• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 19:06
CEST 01:06
KST 08:06
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview12[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway132v2 & SC: Evo Complete: Weekend Double Feature4Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy13
Community News
LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments2Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?39Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris53Weekly Cups (Aug 11-17): MaxPax triples again!15
StarCraft 2
General
Production Quality - Maestros of the Game Vs RSL 2 #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Geoff 'iNcontroL' Robinson has passed away Heaven's Balance Suggestions (roast me) Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview
Tourneys
RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast Mutation # 486 Watch the Skies
Brood War
General
The Korean Terminology Thread Pros React To: herO's Baffling Game ASL20 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[IPSL] ISPL Season 1 Winter Qualis and Info! [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Is there English video for group selection for ASL Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Bitcoin recovery service- How to Recover Stolen Cr
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
MLB/Baseball 2023 2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s)
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale
Blogs
Collective Intelligence: Tea…
TrAiDoS
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
INDEPENDIENTE LA CTM
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 936 users

Fortune Telling - My experience

Blogs > htn2481
Post a Reply
htn2481
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Vietnam117 Posts
September 06 2012 16:57 GMT
#1
So earlier this year, my dad came back to visit me in Vietnam. We have some distant cousins who live nearby to where I live but I dont bother to visit because I don't know them. Moving on, one of my cousins married someone who can do fortune telling. Here, people are super duper superstitious about everything (anywhere that has money as in cash register, etc has bulbs of garlic to ward off bad spirits).

On my dad's recommendation, I drive an hour just to get there with my wife. We get to the house and it's more a mini temple than a real house. She's got a big statue of buddha, murals lining the walls and chanting playing on the speakers. The whole shebang. First thing, we introduce ourselves and all that. Next she asks us to write our names and date of birth, I'm guessing a mix of astrology, some palm reading mixed in. Well not to delve too deeply into the specifics, she says when's a good time to have a kid, what months are bad luck, will business be good/bad, and all that jazz. She also describes our past, persoanlities, etc but since we're young, not too much there. Apparantly, my dad had a lot more said to him.

On our way back, my wife and I give our impressions on what she says. Overall, I think it's alright, hit and miss. My wife wasn't too keen on it either. Anyways, one of the bad months she told me beforehand happened to coincide with when I lost my laptop.

TL:DR - I don't believe in "knowing" or predicting the future because I want to determine my own destiny. But it's interesting to hear anyways.

***
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25981 Posts
September 06 2012 17:06 GMT
#2
I went to a fortune teller once in Korea. It was $5, but the lady wanted to charge me $10 to have my friend translate to English.

Fuck that. I walked out. I'm not paying foreigner tax.

That's my one experience with fortune telling.
Moderator
DarkPlasmaBall
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States44465 Posts
September 06 2012 17:55 GMT
#3
Anyways, one of the bad months she told me beforehand happened to coincide with when I lost my laptop.


Counting the hits and ignoring the misses I'm sure in any of the "bad" months, you could have thought about something pretty good that happened, or something bad. It's a lot like horoscopes, where the answers are so generic or broad that you find your own meaning because you're looking hard for meaning. Fortunately, you don't seem to be as gullible as some other people. Cold reading + broad statements + counting the hits and ignoring the misses = convincing enough for most superstitious people to throw away their money.
"There is nothing more satisfying than looking at a crowd of people and helping them get what I love." ~Day[9] Daily #100
bITt.mAN
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Switzerland3693 Posts
September 06 2012 18:08 GMT
#4
Here's an interesting insight: fortune telling and the like are 'passive' activities. They're not you doing anything, they're about stuff happening to you. Good/bad luck, happiness/pain etc. They don't give you anything to work on, with, or towards, just moot "well this is gonna happen, :/ ". In fact then, they're not very empowering, as there's precisely nothing you can do to change 'how things will be' , so why bother? "If this bad stuff was gonna happen to me, well, it was gonna happen, that wierdo lady said so. Oh if imma fall into wealth, it will happen, so why bother working towards it? "Lol then how does that coincide with 'karma' ?

Then there's a different type of spiritual focus, those which are 'active'. "Take heed before that bad stuff gets the best of you! Take strength and courage, to prepare yourself for a hard time ahead, so that you are not defeated." This type IMO does not lead to withdrawn defeatism (there's nothing I can do, why bother), but rather is conducive to development, maturity and growth. It gives you a framework to work at being a better person. Why wouldn't you want that instead?
BW4LYF . . . . . . PM me, I LOVE PMs. . . . . . Long live "NaDa's Body" . . . . . . Fantasy | Bisu/Best | Jaedong . . . . .
Smancer
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States379 Posts
September 06 2012 18:15 GMT
#5
Yea fortune tellers aren't real. They have no powers. People who believe in that stuff are generally uneducated.

"Have you lost someone you have loved and has it left an emotional scar?"

They ask questions like the one above that almost everyone can answer.

"Yes, my uncle died recently."; "Yes my gilfriend dumped me", "Yes my cat ran away".

Your cousin married someone that is giving people false hope. Therefore she is a bad person and a giant douche.
A good way to threaten somebody is to light a stick of dynamite. Then you call the guy and hold the burning fuse up to the phone. "Hear that?" you say. "That's dynamite, baby."
Jonoman92
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
United States9104 Posts
September 06 2012 18:30 GMT
#6
On September 07 2012 03:15 Smancer wrote:
Yea fortune tellers aren't real. They have no powers. People who believe in that stuff are generally uneducated.

"Have you lost someone you have loved and has it left an emotional scar?"

They ask questions like the one above that almost everyone can answer.

"Yes, my uncle died recently."; "Yes my gilfriend dumped me", "Yes my cat ran away".

