My Two Favorite Fortune Cookies...
Fortune Cookies are like every other form of soothsaying or cosmic advice out there: They are both right and wrong 50% of the time, like the proverbial Broken Clock which is right twice a day.
But sometimes you get nuggets which are just a joy to behold--more inspiration than divination.
One, simply states:
"You're at the critical point. Make that last push."
I keep that taped to my computer monitor (and have in fact kept it taped on my previous two monitors as well) and it is great advice to have on a small printed piece of paper just north of my eye-line, in times of deadline distress. It reminds me of the words "F*ck It!" I used to have scrawled on the Walkers Shortbread tin I kept my pencils and pens in during High School and Art School...just a little bit of reassuring defiance when I was feeling pressured.
My other favorite fortune is lost, unfortunately, but stated:
"A Thrilling Time Ahead. Be On Your Guard."
That just makes me giggle.
It is right up with the telling Chinese curse, "May you live in Interesting Times" or a gag fortune I got once that said "Don't Leave Home Tomorrow"...
I just love positivism, mixed with that slight air of cold-blooded menace!
"A Thrilling Time Ahead. Be On Your Guard."
Just beautiful.
There is an elegance in that statement that just sticks with you. The promise of adventure and excitement...and the eventual price that goes with it. Good and Bad. Ying and Yang.
There is ALWAYS a thrilling time ahead, if you look for it...after all, we DO live in Interesting Times.
And, oddly enough for a Fortune Cookie, it is good advice.
Enjoy the Thrills. Enjoy the ride.
But always remember that the pendulum swings the other way, all Thrill rides come to an end, and nothing lasts forever.
Be prepared for sweet talk to turn sour, for the New to become Old, for some people you trust to be interested in their selfish needs more than yours.
Be prepared. Be on your guard.
I prefer the term "Realistic" to "Pessimistic" because you can still have your fun, just with the knowledge that "Your Way" is not the way of the world. Surprise, the universe doesn't revolve around you (Copernicus and Galileo proved that)! If it did you would be much fatter and denser than you are now, and no one needs to think about that before the Holiday Cookie season. So, enjoy your thrilling time ahead--it's yours, and you deserve it.
Now, I want to find that slip of paper and put it on the opposite side of my monitor, so I can have both fortunes just above my eye-line, at all interesting times.