Identity crisis

[qatarperegrine]

My CMU accounts are getting deactivated this week. No more qatar.cmu.edu email address! No more OED access! Alas.

A former student pointed out on Twitter yesterday that I'm still using the username qatarperegrine everywhere. I guess it's time to come up with a new username?

I was rather fond of qatarperegrine. Peregrine means a wanderer; it comes from a Latin word meaning a foreigner traveling abroad; it's also the root of pilgrim, and thus has overtones of traveling in pursuit of religious understanding. All three of these meanings seemed to suit my frame of mind when I moved to Qatar. It's also thematically linked to the other two usernames I've used in my life: Sparrowhawk, as they're both names of falcons, and Luthien, as they're both Tolkien characters.

It may be that I overthink usernames a little.

At any rate, I haven't quite decided on a new one, so for now I'm still qatarperegrine. Friends have suggested something Pittsburgh-related -- but being in Pittsburgh is certainly less notable than being in Qatar -- or something baby-related -- but I suspect enough of my identity will be subsumed by parenthood in the near future as it is.

As for this journal, I think that instead of changing the username, I will probably just stop using it sometime soon, so that it retains its identity as a blog about my six years in Qatar. If I do keep blogging, I'll let you know where I move on to.

Comments

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Heehee, I like nestingperegrine. :-)