What's In a Name?

Well, mine's not terribly mysterious to begin with... It's a lifestyle I want, and someday will live. (It's also reflective of my real-life name, so it's easy to remember)

Greetings:  Ironic that this is the topic for today...All I was going to say is "I hope ya'll have a great weekend as I am taking my family sailing for a few days.  I'll be back Monday".  Getting the boys out of school at lunch today and going on a mini adventure.

By the way, I really enjoy this site.  You folks are great.

Mine is simple and complicated all at the same time.  It is a nickname I had back in High School,which was about the same time that the internet was starting to get really big. My name is Johnathan, but back in like seventh grade or so someone started calling me Johnaphony, and even had a whole song they sang to go along with it.  Dropped the name to just Phony and kept on singing.  I hated it, so of course it stuck...

 But back to why I choose it as a screename.  Basically I accepted the Nickname, people still call me Phony, and 54 was my jersey number in football and baseball.  So when it came time to choose my first ever email address back in like 95 or so, phony54 it was.  I have used it ever since as all of my screen names.

Brooks Simpkins, if you are out there somewhere, I still blame you for this damn nickname that has followed me for almost 20 years!

Tony D was my grandfather's nickname, and I never had a nickname so I borrowed his. I use it at all the sites I frequent. I actually carry his name as my middle name. 

WESTLEY:  Well, Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. So he took me to his cabin and told me his secret. "I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts," he said. "My name is Ryan. I inherited this ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from was not the real Dread Pirate Roberts, either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired fifteen years and living like a king in Patagonia." Then he explained the name was the important thing for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley. So we sailed ashore, took on an entirely new crew and he stayed aboard for awhile as first mate, all the time calling me Roberts. Once the crew believed, he left the ship and I have been Roberts ever since. Except, now that we're together, I shall retire and hand the name over to someone else.

 ...

My friends, I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts #7226.  Ask me about franchise opportunities in your area!

Being a Classics major I have spent my fair share of time in classrooms learning dead languages so that's always where I turn for screen names and the like machinator = schemer. I first used it as my alias email address that I gave when I was unsure I wanted someone to have my regular address and it stuck...

Due to the fact that my last name is of Polish origins it has a tendancy to confuse people when they see the lack of vowels. As a result I have had nicknames my whole life. Everytime I started a new job or went to a new school I'd get a new name. Most of them were just some sort of derivation of my real name. However when I got to college one of my instructors came up with my current favorite. One day she had to type my name into a computer but she was feeling a bit lazy that day and decided to just type Stimpy instead. It was different enough and easy enough for people to remember that it really stuck. Even though it is my nickname in real life I try to use it whenever I have a chance too online because it reminds me of college memories, and who among us didn't have fun in college? (The only problem is that its also the same name of the fat stupid cat on The Ren & Stimpy Show. But Ive come to enjoy that too, and actually dressed like him for Halloween once!)

Oh, dear-anyone might think that my use of my first name here would signify a lack of imagination, when nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, I just LIKE my name and use it whenever possible. I have screen names in other sites, and I use some variation on my name when plain Olivia is taken.

I just channel my imagination into my writing and vocabulary, I suppose...

Either Willie Trask IS my real name, or I am a fictitious character created to sell music and help another fictitious character sell spurious folk art.  Willie Trask may be a reference to Willie Stark ( note rearrangement) from All the Kings Men, or it may be an alias of Wentworth Tradd.

 Anyone  born after 1970 with a name like "Zach" or "Max" or even "Molly" knows the layers of wistfulness and irony that can be folded into a name. And anyone who has ever been to England, or even seen much English TV would question the wisdom of parents calling their child "Willie". Believe me,  Dick and Peter know, and so do their therapists.

On the internet nobody knows I am a dog. 

My screen name originated with my mother, the first grade teacher.  A modest lady who usually dressed like first grade teachers did in the 1940s and 1950, when she was going to a special event and was Really Dressed Up, she'd announce that she was (or would be) "the belle of the ball" - only in her inimitable way she'd say "belly of the ball" - 

I only dress like that on the same rare occasions as she - but when I sashay out in public, that's who I am...

Hmmmm, my first pet's name and the street I grew up on?

My initials and my street address number?

 A sly reference to a TV show? 

What my grandchildren call me?

 An obscure character from The Marx Brothers? 

A pun involving some part of my name and a familiar phrase?

A self mocking intentionally unhip twist on a rapper's name?

 The name of the rock band I never did form? 

A transliteration of my name in click language?

 My password backwards?

My "ATM machine"  "PIN number" decoded into letters?

 A phrase  turned into a name?

A witty palindrome?

Squeakywestshore, WT9000, WT90210, BigDaddy, OtisBDriftwood, WillieMakit, Traskmatic5000, giantmunchkindeathsquad, wrkaphta, drowssap, Abbadog, Williescores,neveroddoreven  

This particular screen name came to pass when I registered for this site: I was the 666th person to register. And being an atheist, I decided to play off the number of the beast from the book of revelations: 666. Thus, Agent666 was born.

I will say, Willie Trask, that giantmunchkindeathsquad is a GREAT screen name and rock band. The mind reels at the possible avatar images. And song lyrics.

Dread Pirate Roberts ~  I somehow heard about your namesake already....Maybe I read it in the NY Times one Sunday morning.....

Willie Trask ~ OtisBDriftwood  is one my Favorite Characters from a Night at the Opera....

I sit at a desk.

