What Hyperion Got (part 2)

Yesterday I detailed what kind of foodstuffs I got for Hyperion Day. Today I am detailing things that will last. (Although, knowing me, I may eat them.)


Surely you remember my rhapsodic and sexually charged review of 300 in March? Well, Kaida got me the 2 disc DVD!!!! Who wants to go throw some babies off of cliffs???


Next, I was REALLY surprised to get a fea[We interrupt this section to say that Kaida has declared this gift secret and has exercised her girlfriend prerogative to excise mention of it in these pages]ow to use it, but I said I'd try.


The next thing Kaida got me was a stuffed elephant. She did this for two reasons. First, I got a stuffed giraffe for Dinosaur Present Day (featuring T-Rex). I'm just now realizing that I didn't have a picture taken of Rook (the giraffe), which will probably have repercussions, but we press on. Besides causing a minor riot in my house (my mother loves all things giraffe like I love taffy; and I'm a man who loves his taffy), Rook was lonely, so he needed an elephant to keep him company.

Secondly, Kaida has been getting me elephant gods for some time. First was Tumasek, the pocket god of luck. Second was Domrey, the goddess of laptops, and third was Samara, the god of free food. I had my sister take cell phone pix the other night (so forgive the blurriness);

Tumasek, who probably spends 80% of his time in one of my pockets bringing me luck.



Domrey, who, and I don't want to be profane here, but I'm fairly sure became the goddess of laptops because she was always traveling around with my laptop that was all gray, and she's somewhat blind, so I think she thought it was her child. Nonetheless, I'm happy to have her protection. (By the way, though you can't tell, Tumasek is about 1.7 inches long and 2.9 inches high. Domrey is more like 4.2 inches long and 5.4 inches high.)




I cannot tell you how many times Samara has hooked me up with free food. What I used to do at was to take him up to a table and ask if he could day hi. Then when everyone is oohing and ahhing at his back (which, you can't see very well, but is intricately designed), I would steal food off their table. And if think I'm kidding, you clearly don't know me.


So those were my elephants. They are stately, majestic, and, I don't mind saying, a bit standoffish to the other gods. Basically, they think they are better than everyone. I'm not saying it's always a picnic, but gods have minds of their own. (See: gravity). Anyway, I was really worried they wouldn't accept a ''stuffed" elephant, but luckily after a day of sorting out, they accepted her just fine. This is Trinity:

She is a very cool elephant, sort of quiet right now, but fun. She loves swinging my her trunk and seems to get along not only with Elephant Triad but with the other gods. The elephant gods accept her because she is an elephant, and the other gods accept her because she is not a god and not pretentious. I'm almost wondering if she could bring peace to my fractious bedroom.....

But Hyperion Day would not be completely without an actual god. It's name is Herakleia, after Pyrrhus's famous battle site. As you can imagine, he is the god of Pyrrhic victories. When I first saw him I thought of Shishigami, the Forrest Spirit from PRINCESS MONONOKE. There is just a peace and calm and reverence about him that I don't know how to describe.

Sadly, I do not have a camera to take his picture. (Actually, I'm not even sure that'd be cool.) However, I did find this picture on Google Images. It doesn't capture the god-like qualities of Herekleia, but it does give you some idea of how profound a creature he represents.



When I opened the red stag god I thought it couldn't be topped, but Kaida, as usual, had one more present in store.

Before I get there, you will recall a few weeks ago I humorously wrote about trying to get Kaida a gift. (The humor was not well received, prompting me to write a follow-up three days later to quell the firestorm.)

The point is, I was anxious about my gift to her, not because of competing (how could I), but just because I wanted to do something a tenth as nice for her as she does for me. This is just one gift box from one holiday (Hyperion Day, which is really celebrated the rest of the month, in case you still need to shop.) She really is a fantastic gift giver. There is no topping her, in the history of the known universe.

Anyway, these last few gifts were in a really cool gift box that looked like a very tan alligator skin. Inside that was another small gift box of same make, and inside that more red tissue paper, (There is always colorful paper, which I enjoy, along with boxes, as much as the gifts. Then again, legend has it that for my first Christmas all the relatives totally splurged to get the first grandkid all this Fisher Price stuff, and I spent the entire day playing with an orange.)

Anyway, inside that little box (which was inside the bigger box which was inside the biggest box, and how pathetic am I for trying to build suspense?) was a marble ball. But it wasn't just any ball.

It was a world. My very own world, to look at and contemplate in my own god-like ways. Kaida said I could use it when I was stressed or when I had writer's block, but you just know I will be sending down some commandments on tablets any day. If you look closely at my world you will see oceans and continents filled with mountain ranges and rivers. It really is a world.

MY WORLD!

You know, until I conquer this one.

I haven't named the world yet, so if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. But could there be a more perfect gift for a benign would-be dictatorial charming megalomaniac like myself?

No, there could not.

I have not gotten a picture of my world yet (coming soon, I promise), but I wanted you to see what I was talking about, so here is one I found online.



I hope you all have a wonderful Hyperion Day, filled with sunshine and elephants and gods and worlds and love. I know I will.

Hyperion
August 26, 2007
4:30 AM