By any other name

What’s in a name? Yes, “Big” Willie Shakespeare wrote it first but the idea was intriguing to me recently. Really. Well, that and I am still on this depressant streak of life-crap and I swore a solemn vow that I wasn’t going to go that route with this blog unless it had some entertainment value: no pity party for me, thank you very much. Okay, so now that I caromed off into sidetracked-thought land, here is what I am talking about: yesterday, I got a spam with a sender name of Bealtes L. Counterbalance.
Perhaps you find this unremarkable, or depending on your level of spamosity, utterly tame (I know everyone has bought copious amounts of v1agra, v1cod1n, or some such other leet speak bastardization). But I remembered reading something or hearing something about how the spammers are getting more creative and how their subject lines or even the email content has become a form of found poetry, sort of like Donald Rumsfeld’s remarks have been transformed.
This fascination with names isn’t really a new one. It just sparked something in me. It also reminded me that I am considering legally changing my name to Chocolatey Shatner. This is my Wu Tang Name. In the Unitarian Jihad, I am The Boot knife of Reasoned Discussion. If I was a spammer like Beatles L. Counterbalance my name would be Amneisa W. Squishy. All of these alternate identities really got me thinking about how who I am is part me and part how I am perceived. Just like a quantum particle (or my dad), my behavior changes when I am observed. I suppose that it sort of hit me that I thought I had myself pretty figured out but then identity (or at least mine) is more nebulous, ethereal, and utterly changeable. I know for a fact I am very different than I was when I was 19. I'm fatter, for one. But for two, I think that even though I haven't completely scripted out every moment between now and my last breath (where I curse Satan for reneging on our deal), I'm still interested enough to watch til the finish. Hopefully you are, too. Aww, wasn't that sweet?