My screen name is just a word I came up with to distinguish myself from all the other people out there who have the same old boring name as mine: Richard Smith. Turns out that it is very similar to a lovely lake in upstate NY, Saranac, and is pronounced essentially the same.

Yikes, with a screen name like mine, I guess I'm about as interesting as Al Gore - who was famously known to his Secret Service detail as "Al Gore"...

Oh, how fun?!

Have been mulling plans for a costume party next month and this is even better. I have to say though, I am a bit disappointed with some of the responses.

Trask,

Just TELL US! Actually, I think I've already guessed who you are. So that's fine if you don't want to admit it.

My screen name comes from my blog 'character.' And, honestly, I went with annonymity for safety reasons. Lots of crazy internet stalkers out there. I think I've met most of them in my short stint as a blogger.

Miss Ive is a play on missive, something I send out daily on the blog. 

But since I just called Trask out for not giving it up, I will give you my first name.

It's Jennifer. Very common so you won't be able to find me!  Most people who know me well say it does not suit me. When I ask, "Well then what does?'" it's remarkable how many people have responded with the same name: Virginia.

All my grad school girls called me Virginia because of my likeness in image (other than the nose) and character to Ms. Woolf.

So that's one more clue into Miss Ive's real life. Whatever that means!

Olivia,

I too love your name. And think it suits you.

phony54,

I can NOT believe you admitted, so casually, that you were taunted in middle school and called 'phony.' I believe that the very fact that you admitted to it is proof enough that Brooks Simpkins was just jealous of how very un-phony you are. Give me his number. I'll take care of him.

Happy Friday, all.

Jen 

Seronac also sounds like Serotonin. Are you sure you aren't promoting mood elevators?

Of course, we all remember that Serutan is natures spelled backwards. 

Okay Trask,

Is this you?

http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/wills/Essex%20Wills/william_trask.htm

Just one real clue. C'mon. 

This all making me think of George and his Bosco, and of course, David's version of our Mr. Peterman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyEFiaUQYGE

And the best part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY03ymgskNI 

And now I have laughed very hard this Friday.  

DPR, I called my husband "farm boy" for a whle before we got married.  At restaurants he would put his name down as "Wesley" because Mike is too common. 

Stimpy, even though I don't like Ren and Stimpy, I love the log song...

"What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs
    Rolls over your neighbor's dog?
    What's great for a snack and fits on your back?
    It's Log, Log, Log!

    It's Log, Log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood.
    It's Log, Log, it's better than bad, it's good!
    Everyone wants a log! You're gonna love it, Log!
    Come on and get your log! Everyone needs a Log!"

Agent666, nice flying spaghetti monster!

Nachista is a nickname that I use online because almost no one knows what it is or has heard it before.  I don't really know what it is.  In school I had an instructor from the Czech Repulic and he had Czech nicknames for a handfull of kids in class but would never tell us what they meant.  Nachista was part of mine and I sort of spelled it out phonetically because when he said it, it sounded like "etty na cheez ta"...I still have no idea what it means but I don't have to add numbers or a . and another name to it.

On the rare occasions that nachista is taken I use Andraste (Celtic goddess of war) or BikerDeva (uh, self explanatory) or Photofu (nickname from a very strange halloween back when I was a photo major).  I usually don't use my real name because everyone has been shortening it and changing it my whole life, Suzanne got to Suzie, Suzzz, SuzyQ, Susan (I HATE that), Sue, Suey, Sukie, O' Susannah (Susannah was my g-g-grandmother and my parents thought I'd get teased if that was my actual name...I got teased anyway...I hate banjos), Sushi, Swooshie, etc. 

Suzanne is a terrible name to give a child who develops stuttering, a speech impediment, and gap teeth.  As a kid I would tell people my name was Ann, because that was all I could get out without embarassing myself.  But now after braces, speech therapy, and all manner of humiliations I can mostly pronounce my own name without spitting on people.  Of course it didn't help that my married last name starts with "Sh"...when I'm very tired or frustrated the old bad habits come back and I'm Ann again.

GIANT  MUNCHKIN DEATH SQUAD

(the first album) SONGS IN THE KEY OF OUCH

(tracks)

1) My baby is my baby mama

(this track consisted of the title phrase spoken into a Casio keyboard sampler and then played as notes in the tune of  Blue Christmas. E. Presley is listed as a collaborator)

2) You wish you were as cool as your clothes 

        You wish you were as cool as your clothes

        But I remember when you picked your nose

         But somehow I sitll want to suck your toes

         Are you really that cute or is it just a pose

      (Great guitar chords here)

         I'm glad you didn't decide to be mean

         And your hair has that truly audacious sheen

         When you walk like that it's truly keen

           I guess you inherited the fabulous gene

    (more great guitar chords)

            I tell you, honey, you're totally fine

            I'd tell you more if you were mine

            Let the engines roar, don't make them whine 

             I think we're ready to cross that line  

 (I don't think anybody has time to read the lyrics of the other 9 tracks, so I will just give you the titles, which are generally pretty self- explanatory)

         3) You can HAVE your MTV

          4) Come back baby, I found another bottle

           5) the wiggle is the trick

           6)I've got your B side right here

            7)Judy Garland Medley

            8) Squeaky Westshore seven eight nine

            9) Can you prove your underwear is clean?

            10) skanky poo ( the friction song)

               11) It ain't two timin (If it's on different nights )
 

MissIve, do you remember that time in the airport, yeah, with the thing? That was me. Also that other time on the train, you know, wearing the outfit. That was me too. And that day at the beach, on the bike. Me.

