Facing happiness

Your happiness is before you, not behind you! Cherish it. I have met people who greet the days that lie before them with the greatest of melancholy, with regrets and sorrow that the future would never be just as good as what they experienced in the past. It's easy to get lost in the memories of yesterday, thinking of how great things were, and of how happy one was then. But how do you know that tomorrow will not bring a time that is happier? If we all clung to moments--such as the the times we spent with a former lover or close friend that we have lost (perhaps through a break-up or a slow fade-away), we'd close our hearts and souls to the possibilities of the future. If we keep looking backwards, we never may be entirely open to new possibilities. Each of those possibilities has the ability to bring greater happiness than we've ever known.

All I need

No need to worry! You will always have everything you need!

That's good to know in these hard economic times. One thing I do want to say--is to remember the difference between "need" and "want"--perhaps I need food, but not a wii, or maybe I need clothes, but I want, say, the $200 skirt from Anthropologie. I think making sure you have what you need will keep you happy--but also knowing that you may not always have everything you want is also important, too.

So here's to having everything we need--and all the things we want--and get--is just the icing on the cake.

Dreams

There are 365 days in a year, may all 365 of your dreams come true.

Now that sounds pretty darned good to me, despite the grammar in this fortune cookie.

Last night (and I'm being dead serious here), Rocco DiSpirito was in my dream, and not only was he cooking some sort of chicken, but he was crushing on me pretty hard. I say that's not a bad dream, and I wouldn't mind if that particular dream came true.

After all, who can resist a cute man who can cook? (and in my dream, he thought I was the bee's knees, so that's just as good as gourmet food). And inexplicably, there were shelves of bottled water (that I drank when I lived in Europe) in my dream, which made me incredibly happy. There may have also been some Quarkkaese (sigh).

So Rocco DiSpirito, if you read this (as if you have time, what with your fusion cooking, Italian-American cooking, writing cookbooks, and being on TV), would you mind coming over and cooking me some food, and coming with some Quarkkaese? And if you develop a crush on me in the meantime, I wouldn't mind, either.

http://thefortunecookies.blogspot.com/2008/11/dreams.html

That old routine

You will enjoy doing something different this coming weekend.

Since this weekend is Halloween Weekend, I would hope this weekend would be different. But in a good way.

With that, I wish you all Happy Halloween and trick-or-treating! Do something out of the ordinary!

Future profession

You could prosper in the field of entertainment.

You know, once, long ago (like, when I was 10 or even younger), it was my secret ambition to be a rock star. Never mind that I am a terrible singer. Or, in fourth grade, I wanted to be a world-famous mystery writer a la (koff, koff), Carolyn Keene. Such ambitions are typical (I think; ranging from rock star, writer, actress, musician, model, and so on). But reality does sink in, and we do--or the majority of us do eventually become professionals in other fields, such as, say, being a teacher or perhaps a sales manager. Or a vet. But you know what? We all have to entertain somebody at some point in our lives, whether it's our children or our students (nothing like standing up in front of a classroom full of yawning students at 8 AM, and cracking a joke that makes them wake up. Or, telling a story -- or giving a lecture -- with such passion and fervor that students take notice and start thinking that they want to do whatever it is that you do for a living). One of my best-- or several of my best professors in college were the most passionate and animated lecturers who dove right into the material with such enthusiasm--is that not entertainment?

Or, the waiter who sings Happy Birthday at a restaurant, to an embarassed guest, or a pediatrician who makes a child smile (or laugh) after giving him a shot or a thorough check-up. So you see, we all use entertainment in our daily lives and professions. We just may not take notice, unlike people who do it on purpose (such as folks who are stars on The Bachelor or Survivor or whatever reality show is out there).

And you know what? I'd still like to be a writer. But maybe not Carolyn Keene.

Excitement, anyone?

An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting.

How ironic.

I took this picture a day ago. And guess what happened to me?

As I was driving to school, all of a sudden...

No matter how hard I pressed my foot on the brake, my car just went slower and slower, and I could smell some burning rubber.

I have to be at school in 15 minutes!

On the dashboard, the check engine light and the battery light were blinking.

Hang in there, baby, we're only, like, five minutes away from the campus!

Then with a shuddering noise, my car stopped in the middle of the road, right in front of a driveway. My brain started going off in directions. What to do? What to do? Call dad...call my professor? I tried to restart my car, and yes! for a minute I felt it going. Around this time, the owner of the house was trying to help me out, and get me into his driveway. How nice it is to cause a minor traffic jam, with some good samaritans helping to push my car up into the fellow's driveway.

I've had enough excitement to last me the rest of the week.

*By the way, I have a red car too. I do not have red hair, though.

Investigate new possibilities

Investigate new possibilities with friends. Now is the time!

I wonder what kind of possibilities I should investigate with friends. Of course, something innocent, like, oh, I don't know. Travel. Maybe opening a business. Or maybe after having lots of alcoholic beverages, my mind can travel down dangerous and risque places. Which I don't think my friends would want to investigate with me. (ok, now I must get my head out of the gutter...)

This is why fortunes are so much fun to read!