the choice of a name
Sometimes I envy people who have had their online handles for a long time. There's something nice about the finality of an identity, especially given the history of the internet. Out of all the possibilities, this is you. This is how people know you.
Whenever I made a new account on some website, there's something exciting about coming up with a new name for myself. It's like creating a new character in a video game. But perhaps that's why, once in a while, I feel a sense of dissatisfaction.
Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, I started off on deviantART. I've rebranded a few times, but had wanted to pay homage to the previous name each time. And maybe that's where I'm falling short on finding a name that feels permanent. After all, people change over time, and it probably would be rare that a name that I picked when I was a child is something I would still like as a teenager versus a young adult versus a now older adult.
I currently go by Locks. It was a random choice of a name with no real sense of sentimental value or meaningfulness to me. In one way, this was a good thing since it was a blank slate if you will. But I'm not sure how I feel about it now, to continue going by this name. It was a random word I picked. As an artist, maybe I should have picked something that does relate to me, even just a little bit? Funnily though, when I looked back on my older drawings and have been signing my art as Locks, I found that I've been doing this for over ten years. A third of my life, this is how people knew me. So, I guess the word doesn't mean nothing anymore, but it's still random.
I will admit, it is a little hard for me to enunciate it clearly to people (I think), so I would like to opt for a slightly easier though memorable name. The harder thing, probably, is deciding on a future domain name. It's probably better if I think of the domain name as "where" on the internet I'd like to be known at, and my chosen/display name is... well, however I feel at the time.