I have a couple of little stories (in the journalistic sense, rather than the fiction or even narrative studies sense)... Here they are, because it seems right to post them together. Also, when I got done writing them, I realized that I had written them backwards. Such that they give the completely wrong impression when read as they were written. I did some rearranging, which I hope helps, but imagine that these are three different entries, written 2 months apart just to be on the safe side.
I know a lot of people with cool nicknames. Or incredibly cool nicknames. Or weird nicknames. Whatever, nicknames at any rate. And I have nothing. "Sam" is really my name, sure the paperwork says "Samuel," but no one other than an ophthalmologist (who called me, as an infant "young samuel," which my parents stole, and use occasionally. I fear this has been a mistake to share with the general public, so I'll stop.) But the people I'm named for always went by Sam, and frankly I don't think I'd respond to Samuel if people started calling me that. I actually have a hard time picking my name out of a list, if it says Samuel. There was a period a while ago, when I signed Samuel, and I'm not sure if I still do, but I'd wager that I don't.
I'd probably hack off the -uel, if I were changing another part of my name, which I don't intend to do, but if I spent time in a state with easier DBA (does business as) laws, I'd probably use Sam more officially. Frankly my one concern is that I don't want to publish academically as Samuel, but I'll think about that later, I suppose.
Perhaps someone will find a good nickname that will stick that isn't completely boring. Folks? anything?
I've gotten in the habit of tacking on the sylable -tron to a couple of friends names, which has been reciprocated now and then, but it's kinda wierd, and not a very good nick name (fun and cute, but good in an enduring way, I'm not sure). I need to be more creative I guess...
I got an itching today, to remake my virtual identity. As many of you know, I have for the past, eight, or so years used the handle "celchu19" all over the internet. Celchu after Tycho Celchu (also here), a minor star wars character that I really liked (and still do). Here's a little aside, about Celchu (a word that I respond in type to as if it were my name, I think if people said it they way I hear it in my head, I'd probably respond to that too). If you're uninterested in the geek stuff skip the block quoted passage. > I really like Celchu, because he was an incredibly honest and modest character, with conviction like no other, and he was a hotshot. If you read the wiki articles on him, you'll note that he was a TIE fighter pilot and he was on the phone with his parents on Alderan (the planet that the Empire blew up in ep IV) when it blew up. He then defected (good moral character), and fought with the Alliance. At some point he volunteered for a covert mission, and he got caught (falibility), they tried to brainwash him, but it didn't stick, he escaped and went back to his superiors, who didn't believe him, so he sat there and helped them out until they believed that he was on their side. There were firefighters where they put him in a support vessel without weapons because they didn't trust him, so he dogged bullets to line up shots for the other pilots. And he was a minor character. Eventually the major story line caught up with him, and they found out that he was telling the truth, as they were about to throw him in jail. It was years ago that I read the book, I suspect there was another spy, and I suppose the finer details aren't that important, but there it is.
I remember being particularly struck by the commitment, loyalty, skill, of the character. I guess I also liked the fact that he had a lot of power and respect, and he wasn't a wizard in the fantasy story, which makes him all the more outstanding. As a particularly geeky 12 year old (there I go dating myself again) I felt like he'd be a good mascot. It's not metaphorical for me, but it was a good name sake.
I tacked the 19 on, because the yahoo-mail address was taken for just "celchu," and the 19 was the date (may 19th) of my birthday, so it made more sense. And I just used it for everything, as I've continued to use it, for the past 8 years. I played a character named Tycho Celchu on a long defunct email third person RPG years ago (called Dark Range, while were' in the practice of being archival). A bunch of the writing that I did for DR, formed the core of the book that I wrote before and during my junior year of high school (the draft of that book, Circle Games, is at this very moment within reach. CG also, incidentally featured a fairly self-refrential character named Tycho, though sirname Morgan, this time.)
In addition to Celchu, both the RPG version, the CG character, and a persistent admiration for the danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe. Lets face it, Tycho is just a cool name....
So the upshot of all of this is that I've got a hankering to change many (most?) of handles, and to develop a new default. I've gone through and started to use the name "tychoish," as it is new and different (a change has long been needed), its' unique (I don't have to use numbers to get a unique registration), it references my history on a couple of important levels. So yeah. I like it a bunch. Does this mean that I'm closing down all of the things that are "celchu19" referent? Not on your life! But I'm beginning a transition.
Another related alternate name issue is that I kinda want to try and distance Sam, from TealArt and other internet activities. Astute readers will notice that my last name is all but absent from this website (sure there are cached versions, and other things hanging around, but I'd like to avoid drawing undue attention to the connection). And a quick survey has revealed that there are only a few embarrassing items left that use my full name. I've changed what I can to an alias of sorts, and there appears to be an actor named Sam K________ who has started chipping away at my "google domination" which I used to care about a lot, but now, meh.
I'm thinking about writing for TealArt as 'tycho' rather than Sam, as part of this. I'm not sure yet, but we'll see...
Thats all really for now, see you all around...