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by Leelila_Strogov from West LA

Last Post 100 days, 15 hours Ago


Fortune Cookie Wisdom
Jan 16, 2008 | 2:25 PM
Category: News
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In general, I’m not a superstitious type. I’ve always believed that life delivers what it will, sometimes by negotiation and other times by sheer chance: whether a satisfying job, an enigmatic lover, or a big whacking loss when you least expect it. For better or worse, the texture of existence isn’t exactly smooth…

Still, I’ve been oddly attracted to some of those quirky little fortune cookie messages I’ve found (or have they found me?) – enough so, that I’ve even saved a few in my wallet for occasional reference. Now, a new book coming out in March explores, among other things, the history of that message-in-an-edible-bottle. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer Lee claims that the origins of the bizarrely shaped cookie can be traced to Japan rather than China. (I’ve actually been to China, and funny enough, there wasn’t a fortune cookie there to be found!)

Whatever its origin, I thought what better time than now to take out that little stack of notes hidden in the folds of my wallet, and remind myself of what moved me to hold onto them in the first place. So here they go:

 -Splendid minds may contradict each other.

 -You will continue to take chances and be glad you did.

 -You are not so charming that you do not have to pay.

 -It is good to save water. Shower with a friend.

 -Things are going to get even weirder.

 -To understand everything is to forgive everything.

Anyone with me on the magical allure of the fortune cookie? What are your favorite fortune cookie messages?

23 Comments |  Add a Comment

Member Comments Total Comments: 23
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dasvics read my blog view my photos
Jan 16, 2008 | 5:13 PM

I know what you mean about the fortune cookies, Leelia. Those you quoted above are pretty logical in general. But I like the improbable ones that predict success and wealth. I know it's silly, and there's little to no chance of those actually coming true, but…I still get excited when I crack one opens and it says, “You will accomplish many things and become very wealthy in the years to come” or something like that. I know I probably wont be “very wealthy”, financially, I am in every other way already, but it’s still kinda cool to get that type of fortune inside my cookie. Who doesn't like the possiblity of having a lot of money? Even if it is just a little piece of paper in a cookie :-)
johntheman read my blog
Jan 16, 2008 | 6:01 PM

Me and my buddies were out eating dinner before going to pick up some girls at a bar. I got this great fortune that said "flattery will go far tonight". Couldn't have been more true, God bless Confucius's philosophy
janeypoostar
Jan 17, 2008 | 8:49 AM

Love is for the lucky and the brave.

I got this one like two years ago and it totally stuck with me.
samo714 read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 1:49 PM

britney should really pay attetion to "You are not so charming that you do not have to pay". and can we do "It is good to save water. Shower with a friend" you know i'll scrub your back, then you do mine. lol. j/k. well maybe if you want to, i'm down with it. lol. sorry, but you set that one up really good. lol. "Things are going to get even weirder" how true is that Leelila.
Leelila_Strogov read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 4:10 PM

dasvics -- i hear you. it's always nice to find inspiration for grandiose dreams, even if it happens to be from something as simple as a fortune cookie.

john -- you make me laugh. god bless you...

janey -- this is a good one. i think when i realize i'm falling, i run, run, run, as fast as i can. i guess i'm lucky, just not brave... ;-)

samo -- you're right. i suppose i did ask for it. but it was in the wallet. and worth sharing. so what can i say? i love the "weirder" one too. so bizarre and funny and true. (there's always room for more weirdness, isn't there...)
samo714 read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 4:17 PM

well if you love weird, then i'm your man. yeah!, cuz i'm one crazy sucka. and if you have room in your heart and life for weirdness, then i'm your man. so leelila i have a few questions for you.

1. when will you be on the segment of "chat it up"?

2. does it bother you that your co-workers can't pronounce your name correctly?

3. where is elizabeth espinosa? she's not on the fox personalities, nor have i seen her on tv lately.
Leelila_Strogov read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 5:03 PM

i'm not sure we're talking about the same kind of weird, but that's okay. i'll indulge you while i wait for my tape to be ingested. (i realize that is probably a foreign term to you -- but basically, when we get back from the field we've got to wait for editors to put our tape into an internal system from which we can then proceed to work with it, wrap stories around it, etc.). so to answer your questions:

1) i don't know. maybe you can put in a formal request in to our web team or something. i'm honestly not sure how those things get arranged.

2) the evening anchors seem to have my name down at this point; jillian and steve are still learning since i only recently started doing the morning show... but, i have so much fun with them, they could call me leylani or leila or lolita lempecka, and i wouldn't mind one bit.

