Hidden Under A Coaster

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This is another one of what I am certain is a multitude of fortunes lying around my condo, inhabiting various nooks and crannies. I suppose one good thing about having started this journal is that slowly but surely, these fortunes are migrating to one location.

"Working together works."


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Fortunes To The Max

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I was at Jefferson Mall a week or two after the last time I mentioned getting fortune cookies at Max Orient. I decided to pick up some fortune cookies on this visit, and this time, I decided to splurge a little, and get a dollar's worth.

As I did the last time, once I got home, I promptly forgot about the cookies once I got home. It wasn't until a few days ago that I finally cracked open the cookies.

The cookies were still in the shopping bag that the lady at Max Orient handed me. When I looked inside, I was pleasantly surprised. She had dropped a couple of additional cookies in with my purchase, so I had eight instead of six. Here are the fortunes from this particular batch:

"An influential figure will make mention of you in a positive light."
"Do not let others take advantage of you."
"Don't let others stop you from doing what you know is right."
"Good things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."
"You are compassionate and understanding."
"You will be selected for a promotion because of your accomplishments."
"You will spend your old age in comfort and material wealth."
"Your nurturing instincts will expand to include many people."

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8 China For Dinner

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I went to 8 China Buffet a couple of nights ago to try their dinner buffet. It was all right, but for future visits, I think I will probably stick with going to lunch.

Not that the food isn’t good. Quite the opposite; it’s great. It’s just that I was expecting a more expanded selection for dinner. From what I can tell, though, the main difference between 8 China’s lunch and dinner selections is that they offer crab legs during dinner. (Well, that’s the difference I found most noticeable.) I like crab, but I really don’t want to have to go to all of the trouble of cracking open the shells to get to the meat.

In any event, the food was great, especially the sushi. And inside the fortune cookie at the end of the meal was this fortune:

"Your heart is a place to draw true happiness."

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Seen At Work

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As I arrived at work last night, I noticed that one of my co-workers had brought in Chinese for dinner. Well, I saw the fortune cookie, and the fortune from that cookie. I asked him if I could have the fortune, and he said, "Sure." Here is what that fortune said:

"You are born with a 'sixth sense' and superb insight."

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Fortune With Lunch

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Last week, I went to 8 China Buffet for the first time. The restaurant opened several months ago, and I had been meaning to try their lunch buffet for some time, especially after someone told me that they thought it was one of the best Asian buffets in Louisville.

Yes, it was as good as recommended. It probably has the best sushi selection, especially for lunch. (I'm guessing that there is an even better selection for dinner, but I will have to wait for another visit to confirm that.

And as usual, at the end of the meal came the fortune cookie. Here is the fortune from this visit:

"Through greater effort and hard work a precious dream comes true."

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Missed Opportunity

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I missed an opportunity a couple of weeks ago. But to be honest, I didn't think they would sell out completely.

Okay, that probably doesn't make sense at the moment. Trust me, it will very shortly.

If you spent any time in the candy aisle during the past few weeks, you will have noticed that, among other things, Hershey had Valentine's Day versions of some of its candy products. What particularly interested me was the Valentine's Day version of the Special Dark Kisses. Hershey does something with those Kisses that it doesn’t do with any of the other Valentine’s Day Kisses.

It's what they do with the flags, the plumes. Those little paper streamers that stick out of the top of the foil wrapping. Most of the year, the flags for the Special Dark Kisses simply have "Dark" printed on them. But for Valentine's Day, Hershey uses flags that have Valentine's Day messages printed on them. Not quite the fortunes in a fortune cookie, but I suppose you could call them a close relative.

As I recall, there were six different messages. "Be My Valentine" and "I Love You" are two of the messages, but those are the only ones that come to mind at the moment.

I was waiting for February 15, when all of the Valentine's Day candy gets discounted 50%, and I was going to get a bag then. But when I went to acquire a bag, I discovered that the Special Dark Kisses had all disappeared from the shelves. Oh, there was plenty of Valentine's Day candy; just not the Special Dark Kisses. And I checked several different stores.

So, it looks like I will have to wait until 2009 to write an entry on those messages.

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Fun In The Food Court

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I guess this was about two weeks ago. I was in Jefferson Mall, and I made a swing past the food court. I really wasn't hungry for anything at any of the restaurants, but I did linger for a minute or two at Max Orient.

Now, Max Orient serves what I have heard referred to as "food court Chinese." In other words, more or less generic stir-fries served with your choice of rice or noodles. The authenticity can probably be called into question, but it usually makes a pretty good lunch. And at least here in Louisville, most restaurants of this sort have developed a dish with a little bit of local flavor -- bourbon chicken.

In any case, what caught my attention this time was the jar near the register. It was full of fortune cookies, and a label on the jar said that they were three for 50 cents. I might not have been interested in getting anything else to eat, but a few fortune cookies were a different matter. I could crack them open later, and of course I would have material for a new entry.

When I got home, though, I promptly forgot about the fortune cookies for over a week. That changed earlier this morning. Curiosity finally got the better of me, and I wondered what words of wisdom these fortune cookies might hold. The fortunes were as follows:

"Be yourself, and you will always be in fashion."
"That special someone loves to see the light in your eyes."
"You are inclined to come up with unconventional solutions."

I'll have to remember to do this again. For that matter, I will also have to check some of the other Chinese restaurants in Louisville, and see if they do something similar.

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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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