The Imaginary Friend
Location: Suvon Imaginary
Mood-of-the-day: Diamond Sparkle
It’s funny once you start to think about it, especially when you’ve got a little older (and wiser, hopefully). There are stories about imaginary friends in many children’s books. Haley Joel Osment and Whoopi Goldberg starred in a movie about an imaginary friend (if you were only born in 1996, the movie’s called Bogus). Still running in the Star newspaper is the infamous Calvin and his tiger, Hobbes.
Being the girl who considers ‘Imagination’ is a verb instead of a noun, I remembered my very first imaginary friend. Yes, I had one of my own. Heck, I even remember how she came by. You might even say that she was my heroine. I called her Diamond because she was tough and she was beautiful and she was my own magical friend.
It was around the time when my age was a single digit. I’ve always wanted to be a boy because they’re stronger and bigger and mostly, I didn’t want to get left behind. Being the sibling born six years after my parent’s last birth batch, I had a lot to catch up if I wanted to stick around the ‘big kids’.
Yet, I hadn’t lost my sensitive side. Despite her name, Diamond was my sensitive side. She was born during a sensitive phase. After a time period of Disney video tapes (you know, tapes. The movie thing before DVDs) where princesses talks to animals and lived happily ever after, I stumbled on a hidden cache titled The Last Unicorn. It was the first non-Disney animation I’ve ever seen and one that didn’t end with the predictable guy + gal.
Looking back, I now see how beautiful the story was. At the first time, I cried for a long while after I watched that, because I felt like it just wasn’t fair if they loved each other (and the theme song added the effect). So I made up an alternate story in my head, the one where there was a happy ending. That’s when I got Diamond. She was the daughter of the guy + gal in The Last Unicorn that I’ve altered slightly.
Diamond is magical, like her mother. Diamond can shape-shift in all sorts of creatures, from a white pigeon to an angel to an ugly monster. But her favourite form (and mine :P) was a black unicorn with white mane and horn and had silver-tipped wings. At night when I get lonely or sad, she would take me to places where only dreams can be made real. We’ll fall into Enid Blyton’s fairylands or fly over the Emerald City and follow rainbows.
I lost Diamond soon after I sat for UPSR exams. She sort of vanished. I can’t hear her call for me at night because I always get too tired to dream. There are times when she did came back, just to sit by me and whisper secrets. Eventually, she was gone, period. I filled the empty void with teen books and Japanese anime. Maybe I’ve pushed her out because I thought I was getting too old.
But one thing was real about my imaginary friend. She got me into fantasy and I had never got out of it since :). I supposed she hadn’t really left. She was an expert shape-shifter after all. Maybe we sort of merged together. I like that idea better.
Signed: *Ophie, now listening about your imaginary pal.
Mood-of-the-day: Diamond Sparkle
It’s funny once you start to think about it, especially when you’ve got a little older (and wiser, hopefully). There are stories about imaginary friends in many children’s books. Haley Joel Osment and Whoopi Goldberg starred in a movie about an imaginary friend (if you were only born in 1996, the movie’s called Bogus). Still running in the Star newspaper is the infamous Calvin and his tiger, Hobbes.
Being the girl who considers ‘Imagination’ is a verb instead of a noun, I remembered my very first imaginary friend. Yes, I had one of my own. Heck, I even remember how she came by. You might even say that she was my heroine. I called her Diamond because she was tough and she was beautiful and she was my own magical friend.
It was around the time when my age was a single digit. I’ve always wanted to be a boy because they’re stronger and bigger and mostly, I didn’t want to get left behind. Being the sibling born six years after my parent’s last birth batch, I had a lot to catch up if I wanted to stick around the ‘big kids’.
Yet, I hadn’t lost my sensitive side. Despite her name, Diamond was my sensitive side. She was born during a sensitive phase. After a time period of Disney video tapes (you know, tapes. The movie thing before DVDs) where princesses talks to animals and lived happily ever after, I stumbled on a hidden cache titled The Last Unicorn. It was the first non-Disney animation I’ve ever seen and one that didn’t end with the predictable guy + gal.
Looking back, I now see how beautiful the story was. At the first time, I cried for a long while after I watched that, because I felt like it just wasn’t fair if they loved each other (and the theme song added the effect). So I made up an alternate story in my head, the one where there was a happy ending. That’s when I got Diamond. She was the daughter of the guy + gal in The Last Unicorn that I’ve altered slightly.
Diamond is magical, like her mother. Diamond can shape-shift in all sorts of creatures, from a white pigeon to an angel to an ugly monster. But her favourite form (and mine :P) was a black unicorn with white mane and horn and had silver-tipped wings. At night when I get lonely or sad, she would take me to places where only dreams can be made real. We’ll fall into Enid Blyton’s fairylands or fly over the Emerald City and follow rainbows.
I lost Diamond soon after I sat for UPSR exams. She sort of vanished. I can’t hear her call for me at night because I always get too tired to dream. There are times when she did came back, just to sit by me and whisper secrets. Eventually, she was gone, period. I filled the empty void with teen books and Japanese anime. Maybe I’ve pushed her out because I thought I was getting too old.
But one thing was real about my imaginary friend. She got me into fantasy and I had never got out of it since :). I supposed she hadn’t really left. She was an expert shape-shifter after all. Maybe we sort of merged together. I like that idea better.
Signed: *Ophie, now listening about your imaginary pal.
Imagination shone on 9/28/2004 09:50:00 AM
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