i was walking to a clinic from my parents house and was waiting at the light at university and elm when a small, southeast asian man standing by me started saying something to me.
i had my airpods in, so i missed what he said, but he seemed to be pointing to the corner of his eye so i assumed he was complimenting my sunglasses (which everyone has been doing recently).
he laughed and said something like, “no, you’re a very lucky man, you have such a kind face,” and proceeded to basically tell my fortune.
i’ve encountered something like this before, a long, long time ago back when i worked at hollister, and after that interaction, the yogi asked if i could give him a discount on his purchase, so i knew this was probably some sort of scam, or that he’d eventually ask for some money; but i’m also a spiritual person, and i find these things interesting and think maybe they’re some force of the universe anyway, so i decided to let him keep going.
he told me that i had 3 lines on my forehead that meant i was going to live a long and happy life (up to the ripe old age of specifically 89), and that i had a lot of friends.
he told me something like things will work out well for me, and though i’m mostly carefree, i have a tendency to overthink certain things, and i should avoid doing that
at one point, he handed me a small piece of paper and told me to crumple it and then blow on it, so i did.
then he told me that i once had a jealous friend in a past life – someone who was pleasant to my face but wished the worst for me in private – and that in this life, i should keep my most important plans to myself.
“my advice is in conversations, speak less and listen more. but you can talk to your family because they’re blood.”
and then he asked me to pick a number from 1-9 and name a colour i liked.
i picked 7 and blue.
we continued talking, about how when i start to overthink things, i should switch from thinking to prayer. at one point he told me i’d be receiving two pieces of very good news in the next month.
then he told me to straighten out the small crumpled piece of paper in my hand. i did, and on it was written the number 7 and the word blue – the number and colour i had picked earlier.
i’m always impressed by these things, even knowing it’s probably some trick or sleight of hand. i don’t even remember him writing anything down on the piece of paper to begin with, though he must have at some point, and i can’t recall any opportunity he would’ve had to switch the piece of paper considering in my memory i was holding it the whole time.
then he asked me to blow on the piece of paper and put it in his little cache, and when i did he asked me to put in some money too.
suspicions confirmed.
at first i refused, thinking i didn’t have any on me, but then i remembered i had some cash from the weekend, so i gave him a $5 bill.
later, i googled this whole interaction and found that it is indeed a common practice known as the “lucky face scam”, but honestly, i don’t mind parting with $5 for the sake of some unconventional entertainment and words of kind fortune. after all, people pay psychics all the time (although they arguably haven’t been tricked into the interaction). and besides, i do tend overthink certain things and talk too much anway (as do we all).
who knows, maybe just speaking all those good things out loud will somehow manifest them.
likely not, but never say never.
