It’s not like I keep on adding and adding them. I just simply have a lot of stuffed furry friends. I find it to be practical. I’m living in a space that allows “no pets,” and this is pretty much my “loophole” to the “no pet” rule. I guess the craze started way back in high school some 20 years ago. (YES I ADMIT IT!!! 20 YEARS, OK???)
My little cousin (she aint “little” anymore as she’s in her 20s now) was the most adorable member of the family back in my sophomore year of high school. Cute as a button, well-behaved 2 year old. So our sophomore class was having a Dakin Holiday fundraiser, and I decided to get her one of the bears for Christmas. At age 15, I remembered that Christmas being one of my “better” Christmas experience as I watched her opened the wrapping and embracing the bear. Her face lit up and as a result so did mine. My first high school kiss around that time was in the aftermath of the girl I was crazy about receiving a bear from me. Yes, teddy bears became my charm. Upon getting my driver’s license, I bought a Garfield line “Pookie” bear to put in the passenger seat of my car. So the 2 years of high school driving, I was accompanied by “Pookie.” (He was safely sitting next to me w/his seatbelt on!) Unfortunately towards the end of senior year, someone broke into my car and Pookie became a casualty. His memory was relived as I had an image of him tattooed on my upper right shoulder sitting on the back of my “protective” dragon.
Most people bring along those neck pillows for traveling on overseas flight. I actually have 2 contoured “pillows” to travel along with me. Actually they’re not pillows. They’re two bears contoured to my neck. They serve a couple of purposes when I’m traveling in addition to being pillows: they help me speed up the process whenever I’m stopped for “random bag checking,” and they’re the “silencers” when a screaming baby is on board the plane. (They came in handy on my last flight from HK to SFO earlier this year!)
The ultimate experience of bears was when I USED TO be one. I mentioned that years ago, I was one of those “party gram” cartoon characters for birthday parties. There was nothing else more fulfilling than being mobbed by a bunch of children chanting “Poooooohhhhh!!!” It was my favorite job because I actually got paid to hold babies and played games with the kids. The downside was during the times when I would work at the higher risk neighborhood knowing that the children I was playing with and holding were abused and neglected. (I shared a story way back on an older blog entry where as Pooh Bear, tears were streaming down my face as I learned that the two year old I was holding was witnessing her father beating her mother on a regular basis)
So you could imagine how offended I was when I learned about the “furies.” Apparently, there’s a sexual fetish for people to engage in sexual activities while wearing such costumes. For me, it’s pretty sacrilegious. I donned such costumes in order to give those kids some form of childhood precious memories, an escape no matter how brief the time may be for them. So the idea of people donning the outfits for such self fulfilling pleasure truthfully had as much of an impact as when learning about the two year old. That sense of innocence snatched away. Yes, consenting adults have a right to do whatever they want to do. But “furies???”
My “friends” are great ice-breakers. People talk about them all the time. They’re good company cause they don’t talk back, it doesn’t cost anything to feed them, and best of all, you don’t need to clean up after them. Little kids and babies respond to them better than they do to us adults. (Have you seen how cute it is to see someone 1 year old or less striking up a conversation with a bear?) Also in my case as a writer and as an improviser, their presence enables me to unlock my creativity and imagination. In fact, I would venture out to say that they actually “helped” me write Classroom Drama for the Asian American Theater Company. Well at least they helped me “staged” the play. It happens when you have 10 characters all on stage at once. (most stage plays normally have 2-3 characters on stage at the most on average) I would also venture out to say that they even saved my life and my sanity after my mother passed away and my family going in their own direction some 3 years ago. I make no apologies for having them.
When I was doing my frequent trips to Singapore, I was seeing a young lady there on a semi regular basis. We were going over the details of my then possible move over to Singapore and she commented that my “friends” be left behind and/or dumped. According to her, as a “grown man,” I had the moral obligation to “let go of such childish notions.” I put some thought into what she said, and eventually, I did “let go.”
…of HER!
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