Random
I went looking via LJArchive for a post where I told the history and significance of the name "Random". It boggles me that I have never done that here. So here goes:
Back when I first met David and Adrian, I made a character for one of the games we played named Random Birdwhistle, a Barbarian/Handler. I thought myself terribly clever, of course. But I went through so much with that character that I started to identify with it and he became an extension of me. Or at least my more impulsive side. He was strangely wise and reserved for a Kender, which means that he would still steal (handle) everything that wasn't nailed down and seeing as he DID have a claw-hammer, he would take that too, given time. But he was also a real bad-ass. He was okay starting conversations with dragons, as he wasn't exactly fragile, and was known to use his ridiculously over-sized club rather than a hoopak. "Hey! I've always wondered if a wizard's brains are the same color as a dragon's!"
So that character became sort of an alter ego for me and I grew attached to it.
When I started MUDding on MudDog in, I think, the Fall of 1990, just after I met Bill, I named my character Random. I figured I would bring that personality out of retirement and play him as I did my old character. Things happened and he became a mage. Then more things happened and my idea of what Random was became more of like what I wanted to be. He was witty, charming, and skilled. I found I could actually talk with people in this character.
Over time I grew into it. I grew out of my shyness (that story is elsewhere), and sort of became Random. Of course I can't cast spells, which is a pity. But the personality sort of fused a bit. I figure that Random was just a piece of me made manifest the whole time.
But that's not even the weird part.
One day I was doing my usual thing and someone asked, based on the name, if I had read the Amber series by Roger Zelazny. He told me that based on my character name he was sure I would have and that I would probably like it. So I checked it out. I got into it. It's a pretty good series. Then I got to the part about Random. And then I got to the part about Martin, Random's son.
That was a real doozy of a coincidence. To this day has been a source of stress on my skepticism regarding things that are "meant to be". Of course I am still thinking it's purely a coincidence, but it's not every day one runs into a "Random", and "Martin" isn't exactly the most common name in the world. To come across a relationship like that of father to son, and creator to character, is extremely unlikely.
But then there is this nerd-core rapper I recently found out about named MegaRan or Random.
So that's the story. Don't you feel enlightened?
Back when I first met David and Adrian, I made a character for one of the games we played named Random Birdwhistle, a Barbarian/Handler. I thought myself terribly clever, of course. But I went through so much with that character that I started to identify with it and he became an extension of me. Or at least my more impulsive side. He was strangely wise and reserved for a Kender, which means that he would still steal (handle) everything that wasn't nailed down and seeing as he DID have a claw-hammer, he would take that too, given time. But he was also a real bad-ass. He was okay starting conversations with dragons, as he wasn't exactly fragile, and was known to use his ridiculously over-sized club rather than a hoopak. "Hey! I've always wondered if a wizard's brains are the same color as a dragon's!"
So that character became sort of an alter ego for me and I grew attached to it.
When I started MUDding on MudDog in, I think, the Fall of 1990, just after I met Bill, I named my character Random. I figured I would bring that personality out of retirement and play him as I did my old character. Things happened and he became a mage. Then more things happened and my idea of what Random was became more of like what I wanted to be. He was witty, charming, and skilled. I found I could actually talk with people in this character.
Over time I grew into it. I grew out of my shyness (that story is elsewhere), and sort of became Random. Of course I can't cast spells, which is a pity. But the personality sort of fused a bit. I figure that Random was just a piece of me made manifest the whole time.
But that's not even the weird part.
One day I was doing my usual thing and someone asked, based on the name, if I had read the Amber series by Roger Zelazny. He told me that based on my character name he was sure I would have and that I would probably like it. So I checked it out. I got into it. It's a pretty good series. Then I got to the part about Random. And then I got to the part about Martin, Random's son.
That was a real doozy of a coincidence. To this day has been a source of stress on my skepticism regarding things that are "meant to be". Of course I am still thinking it's purely a coincidence, but it's not every day one runs into a "Random", and "Martin" isn't exactly the most common name in the world. To come across a relationship like that of father to son, and creator to character, is extremely unlikely.
But then there is this nerd-core rapper I recently found out about named MegaRan or Random.
So that's the story. Don't you feel enlightened?