A fortuneteller told me

A few months ago, a visit to the regular medical clinic for the annual company chest x-ray ended with the most extraordinary experience...

The friendly and cheerful Malay radiographer at the clinic started a conversation with me to pass away the time...or so I thought...

X-Ray Man : "So, are you studying or working?"

Me : "Oh, I've been working for sometime now."

X-Ray Man : (adjusting the radio machine) "So, how is work?"

Me : "It's ok, thank you..."

We continued chatting for while before he gave instructions on how to position my arms etc. Snap....snap....and it was all over in a few seconds. And before he left the room....

X-Ray Man : (pausing for a moment before looking at me reassurringly) "Don't worry, all will be well after July."

He shuts the door.

I scratched my head, wondering where did that come from? worry? about what? work? hmmm....work's been pretty slack since the beginning of the year.... hmmmm....

I quickly slipped out of the robes and back into work wear. I bumped into him before leaving the clinic...

Me : "Nice chatting with you. By the way.........why July?"

X-Man : (looked at my records, from which he probably extracted the information needed for the advice he was about to give)..."Now, Saggitarius is moving backwards.....[and he went on about stars shifting and other stuff you read about in Linda Goodman's astrological bestsellers] and will eventually align with your ruling planet, Jupiter".

Me : (looking rather amused) "Errr...thank you very much for the advice".

I found it hilarious that a radiographer could offer more than even Superman's x-ray vision...a vision of my future! I think I'll dub him "my personal soothsayer"!

That afternoon, a ton of work fell from nowhere and onto my desk! All the marketeers started feeding me with matters marked "urgent"! A big project required me to burn the midnight oil every night and for 3 weekends! Day had become night and night, day! Unbelievable! I thought to meself, when it rains, it pours! Such was the nature of my job! Or was it? Did this have anything to do with the X-Ray Man and his astrological predictions? Who was having the last laugh?

Upon reflection, one never knows in what form foretune-tellers will appear in one's life. I've had my palm read several times, once by a reportedly famous blind Taiwanese fella. I can safety say that most of their predictions were easily forgettable, mostly general speculative statements that could have applied to a dozen other persons.

The most accurate palmreader for me to date was a lady introduced to me by my younger sister, Ping, both of whom are currently residing in a little island called Waiheke in NZ. Faye was born in the 1920s in North Island, NZ and reminded me of a character who had just stepped out of "Little House on the Prairie"! Her life story begs a whole blog of its own!

Anywayz, she said many things which held very true, which unless my sister had blabbered to her about before our meeting, could not have been known to her.

Or did my face and mannerisms hold the answers? Was I so easy to read?

One of the things she warned me about was the hazards of living in the "city". Because I needed to be "close to nature", I had to compensate for the lack thereof by keeping at least 17 plants at home. The first thing I did when I reached home was to count the number of pots I had in my little garden! Ok, I've at least passed that test with flying colours!

My fascination with "fortunetellers", "palm readers" etc. had waned through the years as my "cynism" meter started rising. I pondered about how general prediction statements usually read, and how easily one could be swayed by the words of someone professing to be able to predict another's path in life.

I remembered treating Linda Goodman's Love Signs as the ultimate dating bible - with the pages on which star sign was most compatible with a female Saggitarian being doggy eared! Haha! Looking back, it surely was an entertaining piece of work, but was there an ounce of truth?

I recalled reading the book when I was a teenager...and reading it again 10 years later. I was shocked to re-discover that Linda had specifically mentioned that people of my starsign would, for the love of animals, organise a charity event for organisations such as the SPCA. True enough, a couple friends and I had organised a concert titled "Animania Musique" to raise funds for the SPCA in our early 20s!

Was it a self-fulfilling prophesy? Had I somehow allowed Linda to creep into my sub-concious? Hmmm....I'm no psychology major, and I'm sure debunkers out there will scoff at my silly theories offering a dozen valid explanations....but I'm sure the truth is out there...somewhere, if you really need to know the answers.

For an interesting read about fortune-tellers in our region, I would highly recommend the book "A Fortune-Teller Told Me" by Tiziano Terzani. Extract about the author from Wikipedia :

"Terzani knew much about the historical and political background of Asia, but had also a deep interest in the philosophical aspects of Asian culture. Though an unbeliever, he always looked in his journeys for the spiritual aspects of the countries he was visiting. He lived in Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and New Delhi which became his second home. His stay in Beijing came to an end when he was arrested and expelled from the country for "counter-revolutionary activities".

And about the book : Warned by a Hong Kong fortune-teller not to risk flying for a year, Tiziano Terzani, a vastly experienced Asia correspondent, took his first step into an unknown world. Traveling by foot, train, bus, car, and boat, and consulting soothsayers and shamans along the way, Terzani discovered as never before the complex traditions and unexpected delights of the people and lands he had been reporting on for years. "I was marked for death, " writes Terzani, "and instead I was reborn."

I guess I have in my own little way a special connection with Mr Terzani when I first heard about him when I was studying in Japan. His daughter, Saskia Terzani, had just joined our class and we heard that he'd worked for Die Spiegel and had just been expelled from China, fleeing to Japan. Last I read, Tiziano had passed on almost exactly 2 years ago. And I hadn't seen Saskia since high school!

It's the 1st of August, and my workload has tapered down somewhat, though not to the state pre-Mr-X-Ray-soothsayer visit when life was a lot less hazardous!

Maybe it's time to pay another visit to the X-Ray Man to find out what lies ahead for me? But then again, maybe not....:P