Fortune, thats how the cookie crumbles

I've blogged about a few other cookie fortunes in the past. Here are a few that are so un-canny! Hmm ... "zipzeezoxzeezabadezooks!" (that last magic word is some trivia for you readers).

The very act of believing creates strength of its own.

A baby can swim before it can walk; just imagine what you are capable of.

Keep up the good work. You soon will be rewarded financially.

An unexpected payment is coming your way!

Now is the time to call loved ones at a distance. Share your news.

Investigate new possibilities with friends. Now is the time! (eBay?)

Use your abilities at this time to stay focused on your goal. You will succeed.

You will soon be the guest of a person you admire.

Now is a good time for a new collection or hobby. (coins?)

Do not let great ambitions overshadow small successes.

The next full moon brings an enchanting evening.

You will make many changes before settling down happily. (life, today)

Mr. Ma's Unfortunate Cookies

Day 2 (quick note)

After all day meetings on the conference floor, a group of us decided to head out for some Chinese food a block or so away. Most of us were too distracted by hunger to take any meaningful pics (for a Chinese resto this place took ages!).

Grabbing a few quick pulls after the meal outside the resto (yes, there is no smoking inside buildings in Canada except perhaps in your hotel room), the waiter had left some mint chocolates and a couple of fortune cookies.

Now fortune cookies aren't really any tasty, its the usually very off translated messages in a slip of paper inside that make it all fun. Well, true to the tradition (it appears its not just in the States) here's a few that I got ...


"Notre premier et dernier amour ... soi-meme." (French)
That should really read something like "Our first and last love ... oneself".

However, the reverse side read "Our first and last love.. self-love."

Now, that is so wrong on many levels.

Hoping for better luck, I broke open another, which read "Votre dur labeur sera bientot recompense." (French)

This translates roughly to "Your hard labour will be soon reward." and on the reverse it does say "All your hard work will soon pay off."

Alot better given that I was going to dig into my presentation slides later in the evening. However, if you put the bastardized English translations together you get the mess in the word message:

"Our first and last love.. self-love. All your hard work will soon pay off."

Clearly, the fortunes are playing tricks. To make matters worse, if I further took the other two fortunes at the ends of the table a further message would be revealed:

"Nobody does it better than you. Spoil yourself a little."

Has anybody watched the movie "The God's Must Be Crazy"? For a moment there I felt much like Nixao the Wanderer :-p