Dessert at the Chinese restaurant is usually my favorite part of the meal. Just as many kids in the inner city have no idea where spinach comes from, as a kid, I had no idea where fortune cookies came from. They were so wise, getting the right fortunes to the right people, they must have come from some magical cookie factory where humans feared to tread.

My faith wavered when winning lottery numbers began showing up on the back of the little message papers. (Little did I know that the lottery traces all the way back to the Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 B.C.)

Nowadays, I still crack open the cookie with a little thrill of anticipation, wondering what words will guide my destiny–for the next 5 minutes until we leave the restaurant, in any case.

Not long after dedicating my life to Project Simplify, I received this one (Since when do they put smiley faces on them?) :

I brought this one home and stored it in some incredibly secure place, a place where one would naturally think to store fortune cookie fortunes from long forgotten Chinese restaurant dinners. So secure that I forgot all about it until I happened to run across it this morning. So here it is for the duration. At least I know where to look for it =)