Name changes

Some of you may have noticed that I've gone from posting as AJ to posting as depthless muser. I felt the need to somewhat distance AJ from this writing. It's not that I think people don't know, I'm just at a point where I don't want to be AJ just online. I want people to feel that they can, if they like, refer to me as AJ offline as well. I'm not saying that you should do so, just that you can.

You see, I always used to hate my middle name. I loved my first name, but my middle name was also my father's nickname; his real name being a form of said nickname in another language -- insomuch as names translate. I loved his real name, but the nickname just didn't do anything for me. It still doesn't. That said, my two names together do. Not that I want to be called by both names in full, but AJ is nice and speaks to me in some way that my name doesn't.

I don't know if this is because I want to help keep his memory alive in some tangible way or if it has to do with the personality changes that I'm undergoing with my introspection and reflection. I don't expect people to stop using my first name. It's an amazing name. I truly do love it. Now there is another option, though.

Names are very important to me. They always have been. I find saying or hearing someone's name mispronounced to be insulting. It is who they are. No matter the tongue twister that their name is you should learn it to the best of your capabilities.

I feel the same way about nicknames and preferred names. Learn them. For instance, it took me three years to train myself to use my roommate's full name, but he prefers it and so I did it. It's unfortunate that all of his other friends at the time were using the shortened form and so that's what I picked up first. Oh, and it's not that he minds the short form, he just prefers the full form. You know how I found that out? One day I asked him! Amazing, yes?!

I think the worst things are the nicknames that continue on and are hurtful to the person being so addressed. Sometimes the callers don't even realise it as it gets passed on. I try to ask what people prefer if I notice a difference in how they introduce themselves compared to what other people call them. If I haven't done so with you then you have slipped through the cracks; I apologise, and you should let me know, please.

Take a second to think about how you address people. How do you feel when other people screw up your name or give you a nickname that you hate? Depending on the person, like myself, nicknames are not in good fun unless there is honest agreement from the individual being so named.

One of those days.

I feel muddled in the head. I'm not sure why. I just feel fuzzy. I rearranged my bedroom furniture in an attempt to make sleeping better in case that is the issue. You see, it's finally become cold enough outside that there is a draft coming off the window.

Do you ever have a day where you feel lost? Oh, I don't mean physically or even with regards to what you are doing. I mean... I don't know what I mean. Feel free to intuit what I mean. In this case, you may even feel free to assume that you know what I mean. Perhaps you might even be so good as to tell me what I mean?

I do need to bring a few things up:

I like walnuts. Yes, walnuts. They are nice and earthy, while pecans have an aftertaste which is simultaneously that of generic fruitiness and devilled eggs.

I really think porcupines should be the colour of magma.

I feel the need to drive an antler through the head of a roast marshmallow.

You may now continue with your day.

Snow Black

I absolutely love this video clip. I caught about five minutes of Shrek 3 last night and this was part of it. I keep watching it over and over again. You have to see it! Watch it now!





Now watch it again! It gets better every time!

I'm definitely going to go and get some Led Zepellin now so that I can listen to it any time instead of just on the radio. I haven't heard them in a while -- where I knew who they were. The radio is garbage when it comes to identifying the music so that I remember who the artists are.