And that time you got so drunk and you insisted you weren't really married? PLEASE tell your husband that wasn't me. 

I was going to say " I am your father, Luke,"

but I don't want Luke's mama coming after me for child support.  

I am happy to see this subject.  MACKDADDY is in honor of my late Daddy whose nickname was Mack!  He was and still is the apple of my eye.  I am reminded of him and get a big smile on my face everytime I use it.  Simplistic answer, but true.  I find everyone's explanation of their online identities very interesting.  My online prior to his death was "Bubbles" but that I will leave as food for thought! 

Have a great weekend everyone!    

When I was in third grade, my teacher (Mrs. Valachi) nicknamed me 'Professor'.  (I'm not sure why, but I have my suspicions...)  Two and a half years ago, when I set up my Second Life account, I was given a list of (mostly unacceptable) last names, but when I got to Nolan, I remembered the chairman of the chemistry department during my undergraduate days: Doctor Nolan.  (I never took a course from him, but I can see his enormous bald forehead and serious mein in my mind's eye as I type these words...)  Having been asked many times, 'Are you a college professor?' in real life (I'm not) it was a no brainer (heh, heh, heh):  Doc Nolan!

What has been really fascinating is how my moniker has helped me find interesting folks on the internet!  Instead of having to plow through a mountain of stereotypes before folks would actually relate to me, I found I could start right off the bat getting into a lot of intricate detail and analyses without going through the whole 'what are your credentials' stuff first.  (In RL I'm in sales and if you want to get 'type cast' really fast, tell folks at a party 'I'm in sales'.  What is very cool is that you can tell folks 'I'm in sales' when you want to avoid interacting with them... Unless the other person is also in the sales business, you will have all the peace and quiet you want, as they edge away... (Heh, heh, heh).  It's a lot like telling folks back in the Vietnam Era 'I'm in the military...'  That was also a good way to obtain some 'alone time'.  

Willie I can see you are a master of bad rock band names.  I always wanted to name a band "The nervous giraffe death squad" or "Hedgehogs take the cheese" or "Shiney Toy Guns"...wait that last one is taken, never mind.

WillieI

 know this is old, but Virgin records had a viral advertising campaign where they put out the following image that represented the names of 74 bands and asked people to figure out what all the band names were.

http://commercial-archive.com/d138bfd7bb6f0663dcc71c6b82557c00/2005/novjpgs/virginadBIG.gif

This should be cake for you.

Nachista,

 I figured your name had something to do with Spanish- maybe you are the person in charge of the chips?  And then you could have sub or sous nachistos (Nachilistos?) if you wanted, but you would allways be the Uber Nachista./ How is that for mixing in WAY tooo many languages?

As for GMDS, I think we were influenced a lot by Spinal Tap, but you know, without all of that intellectual stuff.

MisIve, are you old enough to have gone to the Chinese Disco in DC in the 80's? Maybe we danced there one time. Or at the Tappa Keg Lounge in the city. Best Juke Box in New York.  I could swear you are in the edge of the frame at a picture of me at the Head of the Charles. (By the way, that Trask with the will is probably no kin. We never had those kind of assets.)  

Nachista ~ When I worked as a scrub for the DNR Ren & Stimpy was VERY BIG & because well we were working for the DNR, we had a grand old time singing the Log Song, we striped logs so they could  be the set up for the archery targets & sang the song SO much one of the instructors theatened to deduct our pay if we sang it during work hours... That lasted for about 15 minutes as we started quoting the movie Top Gun over & over again... Good Times I tell you all ~  The Watersking Turtles at the Hippie Commune are LEGEND (wait for it) ARY !!!!  in the Northwoods of WI..... Walked around my Junior year of H.S. singing Log & driving EVERYONE nuts whenever I was asked were something came from I answered From Blammo.... Finally had to stop when a teacher asked me one day where the Blammo store was located.... I just couldn't send that poor women to Wal-mart as part of the joke.... Will admit it crossed my mind though....      

Doc you and I would have fun at parties together.  I usually get the party started by saying I'm a massage therapist but work full time for a land title insurance company (anything land related these days gets you cold stares or a lot of nervous questions about the market) and for fun I ride my motorcycle to Middle Eastern Dance class.  Here in Utah people start to edge away from me real quick.  I've heard rumors coming back to me that I'm an undercover prostitute and/or stripper...uh, yeah, NO.  That's why at parties I mostly ask questions rather than answer them, at least if I want to avoid stares.

My father was ahead of his time... Baptized 'Gaspar Pelligrino', he early realized he could have been given a much more 'American' name.  When the time came for confirmation at age 12 (a confirmation is like a Catholic bar mitzva) he had the right to pick a 'confirmation name'.  He chose James.  And from then on he was known as 'G. James'. 

I (unfortunately) was the idiot who -- working a summer job in the chemical plant where he worked -- answered a co-worker who asked 'What does the 'G' stand for?'  I was met at the door that night after work by my father, who curtly informed me, 'If I wanted everyone at the plant to know what the 'G' stands for I would have told them myself!' (Oops!

My father, who had a successful career in the chemical industry probably was wise not trying to 'get ahead' as Gaspar Pelligrino.... I doubt it would have conveyed 'the corporate image' of his times!

"Eat drink and be merry... for tomorrow you may be in Utah."

Sorry Nachista, at least I didn't say anything about Big Love... 

oops. 

That Virgin thing is cool.  I think I spotted about 6, but my head is a little Trasky at the moment.

