I acknowledge that this post may end up reading like a “Tell us a little something about yourself…” request at a work related function, but since I’m willing to go first – too bad.
I’m curious about how people chose avatars and names for profiles. Surely nerosremorse is mocking me for inappropriate levels of social transparency, but I can take it.
For all of you who are wondering, “What could I write about? I don’t possible have anything to share!” May I present a writing prompt.
“I chose to be your name here and picked your image description here because…”
Okay, so I’ll start:
“I chose to be livebait and picked the Life is Good image because…“ the morning I finally got up the nerve to create an account was the same day that Rockwalker asked me to bring in some red worms from my vermiculture compost bin. I cursed him that morning. I thought I had agreed to a simple task the previous day. Sure I’ll bring in some partially decomposed compost from my bin and a few worms??? No problem.
But alas, that morning I began scooping the worms from the 2nd layer of the bin, while balancing the Tupperware container (minus holes in the lid) and trying to keep my purse out of the compost since of course I was running late for work. In my haste I dropped the worm castings (poop) on the ground of the garage and then managed to make an even bigger mess while frantically cleaning it up so not to be late for work at the factory. Shaking my fist at the ceiling of my garage “Damn you Rockwalker!” Of course I didn’t really call him Rockwalker as I hadn’t been inducted into the S.A.S.S blog yet, but anyway…Where was I? Oh, so I buckle the worms into the front seat and make my way to school. Needless to say I had red worms on the brain while I created my profile, so here I am livebait.
Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find the right red worm image that I identified with on Google Image. When I came across the water skiing “Life is Good” Jake it made me think of sharks, which I’m irrationally petrified of. This fear provided me with tons of super human energy in the various chlorinated pools of my swim team career, and so I only found it appropriate to actually be livebait since I had sacrificed the red worms for RW’s purposes.
RW, whatever did you find out about my fine vermi-specimen?
Now it’s your turn. Don’t be shy. I’m listening.
Sarcastically Serious 
O my goodness! This is how Batman must feel as he is about to be unmasked! Of course I won’t actually reveal my true government-approved identity because that is a closely guarded secret and even superheros have their limits!
Normally I wouldn’t even deign to join in such “Welcome to our Nerd Club” get to know you chitchat, but after reading about the emotional trauma that I forced upon Livebait, I suppose that this is the least that I can do. Yes, Livebait, you SHOULD feel special!
As far as my psuedonym, that is no great mystery. I have always enjoyed the outdoors in general and hiking in particular. Perhaps because I had finally stumbled (literally) upon a sport that didn’t require me to be fast, nimble, or particularly quick-witted, hiking was a natural fit. Growing up as I did in the foothills of the Appalachians, my friends often called hikes “walking up rocks.” So then that would make me a Rockwalker of sorts.
My current avatar is a bear. It is supposed to be a black bear, but the fat hump on its back gives it away as a grizzly bear (such are the sacrifices made for a good picture). I have always admired and identified with black bears because while they are immensely fat, they are also very strong, able to live anywhere in the US, generally more peaceable than their cousins, and of course cuter than anything! 🙂
Oh, and the worms performed admirably by demonstrating that a living soil ecosystem is much too complex for AP students to manage successfully and should be left to the experts (the worms).
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How did a stunningly beautiful Slovak girl who gets seasick watching JAWS come to be known as “IrishPirate81?” Interesting story:
We are all known for something- some special quality or skill that we can hang our hat on, you know, brag about. (Years after we’re gone, we hope people will remember and say things like, “Oh, that So-and-so was really something, did you know he could say the alphabet backwards in under 10 seconds?!”) Well, I have two such skills. I know, I’m blessed. First and foremost, I am the world’s best parallel parker (self-proclaimed). Once, after completing a truly spectacular parking job in the infamous Dupont Circle, a crowd formed and showered me with cheering and clapping. One woman even wept, overcome by the phenomenon she had just witnessed. True story.
My second claim to fame? I invented a drink known as… The Irish Pirate. A few years ago while celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with some friends, I was inspired by the green beer and leprechaun hats and decided to speak only in an Irish accent, which it turns out, I can’t. When I try (after copious amounts of the green beer), it sounds something like this “Top o’ the morning to you, me mateys!” Now some friends might have let this Pirate/Irish mix-up slide, but not any of mine. By the end of the night, I was greeted by a hearty “Arrrrggggghhh” at every bar, was told to walk the plank twice, and instead of hearing “O Danny Boy” every five seconds, I was mocked with “A Pirate’s Life for Me.” So I became the Irish Pirate, and after sitting at a bar for 15 hours celebrating a country I have no ties to, I decided to invent a beverage that would celebrate my new identity. There were some missteps involving combinations like mint liqueur and Guiness, but in the end, I had it: Coconut rum and Bailey’s Irish Crème. It’s delicious, no seriously, it is. Layer it as a shot or class it up martini-style, either way, it’s fantastical. You can cringe and mock me now, but we all know you are going to go home and make yourself one tonight. Enjoy.