Your cousin married someone that is giving people false hope. Therefore she is a bad person and a giant douche.


On September 07 2012 03:15 Smancer wrote:Therefore she is a bad person and a giant douche.


One could say the same about you

Can't really judge someone based on almost no information, or even a ton of information most of the time for that matter.
Smancer
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States379 Posts
September 06 2012 18:34 GMT
#7
On September 07 2012 03:30 Jonoman92 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 07 2012 03:15 Smancer wrote:
Yea fortune tellers aren't real. They have no powers. People who believe in that stuff are generally uneducated.

"Have you lost someone you have loved and has it left an emotional scar?"

They ask questions like the one above that almost everyone can answer.

"Yes, my uncle died recently."; "Yes my gilfriend dumped me", "Yes my cat ran away".

Your cousin married someone that is giving people false hope. Therefore she is a bad person and a giant douche.


Show nested quote +
On September 07 2012 03:15 Smancer wrote:Therefore she is a bad person and a giant douche.


One could say the same about you

Can't really judge someone based on almost no information, or even a ton of information most of the time for that matter.



Sorry, I was failing at referencing the South Park Episode about John Edwards.
A good way to threaten somebody is to light a stick of dynamite. Then you call the guy and hold the burning fuse up to the phone. "Hear that?" you say. "That's dynamite, baby."
felisconcolori
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
United States6168 Posts
September 06 2012 21:49 GMT
#8
Hmm.

I have done fortune telling, of a sort. Not for money, and not seriously - because really, it's a crap shoot, there's no science involved unless you do cold reading based on statistics, and for the most part because if such an ability exists, it can't possibly be good enough to get me the winning lottery numbers for tomorrow.

Mostly, using various tarot card decks. (There is a game played with tarot cards, but it's pretty arcane of rules and I never did bother to learn the ins and outs.) Here's the thing... there are "traditional" interpretations, but for the most part you don't use them. You look at the picture, and speak in generalities about what you think the card means in this case. (There's only one "bad" card in any tarot deck, and it is universally "bad" - the Tower.) In reality, you can tell fortunes and say sooth without any kind of props... and astrology, cards, palms are all props. For the most part, what you're really doing is integrating verbal and non-verbal cues along with any innate understanding of human nature to spin a nice long line of BS. As others have mentioned, the vast majority of people that actually remember fortunes focus on the good things, and the things that hit the mark. The cloud of generality, and those places where it's wrong... not so much. In a more rural environment, a fortune teller may be a traditional post which is generally just giving people good advice. "Good" months to have kids could just be traditionally decent months, "bad" months could likewise be a read on cyclical trends, business... well, insurance is paid to tell the future about business but have better methods.

As for if any kind of prophecy might have any basis in reality? I dunno. I don't think there is any convincing evidence for it. But I bear in mind that the brain has biological structures that can possibly interface with the universe on a quantum level, and there's some spooky stuff in quantum physics. Other than that... canny manipulations of expectations, perception of general trends, some hearth psychology, and enough coincidence to shake a stick at can account for most of it.

Then again, some people believe that you can ask invisible people for favors and not call it witchcraft.
Yes, I email sponsors... to thank them. Don't post drunk, kids. My king, what has become of you?
lastprobeALIVE
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
United States974 Posts
September 06 2012 23:42 GMT
#9
my girlfriends grandma was a fortune teller. she was quite popular in the zion, ill. area. she wouldn't use tarot cards because she believed that shit was for the devil, instead she used regular playing cards.

she told my gf who was 14-15 at the time that her first car would be a red sports car. my gf always wanted a jeep and never would have thought of a sports car. so when she turned 16 there was a lady down the street who made a really good offer on a red miata. my gf bought it and that was her red sports car.

also she told me a story that her grandma told her sister she would meet the love of her life who drove a blue compact and also enjoyed movies. well turns out the video store she goes to, the clerk would always hit on her and finally got her to go on a date. when he came to pick her up she noticed he was driving a blue compact lol. they married and have 4 kids one who is in college.

i dont believe in a lot of that shit, but with her grandma she was something really special.
when in doubt DT out
lolitaaaa
Profile Joined October 2018
1 Post
October 09 2018 06:16 GMT
#10
--- Nuked ---
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
22:00
OSC Elite Rising Star #16
davetesta67
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SpeCial 186
ForJumy 78
StarCraft: Brood War
sSak 50
Sexy 33
NaDa 19
Noble 7
Dota 2
420jenkins540
League of Legends
JimRising 600
Counter-Strike
Fnx 1546
Stewie2K590
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor171
Other Games
summit1g6224
Grubby4089
FrodaN2837
Sick138
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 18 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• musti20045 59
• RyuSc2 57
• Adnapsc2 6
• Kozan
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• sooper7s
• intothetv
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix8
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• Azhi_Dahaki0
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21801
League of Legends
• Doublelift4499
Other Games
• tFFMrPink 8
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
10h 54m
Cure vs Bunny
Creator vs Zoun
Maestros of the Game
17h 54m
Maru vs Lambo
herO vs ShoWTimE
BSL Team Wars
19h 54m
Team Hawk vs Team Sziky
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 10h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 16h
The PondCast
4 days
Online Event
5 days
BSL Team Wars
5 days
Team Bonyth vs Team Dewalt
BSL Team Wars
5 days
Maestros of the Game
6 days
[ Show More ]
Cosmonarchy
6 days
Bonyth vs Dewalt
[BSL 2025] Weekly
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-09-02
SEL Season 2 Championship
HCC Europe

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21: BSL Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1

Upcoming

2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL Polish World Championship 2025
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
EC S1
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.