enjoyed. Otherwise I'd recommend books on ACT therapy (e.g. "The Happiness Trap"), Stoicism (this one is good), Meditation ("Mindfulness in Plain English" is good and free), and CBT therapy (I like this one, though it's kinda long). "The Happiness Hypothesis" is another good overview type book.

Congrats on getting some of your student loans paid off and getting two jobs within a week of each other, that's impressive! Best of luck with school.

I will recommend a book that you might find helpful: Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

Take care :)

Learning how to do magic might be something to look into. It can get expensive, but if you're smart about it and you're willing to put in a good amount of work it can be pretty cheap. Get a deck of bicycles ($2-3) and The Royal Road to Card Magic (≈$10) and start working. That's an older book and a lot of modern beginners ignore it, but it has great information.

The biggest problem with learning magic as cheaply as possible is that you have to learn primarily from books. It's not a massive problem, but it can get really confusing when someone is trying to describe a slight without any real demonstration. I can list some other pros/cons if you're interested. It's a fantastic hobby and it'll help build creativity and dexterity.

Try this test. That may tell you a great deal about yourself. It's based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, an early personality profiler based on Jungian theory.

And realize this: being introverted doesn't necessarily mean you don't like people or even that you're shy. It simply means that being around people tires you.

Another great resource: How to Win Friends and Influence Enemies. A classic book but absolutely gospel when it comes to dealing with others.

A lot of easy lessons to learn. You may find that it enables you to talk to people.

As an example, I'm INFP. But everyone at work loves me because I'm gentle, funny, and interested in them. They don't need to know how tired I am at the end of the day, often because of my interactions with them.

You can do this.

Sure :)

This is Chrisfix YT channel

This guy is great... he seems to know EXACTLY how much to say. He never leaves out anything I need to see or be told, but at the same time, he doesn't waste time telling me unnecessary stuff. I think this balance is REALLY hard for most uploaders to manage, but he does it masterfully. It's truly unfortunate he doesn't have a video for every single topic. "Oh cool, there's a ChrisFix video for this," is a great feeling. I instantly know it will be smooth-sailing.


This is ErictheCarGuy YT channel

At first I found this guy to be a little intimidating or advanced for my level of knowledge. Occasionally I need outside reference to understand some things in his videos. However, even though I originally tended to click out of his videos when I stumbled into them... he eventually became my other favorite channel. I quickly became fed up with videos that wasted my time by being redundant/slow/irrelevant/incorrect.

And THIS is the best $20 you'll ever spend

With that you can use your phone and an app to check why the check engine light is on... and way more. If you happen to drive a Ford or Nissan then "Car Gauge Pro" is the app you want... $9 and it does way more than the more popular apps like Torque Pro.

You could go either the new or used route for turntables. Although buying used is tricky since you can't actually test it out, you end up getting a better deal especially if it was made in the 70's.

To start out, I like to recommend the Audio Technica AT-LP60. It's cheap and very functional. The great thing about it is that it comes with a built-in preamp so you can just connect it to a pair of speakers.

I don't recommend Crosleys as you'll likely want to upgrade and the quality isn't that great. I personally use Technics SL1200 which is built like a tank. But you can't go wrong with Audio Technicas as the difference between other turntables is pretty negligible I think.

If you haven't read it, you should check out Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Each chapter is about a different use for bodies that have been donated to science. It's humorous, engaging informative, and fun. Really great read!

I do have a small vinyl collection (~30)! Right now I'm using the audio-technica at-lp60. $89 atm. If you look more into this turntable, you'll hear differing opinions about its overall quality, but I've had the turntable since 2014 and haven't had problems. Check out r/vinyl as well, there are some experts there and a lot of good advice.

The only turntable I would recommend against is Crosley. They are sold at Urban Outfitters, Target, etc. for prices that would seem like a steal for a turntable, but I've heard nothing but issues from people that have gotten them.

Aww that's so awesome of you! I'm sure your brother will love it :)

And that case is beautiful... I also have a NZXT case, the phantom, but I'm starting to hate it because it's so damn big :(.

I have almost the same keyboard, CM Quick Fire TK with browns. How do you like your headset? I'm thinking of upgrading to a wireless one as well but I'm just not sure about the battery life and stuff like that (if you care this is the one I'm thinking of getting).