Oh, and the “81”? It’s the number of brain cells I killed while inventing the Irish Pirate…
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IrishPirate, I’ve seen you drive. The reason everyone cheered when you parallel parked on Dupont Circle is because you actually managed to do it without killing anyone that day.
As for my name? I’m short, and my arms are double-jointed. While I’m sure being short may have SOME usefulness somewhere, being double-jointed is pretty cool. I can make my arms do crazy things, things my sister often makes me do on command to impress her friends. Unfortunately, along with being double-jointed, my arms are also very short. My siblings have taken great joy as kids (and as adults, actually) putting objects JUST out of my reach, and watch me try to get it. My nickname quickly became “Stumpy”. The “McGee” part? Like my sister, IrishPirate, I also like to celebrate a country I have no ties to.
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awww shucks R – dubbya.
Irish Pirate & Stumps ~
I find this celebration of the untethered Irish heritage fascinating. After having grown up on the South Side of Chicago, where the Irish teens manage to begin binge drinking before they’re teens, I tried to distance myself from the Guinness-loving part of my mutt heritage. Of course this was only in verbiage since I’ve already put down 3 Irish Pirates upon arriving home 48 minutes ago. ARRRGH!
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Oh, and by the way…
It’s a good thing that IrishPirate decided against TitsMcGee as her identity. That would have given your sisterhood away as soon as StumpsMcGee came on board. Whew! Close call.
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Zing! – Point, Livebait!
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Ah, yes, how could I have forgotten about my alter alter-ego?! Uh, make that THREE things I’ll be remembered for when i die 😉
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I realize I am a little late to this party, but I was waiting to see just how honest everyone was going to be. Now that I have feel for it, I will reveal the rationale behind my choice of alias and icon. Of course the most obvious reason for the “Silver” portion of the name is that my eyes are gray. Okay, so maybe that isn’t the most obvious, but I happen to like my eyes and I am writing this, so deal with it. The other reason that many of you may be thinking of dates back to my somewhat distant youth. At a rather early age I began to develop a significant outbreak of dental caries (look it up, Stumpy). As a result, many of my teeth are largely silver amalgam, hence….
The “Fox” portion is as easily understood and identifiable by any who have known me. I am, in all modesty, a stone male fox. I know that the term is generally used to refer to the female gender, but really, shouldn’t the proper term for the females be vixen? And while I am definitely not hirsute (look it up IP), I do also share another minor characteristic with the fuzzy little guys.
As for the icon – well, actually, it is a self portrait from a few years back – when I was feeling playful.
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Doesn’t everyone pick a name that is completely obvious to him or her? Because I am OBVIOUSLY a “maven.” Some other brilliant person actually spelled it out on wordpress, so I had to improvise; thus the 3 in the word. For those that are linguistically challenged, a maven is someone who is “dazzlingly skilled in any field” according to the Princeton lexical database. If this seems like tooting my own horn – you should sit with me at my desk every day to see the kinds of questions I answer. Students ask all kinds of things, teachers know that if they want to know – just ask me, and even the front office has started fielding calls to my desk about the activities and events at the school. Just this morning, I was asked the following (and I have only been at school for less than 2 hours):
1. “How do you download this program thingy?” (Flash player)
2. “My classroom is being used, where should I go to work?”
3. From a student whose head looked like it was about to explode: “I hate computers, it keeps doing this stuff – make it stop!!”
4. “Do you take the money for the Video Game Tournament?”
5. “Where can I get a movie license?”
6. “How do I find my mother’s naturalization number? Isn’t there a government agency or something?”
7. “Can you scan this?”
8. “Can we meet at 3:30 instead of 3 about scholarships?”
9. “What day are the Special Olympics?” This was from a student with a 4.75 GPA HOLDING the paper I just gave her with the date on it!!
This is just a smidgen of the questions so far this morning. Please don’t get me wrong, I love the excitement of my job. I also love the fact that every day is different and that I get to work with a variety of information in a myriad of fields. A most of all, I love that I KNOW EVERYTHING! What more could my ego ask for?
As for the avatar I chose. . . One of my weaknesses is for cats. I know, I know . . . really un-cool. However, with this blogging group – I feel that my un-coolness just helps me to fit in even more.
Thanks RW for keeping up the blog. Even though I don’t always write, I wouldn’t miss reading it. I bookmarked it and everything – I ain’t skeered!!
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