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Un bon p'tit meme
Jul. 25th, 2019 09:24 pmI've seen some Sunshine Challenge related posts here and there and I've enjoyed reading those answers. Prompt #2 piqued my interest because I always enjoy embarking on a little trip down memory lane :)
What does your username mean? How is it pronounced? What's your origin story, is it fannish?
My identity online is mixed. I am (obviously) Castalie but it always more or less sounded like a last name to my ears. If you asked me how I related to my online identity, I'd tell you that I saw myself as Mouse. I will answer to both, mind ;) Castalie was born either when I created my LJ or when I wrote my first fic (I don't remember which came first... will have to check the dates) and was looking for a username. I'd always been quite fond of Greek mythology and I found myself going through a list of names when I encountered Castalie (or Castalia in English, I believe), who was a nymph and was associated with a fountain that - among other things - was said to give poetic inspiration. I thought it was quite fitting. I needed a name, I liked the name, I didn't look any further. Castalie it was, Castalie it remained.
(Aside note: little did I know that in 2011, a French water company would decide to pick "my" handle - without even consulting me! The cheek of some people ;) I couldn't help but think of the company's community manager creating their social media accounts and coming to the realisation that someone out there had already chosen "Castalie" as a handle, dammit! So you will find a Castalie aka EauCastalie over at twitter that has nothing to do with me whatsoever ;) Although I suppose EauCastalie isn't so bad, especially if you consider that eau means water but also sounds like "ô" as in "And O ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves, Forebode not any severing of our loves!" It does sound pretty poetic.).
As for Mouse, now. It's rather quite mundane. I take my nickname after Michael Tolliver, one of the characters from of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series, who was always a favourite of mine. As I was discussing those novels that I'd just gotten into with Babycakes (who wasn't called Babycakes at the time) I decided that I would be Mouse and she could be Babycakes (I hadn't read the whole series yet). It was as simple as that. It's totally a self-appointed nickname.
How it's pronounced, now. (I actually really like this part of the prompt because, just like with names in fantasy novels, you're never really sure you'd be saying the name "right" if you had to say it out loud. It's even trickier when you take into consideration that we're all in a different part of the world. Besides, when dealing with online friends you rarely say aforementioned names out loud, do you? It almost always remains a sort of, idk, mental construct, somehow).
Anyway, the pronunciation. I thought I'd make it a little more "interactive" with a little audio sound ;) If you want to know what I sound like - in French - here it is: (roughly translated this is what I'm telling you: "So my pseudo is 'Castalie', pronounced in the French way but, in reality, I'm more likely to consider myself a 'Mouse' online". I know, riveting ;)
I meant to answer the last part of the prompt but I handed over the fan to Cookie so that she can at least attempt to go to sleep, which means I'm now without any source of "fresh" air in the living room and I'm melting and maybe hating the world a little bit (today has been hell, btw. It's now 10.30PM and the best we can do is 36°C? Like, that's the coolest today has been! No idea how hot it actually is in the flat but I'm not sure I even want to know). All that to say, I need to cool down a bit so I'm going to take a shower (the fourth overall today?) and then plant myself in front of the fan and maybe I'll fall asleep at one point. Wish me/us luck!
What does your username mean? How is it pronounced? What's your origin story, is it fannish?
My identity online is mixed. I am (obviously) Castalie but it always more or less sounded like a last name to my ears. If you asked me how I related to my online identity, I'd tell you that I saw myself as Mouse. I will answer to both, mind ;) Castalie was born either when I created my LJ or when I wrote my first fic (I don't remember which came first... will have to check the dates) and was looking for a username. I'd always been quite fond of Greek mythology and I found myself going through a list of names when I encountered Castalie (or Castalia in English, I believe), who was a nymph and was associated with a fountain that - among other things - was said to give poetic inspiration. I thought it was quite fitting. I needed a name, I liked the name, I didn't look any further. Castalie it was, Castalie it remained.
(Aside note: little did I know that in 2011, a French water company would decide to pick "my" handle - without even consulting me! The cheek of some people ;) I couldn't help but think of the company's community manager creating their social media accounts and coming to the realisation that someone out there had already chosen "Castalie" as a handle, dammit! So you will find a Castalie aka EauCastalie over at twitter that has nothing to do with me whatsoever ;) Although I suppose EauCastalie isn't so bad, especially if you consider that eau means water but also sounds like "ô" as in "And O ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves, Forebode not any severing of our loves!" It does sound pretty poetic.).
As for Mouse, now. It's rather quite mundane. I take my nickname after Michael Tolliver, one of the characters from of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series, who was always a favourite of mine. As I was discussing those novels that I'd just gotten into with Babycakes (who wasn't called Babycakes at the time) I decided that I would be Mouse and she could be Babycakes (I hadn't read the whole series yet). It was as simple as that. It's totally a self-appointed nickname.
How it's pronounced, now. (I actually really like this part of the prompt because, just like with names in fantasy novels, you're never really sure you'd be saying the name "right" if you had to say it out loud. It's even trickier when you take into consideration that we're all in a different part of the world. Besides, when dealing with online friends you rarely say aforementioned names out loud, do you? It almost always remains a sort of, idk, mental construct, somehow).
Anyway, the pronunciation. I thought I'd make it a little more "interactive" with a little audio sound ;) If you want to know what I sound like - in French - here it is: (roughly translated this is what I'm telling you: "So my pseudo is 'Castalie', pronounced in the French way but, in reality, I'm more likely to consider myself a 'Mouse' online". I know, riveting ;)
I meant to answer the last part of the prompt but I handed over the fan to Cookie so that she can at least attempt to go to sleep, which means I'm now without any source of "fresh" air in the living room and I'm melting and maybe hating the world a little bit (today has been hell, btw. It's now 10.30PM and the best we can do is 36°C? Like, that's the coolest today has been! No idea how hot it actually is in the flat but I'm not sure I even want to know). All that to say, I need to cool down a bit so I'm going to take a shower (the fourth overall today?) and then plant myself in front of the fan and maybe I'll fall asleep at one point. Wish me/us luck!
