mae yao jeh huan.

i had a nice chinese dinner with one of my single friends the other night.

the food was good.
the conversation was great.
but the fortune cookies really made the night.

immediately prior to the cookies we had been discussing life choices - big and small. we talked about several decisions we are currently praying about. we talked about being single and how our life circumstances differ so much from what we had expected.

she opened her cookie first and her usually quiet self seemed to disappear in an eruption of laughter. the learn chinese portion of her fortune instructed her on the pronunciation of the word "girlfriend." we joked that maybe it was a prophetic fortune.

after our laughter had subsided, i opened my fortune to see the phrase mae yao jeh huan. the interpretation, in large bold letters, read, STILL SINGLE.

the inner dialogue in my head went something like this: way to state the obvious, mr. fortune cookie. i never liked you anyhow. all these years i've merely cracked you open to see what was inside and left your stale remains in what was left of my egg drop soup. besides, who are you to teach me chinese or predict my future?!? pssh.

on the opposite side of my hopefully-not-prophetic, learn chinese phrase was my fortune:
Avoid the opposite sex today. Yeah, right!

apparently my fortune cookie was bi-polar.