Fidg--I deleted because I accidentally posted a response to this thread instead of another one.

My user name is initials that I do not want to reveal because they refer to a part of my life I would rather forget. I had never posted to a blog before TF and I just used part of an old email address. If I could, I would change my user name.

Where does your user name come from?

PS, one of the dwarf (er...little people? ;) characters in Time Bandits, thus my comment earlier in the thread: "Well...what's not to love about a misanthropic dwarf with thieving tendencies?"

;)

Ive been using this name on the net for over a decade. I played a lot of CounterStrike back in the late 90s when it was still in early beta. Everybody wanted to be the 'counter-terrorist' cause they had better guns, so the only way to get on a server most days was to be willing to play as a 'terrorist' and be outnumbered the whole time.

I was a huge Tom Clancy fan at the time and was reading my copy of Patriot Games for the 100th time (it literally fell apart a few years ago and the wife made me replace it. Damn good book), go figure.

/wishes Id picked JohnKelly, but its almost tradition at this point.

Good idea on the thread.
Got christened at work, dealing room, many moons ago. Iceman was already taken, so they must have thought I was just a little less stone hard cold. I like to think I'm a very warm and cosy person, deadhead and all.

The opposite of vegasinsider. For a good reason.

I'm a fan of Ayn Rand beyond anybody you've ever even heard of before.

I would say that for a period of about 15 years, I literally LIVED in her words -- I was the guy you'd see around Minneapolis with dark hip-level hair carrying Atlas Shrugged tucked under one arm for FOUR YEARS -- a very pretty girl that I used to work with pointed that (4 year number) out to me (God that girl was creepy -- she watched me like a hawk), and asked if I'd thought about reading something else for a change. I was honestly shocked that I'd actually spent 4 years in a novel -- 4-6 hours a day I'd just basically LIVE IN THERE. I have literally memorized major portions of her work -- honest, folks: I can quote multiple pages of her writing for significant stretches of time.

Not too far from where I sit here in my home, I do have the Ilona Royce Smithkin painting that you'll find on the rear cover of the paperbacks published by the New American Library publishing house -- it's framed in walnut and hangs under glass. It's probably my most dear possession. It's not worth much (welllll, not really), but I bought it when I had no money to spend on anything.

Ayn Rand is, in my view, the substantial figure in all of human history.

It's just that nobody else fully realizes it -- yet.

Eventually, of course, mankind (as a species) will simply have to accept her philosophy -- or perish.

"Fan" actually isn't even the word for my zeal w/re Rand -- I'm such a Randian that I'm honestly jealous of people who haven't yet read her; the sheer pleasure of discovering her work was so intense for me that I'm actually envious of those who have yet to experience it: they still have in front of them the joy of reading her for the first time. I'm honestly and truly jealous of that.

I knew, after I first discovered her work, that the thing which had been missing within my existence had been found. I tell you truly, the emptiness in my soul had been filled. I bought the Ayn Rand Lexicon when it had first come out -- I had picked it up one day just roaming around a bookstore -- and I remember being so deeply moved by her magic with words (and her mind in general) that I honestly went right back the next day and bought every other title I could find with her name on it. I honestly felt that such work would be banned -- this was in the late 1980's. Even then, I didn't think the country was free enough to permit such writing to remain on the shelves.

I remember being massively depressed when I found out she'd long-since passed away -- I felt for the first time in my life that somebody close to me had died, even though I'd never met her -- and it's a good thing, too, that I never met her: I'm a Bon Jovi look-a-like, and I've always had more hair than Bon Jovi had even at his absolute 80's hair-band worst -- she would probably have dismissed me from her presence immediately, on sight. Having the admiration for her that I have, that would have hurt me deeply, and in the worst possible way.

Same for yrs. spammers, virus instigators have at it.

Professor Sondergaard was a character in an old Dr. Who serial. He was cool without self-consciousness, intelligent without arrogance, focused without needing attention. He came to understand personal transformation and -- to his own surprise -- became an angel to those who experienced it.

Big time three stooges fan-had the poster of curly getting his tooth pulled in my waiting room, the flog is the way I play golf-backwards.

I play a lot of first person shooters where you blow someone up they turn into giblets.

I'm with Gibbie. I'm a huge video game junkie here. For those that aren't...

The man character from the Halo video game series is a Spartan warrior; sorta human Terminator in the way future.
His call sign is Sierra 117 and his name is John, thus John117.
It's a good way to bond with my 3 teenage boys.

1st 3 letters from my name and my wife''s name

mmm....it's about the *car*

yaldor, the *face* on the dog with the gun to its head cracks me up every time i see it

Back in the day, I started posting about the housing bubble with my real name, because I was mad as hell and wanted to bear witness to the fact that some of us saw the madness for what it was, early, and chose not to play.

I kept posting with my real name here for much the same reason, and because it forces me to mind my words and edit carefully. I am very, very dark on the future, folks, and if I posted under a pseudonym I could very well go Tango Photoguy on you. Instead, I try to maintain a brave face at what is coming, accept it, and not start any*****ing matches with the regulars.

We are here to adapt, to live, to survive. Catching C-down is just a part of this.

I'm also a big book collector, probably have the best collection of Herbert Spencer on the West Coast, amazing old editions of Locke (1751), Swift, some rare translations of Nietzsche, all the Austrians, lots of Leo Strauss, most of The American Mercury. All good stuff.

Yeah, but Christian, who's the kid in yer avatar and whatz he doing??? (been wanting to ask this for oh so long... ;)

It's about hair and the meaning is self-evident.

