I think the fortunes inside of fortune cookies should have an expiration date. That way, if it doesn't happen by the set date, you won't keep your hopes up...not that I bank on my fortune cookies, but it's kind of fun to see if something happens. Of course, the fortunes are always so vague you can interpret anything that happens as the fulfillment of your fortune. For example, a friend of mine recently got a fortune that said, "You will have a romantic encounter." That could mean anything from someone flirting with you to falling madly in love...and again, what is the time frame for this romantic encounter? It could mean "today" or it could mean "at some point in the future." I demand expiration dates!
Posted by christin at June 23, 2003 10:56 AM | TrackBackI second that motion.
Posted by: svenska at June 23, 2003 12:37 PMThirded.
I'm still waiting on the promotion I was promised in the fortune cookie 2 months ago.
Posted by: SonofThunder at June 23, 2003 01:54 PMI predict it will never happen (some time in the future).
Posted by: Papa at June 23, 2003 01:55 PMOne thing I've noticed about the fortunes is that they're often but fortunes at all but more like personality descriptions. What kind of sense does that make?
Posted by: Sweet Fancy Moses at June 23, 2003 02:35 PMI like the fortune that reads,
"Help, I'm a prisoner in a Chinese Fortune Cookie Company".
I always enjoyed "Help! I'm being held hostage in the kitchen!"
Posted by: dp at June 23, 2003 09:26 PMI like an honest fortune: You will be hungry again in fifteen minutes. And your lucky numbers are 114, 47, and 9.
Posted by: Shannon at June 24, 2003 12:53 AMGiven your example, "You will have a romantic encounter," there is even another interpretation that further supports your claim that "the fortunes are always so vague you can interpret anything that happens as the fulfillment of your fortune." Try this for a definition of "romantic encounter": "an encounter with a particularly delightful nature scene, such as you might find in the so-called 'romantic' poets (in which you needn't expect to find anything about love between humans)." If this definition were the one intended by the "fortune-teller," then we could easily have the fulfillment by walking out the door and smelling the flowers by the side of the road.
Posted by: Courtney Huntington at June 25, 2003 02:15 PMI never really thought of it that way, Courtney. Perhaps my friend had his romantic encounter after all. Although, when you live in West Monroe, it's the scent of the paper mill and not the flowers that greets you on the way out the door. Maybe he read some poetry or something like that.
Posted by: Christin at June 25, 2003 02:43 PM