One of my favorite things about college is the number of free or cheap events that they put on. I am always met with new and interesting options for entertainment, usually something I never would have picked out myself. Most recently, I attended a show featuring Mat Lavore, a magician, hypnotist and mind-reader. It was truly one of the best experiences of my life.
He started out doing some card tricks, simple but effective. I, personally, had never seen any of them before. He began doing some more elaborate tricks. This was one of my favorites:
My boyfriend was chosen as a volunteer to go up on stage, along with a few others. He was given a book and told to open to a random page, read the first word on the page and write it down. He wrote it down, put it in an envelope and sealed it. Lavore had a few other people do the same thing with their books, one of which was a dictionary.
Lavore told my boyfriend to picture the word as best he could, and as a mind-reader he would think of the word. After a few moments of thinking, Lavore wrote down 246. Opening the envelope, it was revealed that my boyfriend’s word was “enemy” from page 196 of his book. Well. Clearly not the same. “Would you mind,” Lavore said to the girl with the dictionary, “check page 246. I feel like it’s there. Page 246, first column, sixth word down.” Sure enough, there it was. The word “enemy” was the sixth word in the first column on page 246 of the dictionary.
Lavore then moved on to hypnosis. He told everyone in the audience to participate in the first little activity, and then he would pick volunteers from that. I was terrified. I did not want to be picked to go up on stage and be hypnotised. He told us all to hold our own hands, and then raise both index fingers and touch them together. He told us to close our eyes, imagine that they were stuck together, and no matter how hard we tried to pull them apart, they got more stuck every time. Opening our eyes, he went around and picked volunteers. He picked my boyfriend. And then he picked me. Oh. Crud. So I went up on stage, and we did a few activities.
I learned that when you “sleep” during hypnosis, you aren’t actually asleep. But man does it look like it! I couldn’t move, my eyes were closed, there was no emotion on my face. I could hear every word that he said, and I could picture it all. Naturally, I assumed that the only reason the hypnosis worked was because I could hear it. Well, my favorite trick shows I was wrong.
I was asleep, as were the other nine volunteers that he picked. He touched my shoulder. “The person I am touching right now, and only that person, you are so, so thirsty. You are parched, your mouth is dry, and you really need a drink of water. But, you-”. I didn’t hear the last part of what he said. Oh no! I thought to myself. I didn’t hear it, so it isn’t going to work!
When we woke up, my mouth and throat were super dry. I actually coughed a few times. He went around and messed with the other hypnotised people first. Eventually, he came to me.
“Are you good? Do you need anything?” he asked me.
“I’m really thirsty actually,” I said. He handed me a bottle of water. I stared at it. Everyone was laughing. I put my hand on the cap, and twisted. My hand swirled gently in a circle around the cap, the cap remaining closed. I tried again. Nothing. It was the weirdest thing.
“Um,” Lavore said. “Have you ever used one of these before?”
“I think so?” I replied. He took the bottle from me.
“Let me help you,” he said, twisting off the cap easily. He gave it back. I looked at the bottle, the water inside. I brought it to my nose and sniffed it. I looked at it some more. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do with it! I brought it a few inches away from my mouth. And put it back down. I did it again, and again. I still couldn’t drink it. You know that feeling when you play with two magnets, and you have them pushing against each other? You try so hard to put those magnets together, and yet they somehow push each other away? That is what it felt like to me. I brought the bottle to my mouth, and it was somehow pushed away.
“What’s your favorite flavor?” Lavore asked me. I replied cherry. He pointed to the bottle, “It now tastes like cherries, and you remember how to drink.”
I brought the bottle to my lips and finally took a sip. It had a sweet after taste, almost like…
“It tastes like cherries,” I said amazed.
I absolutely loved the magic show that Mat Lavore put on. It was the best college event that I have been to so far, and I am so glad that I went. I was unbelievably nervous to have been on stage in front of people, but I am so glad to be chosen. That experience is something I would not trade for the world, and given the chance to do it all over again, I most certainly would.
If you are ever faced with something that sounds like it would be cool but is really far out of your comfort zone, go for it. I know it is scary. But you will regret it later if you don’t take the chance. Besides, even if it sucks, it will still make for a great story down the road!