Pretty much the standard when it comes to social interaction is How to Win Friends and Influence People



You are a Bad ass is another self help book that you maaay be interested in



JBP can be a bit divisive to people but I think this book is worth a look too.

RC Helicopter. It is VERY stable and fun to fly. $15 http://www.amazon.com/Syma-S107-S107G-Helicopter-Gyro-/dp/B00F4WMAAW/ref=sr_1_4?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1462581942&sr=1-4&keywords=syma+helicopter

An Otamatone. It's a cute musical instrument, and it comes in various colors! You can see someone playing it here.

Yeah I think if this works out those will be my IEM's and then I'll get some nice Senn's for when I start my new semester in January.

I'm currently reading "NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories". It's about the punk band NOFX and it's really good read if you're into musical biographies/memoirs.

Amazon!

I'm getting this for all of my friends. Who doesn't want a helicopter?

Celebrate and Promote:

3 years ago, I wanted to give up my life and end it all.

Today, I bought my poetry book which I published on Amazon.

Keep living, it helps.

Links for Kindle eBook and Paperback

I've been using this one- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NLQAHS
Had mine since 2012, from Amazon. No complaints here, it has worked well for me. But pretty much any one will do. They all use the same chip.

It's definitely a known effect that lack of sunlight can cause darker moods. Have you looked into getting a Seasonal Affective Disorder Lamp? Lots of people find them to be useful.

You could buy a pack of these a month without it being outrageous.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CC6XSRC/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1427233435&sr=8-2&keywords=colgate+toothbrush&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51jsZQoBrfL&ref=plSrch

They're decent brushes too.

If you're feeling learn-y.

Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CC6XSRC/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1427233435&sr=8-2&keywords=colgate+toothbrush&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51jsZQoBrfL&ref=plSrch

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Burgers-Burger-Book-Recipes/dp/0789331144/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481297082&sr=8-1&keywords=bob%27s+burgers+cook+book

Bruh. A blog has been out for a while and a book is coming out in a few months.

http://www.amazon.it/Complete-Works-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1451753567&sr=8-6&keywords=lovecraft

because I bought it and needed the link for some reason

For the computer: Logitech Wireless 7.1 Surround Sound Headset

For the gym: Wireless bluetooth headphones

Anywhere else I just use the earbuds that come with the iPhone.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Otamatone!

ph'nglui mglw'nafh

I really like pilot precise v5 pens. They're really high-quality and come in colors for when I take notes and don't feel like finding my highlighters.

Edit: Amazon link. Not quite $13 though sadly!

Read my book. Actually no, don't...

>Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.


-- Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Learn to live in that space. It takes time. But, within that space, you can determine whether or not your anger is justified, and how to respond appropriately.

You sound like you've got something(s) in your life which are pissing you off. Not dealing with those things or being unable to do so may be leading you to displace that anger onto things you feel empowered to show frustration towards. It's a power dynamic. If one feels helpless to change a thing, one tends to ignore it as much as possible. In that situation, one will often have a shorter fuse toward other things.

NOFX kicks ass. Have you read their new book?

I have this mood light that I've used for the past few years. I can't say it cures the SAD completely, but I think it's made it less severe.

Sennheiser HD 598s - My crappy skullcandy over ears now barely work in the right ear, and I just got a pre-amp to record and edit music, which I am now forced to use the stock apple earbuds. These are some of the finest headphones I have used, for listening and making music. I want them badly.

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-598-Over-Ear-Headphones/dp/B0042A8CW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458280321&sr=8-1&keywords=sennheiser+hd

I think it’d an important topic to think about in a daily basis - not in a weepy fearful way, but just to appreciate the time left here on earth. When my dad passed, it hit me hard and I realized how much I had squandered my life being miserable, tense, and angry. I think death helps break you out of your shell. I do imagine myself near death every so often, and it helps take me out of the worries and concerns I have during the day.

Here’s a solid book on the topic:

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Dying-Doctors-Nurses-Families/dp/1476775540

And of course the classic by Viktor Frankl:

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X

And if Alan Watts is up your alley:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M7KRgluYeps