Found On An End Table

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I found a fortune cookie, still wrapped, on the table in my living room early this morning. As best as I can remember, I stuck the cookie in my jacket when I had Chinese a month or two ago. I took it out and put it on the table when I got home, and it was covered by some papers before I could crack it open.

The cookie was still good, so I ate it. And of course, I wanted to see what the fortune said:

"Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought."

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With A Little Help

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Not long after I created this site, I got a phone call from a friend. He was rather amused by the whole concept I had for this particular online journal. A few days ago, I received an email from him. He and some other friends had eaten at a favorite Asian restaurant a few days earlier. He had saved the fortunes from everyone's fortune cookies, and sent them to me:

"Your principles mean more to you than any money or success."
"It tastes sweet."
"You would make a good lawyer."
"You are working hard."

In a second email, he sent a fortune that an acquaintance uses as an email signature, because it "sounds Zen to him."

"There are more to everything than its appearance."

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First Collection

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Remember that I said that I had an unknown number of fortunes from fortune cookies all over my condo? Well, I just stumbled across a few right after posting the last entry. This is the first of what will most likely be many such collections.

"Aspire to be great -- then help others."
"Smile if you like this fortune cookie."
"We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are."
"You will do well to expend your business."

I'm guessing that the last one was meant to say "expand your business." I am presenting them just as they came out of the fortune cookie, and I will add commentary as necessary.

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First Fortune

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I wanted to do something a little different to begin 2008, so on New Year's Day, I went to #1 Asian Buffet in Mid-City Mall for lunch. It was there that I picked up the first fortune for this collection.

"Behind an able man, there are always other able men."

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Open The Cookie

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Welcome to The Janus Files, Volume 2.

I started Volume 1 about four years ago on Xanga. Last year, in what can only be described as a shining example of the fine line between genius and insanity, I opened a mirror site on LiveJournal (call it Volume 1A, I guess), and over the course of some four months, copied all of the existing entries from Xanga to the new site on LiveJournal. Now, new entries are posted to both sites more or less simultaneously. You can find Volume 1 of The Janus Files here:

http://janusfiles.xanga.com
http://janusfiles.livejournal.com

This is not another mirror site. This will not be another mirror site. I’m not that masochistic. There will have to be a very good reason for me to create another mirror site, and copy those entries again.

Instead, I’m going to use this site for something different. I’m going to indulge in, for lack of a better term, fortune cookie philosophy.

I like eating at Chinese restaurants. I particularly like getting the fortune cookie at the end of the meal. I have a tendency to hold on to the fortunes, and I have no idea how many I have scattered throughout my condo.

That’s where this site comes in. Whenever I eat at a Chinese restaurant, I’m going to post the fortune from my fortune cookie here. And when I run across some of the other fortunes I have at home, I’ll be posting them here as well.

Open the cookie -- read the fortune.

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