Willie...crank GMDS up to 11!  Utah isn't bad, as a now sober and responsible former rebellious hellcat partier I can tell you that no one parties harder than underground utahans...ever seen SLC punk?  Its not really fiction, my oldest brother did that scene and lived to tell about it.  The irony is some of the healtiest and cleanest living folks around here aren't the people I go to church with on Sundays but the transplanted new-liberal-yuppy-outdoor-enthusiasts they brought fitness, yoga, and organics here and I love them for it.

Doc I think Gaspar is quite dashing, your Da should have stuck with it, but he would have had to become a pirate.

Hmmmm I'm bored with nachista I want to be ZorroinaMistressofMystery!

For DreadPirateRoberts: Today is international talk like a pirate day.

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Live it up!

Argh, y'all.

Agent666, you are right!!!  How could I have forgotten?  I feel like such a fool.  Arrrrg and avast mateys.  I've gotten pie on this day for the last three years running and put gummy rats on top pie-rat.  Looks like I've let my schedule get in the way of fun, time for the schedule to walk ye olde plank.

Years ago, a friend and I spent post-work autumn afternoons duck hunting in the cornfields behind a commercial indoor pig operation.
We never saw the porkers but the sounds and smell convinced us that they were in there.

It cost one dollar to park and hunt. We and others had refashioned a rock pile into a comfortable blind and the pass-shooting for mallards was reliable in most weather conditions.

Then, it occurred to me to offer the farmer a lot of dollars all at once to lease the place for our own use.
The yellow "Leased Land" posters bore my big, black felt-tip marker signature.

The first sign that this wasn't going to be well received came one day when we saw
a seething, irate, sturdy, compact outdoorsman rip one of the signs from its post.
We were obliged to stop because his truck blocked the road.
He stormed over crumpling the sign and trying to make out the signature, asked:
"Who is this guy... Stoney Python?"
We were relieved to say that we hadn't met though we had heard that he had recently been released from prison.
"When I see him." said Mike (it was tattooed on his scarred knuckles), "He's a dead man." I think it was the little white saliva balls at the corners of his mouth that made him seem particularly earnest.

That turned out to be the least of our worries: the harvest wasn't managed to our advantage and we didn't really enjoy the feeling of having screwed a bunch of other hunters out of a season.

Skipping ahead about twenty-five years: I was waiting outside a medical facility. Having driven my wife's mom to an appointment, it was my practice to sit in the car drinking coffee, perhaps smoking a pipe or two and doing crosswords.

As I approached the big double sliding doors, probably heading towards the gents, the sad glaring wreckage of a tattooed knuckle man in a power wheelchair stopped before me.

"Psycho Mike?" I asked.

"Stoney Python!" he almost literally spat.

His wife, standing nearby, looked confused.

"Wow, the last time we met. you wanted to knock me on my ---," I recalled.

"Still do," he snarled.

"Well then, give it your best shot," I said, closing in and offering my chin.

He did and it was heartbreakingly feeble but the result was spectacular as I reeled tumbling backwards to the ground and then made a convincing show of being unable to get up.

I have to explain here that this whole song and dance had been perfected in our backyard where one of our grandsons enjoyed only one thing more than reaching out with his feet while swinging to send me rolling.

The thing he liked even better was harvesting the coins that had fallen out of my pockets. Oddly, there were always a lot of them.

Mike's wife announced that she was going to get into the van, fire it up and drive away and she didn't especially care if he were in it. He followed her chuckling as evilly as he could.

Ergo: Stoney

I have been drawn to this character, his time and his world ever since I read about him. There are probably many reasons for this...

...here is a collage of background stuff that I've cut and pasted about his fictional life.

"Peter Lake was an orphan, burglar, lover, idealist, and mechanic first-class. Son of would-be immigrants who are rejected because the mother is consumptive, Peter Lake arrives to America on a miniature model ship called 'City of Justice'.

He is reared by clam diggers on the Bayonne Marsh and sent as a boy to make his way in Manhattan, where, in those days, ''more than half a million . . . children without parents could be found huddled together like rabbits.'' Seized by the police as a public danger, Peter Lake is incarcerated in the Overweary Home for Lunatic Boys, an early metropolitan slave labor camp, but he's swiftly advanced to the home's elite: 50 lads serving unpaid apprenticeships under the tutelage of a splendidly Dickensian Reverend Mootfowl, ''mad craftsman, a genius of tools.'

He becomes a mechanic and then is forced to become a burglar in the gang called Short Tails, where he makes an enemy out of Pearly Soames, the chief of the gang. While Peter Lake is running away from the gang, a mysterious white horse appears, saving his life and becoming his guardian.

While attempting to rob a house, Peter Lake meets Beverly Penn. Beverly, who sleeps on the roof of her father's mansion, in the cold, winter air, in a specially-made bed of furs and canopies, watching the stars and defying the advent of death. They fall in love with each other. Beverly dies from consumption but never disappears from Peter's life, protecting him until the very end. His love for dying Beverly causes him to become obsessed with justice. There is Lake, himself, who makes his home in the rafters of Grand Central Terminal; there are midnight horse-drawn sleigh rides from the heart of New York City to the almost mythical Lake of the Coheeries which can only be found by the light of the moon across almost endless expanses of ice and snow; there are the clouds that drop a living man into the icy waters beside the Staten Island Ferry; and there are boats that simply vanish into an opaque, lightening-flickered fog bank, never to be seen again.

