h, memories...

a minor element of evil, who shall remain unnamed, introduced me to ucscb. A much more groovy fellow--called himself mantis--helped me learn about it's many time-wasting, yet enjoyable, features. Them were the days, when banana and I cackled back and forth across the aisle at the Porter Mac Lab while chatting away on fnet, tormenting some, amusing others, and boring many to tears.

But, why did I name myself lydia? So countless people would open chat sessions referring to a song about a tattooed lady? I think not.

It's from Beetlejuice, kids. Because I really liked the films of Winona Ryder... and account heather was taken. I suppose I could have tried for veronica, or heathernumberone, or perhaps girlscoutcookie. But, lydia had a nice ring to it. And it stuck, all the way up until a year ago when my provider, and "lydia@sirius.com," evaporated.

lydia was also a somewhat ironic name to me, as I always thought of myself as "sorta goth"--not nearly as spooky as my namesake who wrote the immortal words, "I am alone... I am *utterly* alone..."

But, enough whining about lost email addresses and not being "goth enough." Thanks to ucscb, many good times were had and wondrous strange folks were met along the way.

p.s. I was once asked why my email address was "lydia" in a job interview. Told the truth, got the job!