Posted by humanchimp
on Fri 6 Mar 09, 1:14 PM to humanchimp's blog.
I've got this friend who's just changed his name, he's 27 and to me it's a bit odd.
He didn't feel like his name defined him.
He hasn't changed it to anything cool like Miami Thacks or Frankie Payne. He's not an actor or a rock star. He works as an accountant.
He's basically gone from John Smith to James Smithe or something else as ridiculously mundane.
Why?
I'm pretty sure his quality of life isn't going to change because he's now named Jamie or Jimbob or whatever.
I've never understood why so many people need to be labelled.
They need to be a domme or a sub or a master or a transvestite or a goth or a skater or a chav or a butcher or a baker or a candle stick maker. They can be straight, gay, bi, bi-curious, poly, doggers but why can't they just be people?
Thinking that if they call themselves Sir/ Madam/ Bunion it'll give them a sense of identity and add a layer to their personality when really all they're doing is submerging into a crowd of others who all thought exactly the same.
Then cynical little bastards like me decide whether we like you or not based on your choice of herd and never give your sparkling personalities a chance to shine.
I've never had a group mentality; I've never had the desire to belong. I've always just liked being me.
I don't have any answers, I don't know where to look for clues and I'm not even sure what the questions actually are.
But isn't evolution of ourselves drawn from constantly searching and not staying put, striving to figure out who you are and why the fuck you're here in the first place.
Don't we become more unique by refusing to be categorised, refusing to stay put and refusing to slip into a role that feels safe and comfortable.
Whips and chains and drugs and music are all healthy distractions from reality but does it really make you content?
I'm not sure about a lot of things but I'm 100% sure that we weren't put on this planet to work in a fucking tesco's.
Being an atheist, the idea of us just milling around for seventy odd years and then becoming worm food is frightening.
Religion can give people a sense of purpose and justifies their reasons to be but it's too simple for me. Even Heaven would become mundane after a decade or so.
Maybe my friend is on a path of enlightenment, maybe he's changing his name to one that he feels belongs to him. Maybe he'll be happier as James.
I could be wrong but names are just prosthetics, names are something we need so we don't spend half our time having to describe each other, again it doesn't make you, you.
If you're a cunt it doesn't matter whether you change your name to Bill, Daniel or Zebbedee, you're still a cunt.
The problems lie within you and superficial uplifts aren't going to change that.
But I haven't got the answers; if I did I'd be changing the world right now.
The thrill is always in the chase, half the fun is getting there and I'm happy just hitching rides and trying to work out who I am.
At 27 it'd be pretty pretentious to think otherwise.
See you on the road somewhere.
| 6 Mar 09, 1:52 PM Mel_SnM UK(BA), 7 yrs |
forever and a day now I will be thinking when customers are being complete tossers on the phone to me - you sir are a bunion.. I like it I am unique, amazing, an individual and special!!! (just like every other fucker on the planet) | |
| 6 Mar 09, 2:00 PM Lee_Van_Spunkenfrick 3 yrs |
we live in a world where appearance is everything ... john smith gives an image of flat caps and whippets ... james smithe is more posh hats and ascot .... jolly nice to meet you .. james smithe here ay oop lad ... john smiths me name .. ow do james forthington-smithe would have been a bit wanky. i wonder what his parents think ... its a bit like dis-owning them ...
all for one and fuck the rest | |
| 6 Mar 09, 2:28 PM humanchimp 7 yrs |
very true, i never actually thought of that. I still want my rock stars dead | |
| 6 Mar 09, 4:52 PM Trance_Former 4 yrs |
spoof personal ad from Ponty Python book in 70's Name change : Please note that from henceforth Art Penis wishes to be known as Arthur Penis | |
| 10 Mar 09, 10:51 AM Ariane 8 yrs |
The names we give ourselves are a matter of self-definition, not herd membership. Maybe John Smith is dull and common, and James Smythe would have a touch of class. As you know, I have a few names used in different situations. I respond is subtly different ways to each of them. What does the name HumanChimp say about you? | |
| 14 Mar 09, 10:40 AM humanchimp 7 yrs |
Err... To be honest, not much if anything, it was a comedy name that kind of stuck. I still want my rock stars dead |
