Fortunes

There is a fortuneteller in Tainan that my parents take seriously. Granted, my parents are not the type to believe in the supernatural or astrology and such -- though my mom seems to believe in all that Chinese superstition about chi and feng-shui. But there are several reasons why they take the words of this particular fortuneteller seriously.

When my mother was pregnant with me, one day she and my father were rearranging the furniture in their apartment in Illinois. Suddenly, my mother received a phone call from my grandmother back in Taiwan who said, "The fortuneteller said to stop moving things around."

Recently, when my mother returned to Taiwan, she visited the fortuneteller to ask about my academic future. As I've already mentioned, the fortuneteller told her that if I wanted to go to a good school, I'd have to go far away. When she told the fortuneteller that there was a school we liked that was close to our house, the fortuneteller said I might as well go to school on our doorsteps.

Funny how things turn out.

Then, the fortune teller suddenly told my mother, "Don't let the second child drive." My mother hadn't even mentioned my brother; when she told the fortuneteller that that wouldn't be possible, the fortuneteller responded, "At least not until he turns 23 or so." Which is telling, because she also once said that my brother would injure his four limbs easily -- and considering how he's broken his arm before and complains about growing pains all the time, it's not too surprising. So I expect my brother will be driving with my mother in the passenger seat for quite some time.

Furthermore, the fortuneteller also told my mother that my father needs to take care of his liver. Now that's even more on target than the rest, because I doubt my mother told the fortuneteller that my father was born with Hep B.

Then again, maybe just this fortuneteller seems to have uncanny foresight. Youtube founder Steve Chen was told by a fortuneteller when he was young that he would never be rich. My mother was told by a fortuneteller when she was a child that she would be very fat as an adult.

Funny how things turn out.

By the way, thanks for all the comments for the last post. I'll be perfectly normal at school tomorrow -- I promise. I think I've become more disillusioned about the whole seemingly arbitrary process, but c'est la vie. I also think my self-esteem has taken a pretty big hit, but it was already becoming overinflated anyways.

Whoever was anonymous, thanks for the quote. It struck a chord.