I actually have no strong attachments to various iterations of my name, first or last. My handle here is my fave, even though the only person who called that in meatspace was a conniving beyatch. Juliebeans, jellybean, jujubean, juji, Ju, Jules, julu. And then there were the surname nicks of frazz and nelly (I like that one too), frenchvanilla, and sassafras. Maybe it was the dehumanizing in the army that makes not care, because anything is better than "hey you, in the BDUs!".

It is very pattable, it is true. I credit the henna.

Family. Whatcha gonna do?

Allyson, you are not an Alli.

My sister is an Ali, though possibly only to immediate family. I think everyone one else does, in fact, call her Al.

Huh. My new boss had a baby last night, via surrogate. Which is a great thing for them and all, but figuring out wording is more awkward than I thought. I'm not sure I've known anyone who's had children via this route before.

Congratulations to them! And both "you" and "them" can be nonspecific, should that be desired.

Oh yes, Allyson and Tom are ever Allyson and Tom, it's an incontrovertible truth.

BevDog is adored, msbelle Rebecca, but only for you.

I remember in the before times, when you were taken a bit aback by people in your physical space calling you "JZ".

If someone tries to call me Sue - they are immediately corrected. There is one person in the world who can call me that and she is my childhood friend and I haven't seen her in years.

Not thrilled about Susan either because it should be pronounced Sus-san, which is too much work for most people and it is easier to just say Suzi. I'll even go by Suz (Sooooooz, per one of the kids I sit).

JZ did take a bit of getting used to. My mom, brothers, dad (only occasionally) and oldest friend all call me "Jaz" for my birthname initials, and once I managed to incorporate JZ as a Jaz variant, I was fine. It's my family-ish name.

I get B or BJ or beej for my initials, or occasionally Last Name. And I'm fine with all. But my first name is not super nicknameable.

I will answer to almost anything that starts with an A. I will also answer to Windi.

I didn't like being called Ali growing up (except by Mom) because it rhymed with my last name and I did NOT want to add to the teasing for that.

But now I don't mind it. At work the sales manager (who I really like and respect even though there are people who fear him) called me "Allie" (he spells it that way, I spell it "Ali" because Mom always did) and I was okay with it. There's another Allie at the store who was tehre before me and left and then came back. I started getting called Allie while she was gone. And now some people call me Allie and others call me Allison but either way I'm okay.

It's not that I expect people to know computers as well as I do or to know the location of every feature in our program. But I do expect people to not be surprised by the steps in a process I've just walked them through. I tell them to go back to a specific screen and click on a button. It's not a crowded screen, the button is clearly labeled. But the screen sparks no sense of recognition, and the single OK button does not inspire any inkling that perhaps that's the button to click on to get to the next step--the step they've just done.

Are humans turning into goldfish?