Triskaideka-non-phobia
Thursday, July 13, 2006
(Photo: http://www.porthalcyon.com/reviews/200505/fourcharms.shtml)About this time four years ago, I was holding a bright red umbrella standing on an aluminum viewing telescope (can anyone say lightning rod?) with 12 awesome friends, SV2G, atop the Main Tower having my picture taken against a rainy Frankfurt skyline. Those two-and-a-half weeks of pure joy and exhilaration sealed our bond as friends and on every 13th day of the month since, we've been keeping in touch via customized text messages commemorating all the fun and embarrassing moments we had that only a Filipino sense of humor can comprehend.
Thirteen has been a lucky number for SV2G. There were thirteen of us on the trip. We stayed in, last time Kyx and I counted, thirteen hotels and youth hostels. There are several other instances, mostly remembered only when we reunite and reminisce of days gone by, where thirteen has been reinforced as a special number to our posse.
Thirteen... XIII... Labin-tatlo... Trese... where does this number get its potency. Probably the most widely accepted manifestation of triskaidekaphobia is the deletion of the thirteenth floor in high-rise buildings. Also, I think everyone feels slightly different when the thirteenth day of the month happens to fall on a Friday like the earth is tilted a degree farther or something. I've learned, from a National Geographic documentary during the whole Da Vinci Code brouhaha, that Friday the 13th became an inauspicious date when the pope turned against the Knights Templar on said date or something like that... I wasn't really paying attention (tee hee).
In general, I think, I'm not really superstitious. Breaking mirrors, crossing the path of black cats, walking under ladders and other western superstitions never quite made me mentally associate bad luck. However, I do say "bari bari" when I throw anything in creepy places where vengeful dwarves may be lurking. I also instinctively bite my tongue when dogs bark at me, and throw salt over my shoulder when I spill some on the table… more force of habit than phobia.
This day goes down in history, for me at least, as the most depressing 13 ever not because of this blasted typhoon Florita but because right now, Coldplay is probably doing sound checks for their concert tonight in Hong Kong... so near yet so far... grrrrr...
Labels: area 13
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