Aug 06 2006
Origins of a Color Preference
Jayel Aheram as an anthropomorphic cat. Art by my sister Janan.
A long time ago, I was browsing through my blog looking for an excuse to make even more redundant and unnecessary edits to the template. I was trying to brainstorm ideas of what to write about and was suddenly struck at the sheer purpleness of the entire blog (the original version of the blog used to be all purple and did not include Armanth). Yes, my favorite color is purple. Yes, “Aheram” is purple. And yes, the theme and layout is based on my old Purple Hell website. There is no surprise that the blog’s theme is based on my favorite color. There are plenty of web sites that reflect the webmaster’s favorite colors. But I do wonder, how did my favorite color which is reflected in the blog’s theme became purple?
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Aug 05 2006
The 200 Dollar Stuffed Toy
Meet Armanth. He is tough, cool, and cuddly.
I had this crazy idea of creating a blog for my stuffed tiger Armanth and telling his story. Most of it will be fiction, but still based on some facts. I took plenty of pictures of him wearing his clothes (he has about 200+ USD worth of clothes, shoes, and outfits) to use on his blog. My awesome digital camera made perfect shots every time. The ones I liked best were the ones with him wearing an orange-and-blue windbreaker-and-hood (some of the pictures now adorn my blog as of Mar ’05). The color of the outfit complemented him. It brought out his adorable tigerness. I went “Aww!” and even squealed like a little girl as I took his pictures. It felt like the time I first held him. I got Armanth about 3 years ago in Disneyland Anaheim. They had a Build-a-Bear Workshop there and that was where I got Armanth. I remembered searching through a barrel of unstuffed tigers (you get to stuff them yourself) and looking at their faces. I do not know what exactly I was looking for, but all I know was that I wanted a connection somehow. I did not want just any stuffed tiger, I wanted Armanth. I went looking for Armanth when I went into the store. I knew his name even before I found him.
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Aug 04 2006
The Games I Used to Play
Most of what I remember from my childhood was that of school and playing after school. The former was filled with classmates and friends and social things, the latter devoid of it. What I did in school usually stayed in school and it did not spill over to the home sphere (after school). A few times, my classmates visited me at home and it was awkward to say the least. I was not comfortable then in the idea of mingling my home life with that of my school life. Not that I was shy, hardly in fact! I was outspoken, talkative, outgoing, vivacious, and in trouble with my teachers most of time. This kind of dichotomy between school and home was voluntary in part, because I never needed to meld the two together. School was fine if it stayed in school and I was perfectly happy not having my classmates play with me out of school. This pattern of behavior (of separating school and those who make it up and after school) continued until high school, when the merging between the two spheres of my life became inevitable.
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Jul 22 2006
An Exercise in Vulgarity
I was chatting in Voodoo Chat when my friend Andi decided to leave the computer for a bit. But before she left, she warned her fellow chatters to “not molest me while I’m gone.” I assured her that no one will do such a thing, but I might end up reciting a vulgar poem about her breasts. She then proceeded to challenge me to come up with something by the time she returned.
And I did.
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Jun 26 2006
A Short Story of Violence
The high priest’s orders were explicit. Round up the cultists that dare threaten the sanctity and dominion of his temple over his city and kill them. The cultists belong to a dangerous group, at least according to the priests of the Temple of Sardonyx, whose philosophy and celebrated lifestyle is of particular virulence. It corrupts, warned the priests, and consumes the soul in its decadence. It lures its prey with sins of the flesh.
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