This evening, 37 members turned up for our May meeting, themed “Magic of the Mind”, and hosted by JK Tan and Alvin Terence.
JK Tan began by warmly welcoming two guests, Godwin Tan and Joyce Tan (introduced by Wei Liang and Joel Tay respectively), and newest member, Wen Zhong to the club. Next, IBM Ring 115 inducted Sagar Choksi into full membership. Sagar solemnly took his oath and received his wooden magic wand from President John Teo.
Alvin Terence announced that limited stock of 4GB credit card-sized thumb drive bearing the IBM Ring 115 logo was still available at $10 each. Jeremy Tan announced that Karl Hein’s ‘Go with the Flow’ lecture would be held on 30 July 2013 at 7.30pm at Bayview Hotel. Those interested could buy tickets at $35 from JK Tan or Alvin or check out more details on the club’s website.
Victor Heng paid tribute to John Teo’s monthly editorial contributions for over ten years. For his dedication, the committee presented him a special, hard-cover book of ten years of his own collection of contributions on President’s Page from the time he became President until December 2012.
Chew Liang Huat led the evening’s magic performances with his lovely ‘bug assistant’ that could sniff out a ‘Ten of Spades’– randomly selected by a guest—from a mix of ten cards laid out on the table. Its nose would turn red and it would ‘shiver’ when the right card was under its nose. Cute!
Lim Teck Guan performed some old school magic. He got a guest to gently rub on a plastic box placed over 2 strips of tissues, which the guest had torn, and voila! The torn tissues floated up towards the plastic base, like magnets! He then tore up the centrepage from a magazine into 3 pieces and slowly unfolded the pieces to show that it had been magically restored. Next, he kept the audience guessing which table-tennis ball was under which ‘bottomless’ mineral water bottle as the balls played ‘hide-and-seek’ under the 2 mineral water bottles..
Derek Tan made a hand-drawn prediction of a clock pointing at 7.15 pm and when presented, the time matched the two numbers randomly selected by two guests! He next got his guest to make a choice of random objects – a sweet, sanitiser and a tissue pack – placed on a table. They matched his prediction which he had earlier written on a paper, including exactly where they would be placed!
Takuya Hayashi got guest, Joyce to think of a special moment as he drew out her thought on a piece of paper. His rough sketch of romance in the air and the words ‘Joel proposed’ indeed matched Joyce’s special moment of Joel’s proposal!
Jeremy Tan got guest, Joyce to write a word and place the card writing side down in his wallet, so he did not get to see it. He then swung a pendulum with a charmed ‘toadstool’ hanging at the end of it, in front of Joyce to gauge if she was one to change her mind easily. He got her to hold a ring in any hand and he guessed correctly twice which of her hands held it the ring. He rounded up his act by correctly describing the word she had written on the card, still untouched in his wallet! It was the word ‘orange’.
Next, Jeremy Pei who had a dealer’s booth, demonstrated some of the items on sale. He then got Alvin Tan to draw a picture on a card and placed it in-between a regular deck. He then ‘teleported’ it to France. When he laid out the deck of cards in four columns, images of France like Mona Lisa had replaced the cards, and among those French-inspired cards, the card with the apple that Alvin had drawn!
The meeting resumed at 9.30pm after a break.
Alvin Terence got Derek Lee to pick a card at random and as he had correctly predicted, it (‘Seven of Clubs’) appeared on the credit card thumb drive earlier on sale, complete with IBM logo!
Lee Wei Liang showed how he could filter through Joseph Loh’s conscious and subconscious mind to read his chosen card, the ‘Ten of Spades’ , which he had earlier placed aside in a red envelope.
Gician Tan, showed how, with his magical wave of a card, it could transform into John Teo’s chosen card, the ‘Four of Hearts’,
Joseph Then, a ventriloquist, introduced ‘Ah Beng’, his unregistered guest at the meeting, who amused and brought the house down with his several obvious ‘predictions’.
President John Teo had a card randomly selected by guest Joyce. He then displayed a picture of a fanned-out deck with only one card face-down. It turned out to be the missing selected card, ‘Four of Diamonds’, from a real deck of cards when they were turned over. Next Joyce randomly selected another card, “Ten of Spades’, from among nine face-up cards. When the other cards were gathered together and turned face downwards, they coolly spelt out ‘The Card That You Chose Is The 10 of Spades’ on their backs!
Alvin Terence Tan got Derek Lee to select 3 cards at random. They were two Aces and a ‘5’, which could be translated to ‘115’ which he revealed printed on the thumb drive he had put aside. What a match!
Jeremy Pei, the magician of the month, began by showing that the card with the words “Your Card’, when opened up, held the correct prediction ‘Three of Clubs’, which was Joseph’s card. Next, he showed how two tubes which covered a glass and a bottle each, could cause them to magically switch places. This was a prelude to his version of Multiplying Beer Bottles, which concluded with a climax production of strawberry, chocolate, and white milk bottles.
With that, it was time to call the meeting to an end. All who attended that evening were given a copy of The Linking Ring magazine each, by courtesy of our Advisor Tan Choon Tee.
Reported by
(Ms) Low Hwee Lang