In yet another escape from Pearly's men, both Peter Lake and the white horse crash into the cloud wall, disappearing in it for years. When Peter Lake emerges, years later, he no longer remembers who he is and is visibly no longer of this world, seeing and hearing things that nobody else can see or hear. One night, in a dream or a vision, he is carried on a tour of all the graves of the world, observing and remembering all the dead.

In the apocalyptic chaos of burning New York, Peter Lake comes to full power, able to perform miracles. He sacrifices his life to resurrect a dead child and thus changes the world."

I suppose this all means I should have gotten out more, but I couldn't at the time.  I initially used my real name when I first began posting my thoughts on Peterman's Eye . . .  not very imaginative and very naive.

Hello.  What a delightful site.  Was told by a friend to check out. Glad to be here.  Can anyone guess where my screen name comes from?  I'll give a hint.

"I said when I died, that I'd come back. If you believe in ghosts,
you're on the right track. I'm out of the grave, and roaming the
moores. If you want to be safe, you better lock all the windows and
screens."

LOL.  Welcome Dr. Tart... But please don't waste my time... :)

Seen any Wookalars of late?

Grew up watching that movie... classic.

DPR - Did you know it is Talk Like a Pirate Day 2008:

http://talklikeapirate.com/tlapd08.html

A vast ye land-lovers!!!

Trask,

This is how naive I am. You actually had me thinking hard about 'that time at the airport.'

Now you see why I need an alias. Very easily duped.

And no, I'm not old enough to have been there. Maybe my mother?

One last thing, did you say Spinal Tap?! "This one goes to 11." "One louder."

And now I'm laughing again. 

Tart,

Inspector Winship has asked me to tell you something.

He would like you to meet him here if you want to "see a killer tonight," or not, if you "think you'll go get some tea" instead:

http://www.biltmore.com

"Are you saying i killed Lord Morley?"

"NO. I'm saying you KILL ME." 

Wonderful.  I'll have to think of other quotes and return.  Marvelous.

I suspect we all have different screen names on different media outlets.  Would a site's descriptions dictate your screen name?

That Virgin thing is cool.  I think I spotted about 6, but my head is a little Trasky at the moment.

 For a while, I was known as NoTalentBum over at The fret.net, but I faded away there.

"I never go to sleep my dears, I just go round to see...

My little children of the East who rise and watch for me." 

My post about ITLAPD...

http://nachista.blogspot.com/

The rats are from JellyBelly, no kidding.

On a similar note, I always wonder about authors who write under pen names. I wonder what I would use. Not my real name. Too boring.

Maybe Virginia.

There's just something about finding out that your favorite author's name is not actually their given name, though. Isn't there? It leaves me with the taste of vanity in my mouth. Have no idea why. 

The only one I do not regret in the least is Mark Twain. He can pull off a pen name.  

Peter,
Wow, had your splendid offering appeared just before rather than after my own, I would have sat on (both) my typing fingers in quiet awe.
As it is, I think that I will walk the dog on the kind of upper Midweast afternoon that could put Hawaii out of business... at least for one day.
Cheers

Muwahahahahahahahaha my fairy godmother loves me...I GOT A DRESS FOR THE BALL!!!  Whoohooo, no more depressing dress shopping for this gal.  It is being shipped to me today.

Peterlake ~ I know have to add the book you took your name from to my reading list, what you have posted has captured my imagination beyond belief. 

My name is taken from Jewelry (what else) When I was in middle school I wore rings on every single digit + 2 on the middle fingers.  The little girls I babysat for called me Rings so when the interent picked up I had to pcik a name I decided to use htat. My other childhood nicknames were VERY common ones & my camp counselor name was WAY TOO common to use on the internet.  Of course Rings was common also I just entered 90 after it because it was easy keystrokes.  Not too much creativity but hey when you want to get on with checking out the Information Super Highway ASAP, creativity isn't your first thought.  Had it for so many years I've never wnated to go through the hassle of changing it.    

My screen moniker is half philosophical jest, half logistics.  Seems as though I am the perpetual student... Although now I'm also a professor, so I may complete the great "circle of life" (humming Lion King theme song at computer...)

Nachista,

Are you serious? No link to the pic after all that?!!! GIMME THE PIC!

PeterLake,

Was anxious for your story. So beautiful. My favorite part:

". . .in the cold,
winter air, in a specially-made bed of furs and canopies, watching the
stars and defying the advent of death."

Lovely. Can almost see my breath. 

stoney,

You can use two fingers?  You must type twice as fast as I can. I appreciate your  too kind comments but the praise belongs to the author, Marl Helprin, who's immagination has shanghaied me into his world.

You are the true teller of tales.  I really enjoy your posts.  They are like a collection of terrific short-stories.

I'm spending this magnificent sunny, fresh air, Indian Summer-like Midwest day up in the trees pruning, reading, and pruning some more.

Enjoy your walk.

rings90,

I hope you enjoy the book.  There is a place in the bookthat makes me think of Northern Wisconsin when the lakes are frozen solid.

PeterLake,

I will be getting the book, too. Especially after you were generous enough to take my recommendation on Hersey. How often do people actually go get the books your recommend? That's awesome. Oh, and I can smell the pruning from here. Very fresh. Any more Bittersweet?

Stoney,

I too enjoy your stories. A lot. 

Happy weekend, all.

Off for a PJ party with my two little men. Rented Goonies and then found out it is national 'speak like a pirate day!'

If my 4 year-old and I keep talking like pirates much longer, we'll wind up with sore throats!  I'm taking my internet time to go back to my usual tone.  Nevertheless, we all know the answer to "What it the letter after Q?"  Arrrrrrrrr!

