Reverb10 (23)

Reverb10

December 23 – New Name Let’s meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why? (Author: Becca Wilcott)

I've thought about this before, actually. First of all, I tried this once, when I was a kid. I was really really into Sailor Moon (god, it's really embarrassing; and I had all but blocked it out of my mind until ex #4 flipped through my MIDDLE SCHOOL year books and found it) and wanted to go by her name in the show. It didn't work so well. I was too lazy to enforce it, and I didn't really like her name anyway... all of it was stupid in hindsight. However, I think another aspect to my wanting to be a different character than I am was the fact that I was teased a lot for my name. I am Chinese (for those of you who don't know me personally) and my name sounds like a question word: how.  There was one time in first grade (by this time I was in the US for 4 years) where I got bored and sat down at the edge of the playground waiting for recess to end. A boy came up to me and (this sounds stupid now, but it was really hurtful then since it was the first time someone had teased me) incessantly teased me for the fact that my name sounded like an English word. I took it ok at first, not crying, but about 10 minutes in, I burst into tears. Starting then,  I started wondering if I liked my name. I think I got over that sometime in high school. Part of it is learning who I am and how I see myself.

I'm not sure if I'll really want to change my name. I think names -- especially the name people choose to be known as -- hold lots of significance. For me, my name is efficient (one syllable) and unique (even in Chinese, the sound is usually a name for a boy). That works well with my personality. Additionally, I like the confusion people sometimes show trying to process my name when they first hear it (of course, this only applies to English speakers). I don't think there is a name I really want right now not my own.


If you read my roommate's blog you would know we both fire spin. One thing I noticed after being introduced to the community and learning to accept all the different people there is how they sometimes choose to use aliases. I might decide to pick an alias for myself one day. I know I would want something to do with water. I am a Scorpio (water element) and I am a Tiger (the only cat that really likes swimming, but I have yang fire as my chinese zodiac elemental association, which amuses me). As a kid, I really liked the water. I identify with the six of cups (water element, childhood, etc). I think I would want to take a water related name from mythology or folklore (a story I like) -- obscure enough that it's not immediately recognizable, but not so much so you can't find it on Wikipedia. Additionally, it needs to sound pretty and I need to be able to say it.

Basically, I won't have an easy time picking a name for myself. Go figure.

<3
Hao

P.S. Terrence, I didn't know your greatest fear is earthworms. I agree with you that they're super scary though. Also,  I know Reverb10 - 5 was short. I liked it that way.