Someone once commented on one of my posts here, “Thanks, buddy!”. It seemed very bro-y to me, so I think I should clear up that I’m not really a Mister. That’s just the name of my blog. I’m a girl!
Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you all about Mister Beebop and why my blog is named after him.
According to my family, Mister Beebop was my imaginary friend when I was about 4 or 5. He was actually one of a whole gang of imaginary friends. The others were Grace, Joseph, and Mister Darling. I would talk to them and about them all the time and tell stories about them. I described Mister Beebop as a little man with a long white beard. One day, I just stopped talking about Mister Darling. So my family asked me what happened to him. To which I replied, “Oh he’s dead. He got shot by Joseph.”
I don’t remember any of this at all. All I know about them, I heard from my family. What I do remember is long hours spent playing in my own little playhouse. It was a small “bahay kubo” or nipa hut, and inside I had my treasured tea sets. So to be honest, hearing these stories about my imaginary friends scares the crap out of me. I was alone for hours in a little house in our garage near a lot of trees. My main friend was a little man with a long white beard.
Did you guys see Robert Downey, Jr’s movie “Heart and Souls”? The one where four souls were linked with a child all his life, but only he could see them so everybody thought they were just his imaginary friends? Then the souls reappeared to him when they realized he could help them with their unfinished business on earth. There’s new research that explains what imaginary friends are, and it’s not far off from the movie’s premise. And may I ask, why did one of my “friends” have to die violently, at the hands of my other “friend”? Are you scared yet? Because I am!
I try to take this lightly, and most of the time it’s just another one of those anecdotes we all laugh about over the dinner table. But what if there’s a cutoff age where they have to reappear to their “friend”? How old was RDJ in the movie when they showed up again? I’m afraid to find out.
On the other hand, I also like to think that they were looking out for me. I wasn’t a lonely child by any means, and I had friends – the flesh and blood kind. But my siblings were all so much older than me so I did have a lot of alone time growing up. So maybe Grace, Joseph, Mister Darling and Mister Beebop just wanted to keep me company.
So why did I name my blog after Mister Beebop? Grace or Joseph doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. And Mister Darling, well, he may not be doing so well, what with Joseph shooting him and all. Mister Beebop’s name, on the other hand, sounds so friendly and approachable. I could never really focus my blog on just one thing because I have so many different interests. But Mister Beebop is an inescapable part of my childhood so I feel it represents me. And maybe he’s looking over my shoulder as I post my articles (help me I am not scared at all at the thought) and putting his stamp of approval on them. Please just don’t scare me.
mister beebop 