how to be a Howell

i now realize that i never actually explained how this blog became The Tales of Lovey and Thurston rather than, let's say, The Story of Emily and Justin.

i've actually never had a nickname.* not one that was anything besides a schoolyard taunt (i.e. "Walking Dictionary"; "Eggilbee"; "Smellily"; etc.), and even those never stuck. my sister got to be Dizzy or Lizard. my brother was Basher or Smasher. even my cat Winston had aliases-- Fatston, Fatty, Fatass, Mr. Pickles (ok, i never said most of them were flattering). i did have computer "handles" when i used to log on to BBSes and chatrooms in the early-to-mid-80s. i was unstoppable** with my 300 baud modem and my Commodore 64 and my awesome handles: "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Alice in Wonderland". (i believe one of the boards i used to go to was called Falken's Maze, but my memories of from when i was 11 are a bit hazy.)


i get to law school and, still, no nickname. but the EvilAlchemist, prime minister of nicknames and my first law school friend (Section 5 FOREVA!) , started calling me by my IM name: JadedEm. another law school classmate followed suit, calling me that or JadedE. and i was thrilled. a nickname that stuck! well, for a while, and at least with those two.

later on, EvilA and i end up on the same journal. one of our editors is this seriously uptight guy who has the pretty much exact same voice as Thurston Howell III, so the Alchemist anoints him thusly.

we then graduate law school and forget all about THIII, until...
i meet *my* Thurston, who also has a deep and resounding voice, not unlike Thurston Howell. and EvilA hears him speak and, in a post which fortuitously predicted our engagement, EvilA referred to him as such. it was only natural that i would be Lovey to his Thurston, so... a blog was born.

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* it bears noting that one summer at sleepaway camp, when i was in the midst of my very, very awkward early teen years, a super-mean camper/waiter (a teenage boy, natch) decided to call me "Rocky Dennis" after the horribly deformed character played by Eric Stoltz in Mask. the waiter guy (i think his name was Eric but i blocked most of that summer out) actually called me "RD" for short, more often than not. although i don't think i really fit the elephant man mold, my strawberry blonde perm certainly wasn't helping my case. of course, when i got home from camp i insisted upon plastic surgery to ensure such torture would not happen again. the joy that only a new nose can bring!
do you think this qualifies me for some sort of PTSD accommodation?

** i was also *very* underage and reall am convinced that the supposed teenage boys i chatted with online (the phone line, yo) were actually pedophiles. seriously. i have seen all of Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" installments and really identify the chat behaviors of these current perps with the ways of the guys i used to make "friends" with. gross!!!!