Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Add Good to your Google News feed.
Google News Button

Expert Fortune Cookie Writer Quits Due To “Writer’s Block”

“I used to write 100 a year”

Tod Perry
By Tod PerryFeb 10, 2017
Tod Perry
Tod Perry is a freelance writer from Long Beach, California.
See Full Bio

Even if you’re not the most avid reader, chances are you’re familiar with the work of Donald Lau. For 30 years, Lau served in the unique position of “Chief Fortune Writer” at Wonton Foods—America’s largest fortune cookie producer. Sadly, Lau has been forced to step down due to an affliction that has stymied even the world’s most prolific scribes. “I have writer’s block,” says Donald Lau, “I used to write 100 a year, but I’ve only written two or three a month over the past year.”

The job of fortune cookie writer is an important one in American culture. Fortunes can deliver a glimmer of hope, a giggle or even an important warning. “When they eat their fortune cookie, I want the customers to open the fortune, read it, maybe laugh, and leave the restaurant happy,” Lau says, “so that they come back again next week.” Knowing the importance of his job, Lau has been training a new writer, James Wong, the nephew of Wonton’s founder. “I passed the pen to him,” says Lau. “It’s his responsibility now.”

Being that his fortunes will be hidden in the 4.5 million cookies produced by Wonton Foods every day, Wong sees the job as a huge personal responsibility. So he uses his 10-year-old daughter for inspiration. “I think about what I need to talk to her about,” he told TIME. “One thing that came to me fairly recently is based on an old Chinese proverb: failure is the mother of success. That’s something that I really want my daughter to embrace.” And nobody wishes for Wong’s success more than the millions of Americans who wouldn’t feel satisfied after a large Chinese meal without reading their fortunes.

The Latest

Robert Redford, Twilight Zone, Nothing in the Dark, Gladys Cooper, death portrayal, classic TV, George Clayton Johnson, Robert Redford tribute, Hollywood legend, 1962 television
Past Events

Robert Redford's haunting portrayal of Death in 'Twilight Zone': 'It isn't me you're afraid of'

mtv, cds, tower records, '90s nostalgia, '90s music
Culture

People are savoring an unearthed 1994 MTV interview with people who just bought CDs at Tower Records

raccoons, drunk raccoon, liquor store, animal stories, wildlife
Animals

Animal control helps 'drunk' raccoon that rampaged through liquor store and passed out in bathroom

Wow signal, Jerry Ehman, Big Ear Radio Observatory, extraterrestrial intelligence, aliens, magnetar, Abel Méndez, astrophysics, hydrogen cloud, space mystery
Past Events

The mystery of a strange radio signal that came from space 50 years ago may finally be solved

More For You

dating, single life, bad dates, good dates, relationships

Do you live in a good dating city? A new report ranks the best and worst.

Photo credit: Canva, Katerina Holmes from Pexels (left, cropped) / Prostock-studio (right, cropped)

A new report ranks the 10 best and worst U.S. cities for single people to meet someone

What makes a city attractive to the unattached? You could make a massive list of qualities. And to help create their latest study, personal-finance company WalletHub did exactly that, using "35 key factors of dating-friendliness" to measure the best and worst U.S. cities for singles in 2025.

In order to focus their research, they evaluated 182 total cities, including the 150 most-populated. They did their analysis using 35 metrics that can be lumped into three broader categories: economics (everything from restaurant-meal costs to housing affordability), fun and recreation (things like parks per capita and presence of music festivals), and dating opportunities (including a share of the single population and "Google search traffic for the term 'Tinder'"). Each city was then given a total score out of 100, with the whole list ranked best to worst.

Keep ReadingShow less
thinking, rumination, negative thoughts, life strategies, repetitive thoughts, meditation, patterns, mental health

Young woman stressed out and thinking.

Photo credit Canva

Can't stop replaying conversations in your mind? Try this 30-second hack to make it stop.

Finding yourself caught in a cyclone of repetitive thoughts about past mistakes or unsolvable problems is a painful loop. Wasting mental energy by ruminating over embarrassing moments or simply dwelling on negative thoughts wouldn't make the list of practices on how to be successful.

Almost everyone has lost themselves for an hour, days, or, unfortunately, years from rehashing the mistakes of the past. Breaking this irritating pattern can be a game-changer, and experts believe they have a solution.

Keep ReadingShow less
single women, dating, relationships, self-love, independence, Reddit, viral thread, dating apps, mental health, career focus

(L) A couple in the middle of a fight (R) A woman enjoys a cup of tea

Canva

10 honest reasons women are single that have nothing to do with 'not finding the one'

For generations, the societal script has been clear: grow up, find a partner, and settle down. But that narrative is shifting. Increasingly, women are deciding that the "default" path isn't the only one, opting instead to prioritize their own peace, careers, and independence over romance.

