On the contrary, I think this thread just might’ve saved someone’s life.[/quote]
In what way, precisely?
Some day, yeah. I’ve been planning for some time to get my name changed to that, it’s just a matter of when. I haven’t quite pinned that down yet, but it may not be for another year or two.[/quote]
You know, it’s great to be yourself and all that. You’re probably a great guy if we met you in person. But dude, after reading that, I think you should be locked up.
–Dave
Well, you are entitled to your opinion. Frankly, I don’t understand it, but that’s not my place to try and figure out what’s going on inside your head. If you wanna slap a mental straight jacket on me every time you see one of my posts, that’s your perogative.
It does sadden me a bit, but I can’t exactly sit you down over a cup of coffee or a stiff drink and try and explain my motivations. Which is a shame, because you’d find that I’m perhaps one of the most level-headed people on this planet.
At least, that’s what my friends say. But maybe they’re crazier than I am.
They do say that one out of every 5 people has serious psychological problems, and if you pick 4 friends, and they’re sane, then it’s you…;)
It’s terrible.
Your plan to change your name to Mach Five is a bad one. You’re a “Yahoo! Odd News Story” waiting to happen.
Don’t yell at people for thinking your company name is “Mach 5,” rather than your personal name. It’s your fault, not theirs.
I think you’re going to make a great unemployed graphic designer.
I think that pretty much clinches it. I was waffling on the idea moments ago, but ToutSuite has pretty much got me convinced that posting anything graphics-related on this board is a bad idea.
Criticism is one thing, but unwarranted personal attacks are a whole other ballpark.
And for the record - I’m REAL good at being an unemployed graphics designer. So don’t worry about me.
You fool! It’s a trap! That’s what you get for listening to the non-magister-mundii.
Changing your name is your business, but expect to get some puzzled looks from would-have-been customers.
- Alan ‘Itsatrap’ Au
[size=2][EDIT] Actually, there’s only the one magister mundi. Besides, I think I pluralized the wrong word anyway. My Latin is teh suck.[/size]
It may not make much difference if you’re Anti-Social, but since this thread exists in a context of social networking and business relations that possibility is apparently tossed out the window.
The only point I can see is if you’re trying to stick it to the traditional naming system… the nifty little first name/surname thing. None of your prior posts to this forum indicate that this is valuable to you.
So you’re not Anti-Social and you’re not on the cutting edge of the social name-game. Remind me again why you think that changing your name to Mach 5 is a good idea?
I wouldn’t be especially surprised if 50 years from now the traditional naming system was in decline or destroyed. But do you want to place so much of your identity in being a Pioneer for that kind of thing? Is it really that important to you?
Sometimes you should go along with the Status Quo not because its such a wonderful thing but rather because you have bigger fish to fry.
Pick your battles wisely.
Okay, seriously. We’ve entered the twilight zone, because I sorta get what he’s saying here. No, scratch that, I get it clear as day.
Regardless…
It’s not a matter of thinking it’s a good idea or a bad idea.
Perhaps it’s difficult to understand without my life story, and there’s a good chance that I’ll sound psycho in the process, but what the fuck. People here are already two shakes from calling the looney bin to pick me up.
It sort of ties in with my Memento post I made, which is a neat coincidence.
Ever since I first began going by the moniker Mach5, a drastic shift occured in my life. It was under this handle that I went from a social outcast, dork in every way, shape, and form, to someone who could be extroverted under most circumstances. It was under this handle that I realized I wanted to be a graphics designer, when I first learned to shoot a gun, when my political beliefs experienced massive tectonic shifting moving me from a judgemental right-winger to a centrist libertarian.
I’ve been called Mach by virtually everyone I met online, and they continued to do so when we met in meatspace. I DJ’d at a radio station and had callers requesting songs and complimenting “Mach” on his taste in music.
It’s simply a matter of **** ***** is who I was. It was a name for the dorky, socially inept kid who wore coke-bottle glasses and flannel every day in junior high.
Mach Five is who I am, and if I could, I’d go back in time and kick Ryan’s ass for taking so long to become me.
In order for me to fully complete the sunset of **** *****, I need to shed this Real World Screename to which I’ve become tired and disgusted with.
It’s not a matter of whether changing my name is a good idea or a bad idea - It’s something I have to do, consequences be damned. I don’t care if some close-minded potential client scoffs at my name. I want to be able to introduce myself to everyone as Mach, “Yes, that’s my real name.” It’s vital to me that my name accurately reflect who I am.
This post probably makes me sound schizophrenic, but at this point, I don’t care what anyone here thinks. After all this, it’s going to take a while before I give a shit about anything which happens to me on these forums.
This is usually just called “growing up”, and while commemorating it with a name change instead of a tattoo is less indelible, it’s several magnitudes more lame. As you say, though, consequences be damned. Besides, as long as you only hang out at LAN parties you should be ok.
I don’t care what anyone here thinks. After all this, it’s going to take a while before I give a shit about anything which happens to me on these forums.
You’re not doing a great job of projecting your indifference. Work on that after the logo.
when I first learned to shoot a gun
Why do you consider this a positive thing?
Though really, if you post your work on an internet message board, where some people have already insulted you and you’ve already run up against some nasty arguments, don’t you think you should expect some of that? I mean you can’t control what people are going to say, but you can control how you receive it. You’ve gotten some careful and considerate criticism in this thread as well.
