just don't try that card trick on me

Poor S. He didn't know what he was getting himself into when he suggested last night after dinner that he show me his favorite card trick. What he hadn't counted on is a facet of my personality that I'm slowly becoming more and more conscious of: my intense need to feel as though I'm not being fooled, which results also in a distrust of anyone who thinks they understand my motivations. See, this is cuz I like to think I can figure out other people's motivations. But it's more than that.

But first the card trick.

Poor S. I have to say it again. He dealt the cards into three rows and asked me to pick a card in any of those rows but not to tell him what it was. Just tell him which row it's in.

Row three.

I watched as he gathered up the cards and put row 3 on top of his pile. He then dealt them such that the rows he created now divvied up all the cards that were in the original row 3 and asked me to tell him which row the card was in now. So I did, and he did a similar thing, with me watching his every move--which row of cards went on top, etc. And the whole time he's doing this and I'm watching him, I'm asking suspicious questions after he asks me to simply pick a row. Well, why? Do you want me to pick a row that contains my card or one that doesn't? When the cards were face down in four piles and I'd pick pile 2 and 3, he'd pick them up. Yet when piles 1 and 4 remained and I chose pile 4, he picked up pile 1. Inconsistent. And I said as much.

S.: You sure do know how to ruin a card trick.

I don't like for people to try to figure me out, yet I keep a blog.

Well that one's just so simple I can't even engage it.

This is why I hate salespeople with their fake pitches and why I'll more often than not be contrary when I think someone's on to me rather than let them know they're right.

And if I'd let S. do the card trick without my being a pain in the ass, I don't think I would've been able to stifle the urge to tell him I knew exactly what he was doing all along.

This is why we play games of strategy instead. Scrabble, anyone?