3) elizabeth is no longer with us. but it's all good. we news people tend to be transient types. it's just the nature of the beast...
samo714 read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 5:34 PM

yeah, i kinda thought ingest means more or less the editors just reviewing and creating a story with your footage. but thanks for the explanation, i appreciate it.

yeah, your name is a tongue twister, i still have trouble with it. so let's say your co-workers never were able to get your name right, and instead give you a nickname like.....lee-stro-gov. would you accept such a name?

as for lizzy being gone. that sucks for me. she was my favorite reporter. i'm gonna miss seeing her and can only wonder what she will be doing now. i kinda new something was up. her last blog entry was a bit odd. she was feeling emotional when she wrote it.

thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. next monday i'll let you know what my fortune cookie saids. i tend to go out for chinese on fridays. i also read up about fortune cookies. this is the info that i found out about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_cookies
samo714 read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 5:54 PM

oh yeah i forgot, i'll be sure to give the guys that do the "chat it up" a shout out for you, but i think it would be best to wait for a lil bit just until the morning news fans get a chance to get more familar with you first. give them a chance to see what kind of person you are. i notice the night crew are much more serious then the morning crew, and it's hard to turn that off at first when you start being shown on the morning crew. that's what i notice atleast with others that had made the transition.
dasvics read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 6:36 PM

One more thing, fortune cookies are like politicians, they're bland, but let you sweet nothings about how much money you'll have in the future and how wonderful things will be, we love reading it, but we know it's just a silly little fortune that's highly unlikely to ever come true.
But for some reason we still like it when we crack that cookie open and it says, "Unbelievable wealth awaits you" just like politicians when they say, "I will fix everything that’s wrong in our country and your life will be better because you chose me"....yeah right! Not going to happen, but I llllooooovvveee hearing it.

Elizabeth’s not with FOX anymore? That’s sad. I liked her as well. I hope she’s doing fine wherever she’s at and I hope she knows that she’s missed.
dasvics read my blog view my photos
Jan 17, 2008 | 6:37 PM

*they're bland, but tell you sweet nothings...
craftyguy read my blog
Jan 17, 2008 | 11:25 PM

i didn't know fortune cookies came from japan ..thank goodness if they came from china they would probably contain lead!
Leelila_Strogov read my blog view my photos
Jan 18, 2008 | 12:02 AM

samo -- you're welcome, and thank you, and you're right, and i'll look out for your fortune. i hope it's fortunate. and yes, anyone is free to call me whatever they'd like. a rose by any other name would smell as sweet... i actually get lee a lot (especially from my brother and sister), and don't mind it at all.

dasvics -- at one time or another the best of us fall for sweet nothings, don't we? which makes us all the sweeter, i think... i've never regretted having a too-tender heart. much better than the opposite.

craftguy -- now that is funny.
samo714 read my blog view my photos
Jan 18, 2008 | 2:05 PM

great new pic's lee.
Leelila_Strogov read my blog view my photos
Jan 18, 2008 | 3:03 PM

thanks! one of my favorite editors, mark tickell, took it at the station yesterday while i was working... :-)
samo714 read my blog view my photos
Jan 18, 2008 | 6:21 PM

hi lee, i just made a new blog about lizzy. i hope you check it out, and hope she reads it.
http://community.myfoxla.com/blogs/samo714/2008/01/18/E
lizabeth_Espinosayou_will_be_missed
now i know you said that your all used to moving around to different stations until you find your nitch. but just remember their are people out there that are fans you don't have to be a rockstar or a movie star to matter. you just being you matters to many people, and the lil things you do to reach out to us matter more then you think. take care lee.
Leelila_Strogov read my blog view my photos
Jan 18, 2008 | 9:26 PM

that is so sweet of you!!! i will totally check it out, and you know what, i'm going to email it to elizabeth too... what a nice sentiment you just shared though. really thoughtful and touching. so thanks.
ddain read my blog view my photos
Jan 19, 2008 | 1:19 AM

I'd like to know how many people on here put the words "in bed" after their various fortune cookie messages?

And I've never had any luck with the ones that have lottery numbers on them. Those are a total sham.
Leelila_Strogov read my blog view my photos
Jan 21, 2008 | 4:27 AM

i do, all the time... the other one that's fun is "in jail." after a reporter friend of mine was arrested for allegedly disobeying police, we've been adding that one too, to some pretty interesting effect...

good to know on the numbers. i've never tried them. i won't.
samo714 read my blog view my photos
Jan 21, 2008 | 12:46 PM

well i read that once many people actually won by using the #'s in the cookie. i think there was 200 winners. the lottery thought something fishy was going on, until they asked all the winners why they picked this #. they all replied that they copied it from the fortune cookie. i guess their is some truth in the name of the cookie. crazy. well that's what i read.

as for my cookie message. i threw it away on friday after i read it. i totally forgot to save it. any ways i remember the message more or less. pretty much it said good things will be coming to me in the near future. i hope so.

thanks for checking out my blog lee
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Leelila_Strogov

Leelila Strogov is a general assignment reporter for Fox 11 News, specializing in investigative and feature reports.

Member Since: 9/25/2007


 

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