I Am Become Jack

[jackofallgeeks]

Well, as is rather obvious, I am now JackOfAllGeeks. The poll I set up didn't last very long; when I decided to change, there were equal numbers voting for AndrewInDigital, JackOfAllGeeks, and RoliasNoom. And one for JoeShmoeAtWork, but I decided Joe's going to stay at Work. Anyways, I got anxious about 'losing' the name to someone else (though maybe I shouldn't have been), and I renamed myself last night. I've since registered corresponding AIM, Yahoo, and MSN accounts to use with Trillian, and potentially to replace my school email address when I graduate in the Spring.

I chose JackOfAllGeeks over my other Preference, AndrewInDigital, because it says something about me -- Anyone online can be digital, but only I am the Jack of All Geeks, apprentice to many but master of none. Or something. I didn't think WhfflingJaberwocky (WhufflingJabberwocky wouldn't fit) was nice, but not the tone I was looking for; it didn't feel right.

Which is why I decided to shed RoliasNoom in the first place; it didn't feel right. As I said, Rolias feels like he's from a chapter in my life which is closing -- though I think it's more like a scene from a movie, fading out as another fades in, rather than a clean cut-off. I think college changes a person, which is notable because I've long been an adherent to the idea that people really don't ever change. And maybe that idea still holds, but I know that recently I've been feeling subtly but profoundly different. I've been through quite a number of different things since I left home nearly four years ago. Much as I still hold the same (or at least very similar) values and opinions and convictions, I don't know that I even think on the same lines as I did when I was 18. Certainly not before then.

Rolias is from that time. An alias designed for game-playing, who then grew into something of a character during online roleplaying in AOL Chatrooms, and grew again into the Protagonist of a story I wanted to tell, and finally to an entity nigh-synonymous with myself. His time has past, though; no more aliased-game playing, no more online roleplaying, his story has shifted and morphed until it no longer even contains him, and I feel I have outgrown him.

aiglet, who has always been Aiglet and likely always will be Aiglet, asked if he didn't grow with me. And for a time, I think, he did. After all, he and I were one-and-the-same, for most intents and purposes, for quite some time. But from my current perspective he seems a bit juvenile; his inextricable connection to certain girl-type anime series doesn't help him much, either. Plus, 'roliasnoom' says nothing about me, Andrew, in any real sense. I'm not even interested in Anime anymore, really.

So, that's that. I think Jack signifies me better, and says something about who I am -- in more ways than one, if you really sit to think about it, but I only say that because I have sat and thought about it. In the coming, er, months, I'll probably revamp my layout, and soon RoliasNoom will be retired from AIM, as well.

Comments

[quix.livejournal.com]

I understand what you mean, and also what aiglet means. quix is a name that I have used since 1992. The origins of which were indeed somewhat childish (a comic book and a young adult series), but since that time the name has come to mean other things to me. 'Quixotic' being my favorite. I have other names that I use, but that one is the most complete. The most *me*.

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

Oh quite. I don't mean to imply that there's anything wrong with having one name for ever and ever -- I set Rolias up like that, and I plan to set Jack up the same way. But where Kate has always and everywhere been Aiglet, I haven't -- I've been AlfaOmmega, RoliasNoom, JanusAnAllen, et cetera. I don't have the digital-monopoly that she does (though I hope I might with Jack). And where as Quix has grown in meaning, Rolias was static. I don't begrudge him his childish beginnings, nor do I wish him and ill will -- I've just moved on, and he hasn't.

And that's really why I changed my name, and why I chose Jack over the others. Because it does say something about me -- I can geek with the best of them, be it computers, music, theatre, or sewing! Apprentice of Many, Master of None. Jack just fits better.