Nachista,

I'm with Miss Ive!  Where's the pic of the dress?  After all that drama, you have me waiting with baited breath to see what you found!

Missive,

When Eric Blair started writing, he chose a pseudonym because he was afraid his work wouldn't be any good or, at least, not well received.  He figured, if this was the case, he could simply disavow it and, if not, continue writing under the same name.  That's how George Orwell was born.

On that note, I think you look like a Jennifer but I prefer to think of you by the 5th century version of that name, Guenivere.  As for my first name, you'll find me early in the New Testament.  I usually use the short version but you have to promise not to walk all over me.

Mackdaddy,

"Bubbles" was the nickname of the late, great Beverly Sills, one of the most stunning soprano voices in the history of opera.  It was also the title of her autobiography.

Willie Trask,

When I first read your moniker, I immediately thought of the Trask family in Steinbeck's East of Eden.  But there was no Willie that I recall.  Never thought of Willie Stark.

Hey DPR,

I'll bet RP Warren never thought about "stark" and "Willie" right up against each other, either, but British adoloescents, if they ever read the thing, must be doubled over- like Blanche McCrary Boyd and smelling Mrs. Webb's heliotrope ("never heard it called THAT before...)

And I only thought of Willie Stark when I mistyped Trask particularly badly one time.

Lord Peter Wimsey was a great one for using only part of his name and Albert Campion's actual name was something else entirely. One wonders if even the English could take at face value a man who claimed to spell his surname D-E-A-T-H (Peter Death Bredon Wimsey)... Sometimes pronounced de Ath, as if that fooled anyone.

Of course, we all know who Mr. St John-Smythe was, don't we?  He and I may have worked together at Universal Export, back in the old old old days.  

 No Willie? (ouch) I am reminded of Nursie in Blackadder on the birth of Elizabeth I :"A Boy without a winkle. It's a miracle! Saints be praised!"   

Stoney, do you have kin in the Southeast? Samuel Gaillard (Gil-yard) Stoney was a great fellow...

Miss Ive,

I took my two little guys to see the Goonies when they were just little guys!  Great flick!

Today I fought the trees and the trees won.  If you can smell the pruning of the trees, you may have also heard my blood curling scream when the ladder fell and I was hanging onto the branches. 

Just a pop in between soirees, Miss Olivia is in demand this weekend.

Jen, thanks-it's funny how often people say exactly what your did-love it, it suits you. Good warm fuzzies...and I think you're a perfect Jennifer. You know that's a variant on Guinevere, so, me being such a romantic, I think it's good on ye!

Great posts, everyone! Must dash-ta!

Olivia: I'm with you.
I actually go by Lovey in the real world.
It's a complicated thing, but I have two middles names and hate my first name, so I threw a '-y' on the end of Love [my first middle name] and have been going by that since preschool.
For other sites, though, I try to be more creative.
To appeal to the art scene, my deviantart username is worldly-goods, only because it came to mind and was available.
My tumblr account is angelsandadjectives, stolen from a song by my friend.
Everywhere else I tend to use nominal_fee, it sounds a little clever.
My website [which redirects to my tumblr] is my actual name [loveycooper.com].
I'm not all that imaginative when it comes to these types of things.
I find that if you overuse a serious of words that you like, they lose their potential.
I reserve all clever lines for poems.
Popular emo band My Chemcial Romance once revealed in an interview that they had the band name before they had a band, writing it on walls and notebooks in high school.

Willie Trask:
And, of course, everyone has their own fictional name for that band they're going to start up once they clear out the basement.
Mine?
Heroin Crusade and the Fictional Curves

Anybody else care to share their band names?

Blargh, Nachista, missed your post.
Those are amazing band names, by the way.
"Hedgehogs take the cheese" is probably the best for reasons you don't even know.
Our school's robotics team mascot is Edwin the hedgehog [created by someone taking a joke seriously, "What's a non-threatening, adorable animal to represent us?"], and we've been to multiple competitions where one of the prominent teams is 1086, blue cheese.
They wear big cheese hats and their robots are amazing.

ExPat stands for "ex-patriate" not "ex-patriot".  The meaning is obvious. I'm a dual national. I had thought of calling myself "the colonial" but that sounded too imperialistic.

A friend told me that if I kept moving it would be harder for people to step on me.  I trust his advise. The pain of two losses never really leaves but time and distance blunts the sharp edges. if you stay in the misery there are more opportunities for people to step on you.....memories are supposed to be just that - memories - not current reality.

During my absence I've read and enjoyed all the daily comments.

Work has been great therapy......time is too short not to embrace life's fleeting joys.

PeterLake,

Goonies has ended and my pirates are stowed away under the deck. It was a bit too old for them. But that's okay. Ice cream makes everything alright.

I was giggling, forgive me, about your pruning adventure. I had a similar fate on my run tonight. Right shoulder and elbow torn up from a tree because my three neighbors, all men and doctors standing in their scrubs, would not move off the sidewalk as they watched me run toward them. Apparently, the tree did not want to move either. Silly girl.

Lovey,

I can't tell you how excited I am that Lovey is actually your given name-ish. It suits you. Really.

DPR,

Love that you were playing pirate tonight. And love your pen name story. I'll tell you this since nobody knows who I really am. I submitted my first try at a novel to one agent. Just one. She has connections in Hollywood, which is why I chose her. I want to sell out. Badly. And then buy a farm. The end.

