I didn't pick it - I just always knew that Jennifer was my name, as long as I can remember. I'd been named something else, but that was just what I was known as legally. My actual name was Jennifer.
My wife is named Genell, though - and she goes by Gen, which is easilly confused with Jen. We both work a sci-fi convention, and the last two years, at least one situation has occured where they got the wrong ‘Jen’. Oh, our middle initials and last names are the same, too. ;-)
Anyways, I tried to come up with different names. Rachael, Rebecca, Jessica, Heather, etc - friends suggested Gwen, because it was the news about Gwen Araujo's murder that finally started me researching transsexuality and transition, but it wasn't right for me to take Gwen, and none of them fit for me - Jennifer always just felt right.
So, now I'm Jennifer, but I use Gwenhwyfar online sometimes, as it's the old Welsh root of Jennifer.
I've heard the "just don't look" advice. Seems pretty sound to me. (I get the idea that a guy walking around and staring at everything in the bathroom like it was all from Mars would stick out like a sore thumb, haha!)
actually, in my world the women's restrooms have shorter lines.
this is because I am a grad student in math. there are an equal number of men's and women's restrooms on the floor occupied by the math department, but about three times as many men as women. it's actually gotten to the point where I'm surprised if there's someone else in the restroom at the same time as me.
Q-1: I like the sound of a prominent L, and also insist on my names having special meaning (I have like six nicknames among my friends, such that I have a hard time introducing myself to new people sometimes), so I consulted my bookshelf and decided to go with a well-known Lewis Carroll character that I thought aptly described my life...
Q-2: I call myself a girl, mostly. I've also been experimenting with the descriptor "panzer-femme dyke".
Q-3: Depends on the place, but I can't say I've yet compared restrooms to find that the men's was nicer...
1: Most of the special names I've got have already been given to characters of mine, so they were sort of out. It would be too weird for me to have the same name as a character. I use the same sort of method for picking out last names, but I use my History text book.
3: Seems that way to me. (I guess I was clinging to that last shred of hope, haha.)
The mens' room is like a dank, creepy cave. You will not want to touch anything that has touched >1 foot from the floor. The stalls all have pee on the seats (also, various diseases), and unflushed poop in the bowl.
This is the main reason why I miss the girls' room. Why is it that ladypee doesn't get everywhere? If you can control your spray, then you can keep it from the walls!
Ahem. Sorry.
I picked my name, Cai, from a list of Welsh male names (why Welsh? I really don't know). I chose it because it comes from Latin, and I am a nerd. Also, Sir Cai was one of the knights of the round table [we dance when we're able], and as I said above, I am a nerd- an Arthurian nerd
( ... )
My world view! It's...it's...changing! I try as hard as I might not to think about dirty bathrooms. Every night I am haunted by them; unflushed stalls that will never be cleaned, locked up within my janitorless brain.
I remember there was a study that showed there were more bacteria on the bottom of a girl's purse than on the handle of the bathroom stall (because the purse's bottom had rested on the floor).
At my school, the most I worry about is why people in the girls' room have such an overwhelming need to draw penises everywhere.
I got my name from the social security website. I knew I wanted something with a K so I looked up what names were popular the decade I was born in. Kathleen worked well. And I once had an aunt named that who died when I was very young.
The bathrooms? Overall the women's room is better smelling and cleaner. But nobody can mess up a bathroom as bad as a few of the women's rooms I've been in.
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I'd advise trying to avoid stepping on the floor and don't think of using the stalls.
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My name is Jennifer.
I didn't pick it - I just always knew that Jennifer was my name, as long as I can remember. I'd been named something else, but that was just what I was known as legally. My actual name was Jennifer.
My wife is named Genell, though - and she goes by Gen, which is easilly confused with Jen. We both work a sci-fi convention, and the last two years, at least one situation has occured where they got the wrong ‘Jen’. Oh, our middle initials and last names are the same, too. ;-)
Anyways, I tried to come up with different names. Rachael, Rebecca, Jessica, Heather, etc - friends suggested Gwen, because it was the news about Gwen Araujo's murder that finally started me researching transsexuality and transition, but it wasn't right for me to take Gwen, and none of them fit for me - Jennifer always just felt right.
So, now I'm Jennifer, but I use Gwenhwyfar online sometimes, as it's the old Welsh root of Jennifer.
It turns out... I'm a Gwen, afterall.
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on the other hand, men's restrooms have shorter lines. and urinals. that might freak you out at first. the secret is to just not look.
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I've heard the "just don't look" advice. Seems pretty sound to me. (I get the idea that a guy walking around and staring at everything in the bathroom like it was all from Mars would stick out like a sore thumb, haha!)
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this is because I am a grad student in math. there are an equal number of men's and women's restrooms on the floor occupied by the math department, but about three times as many men as women. it's actually gotten to the point where I'm surprised if there's someone else in the restroom at the same time as me.
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Q-2: I call myself a girl, mostly. I've also been experimenting with the descriptor "panzer-femme dyke".
Q-3: Depends on the place, but I can't say I've yet compared restrooms to find that the men's was nicer...
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3: Seems that way to me. (I guess I was clinging to that last shred of hope, haha.)
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This is the main reason why I miss the girls' room. Why is it that ladypee doesn't get everywhere? If you can control your spray, then you can keep it from the walls!
Ahem. Sorry.
I picked my name, Cai, from a list of Welsh male names (why Welsh? I really don't know). I chose it because it comes from Latin, and I am a nerd. Also, Sir Cai was one of the knights of the round table [we dance when we're able], and as I said above, I am a nerd- an Arthurian nerd ( ... )
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A tremendous number of women spray the seat.
A also significant number of toilets spray the seat when flushing.
This results in wet seats a lot of the time.
Of course, what girl sits down without making sure she's protected?
(one with a wet bottom ... that's who)
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I remember there was a study that showed there were more bacteria on the bottom of a girl's purse than on the handle of the bathroom stall (because the purse's bottom had rested on the floor).
At my school, the most I worry about is why people in the girls' room have such an overwhelming need to draw penises everywhere.
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I never trust bathroom floors.
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The bathrooms? Overall the women's room is better smelling and cleaner. But nobody can mess up a bathroom as bad as a few of the women's rooms I've been in.
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