A Boy and His Doll

Chapter One: Who Wants a Really Long Introduction?

Let's start from the beginning. From my beginning.

I was sixteen, when I first saw this beautiful, beautiful doll. This doll wasn't like those cheap, Barbie knock-offs, and this doll wasn't an actual Barbie either. He (for the beautiful doll was a boy) looked more life-like, realer than any doll I had ever seen before. Not counting the baby dolls that girls were expected to feed and cried 'mama, mama'. Those were creepy and made taking care of an infant easy. Yeah right.

No, he was beautiful. He was a work of art. So naturally, I became obsessed. I later found out that his doll was a kind of doll called a Ball Jointed Doll. I read every post about BJDs, I read information about how much one was (and I nearly fell over when I read that bit), how to buy one, take care of one; how to change their eyes, how to pose them; literally everything about them I could read about, I read about. But, however excited and how much I longed for one, it was not to be. I was only 16, poor as any middle class sixteen year old was. So I dreamed. I dreamed about what company I would buy my first doll from, what clothes, wigs, eyes, shoes and the whole shebang; what their name would be, what their personality would be, their back story...

Now, I'm the lot of you are saying, but aren't they creepy? Aren't you scared? But never fear- as boys fall in love with basketball (among many, other things) and girls to their respective fads and obsessions, I had mine. I loved every moment of creating this unique character, every moment of imagining all the possibilities that could come from this. I loved the freedom I had.

And so, naturally, I bought myself one, after graduating and working. He wasn't the same sculpt as the first doll that I saw, but still he captured my affections. He was the most handsome, I thought, and he still is. His name is Keit. Like Keith, but without the 'h'. He wears a blond with purple hightlighted wig and mostly wears leather and bright colored shirts. He's got one blue eye and the other a mint color. He's the first BJD I ever bought. My mom thought he was kinda weird, being 70cm and handsome and muscular. She thought he was like a little demon (thanks Mom). After a while though, she got so used to him, that she started sewing for him. Imagine that. It was as if she thought of him as her own little grandson. Well, she might as well, since I myself won't be giving her grandchildren anytime soon.

...Oh, what's that? Who am I, you ask? Well. Let's see... Uh, well, I'm Zee. It's short for a really long name that I won't bother you with. I'm sure you think I live with my mom, but that isn't the case really. We live about an hour away, but we're super close. When mom went through her divorce with my biological father, she went through so much pain and grief. It was a hard time for her, and for me as well. Since I was working, I couldn't come over and comfort her, but after a while, she moved on. So I guess our relationship is much better now, since she's more supportive of me, and me to her.

As for myself, I live alone, and have a nine to seven job. It's hard work, but it's all good. Uh... I love BJDs, and cooking. I suck at sewing, but I'm pretty okay when I sketch. I was supposed to take up a Fine Arts course, during college, but it was not to be. I got stuck with Business so, yeah.

But enough about my boring self.

Over the years, I have bought more dolls. Currently I have 9 BJDs, all boys, ranging from 60cm to 70 cm (or SD sized, if you will). They all have different personalities, different relationships with each other, and even different styles. I love them all of course, but you could say I'm biased towards Keit. After all these years, he's gotten himself a boyfriend, in the form of a 65cm SD male, named Friday, who I saw one summer event and told myself, 'yes, that's Keit's boyfriend' and bought him. Recently, I joined social media sites and have been posting photos of my BJD crew and through that, I have made friends and found out that there were BJD owners like myself that lived close by. We met, me all red in the face and gushing about my love for BJDs and getting to meet so many other hobbyists like myself, and now it's a pretty regular thing. Most Saturdays are spent with my hobbyist friends, taking walks and snapping photos of our children (read: BJDs, haha). It's been fun.