She only asks for mss from one out of two hundred query submissions. I told her I had a complete ms. I do not. She bit. She asked to see it and gave me the password. I reeled. Really. It's a story about a blog stalker. You have to love that! So timely. I only had a bit so in one week I polished 30 pages and shipped it off. She said my bad buy wasn't bad enough. Am working on him.

So, basically, the pen name issue is a real concern. I always think of my favorites. Virginia Woolf, Melville, Don DeLillo, J.M. Coetzee, John Berger, Helen Fielding (Wry smile here). . . and think, just be honest. Give your real name.

My greater concern is this. I said I want to sell out. But once you 'publish,' you can't retract. I think of that when I hear a song I love. I've heard edited live versions of songs and thought, "you can never change a WORD after you publish."

I've written for newspapers for years. Publish, publish, publish. I've even had my own column. Publish, publish. But to sell a book is different. It's bound. And determined. Does anyone get that anxiety? Once you are a 'Bridget Jones,' can you EVER recover and become a Melville or a Woolf? Ever?

Freaking out. Am seriously considering the Guenivere thanks to you and Olivia.

I have to add this to the 'mask' conversation. It's something that really intrigues me and would love to hear all of your input. It's the girl/woman rule of hiding emotions.

Real this. Tell me what you think:

Take a grown woman and a little girl who have just suffered a similar offense in a social setting. The woman’s face will become taught, her eyes will cloud over, and all the while she’ll maintain a polite grin. Maybe, if she’s extremely evolved, she’ll tug on her ear or her shirtsleeve to show her rage—a virtual storm forming underneath the surface. Her younger counterpart will just yell at the person who has wounded her and tell him or her that she longer wants to be friends. I personally subscribe to the latter approach, many of my friends can attest to that, but the former is much more interesting to observe. And that interest brought me to the University of Michigan four years ago, to lend some legitimacy to my career as a voyeur."

Strike that. 'Read this.'

ExPat,

I am so sorry I missed your post two weeks ago.  It was a busy day and I never made it onto this site at all.  Just today, I was thinking, "Geez!  Where's ExPat been?  I hope he's okay."  Then, when you popped in today, I realized I must have missed something and I went back and read your story (your seventeenth on the honor roll, we may notice).

I am so sorry you have been so troubled.  I miss you terribly as I'm sure we all do but I know exactly how difficult it is for these wounds to heal so I will not press you in the matter.  Please, just accept a big cyber-hug from a friend.  And be well.

Missive,

Okay.  Here's my advice for what it's worth.  You may or may not wish to bear in mind that it's from someone who sweated away at a career in the performing arts for 12 years and only made a living exclusively from his chosen profession for one of those years.  Not exactly the picture of success so my advice is served with however much salt suits your palate.

You must do what makes you comfortable.  This is your work.  Your novel will either succeed in getting published or it won't.  If it doesn't, you want the pride of knowing that at least one reader (who is, in this case, also the writer) was satisfied with the work.  By the same token, if it is published, you don't want to be ashamed of the fact that your name -- regardless of whether it's a name you gave yourself or were given by your parents, it is still yours -- associated with the material.  So whatever you do must satisfy you first.

This does not for a moment mean that I oppose your attempt to sell out.  Indeed, I wish you wouldn't use that phrase.  Picking an agent based on Hollywood connections is a perfectly smart move in this business (and, all artistic pretensions aside, it is a business).  "Sell out" is a phrase invented by artists who can't make a living in order to disparage those who can (and who, therefore, provoke professional jealousy).  It is unworthy of you.  All art should be sold; this is how artists eat.

Back to the topic of comfort:  If you truly believe that using a pen name is dishonest, you shouldn't do it.  Personally, it doesn't strike me as remotely dishonest but that is a matter of individual opinion.  It sounds to me like your misgivings are very similar to those of Eric Blair and, therefore, you might be well advised to follow his example for the same reasons.

As for the agent's advice, it is probably smart to trust her instincts.  First of all, she's trained to look for good work and wants you to do well.  Moreover, she has the objectivity of not having lived with your story idea for the last year (or however long).  Moreover, she is right that villains usually need to be beefed up after the early drafts.  Hitchcock always said a movie is only as strong as its villain.  I am also reminded of my brother's comment that the two greatest pirate novels, Treasure Island and Captain Blood, have opposite problems.  The first features a villain so great that no hero can match him.  The second features a hero so great that no villain can match him.  Can you imagine a novel pitting Peter Blood against Long John Silver?  That would be a great read.  But a hero and a villain must be good foils for each other.  Twin towers within their literary structure, if you will.

I once worked on a play about the Holocaust in which the villain (a camp commandant) was always spewing "worthless Jew" and "filthy Jew" rhetoric.  The problem was that he was all bluster.  He seemed stupid and evil but never especially scary.  If he would just shut up and shoot someone in the head once in a while, a la Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, he would have been a lot more frightening.  So remember that your villain is rendered dangerous by what he does first and foremost.

I am also reminded of a book in which the villain was so magnificent that one wondered how the hero would ever beat him.  In the last quarter, it became pretty clear the author was worried about this too and started making the villain weaker so the hero could win.  This, of course, was a disaster!  Under these circumstances, you need to beef the hero up rather than bringing the villain down.

"Once you are a 'Bridget Jones,' can you EVER recover and become a Melville or a Woolf? Ever?"  The short answer is yes.  A resounding yes.  The long anwer is... well, after the novel I've just written, I don't think anyone's up to reading the long answer.

I hope it is somewhat helpful.  If you have other or more specific questions, I will do what I can.

