Why Did You Choose That Username And/Or That Avatar (Or No Avatar At All)?

[anni]

We're Celts, pretty much. I grew up wearing these ancient kilts, truly threadbare as a matter of course, Stuart tartan and the wedding tartan.The family tree is on badly yellowed, brittle papers in iron bound trunks in the attic, preserved through centuries although Nana could faultlessly recite 200 years worth from the top of er head. It's just part of the family which never left.I bought my grandson his first tartan last year, so teeny! We mean it, though, it's not just some genealogical fancy. My Nana, my great grandmother, grew up in PEI, in Canada speaking Gaelic around the house. They'd left the Isle of Skye with many Scottish clans who came to Nova Scotia- it wasn't just the Stuarts there were the McDonalds, Buchanons, others, intermarried in the tree. When I moved across the Pond it was awfully hard to describe but it felt like I'd come home- so terribly familar. I do not much care how kooky it sounds but there are parts of England and Scotland which I even recognized from dreams I'd had as a child- it was that much of a mystical experience. It's the real reason why I stayed for 5 years- just something belonged there, that's all.

My avatar is this life and that one, and all of it the same, past and present, Burns and Wallace, Washington and Obama, Nana Stuart and me.

 

[alixipain]

Alix Ivan Pain Is my AKA. We'll start with Alix... Spelt that way to be different, and for at certain times or moods I sometimes feel like a woman.

Ivan... Ivanhoe it was the first book I read, I still have that copy (my father caught me reading it, threw it into the back yard in the rain} the book has just as many scars as I do, but reminds me, we have come a long ways through life together.

Pain... For I am always in pain, emotionally, physically, and mentally.

My avatar and I might change it from time to time with other of my works. It symbolizes man crying out to others that we have to save our planet and its life blood "Water". Painted on titanium white back ground is the earth, center is water droplet, then my hand in red. Red for anger; for abusing the water from wasteful usage, polluting with chemicals, and not seeing it’s a resource we humans can’t live without.

Just recently heard about a county in California that distributes water to the oil companies in the desert fresh water to extract oil from the tar pits, something like 5 barrels of water to retrieve 1 barrel of oil. That to me is wasteful.

The "hand in the face" somewhat it’s to get ones attention.

Around it in black is "...---..." in a continuous circle, "SOS" because if the waste is not stopped we humans will have to find a new resources to sub stain our lives, such as traveling to other planets to have water, and not to use it as a fuel to use... Kind of ironic use water as a fuel, for an oil dependent nation hooked on oil!

 

[alixipain]

We're Celts, pretty much. I grew up wearing these ancient kilts, truly threadbare as a matter of course, Stuart tartan and the wedding tartan.The family tree is on badly yellowed, brittle papers in iron bound trunks in the attic, preserved through centuries although Nana could faultlessly recite 200 years worth from the top of er head. It's just part of the family which never left.I bought my grandson his first tartan last year, so teeny! We mean it, though, it's not just some genealogical fancy. My Nana, my great grandmother, grew up in PEI, in Canada speaking Gaelic around the house. They'd left the Isle of Skye with many Scottish clans who came to Nova Scotia- it wasn't just the Stuarts there were the McDonalds, Buchanons, others, intermarried in the tree. When I moved across the Pond it was awfully hard to describe but it felt like I'd come home- so terribly familar. I do not much care how kooky it sounds but there are parts of England and Scotland which I even recognized from dreams I'd had as a child- it was that much of a mystical experience. It's the real reason why I stayed for 5 years- just something belonged there, that's all.

My avatar is this life and that one, and all of it the same, past and present, Burns and Wallace, Washington and Obama, Nana Stuart and me.

Question "Stuart" is it Black with blue background or blue with black background?? Or does it matter? My grandmother was scottish, her parents moved to the USA when she was 4. She passed away in 1996 at the age of 112. She always told me I was a black stuart I should be proud of it, and never look down at the ground. She was the only normal person in my family. I say "Normal" she wasnt sick like my parents, and other family members.

How my father was her son, I will never know. A direct opposite from her kind heart, she raised him and his 6 other siblings by washing, ironing, cooking meals, and comforting oil field workers. I asked her once "You tended to their needs for a woman?"

"Absolutely not! I'm a good woman not a tramp!" I loved her more than anything then for she told me to comfort most men all you need to do is hold them and let them know that its okay to be sensitive sometimes.

 

[anni]

Ha! I always thought it was black but never thought about it! There's also the hunting Stuart ( Stewert ), that red one which is the most common I guess is the Royal Stewert ( although I'm sure there are others with a red base-not an expert by any stretch )NOT me, wedding Stuart and a ton of others, I know. Yes, funny how genuinely proud but just plain GOOD some of the the old folks were. The simple lessons passed on by example in a world of annoying self-help gurus would put that entire section of books out of business at Amazon dot com, wouldn't they? And should, too but of course there's no money to be made in a book containing pretty much 3 pages of sound, loving, strong wisdom, is there?

 

[Vee Lagrome]

My user name is my real name (sort of, it's a nickname). I have lived my life hiding from the fact that I have these problems and not talking about them, lying about them, etc. and I am trying to own the fact that I do have PTSD and that I need to confront it rather than run away from it. I feel that using my real name helps me do that.

My avatar are my two precious little bunny rabbits. The little orange guy is my baby who I have had since he was just a little tiny baby bun who was actually cute and lovable then. The larger black bunny is my husband's girl rabbit, who seems to suffer from a bunny version of PTSD (her previous owner had a small child who was filled with so much love for the bunny that he could not contain it, thus traumatizing her). Seeing the two of them gives me the warm fuzzies and usually makes me feel just a teensy bit less depressed.

 

[Deleted member 5760]

anni - I'm guessing you've read a bit of Diana Gabaldon and waited a long time for your 'Jamie'? If not.. read read read :)

 

[anni]

Rats SJ! Just came to look for something here while writing something in documents and saw this- NOW I have to go Google that and am completely distracted! :) Hee- dammit. That's actually a thank you! :)

 

[Heather]

I want to CHANGE mine but can't figure out how! I am so computer illiterate it's so sad.

 

[Darkness Shines]

Heather, to change your avatar scroll over your user name at the top of the page (beside your inbox), and select "personal details" from the menu that appears. That brings up a new page and you'll see your avatar directly below the box for changing your status message. Click the picture and a box will pop up for you to select the location of the image you want to upload from your computer. Make sure the image isn't too large and it usually looks better if you select a square image.

 

[Heather]

Thank you D.S. but I don't know how to put pic's on my computer! LOL That's how bad I am.

 

[Marie E.]

I choose mainly roses cause to me they are a personal symbol of love that I have for myself. I can't always feel, but in the end when I am alone entirely, sometimes I can feel through the numbness and pain. Roses are just beautiful!! I would hand them upside down to dry on my wall.

 

[Darkness Shines]

Thank you D.S. but I don't know how to put pic's on my computer! LOL That's how bad I am.

LOL, you're kind of like my husband, then.

To answer the actual question of the thread, my user name and the avatar I'm currently using were chosen to go together. It's applying the metaphor of a full lunar eclipse to PTSD. I did a post explaining it all somewhere, lol. Probably still only makes sense to me, though.