Snowball Effect

A curious phenomenon has occurred while I've been sequestered away in Canberra. Inexplicably, I have been sucked into a vortex of collecting Hello Kitty items. It started out innocently enough - one of my workmates sent me a HK picture in an e-mail, and then we started joking around about it, and then she bought me a HK clock for Christmas as a joke, while I got her a HK memory stick.

The next thing you know, I'm at the Royal Canberra Show (the Australian equivalent to a State Fair) and I'm buying a Hello Kitty showbag. They sell all sorts of showbags at the show - hence the name - and the HK showbag was one of the most popular. It included stickers, magnets, a pencil case, makeup, a disposable camera and a trash can amongst other treasures. Even the bag had HK on it (and she's now displayed in all her glory on my bulletin board), and a picture of that is on my cellphone's wallpaper.

Now other people are giving me HK items as well - some other workmates make a monthly pilgrimage to a local Asian grocer and they found all sorts of HK treats, so I had some sultana biscuits delivered in a lovely reusable plastic pouch. I've got pens with HK wearing some sort of feather boa, a lollipop and a HK bouncing around on a spring. Every once in a while a new HK item arrives - I got four HK DVDs for my birthday.

It's all a bit scary and a lesson to us all - how a joke is funny...until it becomes an obsession.