I stood in the plants section of my local IKEA as I sifted through a collection of bamboo shoots the store claimed were lucky. A brief online search revealed the feng shui behind it, buying one meant a happy, content life, while two meant luck in love and relationships. As I wondered if the two concepts were really disjointed enough to require a different number of bamboo shoots, my attention involuntarily turned to a couple, clearly a few years into their marriage, arguing over something that seemed a long running point of contention, in a language they probably assumed passersby wouldn’t understand. Calling your wife a selfish narcissist who never took your views into consideration isn’t something you just blurt out without it being a long time coming, no matter how entirely misplaced it comes across to the random uninitiated IKEA shopper. But who am I to judge? I was there choosing to place my faith in twisted bamboo shoots. Did that couple need them more than I did? Who’s to say? But from the number of shoots still on the shelf, there was plenty of luck to go around.