Talyesin's Tales

I seem to have attracted nicknames my whole life. Over thirty of them, in fact.

( What's in a name? Part II - The Nicknaming )

So increasingly I'm finding myself thinking of myself in different terms. Or rather, by different names.

At home with the rents, I'm Rob. Occasionally Robby with extended family who never got past my turning 12 and becoming Rob. At LLO, I'm Rob. With most of the people I know, I'm Rob. At work, I'm Robert (which in French is sounds like rob-AIR, whom I'm coming to think of as Bank Rob (there's so much amusement to be had when your name is a verb - or even and adjective, right, Wealthy? I mean, Rich?)). With the gang of friends I call The Guys - Mikey, Motley, Derricco, Ogre, Jeffay, Dr J, and the rest - I'm Roberto Suaveay or Big Shirtless Rob or one of dozens of other nicknames. I've been known by other names as well.

And online, I'm Talyesin. Or Tal. And the more time I spend online, the more I think of myself as Tal. To the point where, when I see my name as Rob when I'm online, I say, "oh yeah, me." Tal's not any different, fundamentally, from Rob, but it's a different name. One I chose for myself. When I went to NY for the tail end of The Gathering, the fine folks I met there called me by my online name, Talyesin, because that's how they had met me, in Sapphire's chatroom. And I found I liked it. It took some getting used to, but by the end of the weekend I was responding to it just fine.

Lately I was discussing this with some friends and they offered to call me Tal if I wanted. The native americans changed names as their lives changed, as they found their old names no longer fitting quite well. They went on visionquests to find their new names. I took a long, long time to find Talyesin. A lot of research, and effort, and thought went into the name. I think that qualifies. A friend of mine called Bear now goes by his given name, Ron. He just didn't feel like 'Bear' any more.

I still feel like Rob. But I'm starting to feel more like Tal.

I guess I'm saying, if you feel like it, you can call me Talyesin. Or Tal. In real life. I won't mind. But you might have to call me twice, until I get used to it.