Well, I suppose one would ask why I would start one of these. I guess you could say, upon inspiration from my dear friend Donna, that this would be an interesting thing to do. Often times, I am told that I have a lot of things to say. Yet, when it comes to actually writing things down I'm somewhat (well ok....mostly) lazy.
Interesting as I get this thing started, is that trying to come up with a journal name is about as difficult as thinking about what you're going to drink at your local watering hole, when you know you want something different, yet always migrate to the same thing. Some genius said that the number of words that the average person in the U.S. knows in English is about 10,000. And here I am with about 10,000 options to choose from, and I have a hard time even coming up with a topic let alone a sentence.
So, I guess a place to start would be, "why is your blog called 'Being Boris?"
I'm asking myself that right now. I'd love to be able to say that it's some exotic reason, or that I was born with that name, or that it was something that I just made up after the muse struck me. The fact of the matter is: it's none of the above. In actuality, somehow when I was in college and pledging my fraternity at Ripon, my brother (for whatever reason) gave me that nickname as a pledge. Like some nicknames (and thankfully with this one) it never stuck. I suppose I could have gotten some awful nickname like Boozer, or Crotch, or Phlegm, or H.C. (you figure THAT one out), or some other random name that often was derived from a night at a line up after most brothers had too much to drink. The more you hated it, the more they called you it.
I had a hard time liking it. All I kept thinking was either Boris Karloff, or the character Boris from "Rocky and Bullwinkle." I wondered to myself how I ever resembled EITHER of those two, since I'm not much of a horror film person (let alone old, BAD horror films), and the other Boris was an oaf of a cartoon character villain, with a very bad Russian accent I might add. And at that time, I HATED vodka and beets. So any semblance of an affinity for Russian culture or food and drink was pretty much nil. I have no friggin' clue.
So pretend to love it, I thought to myself. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Use it whenever you need to, and never complain. That, I guess, was the magical solution. It never stuck (well, at least for now). Probably since for many at college it was easier to say "DF" or "Franker" or both names simultaneously with an applied hyphen. Anyhow, I guess I would throw a piece of my guarded self out there since most people would never know that Boris was actually my nickname for all of about 9 weeks.
I have no idea where I'll go with this. But like any journey, it'll hopefully be interesting, and diverse; varied, and eclectic; and hopefully amusing.
We'll see, now, won't we...?
A scary old elf indeed
13 years ago
1 comment:
Maybe, just maybe the explanation really is simple after all. I remember the "olden" days, when the pledges would line up at god only knows when and would be subjected to, well whatever they were subjected to. Usually, early on in the process, it was tradition to come up with nicknames. It was sometimes too easy too come up with nicknames, and some nicknames just stuck. I seem to recall a dumptruck, beeker, burr-head, chief, horse, beto (pronounced bay-toe) chicken, and all other sorts of horrible names. Some stuck, most didn't. But why Boris? Maybe it was inspiration from being sleep deprived. Who knows? I am pretty sure that it wasn't because of any old "horror" actor, and know for sure it wasn't in reference to the Rocky and Bullwinkle character (although that Boris was a pretty funny caricature). Maybe the name was a fit between you and the music that you like to play. Boris in that respect seems to fit if you think about it like that. Doesn't it seen logical that someone nicknamed Boris should be able to play a keyed instrument, and play it well? And, simultaneously still sounding like a nickname? Always remember, it could've been much worse. Think chops... or melonman, or monkey, or countless other terrible nicknames...
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