This shift was the focus of a revealing conversation on Reddit, where user u/crypticweirdo9105 asked the r/AskWomen community a simple question: why have they chosen to remain single? The hundreds of responses that followed painted a complex picture of modern dating, highlighting everything from the exhaustion of apps to the joy of solitude.

Keep ReadingShow less
Yonaguni Monument, underwater pyramid, Japan, lost city, Atlantis, Masaaki Kimura, Robert Schoch, archaeology, marine geology, ancient civilization

A diver explores an underwater cavern

Canva

Japan's 10,000-year-old underwater 'pyramid' remains a baffling scientific mystery

In the pristine waters off Japan's westernmost island, Yonaguni, hammerhead sharks and barracudas patrol the deep. But at a depth of about 25 meters (82 feet), divers encounter something far more mysterious: a massive, terraced structure that looks suspiciously like a man-made pyramid.

Known as the "Yonaguni Monument," this enigmatic formation of sandstone and mudstone has sparked a fierce scientific debate since its discovery by a local diver in 1986. Is it a natural geological quirk, or the 10,000-year-old ruins of a lost civilization?

Keep ReadingShow less
brain age, neuroscience, dementia, cognitive, scientific discovery

How old is your brain, really?

Photo credit: Canva

Neuroscientists uncover the 4 specific ages where your brain rapidly peaks or declines

How old is your brain? Traditionally, you’d just state your age like you would for the rest of your body. However, the results of a new study suggest that your brain actually has five truly different ages and stages that change at four different points of the average human lifespan. In fact, your brain wasn’t much different between 4th grade and your 32nd birthday.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge led by Dr. Alexa Mousley, used MRI topography to track how the brain’s nerve fibers grow, shift, and die throughout a person’s lifespan. They conducted this research through studying the MRIs of 3,800 “neurotypical” brains ranging from the age of infants to folks in their 90s. During this study, Mousley and her team found four major turning points in how a human brain changes shape: how it grows, peaks, and eventually declines within a person’s life. Roughly, based on the data, the human brain’s functions shift at ages nine, 32, 66, and 83.

Keep ReadingShow less
misunderstanding, self worth, self confidence, therapy, communication

They don't understand you? Not really your problem.

Photo credit: Canva

Bestselling author shares the liberating freedom of letting others be wrong about you

It’s understandably frustrating and worrying when a person has the wrong impression about you. It could be someone you see daily at work that misconstrued or misinterpreted something, or a stray comment on social media. For some folks, it can gnaw at you and you get caught in a spiral thinking of ways to get them to see the real you and change their mind about who they thought you were. Or, it could cause you to doubt yourself and believe their mistake about you is the truth. However, a New York Times bestselling author believes the best way to combat people who are wrong about you is to just…well, let them be wrong.

In a TikTok, author Alex Elle offered some key advice that could bring freedom for those who are caught up trying to convince other people to see them for who they are. “I know this is easier said than done," Elle says, "but I need you to try, okay? Let people be wrong about you.”

Keep ReadingShow less
kids, funny kids, awkward kids, conversations with kids, funny kid quotes

People share the crazy stuff they've been told by random kids.

Photo credit: Canva, Serhii Yevdokymov (left, cropped) / Sorapop Udomsri (right, cropped)

Adults share 11 startlingly funny things that random kids have said to them

We all seem to know at least one kid with zero filter. There’s something hilarious about that naive innocence—the youth often seem to be living in different worlds where the social rules are, let’s say, more flexible. And on that note, what’s the most startlingly funny thing a random child has ever said to you? That’s the central premise of a recent Reddit thread, where grown adults looked back at the most "unexpectedly" amusing exchanges they’ve had with kids.

The OP kicked things off with a classic, recalling how they were blindsided by a bizarre one-liner while standing in line at the bakery. "A little kid (maybe 5) suddenly turned around, looked me dead in the eyes, and said, very seriously, 'You look like someone who eats the icing first.' I have no idea what that means. Is it an insult? A personality assessment? A prophecy?"

Keep ReadingShow less
instructions, communication, adhd, tips, directions

Know that your instructions are clear and will be followed.

Photo credit: Canva

Communications expert reveals 3-step method to ensure people always follow your instructions

It’s not easy leading people, whether it’s a team at work or just getting your kid to wash the dishes correctly. It can be easily frustrating when someone forgets your instructions or, worse, plainly ignores them because they don’t see the point in them. Well, an expert on inclusive communication found an easy three-step process to ensure that your instructions are followed thoroughly.

Author, educator, and consultant Ettie Bailey-King shared on Instagram the framework that helps instructors get their instructions followed, including those who struggle with ADHD. Crediting her friend Ellie Middleton for the method, Bailey-King suggests that we approach instructions with the “what by when and why” framework. Let’s break down the framework, piece by piece.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025