Dragon Day

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Dragons and China. It’s the biggest fucking cliché. If you ever go looking for books about China, you know how many of them have “dragon” in the title? Like all of them, practically.

Thing is, dragons are a big deal in China. The emperor’s symbol was a dragon. Dragons are all kinds of good luck, and super powerful. They can control weather, especially the kind that involves water. Your village keep flooding? Maybe you pissed off the local river dragon. Dragons can hide among clouds, disguise themselves as worms, or grow as big as mountains. Out of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, Dragon is the one you most want your kid to be. Dragon babies are attractive, smart, natural leaders, bring good fortune to the family. Yeah, I know all the other animals are supposed to have positive characteristics, but come on. You’re telling me you’d choose to be a Sheep over a Dragon?

Me, I’m a Rat. Obviously I’m not winning any zodiac beauty contest. Sure, they say we’re clever survivors, and that’s useful, I guess. It’s true I’ve survived some pretty crazy shit.

On the other hand, if I’m so clever, why do I keep walking into it?

If you believe in any of this Chinese astrology, it’s way more complicated than just the animal year you were born in. There’s an animal for your birth month, for your birthday, for the hour you’re born, and there’s all this other stuff having to do with the four elements-or maybe it’s five-and stems and pillars, and I have no idea what any of that means.

All these things have to do with your luck, or lack of it, and what kind of person you are. Because it’s not like every single baby born in a Dragon year turns out to be smart, good-looking, and destined to rule, right?

So maybe you’re born in a Dragon year but on a Sheep day.

And maybe some of those Sheep have Dragons inside.