On login names and alter egos...

"Florist? What is the deal with that? That is not manly enough.", said my friend after I sent him the link to my new online journal for peer review. I had no idea what to say to him. Of course, when I signed up I strained my brain hard to think of a cool login which would make the readers go "WoW!" because I had little faith that my writing would. I must confess I am not good at thinking up clever names. The ones that I came up with were already taken. So eventually I ended up with florist. Why florist? To borrow an eloquent American phrase, "Because!". "No seriously, why?" If i remember correctly, every login I typed in the signup form returned the error "This login name is already taken, please choose another one". Finally, in frustration I typed in florist after looking at the flash advertisement in another window. It was accepted and I was relieved. But please, surely it is better and easier to remember than JohnDoe3167 suggested by the server!

I am sure many among you will agree that logins must be chosen carefully. After all, in the online world, the login names are pretty much what defines our personality. Logins reflect our secret desire to wear our underwears outside our pants and be a superhero. Or... something equally stupid. There is always an interesting story or some obscure trivia behind the online identities of many people. Though lately, they have become a lot less interesting. Most people just use their first-name_last-name combination followed by a series of numbers, mostly because they have started using email and Instant messengers in work environment. So does that mean the interesting, innovative but mostly stupid sounding nicknames will die a slow death?

Frankly, I don't care. I am just happy that when I name my child (if I ever have one), there will be no server complaing that the name is already taken and that I should consider appending several numerals. I must, however, deal with a very irritated lady (read the said child's mother) who would keep nagging that the name does not match the superhero image she wants her child to grow up with. But that, if at all, is in a very distant future and I choose not to worry about it.

For now, I remain, yours truly, Florist. The nickname you were not frustrated enough to think of.