On Lists and Personas

[katiefoolery]

I need to write exactly two thousand, two hundred and ninety-seven words in the next few days if I hope to meet my November target of ten thousand words.  And you know what?  I can do that.  Easily.  Tonight, in fact, if I actually get my act together.

Of course, it’s entirely likely that I’ll forget this intention to write and instead spend the evening reading fanfic, messing about on messageboards and writing pointless lists of stuff.  But I shall do my best not to let that happen.  Well, much.

Besides, the pointless lists will be about writing, so they practically count towards my word count, don’t they?

*looks hopeful*

I really do need to make a list of these stories in my head, otherwise I’ll lose track of them.  And maybe if I write them down, that will keep them separate and they’ll stop bumping into each other and making new little baby stories to add to the litter.  I’m only one person!  I can only write so much.  And that procrastinating takes a huge chunk out of my time, too.

In non-writing news, I’m finding myself increasingly alienated from this person who used to be “Buneater”.  It’s quite a bizarre sensation, considering that’s who I’ve been pretty much since I first set foot on the ’net.  But she seems to belong in the past and she keeps pulling away from me, looking askance at who I am now and raising a disdainful eyebrow at the stories that come into my head these days.  And it’s OK with me, because I don’t really feel like “Buneater” any more.  I think I’m almost ready to start saying my goodbyes to her and move onto something new.  ’Cause there's a great deal of fun stuff in my life that isn’t related to Bunliness at all.  Yes indeed.

Mind you, there’s still a fair bit that is attached to Bunliness, but I can cope with that.  Being introduced to people’s friends and family as “Bunne” is quite a unique experience, really.

But I’d be interested to know if anyone else has done what I seem to be doing: switching one internet identity for the other.  Is it always such a strange experience?  Or is it just a matter of using a different name?  And how do you keep from potentially alienating people who have always known you by your first “identity”?

Comments

[flippyfrog.livejournal.com]

Because i'm a bizarre oddity and i don't look like a Jenny... at least this is what i was told the other day by my midgets. But they thought i looked more like an Ethel, so i think there goes their sense of judgement :P

It might be because Bunne introduces herself as "Katie of Bunne." Turks uses Gill more than Turks on Lorf, and... well... Everyone else has names similar to their own if not their own. Except Fred. Do you call Fred, Fred, or Lauren?

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

You look like an Ethel? I wouldn't say that. You look like a... a Flit. Yes, definitely a Flit.

In my case, I call Fred "Fred" when she's online and "Lauren" in real life. You know, all of the one times I've actually spoken to her in real life... Also, Fred is technically a seagull and she doesn't look like a seagull at all, so that makes it easier to call her Lauren when she's right in front of me. :P

[seagull-fred.livejournal.com]

Heehee, how funny :) Sorry, I might owe some people apologies, coz I seem to address people with their online names, regardless...is that some weird form of un-netiquette...? eep...

I reckon it mostly comes down to switching the name, but it depends how badly you want to switch it. For me, I never want to change my Zev status in other parts of the cyberworld, so it just...won't happen. Even if people there started calling me Lauren, I'd insist on firmly talking about myself as Zev, so they'd get the picture ;-) But it was easy to change to Fred on ober.net, simply coz it was so darn confusing with the number of Laurens around there! Plus my login is still Lauren, so it wasn't like I was totally changing it, so I guess that was like a security blanket for me :-)

So as long as you're comfortable with the name change and you're willing to embrace it (and encourage people to use it more often than using Bunne, like me and Zev!!) then I don't think it'll be a problem at all.

As for the alienation...I've had some mates who have changed their aliases without telling me...!! so that's a pretty mean indication of how they feel about me...my suggestion there is to make sure everyone who you'd like to know, knows, otherwise people will get miffed if they haven't been informed about where you've gone. But again, if you want to remain partially Bunlified, then it probably won't matter too much to those people who have always known you as the Buneater, anyway.

I'm glad I don't look seagullian, btw :D

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I certainly wouldn't change my name without letting people know! That's an incredibly inconsiderate thing for people to do. It seems to hint that they don't want to be found again. If I end up changing my LJ name, for instance, there'll be plenty of warning.

I don't think I'd mind if people kept calling me Bunne or even Buneater; I wouldn't want to deny or cut off that part of my life. It just feels as though "Buneater" is living more and more in the past, instead of moving on with me. It's one of the more bizarre feelings I've experienced in my life... :|

Hehe - you definitely don't look seagullian. :D