15 posts tagged “dan chan magic man”

Last Sunday, Dan, James, and I went on our first big family vacation - Las Vegas, baby!  James had his first airplane flight ever - and to my delight, he ate on the way up and down, and slept the whole time in between!  I guess I can't brag too much - it was only a one hour flight, after all.  ;)

The weather in Vegas was as it should be - hot!  But because it's spring, it wasn't triple digits flaming hot, so James and I were able to stroll along the strip, check the hotels, and go shopping in the new Planet Hollywood "Miracle Mile" shopping mall!  Our main reason of going out to Vegas, however, was for a magic conference.  While Dan spent a majority of his time at the conference, James and I did get the opportunity to hit up the strip, shop, and see a lot of the sights.  Ah, such is the life of Dan Chan Magic Man and Kat the Acrobat! 

I decided that of the hotels, the Bellagio is the most baby-friendly...not only are a lot of the artwork on the ceiling (thus allowing James to look at something), but it's also bright and cheerful!  The exhibit we saw was a flower and butterfly exhibit.  James also was enamored with the Bellagio fountains...he watched them 3 times straight and was happily squealing in delight each time!  We even got the chance to see the fountains at night once, so he saw the fountain literally in a different light!

While we didn't get to stay at the Bellagio, we did get to stay at the Orleans.  It's not too far from the strip and there is a shuttle bus that goes to and from the strip every 15 minutes.  James especially liked the fact that he not only got to swim in the bathtub everyday, but he also got his very own king-sized bed to sleep on for three nights!  Talk about luxury!
Our trip was a lot of fun - we're hoping to take another out of state trip (hopefully further away from California!) soon!

It's finally arrived - the blue blazing summer hot performances.  I hate 'em!  The performances themselves are the same - it's just that the weather is terrible!   Dan and I had 2 shows today and I thought I was going to melt into a puddle of sweat on the floor!  But it's the price we pay to escape the fluorescent cubicle jungle, I suppose.  Ah well.

So today we had two pretty fun performances.  The first was at an absolutely gorgeous house in Livermore.   The two story house was in a court located right next to line and lines of grapevines.  The family practically had their own vineyard view from their backyard!  One the guests looked pretty familiar to me - he was an older, cheerful looking gentleman.  After the show, we were talking to the mother who hired us and joked that we originally thought that we had a famous sport commentator hire us when we received her deposit - her husband's name is Joe Madden and we mistook him for John. 

"John?  Oh, that's my father-in-law over there - want me to introduce you to him?"

Lo and behold, that friendly looking old chap sitting there watching us perform and who was now kicking back watching his grandkids get ready to swim was none other than the John Madden.  Out of respect for the family, we didn't take any photos - but it was pretty cool to share a few sandwiches with the family at their house and teach their grandson a few tricks.   All in a days work for Dan Chan the Magic Man and Kat the Acrobat, I suppose!

We couldn't hang out too long because we had another show to attend to in Palo Alto, so we bid our adieus and began our next long drive.  The next house was a more modest looking than the house we saw in Livermore, although initial looks can be deceiving.  After the show, we were invited to hang out, have some snacks, and got to take a peek in the house.  Downstairs, this family built a theater room, complete with a wooden ticket taking booth!  It looked like the booth in the picture to the left, except a little smaller.  Again, out of respect for the family's privacy, we aren't posting photos.  Seeing the uniqueness of the homes today made Dan and I think - what will we do with our house in the future?

Dan already envisioned a room with a theater stage complete with spotlight, surround sound, and full video recording capabilities.  I have a little more modest vision of a huge kitchen complete with convection oven, gas burner/grill, and sun room connected (complete with herb, fruit, and vegetable garden in the back!)

After all the performance fun, we stopped by Stanford shopping center for some R&R and OJ until James decided he had enough fun today - then we went home.  It's so nice to be home after such an exciting day!

I know Dan posted this on his blog - but I can't resist because I'm so proud of him:

Dan is Magician of the Year for Ring 216:

Guess who turned the big 3-0 on October 22...?  Not me, that's for sure!  But my darling husband reached that milestone!  He got to celebrate his birthday in the traditional Asian style...with lots and lots of good food!  In fact, he's already had 3 birthday dinners - with more along the way, I bet!  I wonder if this "week long birthday celebration" is a common thing among many people...it seems to be like that with a lot of my friends!

