Journal jayratch's Journal: Success
Ok, I give. I was wrong.
The secret to success is something far simpler than I'd imagined. The key is being well able to lie.
Yes, I've been playing the wrong game. I thought that somehow chess was the game to learn, but that will only teach you how to deal with simple problems on simple systems. Simple systems are where the rules can be layed out in a fairly two-dimensional chart, and consist of machines with far less than a trillion synapses each. Instead I should be playing poker.
Tonight I played the long awaited game of Chess with Mark. Less satisfying than even phone sex could be. You see, I won, or at least on face value. I really can't figure out who won, which means he did. Yes, I checkmated him with my queen. But I used no major strategy, and he used no major defenses. I simply fumbled along until an opportunity opened, and placed my queen where it needed to be for checkmate. It was a victory so painfully obvious I almost avoided it- it looked and smelled like a trap. I took the bait, checkmate. The beauty of it? How he played it (not on the board) left me completely uncertain between three choices: I legitimately beat him, he simply didn't try, or he sincerely gave me the game. So here is Mark's essential skill: he's the best damned liar I've ever encountered. His grasp seems to be that truth is whatever he decides it is, even if it blatantly is not so. The result? He fucks people a lot, and he leaves them wondering constantly- first "Does he really think he can pull that off?" then "Can he actually pull that off?" wrapped up by "I'm not sure whether he actually pulled it off or not, but a lot of people seem to think he did."
I said I will never get in a game of poker with this man, but I take it back. I would welcome the opportunity; and lose repeatedly, but the goal is education. I may do so with chess, but I fear his love of betting may make it a costly education.
The secret to success is something far simpler than I'd imagined. The key is being well able to lie.
Yes, I've been playing the wrong game. I thought that somehow chess was the game to learn, but that will only teach you how to deal with simple problems on simple systems. Simple systems are where the rules can be layed out in a fairly two-dimensional chart, and consist of machines with far less than a trillion synapses each. Instead I should be playing poker.
Tonight I played the long awaited game of Chess with Mark. Less satisfying than even phone sex could be. You see, I won, or at least on face value. I really can't figure out who won, which means he did. Yes, I checkmated him with my queen. But I used no major strategy, and he used no major defenses. I simply fumbled along until an opportunity opened, and placed my queen where it needed to be for checkmate. It was a victory so painfully obvious I almost avoided it- it looked and smelled like a trap. I took the bait, checkmate. The beauty of it? How he played it (not on the board) left me completely uncertain between three choices: I legitimately beat him, he simply didn't try, or he sincerely gave me the game. So here is Mark's essential skill: he's the best damned liar I've ever encountered. His grasp seems to be that truth is whatever he decides it is, even if it blatantly is not so. The result? He fucks people a lot, and he leaves them wondering constantly- first "Does he really think he can pull that off?" then "Can he actually pull that off?" wrapped up by "I'm not sure whether he actually pulled it off or not, but a lot of people seem to think he did."
I said I will never get in a game of poker with this man, but I take it back. I would welcome the opportunity; and lose repeatedly, but the goal is education. I may do so with chess, but I fear his love of betting may make it a costly education.
