The neighbor invited us to a birthday party that he was throwing for… well… I don’t know. But the kid looked to be younger than 10.
Having no present but wanting to contribute, I brought my bag of sculpting balloons and both of my travel pumps. They both broke. I ran back to the house to get my Coleman air-mattress inflating pump. Hey, whatever works.
At one point there were about two dozen kids in a moonwalk laughing and playing with balloon swords that I made for them. It felt GREAT. The neighbors asked if I wanted to be paid for it — no. I wanted to make the kid’s party better. I wanted the experience of working in front of a crowd. I spent about $4 on balloons to do both, and a fun time was had by all.
I also practiced doing magic in the main lobby at the Texas Association of Magicians conference about a month ago. It’s an ongoing fight against stage fright — and one I think I’m winning very well.