Anyway, on the subject of your logo and name, on my business card I have a similar dilemma. You see, it wasn’t decided by me, but people still only call me Kitsune pretty much, from people at my job to family to friends to well, everyone. Sometimes I get called Shou-kun or Suzuki-san, but since both those names have millions of other owners in Japan and I’m not as likely to pay attention since I don’t get called that often, Kitsune it is. So on my card, I have a very light grey English letter K underscoring all the contact information and such in the background, so light you can’t see it unless you turn it in the sun the right way. In the corner is a little logo of the kitsune kanji character surrounded by a circle and two little fox tails sprouting out of the side, so it kind of looks like Tails when he’s up on in a ball in the Sonic games. Anyway, it may be small, but so far its reminded everybody who calls me that if they want to be quite friendly, they should call me Kitsune, no matter for how short a time I’ve met them, though its fine if they’re uncomfortable with that, its no skin off my back if they want to call me whatever they want to call me. I’m never going to change my name to Kitsune, because I like mine just fine and besides I never plan on becoming an adult. 
So I recommend something a little more subtle as well. I can’t think of too much, but maybe a similar circle with Mach five printed inside the circle, and a 5 in the middle with streak lines to show its fast, or maybe even a 5 turned into a running stickman.
Also, along the whole Speed Racer thing, in Japanese, guess what’s it called? MachGoGoGo! Guess what “go” means? Five! Sooooo, every time you run into a Japanese person with your business card, they’re going to think you’re a Speed Racer otaku. Just warning you, it goes a little deeper than a promise that you’ll shave your clients in steamy nude scenes.
Being flexible is as valuable as being unique. I once had a friend who, like you, thought a new name christened the new person he had become and did change his name. Though he was a writer and the name more in line with a psuedonym that isn’t too out of the ordinary, so I can understand the motivation.
-Kitsune
Well, I often go by “Sparky” in real life, sometimes even with clients if they know me fairly well (it’s a pre-Internet nickname, though). If it makes anyone uncomfortable they can call me my real name, or “you annoying harridan” or whatever, as long as the checks clear. It just spares us the usual problem of having eight Jennifers in a meeting. Ah, why couldn’t Mom have named me something distinctive, like “Vercingetorix”, “Defenestratia”, “Jacquelope”, or “Mehitabel V. Cowperthwaite-Bunthorne”?
There was one millionaire venture capitalist during Ye Olde Dot-Com Era who got a huge kick out of addressing me as “Sparky” at meetings (“Sparky doesn’t understand our business model! Do we HAVE a business model?”) – I think he considered it an amusing Ivy-League frat nickname along the lines of “Skip”, “Muffy” or “Bluto”. I hadn’t the heart to tell him I was a state college dropout who had never played lacrosse, never worn madras plaid, and the closest I’d ever gotten to sailing was a ride on the Cape May Ferry.
Your letter-heads could have a light tartan pattern and you would have the logo worded as MacHFive. A nice celtic feel…
How exactly does Mach Five accurately reflect who you are? From what you’ve said so far, it merely symbolizes a personal transition. Its sort of like when you lose your virginity and you hear a song on the radio and then want to change your name to the song title. This falls under the category of Not Often Recommended.
I could see, say… the first human to break the sound barrier renaming himself as “Mach One” if that achievement was important enough to him… and that would (to an extent) accurately reflect who he is. It would also limit who he is, as his name would constantly remind himself (and others) of his context.
Mach Five can mean whatever it does to you. The name Ananke is personal to me… it fits me far better than the fairly arbitrary “Brian Koontz”. But if I called myself Ananke to others it wouldn’t mean anything to them other than that I am weird for not using a traditional name. And then the people who know what the word means would think I’ve even weirder. Only the people who know me AND know what the word means would appreciate it. And of course you aren’t even talking about those kinds of people… you’re talking business.
What you are talking about doing is forcing other people to deal with the phrase “Mach Five” in terms of you. 99% of them will think “What a weirdo” and not “Whoa, this must symbolize some great personal transition”.
Part of the other 1% are attractive women who will ask “So… where’s your private jet?” and then slap you when you can’t produce one.
Personal transitions are just that… PERSONAL. Forcing personal transitions upon an unsuspecting and uncaring public is vain.
When Brian Koontz is making a whole hell of a lot of sense, it’s time to ditch the idea of name changing, Ryan.
–Dave
Hell, I’m changing my name to Brian Koontz.
But if I called myself Ananke to others it wouldn’t mean anything to them other than that I am weird for not using a traditional name. And then the people who know what the word means would think I’ve even weirder. Only the people who know me AND know what the word means would appreciate it.
Brian, if no one else does, I appreciate your Yahoo handle. It means “I named myself after a woman”, right?
Otherwise, bizarrely good points. Question: is “mach five” the scientific terminology for the point when a jet plane breaks the reality barrier? Because Brian saying anything this sensible indicates we’ve all suddenly entered an ambidextrous universe, and I can only assume Mach 5 to be the impetus for that.
I thought that Jakub’s recent gaffe about Denny was a bit embarrasing. Then I read this thread.
It’s a regular buffet: Machfive does a Koontz what-the-fuck-is-he-on speech, a Kitsune reveal-too-much-unwittingly post and a Jakub argue-with-people-who-know-better piece.
Oh the humanity!
And repeat after me: graphic designer. Not graphics designer.
Isn’t this the plot of “Red Dragon”?
Isn’t this the plot of “Red Dragon”?[/quote]
Ouch!