Who tells you who you are? Can only be the old fortune-telling machines.

A few friends and I went to the Isle of Wight went away for the bank holiday weekend last week. We rented a car and because I passed my driving test a week before on the 20th May 2011, I happily drove these peeps from our hotel to Rosemary Vineyard and then to The Needles Park. I do miss driving, sometimes!

Anyway… We stopped by a place called the Arreton Old Village. The village itself has a collection of barns arranged in the way that reflected an English village 1000 years ago. These barns are now, of course, shops selling local produce, tourist souvenirs etc.

There was an old entertainment arcade, where the “Zodiac” stood. It is one of those “fortune-telling” machines, where you align the question you want to ask on the wheel to your zodiac sign, drop a dime and the indicator in the middle will reply: YES or NO.

Then I spotted this question:

WILL I TRAVEL?

Oh yes, oh yes. Of course this is a question, that we all have been asking ever since those days.

There was a another fortune-telling machine at another corner, and just for my own amusement I dropped a dime in it… in exchange of this piece of paper:

“You are the fortunate possessor of great strength of character- you have the ability for hard work and will do much good in your present undertakings…”

CONFESSION: I was.. and still am.. delighted to read this. Despite how much I believe that we are in control of our own fate – it’s about the attitude – I still flipping believe in this piece of pink paper that tells me who I am.

“You have to be yourself, if not, who are you?” – from Flawless show

But I believe humans are humans because we can create a safe environment to take risks, to keep pushing ourselves. At times, we have to convince ourselves about who we are, hence becoming who we are eventually. At times, the old fortune-telling machines gives us the confidence of who we want to be.