Monday, September 13, 2010

Fortune Cookies

I decided to clean out my wallet today. Turns out I've been hoarding movie ticket stubs and fortunes from fortune cookies.

I have a whole box of "stuff" from "Stephen and Vanessa: The Dating Years" and there are a lot more ticket stubs in there, but here are the ones I found in my wallet:


  • Madagascar 2
  • Harry Potter 6
  • Ice Age 3
  • Twilight (yeah, I dragged Stephen to that once. I'm so mean)
  • Wall-E
  • X-Files 2


You know, taken from that sample...I'd say we're about 12 years old. We enjoy kids movies. Clearly.


In Shakespeare's opinion, someone can only be Fortune's fool, but Virgil believes Fortune favors the brave. Either way, the most common way to end a meal of General Tso's, fried rice, and egg rolls is with a cookie stuffed with a fortune.


For the sake of my own sanity, I'm not going to put all of the fortunes in quotation marks:


  • Your present plans are going to succeed within the year.
  • Do not dwell on differences with a loved one - try to compromise.
  • You could prosper in a few years in the field of entertainment.
  • Your friend or partner is needing your advice and encouragement.
  • Focus on the color purple this week to bring you luck.
  • You are going to take a trip to the seaside. 
  • Confidence isn't something that you get. It's something that you are.
  • Do something unusual tomorrow.
  • You will soon bring joy to someone.
  • Confidence is at a high.
  • Your courage will bring you honor.
  • You will make change for the better. 
  • Life is not a problem to be solved, but, rather, a mystery to be lived.

There are two ways to interpret these tiny slips of paper (well, three if you use the "lucky numbers" on the back). You can live life with courage, honor, confidence, and most importantly, optimism. Or, you can wave it off as "Confucius-esque" nonsense. After all, it came from a cookie

The thing is, Stephen and I love food, especially Chinese food, so it just makes sense for us to take the route of believing in the cookie. So in our day-to-day lives, we try to remember that life isn't a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived. This aptly fits with our blog's title: "two unpathed Waters, undreamed shores," which for those of you who aren't avid Shakespeare readers, comes from "The Winter's Tale." The original quote is

A course more promising
Than a wild dedication of yourselves
To unpathed waters, undreamed shores; most certain,
To miseries enough: no hope to help you;
But, as you shake off one, to take another:
Nothing so certain as your anchors; who
Do their best office, if they can but stay you
Where you'll be loth to be: besides, you know,
Prosperity's the very bond of love,
Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together
Affliction alters. (Act IV, scene iv)


So, even though we have a "plan" of what we want to do in our lives, we're always surprised at how that plan manifests itself in reality, and we're never quite sure of where we'll end up. For now, we're content living modestly in good ol' Kansas City, Missouri. But even we don't know where we'll be in ten, fifteen, fifty years. (Hopefully living next door to James)







 Love,
Vanessa, Stephen, and Anya

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