Hello Kitty kicked my ass today. After a long hard morning writing about demons, World War Two, and vast unending conspiracies, I ventured into one of the malls for some retail therapy and found (again) the Hello Kitty store, which for the obsessed is like taking every hard drug you can imagine, and then drowning in pink. Oh, Lord. That place is nuts. One of these days I’ll get a photograph, but today I had no luck. One of the Big Cat’s cheerful minions prevented me from taking a picture of the GIANT FAIRY PRINCESS HELLO KITTY that was set up like a shrine at the back of the store. I think she was wearing a toga and had a wand with a pink star at the end. As opposed to the dominatrix version, which was much smaller. Either way, children were arrayed before her like favored disciples, staring with googly eyes. Me, too.
Of course, by the time I got out of there, all I could think about were really big guns. See, there’s a character returning in the next Dirk & Steele novel, The Fire King, who is a bit obsessed with Hello Kitty. Ku-Ku doesn’t talk much—maybe not at all—but she walks soft and carries a sub-machine gun. Totally Hello Kitty, all the way.
Amazingly enough, I didn’t buy anything today (because I didn’t know where to start—from the luggage, purses, pens, giant pencil sharpeners, hair clips, stuffed animals, appliances, cups, clothing, jewelry, furniture, and so on) but next time I go, if there is a next time, I’ll be prepared. Maybe I should get a bag of goodies for a book giveaway, but chances are I’ll just want to keep everything for myself, so forget that!
For those interested, check out Hello Kitty Hell, which is…pretty self-explanatory, and occasionally disturbing.
Also, I’ve been told that this blog is now part of a “Directory of 48+ Women English-language China Bloggers,” which is very cool. Of course, now I’m gonna have to try and be interesting. Pressure! Woe!