Glad I came home early, for a Friday nite ... What an interesting thread y'all have spun here ...

NACHISTA:  Could be, that your Nick is from the Czech word for one who creates/causes Good/Pleasant Times/Feelings ... Nachas, as we say ... Thinking about the reasonable and amicable attitude you display in your writing, it seems that name fits you quite well .......

My first name is, IVAN ... and when people see it written down, they see and say, Eye vann ... if I introduce myself, it all changes;  Imagine going thru life explaining to peoples' quizzical faces that your name isn't, Yvonne ... but Ee Vahn ...   That is probably why most people call me, Jay, from the first letter of my last name ...  Suszanne on the other hand, is a pretty name and tricky for a child with a little growing-up difficulty, but having settled on Nachista, I think you have done rather well ....... Long as you're comfortable, nothing else matters ...

This truly is an interesting krewe ... Hope y'all have a safe and enjoyable weekend ...

Mine is pretty simple.  My favorite character from Charles DeLint's contemporary mythology stories is Coyote, based on the Native American trickster character.  And Mike is my real first name.

These are all endearing stories.  Since I usually come to this group after a long day at work and after the discussion has arc'd up and wound down.  I often feel as if I'm poking at the warm embers of a wonderful fire.  Thank you all for adding so much to the day.

A tajar is a cross between a tiger and a badger and the hero of Tajar Tales.  Tajar was my name when I was a camp counselor.  (Obfuscating summer names made it harder for the little darlings to look us up back in town.)  Like the original DPR, Tajar started as a name that was conferredon another once the current holder graduated from college and got too old to go to camp.  Perhaps it's an indicator of arrested development but the name stuck even though camp is a distant but vivid memory.   

Miss Ive,

I just now discovered your " Can almost see my breath" comment from earlier today.  That is how I reacted to reading the author's words. . .his story.  I could see my breath, hear the crackle of the lake ice, smell the clam beer, feel the pounding of hooves deep in my chest and truly discovered the color blue.   I experienced such a range of human emotion... especially hope

from what I have read of your words; well they tell me you have the gifts to bring forth such feelings from your future readers as well.

I just calls 'em as I sees 'em. 

Be well

I could not agree more-

Jen, I must not be all grown up yet, cos I'm all out there when it comes to emotions. Professionally I can function with a modicum of restraint, but when the smoke clears, Olivia Ann has spoke her piece.

Nachista, WE WANT TO SEE THE DRESS, DAMMIT. Don't be a tease, now.

I am gyred upon Peter Lake, but didn't get the title of the Mark Helprin book referenced. I'm too stupefied with verdant prose, mesmerized by the typist's tantara, or just plain tired. What a day! No, nay, never, the anecdotes they flew thick and fast, and verily twas brillig neath my earthy boots. I race to create the unforged consequence of my smithied soul, call me Dishtowel, hold my camel's toe, dear, while I bring my profane torch to bear, and fix the shit out of my obscene lyricism, the tale of a bold man who skiffed alone through his Golf Dream, gone nineteen and eighty-four ways now for faking a wish. Anagram and synonym, paraphrase and homonym, schlockteasing, clockteasing rockweasels, and how are you Mr. Wilson? Who in the encyclopedia wants to know?

See what happens when you leave the gate open? My Pappy always tole me to shut it behind me or go over the stile... 

Ok, Ok, I know I'm late in returning to this thread, many apologies.

Remember the first of the three dress I posted photos of?  I tracked down the manufacturer and through them found shops that carried that gown.  Most of the gowns were either a hideous color or not even close to my size.  Finally found a shop in St George, Utah that had the dress in my size in that exact color of the photo.  I had wanted black but the only available version in black was a size 18...too big to have it altered down to fit.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/gowns/gown.jpg

My mad internet researching skills have finally paid off.  I will where it with black opera length gloves, black bag, black shoes.  Now I just have to figure out what to do with the hair.

Peterlake, I thought you made up that story...how naive am I?  What is the title of the book and author, I need to read it.

Tajar, Tiger and Badger...your photo is a dachshund, they were bred to hunt badgers.

Jalopkin...my instructor's name was Ivan (EE-vaughn, he made sure we knew that), weird coincidence.

Lovey, that's awesome about the hedgehog, that makes me very happy.

Expat nice to see you back on the board.

Missive, we always watch Muppet Treasure Island on ITLAPD, I've seen it way too many times but I never get sick of it.

nachista,

I wish I could write like that.... the book is "Winter's Tale" by Mark Helprin.

p.s., I bet you'll be the prettiest girl at the ball.  Glad you found the gown.

Wear it, I will WEAR it with...

Grrrr I really need someone to proof read my posts.

Olivia,

I love you and your references.  This October, the Poetry at the Players program (I'm associate director) is doing a Halloween theme in honor of the month and I have already claimed Jabberwocky for my read.  So I read your post and started chortling in my joy.  I haven't felt this way since that bright cold morning in April when the clocks were striking thirteen.

Nachista,

Excellent choice and you truly are lucky for not having had black available.  As for the hair, use what you have.  I look at your photo and think "Veronica Lake".  What else do you need?

Nachista, thanks for getting the irony of the dachshund.  Indeed a dachs is a badger.  They came into my life long before the tajar.  According to my parents, a dachshund slept in my crib, there have been seven or eight in the family and one is with me right now.

'love the dress...very interesting lines.

Ex-Pat, so nice to hear your voice again.  Constant motion may keep people from steping on you but it also keeps them from comforting your as well.  Misery and grief are things each of us is allowed to experience.