I'm An Expert At Identifying Wrapped Gifts By Their Shape, Weight, Sound..

[arwalden]

Half the fun is NOT the surprise of seeing what the gift is after you open it... the fun is figuring out what it is BEFORE you open it.

I can peek through thin paper. I can sniff, poke, prod, shake, and rattle to figure out the contents of the wrapped present.

I take a perverse delight in being handed a wrapped gift... then shaking it a couple of times... and without opening it telling gift giver "Thank you so much for the ALIEN DVD Collectors Edition! I was wanting this!!"

I can positively identify about 30% of what's under the tree. Figuring out that a gift is a CD or a DVD is easy enough... but trying to guess the titles can be tricky unless the paper is very thin. (Or, if it's a distinctive gift set like the rounded-corners of the tin box from Band of Brothers.)

My partner thinks it's "cheating" for me to figure out what's inside. But I *never* open the wrapping... I'm just going on the available evidence.

SO... He's starting to add weights in boxes. Putting in OTHER things that don't belong but that make noise. (A marble in a film canister... popcorn in a matchbox... jingle-bells, etc.) Sometimes he'll double-wrap when the paper is thin. Other times he'll disguise the item with a page from a magazine UNDERNEATH the thin wrapping paper. It's a diversion, he gives me something to "see" and try to make out through the paper, but it's not the actual contents.

The RASCAL!! What's he trying to do... RUIN IT FOR ME? I've been doing this since I was a kid. I can't stop now.

This year, there are a couple of presents with a directive on the gift tag that says "NO TOUCHY. NO FEELY. NO POKEY. NO SHAKEY." -- Aw rats!

-- Allen

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. HA!

i can flip a coin 1,000 times and it will allways land on heads