Small Miracle II

A few weeks ago, I coincidentally got some Celsius at the precise moment of thinking about it. Which one could argue that it’s not that big of a coincidence. It is after all, summer, and the promos are everywhere.

But yesterday, another synchronicity that seems slightly absurd.

For a while now, I’ve been getting various ads for dog products on TikTok. It’s relentless and strange, as I have never once liked nor watched a dog video for more than the 1 second it took for me to register that it’s a dog and I swipe on. In short, I don’t like dogs. TikTok’s own algorithm knows this, and shows me a plethora of cat and possum videos, but never dog, so the fact that these ads keep popping up was strange to say the least.

Then I realized it was probably because Solen keeps saying dog (derogatory) when his echolalia spree happens. And as we all know, the phones listen. This is just a theory, but what else could it be? I have never once searched any dog nor even pet related products, don’t know anyone with a dog to talk about dogs, only the passing “God I hate dogs!” Comment whenever we narrowly miss a pile of shit on the sidewalk.

So, in order to prove my point, I said, “Let’s talk about parrots.” I wanted to see if perhaps I would be blessed with ads featuring the beautiful feathered birds if we simply said the word ‘parrot’ enough times.

A few hours passed, and we forgot about our parrot talk, but we ended up in Steveston for a nice afternoon walk. And as we walked pass people flying kites, BBQing, cycling, dancing… I thought I was hallucinating when I saw a guy walking his parrot.

We stopped to have a chat, and I was in disbelief this whole time. The man said he adopted the rescued parrot first as a foster, but just ended up keeping him. He said you need to walk a parrot outside and let it absorb some UV rays so their feathers are healthy. He also quipped about how he can’t have anything nice because his parrot will just peck at stuff and destroy them — the casualties include his mechanical keyboard and Oakley sunglasses.

The bird was healthy and vibrant, and definitely enjoying his walk along the beach. It fluffed its feathers a few times and seemed to love being petted on the head. It was nice to see a well taken care of bird, free to feel the wind and catch the sun.

He put his parrot on my arm for a bit while its sharp talons gently dug into my arm. I didn’t mind, as somehow, ad choices delivered me a parrot in real life. I was in shock. It was a beautiful vibrant bird, definitely not something I was expecting to encounter the same day I started to troll the algorithm by saying parrot a bunch of times.

“Did we just manifest a parrot?” I asked.

“Not we, you did,” Solen said.

I guess so!