The fact that Gen has a mullet festival in his town is just a coincidence.

Nothing particularly mysterious about mine.

My avatar pic is from a wire story in the 2001-02 era about feral kids running loose in Iraq, huffing toluene and wielding guns. I guess they were the rough equivalent of the qat-chewing young Somalis, just without the technicals to drive.

I never heard about these kids again, either there weren't very many of them or they were completely overshadowed by the various al-queda cells active in the region. Or they died.

I was wondering about that for a while as well. It is an interesting picture.

Thought it was from a movie or tv. Wow.


My name is just what someone at work calls me. I'm usually grumpy after reading tickers at work and end up scowling the entire night. I figured I might as well use the nickname here then. Heh.

I thought it was from Columbia or Brazil, that was where I first heard about shoe glue huffing.

It's Spanish for JP. But I'm of Welsch-Scottish descent.

Thought the name would be a funny juxtaposition, but I suppose no one would know but me.

I've been writing since I was very young.
Short stories, plays & Music ( I ghost wrote a play for a published known Name as well as a few pop songs for flash-in-the-pans -I shoulda had contracts inked for that **** as I've been ripped off repeatedly and labels that knew but couldn't get the Artists to yield My Name never found Me out and hired ME... ), a few Grad school papers on various subjects, etc...

One of My earliest short novellas/neo-poetry experiments involved a young Prince named Dallilaius Aranius elevated to the Throne of a Mythical Land known as 'Vron' -thereby becoming 'The Throxx Of Vron'.

His Dominion is besieged by Enemies and both His Sister & Advisers attempt to betray ( allegory/allusions of My Personal betrayal by My Family ) and try to kill Him.

Throxx went 'ballistic' ( insane? ): retaliated by imprisoning His Sister, Slaughtering the Advisers; and employing an untested 'doomsday' weapon that had been developed by a crazed Wizard/Scientist.
The Weapon causes the very Land itself to burn and not only are the Enemies of Throxx incinerated in a fiery apocalypse; but the fire rages unabated threatening to consume Vron.

In the finale Throxx invokes an ancient power to bring assistance from denizens that live in Cities that exist above the plane which Vron is positioned upon; and an Army of these Mythical former Allies of Vron actually respond and descend to Vron to extinguish the fire and rescue the surviving Persons, creatures, etc...

I had My initial vision of Vron when I saw a fire in an abandoned barn.
The ground seemed to burn and spiders descended on long threads from Their webs amongst the rafters: this informed the topology and set My mind upon both the disaster for the tiny Creatures living on the ground, and the concept of an escape into the heights on the strands of the weavers of webs.


I had shared a portion of the story, a synopsis of sorts; with members of a Junior High English Class as a way to avoid writing something new when faced with the class assignment; I just crabbed it together and submitted it to My Teacher.
Consequently when My rather much surprised Teacher asked Me to read from it aloud I did so: so a few People heard a sort of synopsis of My story of the vengeful Throxx Of Vron.

Some weeks later I was at a gathering of Junior and High School students which, unchaperoned, abusing drugs and alcohol; I got into a rather heated exchange with Someone I had never before met.

I became quite angry -in fact loud, livid; and quite profane.
I let into Him unmercifully and dared Him to touch only Me if He wished to meet His maker -or something to this effect...

At the point that My Opponent shouted 'Who the **** do You think You are?'
A Classmate Who had been present to at the reading of My story suddenly drunkenly pointed at Me, his eyes bulging; and in a slurred voice proclaimed: 'He's Insane -He's The 'Roxx Of Vrrrron!' and burst into crazed peals of laughter.

The room fell silent.

No One dared approach Me.

People that I had never met remembered the outburst and I was referred to thus variously afterward: both the reputation for choosing confrontation when provoked and the miss-spoken Name stuck.


After a while, after many things happened in My life; -the Name came to have deeper meaning to Me unassociated with the original story.

I became estranged from My Family and very much disillusioned with My Country and American Society.

I also slowly came to realize that the Characters which I had been writing about were ALL some aspect of Myself and I have come to regard some of Their Names as having as much value and legitimacy to Me as True Names of Myself as My Legal Name.

I thus have come to regard Myself not just by My Legal Name; but also -and in some ways more succinctly- as 'Dallilaius Aranius; or Throxx Of Vron'.

There is MORE to It than that, but this is where the Name originally came from and the initial manner in which it came into use to indicate My Person: I made it up Myself and was christened with it while violently defending My position on an issue that I still to this day choose to fight over ( I have on this Forum as a matter of fact ).


Since the pronunciation IS not quite as one would expect for either Throxx or Vron, and Dallilaius Aranius never seemed to find use: most People just called Me 'Roxx'.

'Roxx' is fine: Friends and Lovers have often called Me Roxx.

Some still do...


I have been asked about this moniker several times in this forum and in PM.

I've hesitated again and again to disclose this; unsure of how it would be interpreted...

Well, Now You All Know Who I really am.
Legally, and Personally.

after I read an article from the Council on Foreign Relations regarding the next pandemic avian flu...I adopted it as my preparedness cry

now I go by aVian in some locations

before 2005 i was woefully unprepared

now wood/coal boiler, 4kw solar, hand well pump, wood stove, ammo, 1 year of food, german shepard, huge garden with fruit trees and fruit bushes

lots of pm's...really no worries now

backwoods home is the new bible

lame...name is Ricky Saunders, and I needed something I could remember when I first signed on with AOL way back when