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[rallamajoop]

If you’ve heard the story of how I wound up as ‘rallamajoop’ you’ll know I have a bit of an odd relationship with those online forms you have to fill out to sign up for usernames for this web service or other. Recently, I discovered the part of the Yahoo ID sign up form which lets you enter in names and see whether they’re still available, and, in a fit of boredom, started typing in whatever came to mind. Now, you can’t go far on the Internet without realising that the joy of anonymity can lead people to settle for - indeed, even seek out - some truly bizarre and wonderful aliases, but even by Internet standards, some of the names listed as No Longer Available are pretty impressive.

Length aside, it wasn’t all that surprising to discover all_your_base_are_belong_to_us has been taken. Likewise c_is_for_cookie and bucket_of_fish, though the existence of lovely_bunch_of_coconuts and say_no_to_bananas was worth an eyebrow raise. Curiously, yellow_fluffy_thing was actually still available last I checked.

Pop culture references have certainly been well used - where_noone_has_gone_before is, unsurprisingly, no longer up for grabs. I recalled seeing the Princess Bride listed as one of the top ten most quotable movies somewhere or other, and sure enough you_killed_my_father, life_is_pain_highness and i_am_not_left_handed are all gone. I_am_not_left_handed_either, however, is still there for the taking.

Finally, because nothing fannish is complete without them, some Monty Python references. On the scale of these things, some_call_me_tim is practically sensible and hence, predictably, gone. Somewhere out there on the web there are also people going by the names of she_turned_me_into_a_newt and knight_who_says_ni, though you_must_fetch_a_shrubbery is still there should anyone want it.

While I’m here, remember that crazy little incident involving a far-too-young-for-this sister, a boy and a thousand dollar engagement ring from a few months back? No actual prizes for guessing what blew up over here last week.

I think we got off pretty well here really. There was some screaming involved, and some bashing of walls and hiding out in various corners until things cooled down on - but once everyone had had the chance to sleep on things they did sort themselves out reassuringly quickly. When all’s said and done, it happened for all the right reasons - she wants to be able to focus on school for the six months she’s got left there, has begun seriously thinking about plans for the future that revolve around things like university and career options rather than boyfriends who live on the other side of the country, and is finally coming to terms with the fact they fight far more than is healthy and just don’t have enough in common to make things work. The last of those was the actual clincher, of course, but the first two may have been part of the difference it took to make her see it. After a year and a half of her struggling through upper school with minimal enthusiasm and a lot of moaning; it's pretty incredible how fast she’s pulled it all together in the last month or two.

The world doesn’t need further proof that leaping into something like engagement as a means of fixing existing problems doesn’t work, but they've parted on speaking terms (or signing terms, as the case may be) and I’m actually having proud big sister moments here. We certainly couldn't have asked better than that.

Comments

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Perfectly reasonable for most couples, sure, but keep in mind we're talking about two teenagers, neither of whom have any real income and who are already dependent on their parents' bank accounts to keep them flying back and forth across the country to see each other. The rest of us were having enough trouble taking the engagement seriously, so the expenditure did seem a little extreme. ($1000 was actually the rounded down figure anyway - the full price was at least a couple of hundred more)

Know anyone who might want second hand engagement ring? Going cheap?