Two and a Half Fortunes
Two fortunes from the local strip mall Chinese/Thai fusion joint, one with an extra half-a-fortune, from some time between mid-April and May 13, 2026.
For the record, both slips have at least one real fortune on them.
- You will discover your hidden talent
- An unexpected visit from your close friend will bring joy
Look! Both are in future tense, the will verb indicating that I still have a hidden talent, which is to be discovered later, and that I can expect an unexpected visit from a close friend.
Wait a minute… if a fortune cookie reliably informs me that a close friend will visit, it’s not unexpected. This is uncomfortably close to the Pinocchio Paradox.
Be that as it may, the first slip has a small portion of yet another fortune on it. It’s a misprint due to inaccurate indexing of the cutter and the printed texts.
I believe the portion of a fortune is the bottom half of the phrase and perspective to your life
I couldn’t quite get “and perspective in your life” to line up with the fragment if I used a font size close to that of the fragment.
It looks like this is a known fortune cookie prediction. The whole prediction reads:
Your hobby will bring balance
and perspective to your life
I found a (ugh) Facebook post that shows a fortune cookie slip with a correctly indexed saying, and an Instagram post that references a near match, “Your hobby will bring you balance and perspective”
Nowhere did I see any attribution to Harry Milner. This doesn’t seem like the kind of sparkling remark or caustic comment that Milner favored. I don’t think this is a Pearl of Wisdom.