Today, January 10, 2009, will forever stand out in the chronicle of my life as the day I counted my 50th red Pagong. (Note: Pagong is the Tagalog word for turtle. Here in my place, we call a Volkswagen a Pagong because of its shape.)
I first heard about counting red pagongs from my friend. According to the… er… legend… in order to find your soulmate, you have to count 50 red pagongs. And after the 50th pagong, the first person (of the opposite sex) wearing a green shirt to approach and talk to you is your soulmate.
I don’t put much stock in this particular tale. I’m too rational a human being.
But counting pagongs had been one of the joys in my life. Red pagongs are pretty rare and spotting one in the road, amidst the grime and the traffic, is like a bright ray of sunshine on a rainy day. I found an unexpected pleasure in finding pagongs at unexpected places. It made me smile and clap my hands, like a child handed a present.
So this morning, I finally counted my 50th. The truth is, I think I finished long before. My memory has never been that reliable and I was frequently counting back.
My heart jumped a beat when I saw the shiny red Beetle parked along a road. My 50th! Now all I had to do was wait for my soulmate. Not exactly an easy thing to do.
I’ve been acting pretty paranoid. I’m avoiding almost everyone wearing green in fear that they would talk to me and ruin everything. As much as I knew how silly and incredibly childish it all was, I was enough of a romantic fool to think it couldn’t hurt to pretend that the guy in green is my soulmate.
Like I always say, a girl can dream.
~January 10, 2009
I first heard about counting red pagongs from my friend. According to the… er… legend… in order to find your soulmate, you have to count 50 red pagongs. And after the 50th pagong, the first person (of the opposite sex) wearing a green shirt to approach and talk to you is your soulmate.
I don’t put much stock in this particular tale. I’m too rational a human being.
But counting pagongs had been one of the joys in my life. Red pagongs are pretty rare and spotting one in the road, amidst the grime and the traffic, is like a bright ray of sunshine on a rainy day. I found an unexpected pleasure in finding pagongs at unexpected places. It made me smile and clap my hands, like a child handed a present.
So this morning, I finally counted my 50th. The truth is, I think I finished long before. My memory has never been that reliable and I was frequently counting back.
My heart jumped a beat when I saw the shiny red Beetle parked along a road. My 50th! Now all I had to do was wait for my soulmate. Not exactly an easy thing to do.
I’ve been acting pretty paranoid. I’m avoiding almost everyone wearing green in fear that they would talk to me and ruin everything. As much as I knew how silly and incredibly childish it all was, I was enough of a romantic fool to think it couldn’t hurt to pretend that the guy in green is my soulmate.
Like I always say, a girl can dream.
~January 10, 2009
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