(no subject)

[arethinn]

soulkry and feedle, I have your addresses and would like to send $HOLIDAY cards, but I don't actually know your legal names. If you'd rather keep it that way and it's okay for me to address them with some other name, then let me know. Otherwise, comments screened.

Comments

[feedle.livejournal.com]

Funny you should bring this up.. it's been a topic of internal dialogue lately.

Names are a funny thing. We are all given names by our parents, and often times those names are chosen arbitrarily, or for reasons of culture. In my case, I was given the family names of my mother's family (traditionally, the first male child of every generation is given the name "Oscar Christoff", sometimes changing the name order). I was supposed to be named "Christoff Baumann [my mother's family name] Sullivan."

However, due to an accident at the hospital, "Christoff" became "Christopher."

When I was a teenager, I developed two nicknames: "Wally the Weirdo" (because of my off-center sensibilities) and the moniker I use online, "feedle". The "Wally" nickname was primarily a high-school thing, reinforced by a sort-of alter-ego I possessed as a result of running a telephone comment line called NEEON-19, which was similar to BBSes and message boards, but using phone answering machines and my (sometimes dubious) audio production skills. As NEEON-19 died, the "Wally" nickname passed into obscurity, although it's worth pointing out that in one dwindling circle of friends it's not uncommon to hear me referred to that way.

Anyway, I've been using the "feedle" moniker online since.. well, since a lot of people ON the Internet have been alive. The name means something to me now.. it's a name I chose, and it's one I'm most likely to be introduced as in some circles.

Sometimes, the names we choose contain more power and meaning than the ones we were given. "Christopher" never really worked for me.. it's cumbersome, and since I'm not Christian it carries overtones I don't fancy.

In Oregon, it's fairly trivial to get your name changed. One of my friends recently changed his to match his long-time online moniker. While I don't think changing my name to "feedle" would work either, there is a lot of thought being given to doing this myself, and giving myself a name that more fits my personality, my spiritual path, and who I truly believe I am.

All that said: either "feedle" or my legal name will suffice. Heck, I get infrequent mail sent to my "magickal name" from people in California who only know me as "Angelchild." The postman stopped even paying attention five years ago: he just delivers to the address any mail that fits in the box.

(Permission to unscreen, nothing here is worth protecting)

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

...teh feedle it is then. (Oscar silly question, Greta silly answer.)

(Christoff) Baumann Sullivan is perilously close to the surnames of my first two boyfriends, which were Sullivan and Bauer respectively. Weird.