Because I couldn't surprise Dan for his birthday no matter how hard I tried (you try surprising a guy you live and work with - and who has a schedule that changes daily!), we decided to celebrate his birthday a day early so he could go to work while I stayed at home to work on his birthday surprise - a nice, quiet dinner for two at home!  While I promised him I would NOT write about all the food I made him, he did agree to let me write about the dessert I made for him...a super yummy tiramisu cake!  Of all the cakes I've created over the years, I'm so pleased to say the best one I've ever made for anyone was:

1. For my Honey-Dan
2. So yummy that family members who tried it the next day thought it was bakery made
3. Had enough coffee and kahlua in it that even though Dan was exhausted from work that day that he was able to stay awake for the other surprises I had planned for him (surprises that even he didn't know about - ha ha!)
   

A few choice voices had asked me lately - "why the heck haven't you been updating your so-called blog lately?"  This time, I have a legitimate excuse (outside of being a whopping 5 months pregnant, of course).  Dan and I have simply been completely BOOKED OUT all month.  In the month of July, we were spread out and busy as crap with about 50 shows (library, private, and corporate events) over 29 days of work, and 2 days of rest (one of which was 4th of July where we didn't actually rest but party like the rest of America).  In fact, 10 of those shows were out of state in North Carolina!  Those kids gave our show an enthusiastic "thumbs-up"! 

Going back to the "she's 5 months pregnant" and "waddling through life with swollen ankles in July" - I obviously voted for sleep over blogging.  I know - where are my priorities?  ;)  Because of my hard work, I was featured on the front page of the local section of the Redding Record Searchlight.  The kid here, Ira Morgan, and Dan's right hand and elbow looked fabulous.  I think this is how I looked most of the summer.  What can I say, Redding is blazing hot.

I finally discovered what it's like to work for the fabulous Google Corporation.  While I didn't get to get a massage (or my dry cleaning done) I did get to experience what it's like to be a Google employee for a day - Life @ Google = GOOD.

Dan and I were hired to perform juggling and walk around entertainment for the 10,000 people attending the Google Cirq(Us) at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.  It was funny the way we were hired, actually...we got contacted by an agent to take on the gig originally as balloon artists.  It didn't pan out, but it was okay, because later we got contacted by a second agent who wanted me as a face painter.  That didn't pan out either...  Oddly enough, we were contacted a third time, this time by the San Francisco Circus Center, to perform Juggling and Close Up Magic.  This time the deal was done - we were hired!  This was officially the 40th Gig (give or take a gig) Dan and I completed this month, and my 2nd Corporate Walk Around Gig.

Show us your favorite photo from last summer.

Dan and I went to Japan last summer as part of our Honeymoon/one day of work in a foreign country thing.  We were requested by the US Military Base for their Fourth of July celebration and figured - "hey, we're working one day there, why not spend another 6 days there checking out this lovely country?"  Another one of those perks of being a professional magician!

One of my favorite photos was from a hike we took up one of the mountains - when I was younger, I was nicknamed "Monkey" by my parents because I was always found climbing up a tree.  When Dan was younger, he was called "Monkey" by his parents because he acted (looked?) like a little monkey. 

Naturally, this photo became our parents' favorite photo of us because, now married, their two little monkeys have grown up.  :)

Here is one of the letters I wrote to everyone from Japan on July 1, 2006.  Enjoy!

My first introduction to true Japanese life was my first visit to a Japanese Bathroom in the airport during a layover in Tokyo, Japan.  First off, the bathroom actually had a MAP next to the entrance of the bathroom.  I didn't notice this and promptly walked into the restroom area to find two full blown bathrooms to the side complete with a bed (in case you got tired and needed a nap after taking a poop?) and big enough to be a small bedroom (complete with toilet!).  When you walk in further, there are 3 types of toilet to visit....one is a "standard" toilet with a seat on the side to lock your toddler in (2 months to 18 months, if I remember correctly).  This is the stall I walked into (and probably was not supposed to as there are only 2 of these stalls).  The other type of stall is one with a picture of the stall with butt getting sprayed - yes, the infamous butt sprayer....I have not been that adventurous yet - but they are everywhere in Japan.  The last type are the infamous "squat" toilets.  I graduated and tried one out today and did NOT get anything on me!  These types are EVERYWHERE you go - the one I used at the bus station only had these types - when in Rome, ne?  :-)  I can say that everywhere I've gone so far are SUPER clean at least...but OYE!  Can you imagine the confusion of having to choose between 4 different stalls (and the confusion I had when seeing a urinal in a girls bathroom - for kids, I presume)?  Dan had it just as bad - when you walk between the boys and the girls facilities, the boy's bathroom area is as open as it gets - I could see straight into their bathrooms, complete with the urinals lined up in a row!  Talk about lack of privacy!!!