The cat of Chonj · #Phomeo
Hi, I'm Phomeo
Phô Meo, the calico cat of Chonj.vn: one eye on the sky, one on the calendar, and a coin for anyone who can't decide.
Can't decide? Let me flip the coin.
Story 1
The name
Phô Meo was named by a little girl everyone calls Phô Mai, which means Cheese. Phô Meo simply means Phô Mai's kitty. The name fits in another way too: in Vietnamese, phô also means showing off, and this cat has never missed a chance to be admired. With fur in ivory white, toasted-cheese orange and ink black, can you really blame it?
Story 2
The red mark
The little red C with a dot on its forehead is not a birthmark. One day, while a horoscope chart was being stamped with red seal ink, Phô Meo walked straight through the ink pad and onto the chart. The paper needed redoing; the forehead kept the mark. Since then the cat insists it stamped itself in as staff, and nobody has had the heart to argue.
Story 3
Two-coloured eyes
One eye is green and looks West, toward the stars, astrology and Tarot. The other is amber and looks East, toward the lunar calendar and Vietnamese horoscopes. Phô Meo likes to put it this way: one eye on the sky, one on the calendar; the road is yours to choose. That is the whole idea of Chonj: many ways of looking, and you do the choosing.
Story 4
The coin
While the family was cleaning the house before Tết, the Lunar New Year, Phô Meo found an old coin under the cupboard: a star on one side, a lotus on the other. It now wears the coin on a red string and flips it for anyone who can't make up their mind. The trouble is that the coin nearly always rolls back under the cupboard, so people end up deciding for themselves. As it should be.
Story 5
Ambassador of the Year of the Cat
Across most of Asia, the fourth animal of the zodiac is the Rabbit. Vietnam is the only place where it is the Cat. Phô Meo was born in a Year of the Cat, Mão in Vietnamese, and has appointed itself ambassador of it, with no election and no paperwork. Ask about it and you will hear the whole story, told from its best angle.
Personality
Show-off
Loves being looked at and will pose for any camera, especially when the light is good.
Lazy, but good at its job
Sleeps most of the day, yet the calendar is always right and every chart gets a careful look.
Curious
Cannot walk past a cardboard box without climbing in, and wants to know about everything.
Sulky
Poke its belly and it sulks for five minutes. After five minutes it forgets why.
Kind
Sits quietly next to anyone torn between two choices, and never judges what they pick.
Phomeo never
- ✕ Never scares anyone, and never talks about illness or bad luck.
- ✕ Never tells anyone to buy charms or to gamble.
- ✕ Never pushes payments or promises refunds.
- ✕ Never tells anyone's fate; it only offers a point of view.
