It's been five years since the day I typed a certain name into the NAME window of EQ and punched "SEND". Five years since a part of me was born. Five years of schizophrenia.

You may think more about when I began the Aviary, May 5th, 2003, a year-and-a-half later. That was the day that Eaglie took on a whole new level (snicker... "level") of being, the cynical commentator he is today. But the beginning was when Eaglie was first chosen as a name, and it really is a second birthday to me. I don't celebrate it so much like a birthday, or else you'd have seen this the last few years. Instead, I've just waited until a milestone. Five years.

December 5th, 2001 was a day to remember. I do not remember much about the day, mostly because I probably had to do some work for my American Lit. class. The night before, Dec. 4th, I came up with the perfect name for a character on the deity wars PvP server of EverQuest, Sullon Zek, a literal hive of scum and villainy. The worst of the worst went there, wanting to kill anyone with impunity... the main reason to make an appearance on the server was that any player could attack any player of any level. Anyone who wanted to slaughter low levels could. Murderers, rapists, and tax evaders flocked to the server.

There could be only one character per account on Sullon, so I could no longer share with my sister. In a bid to join her and her friends on the server, I needed my own account. This being sophomore year of high school, I convinced my parents to put another account on their credit card. I wanted to be among Maeple, Wolfie, and Doggie, my sister and her friends, all surnamed Puppydogg. I wanted to join them, Fansy the Famous, and the Flowers of Happiness, their guild whose mission was to kill anyone and anything deemed unhappy. That was everyone and everything, by the way.

With this account of my own, I finally had my chance! I was awake the night of Dec. 4th thinking up a name. Something to match the Puppydoggs. I wanted to belong. I finally arrived at a name, but not a dog name. I arrived at a bird name, one that actually worked very well with the "-ie" ending. The perfect name for a Wood Elf Ranger: Eaglie.

By December 6th, I was lvl six, and I met up with the likes of Fansy in Greater Faydark near Orc Hill. He and a lot of newbies like me were trying to drive off a high lvl Evil Bard named Bartlar. He invited me to the Flowers at the behest of Wolfie that night, and I got to shoot arrows at Bartlar before being killed. Orc Hill trains never did much to lvl 30 plus bards.

I never knew Eaglie would be a name lasting me this long. I'd come up with ideas before, but most never lasted more than a few months, let alone five years. I never knew Eaglie would become what he is, an Elf in his own right. Now, Eaglie ranges far beyond the game of EQ. He ranges beyond WoW, Runescape, EQ2, Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Halo, City of Heroes... all the games he's ever graced. He's beyond me as a person. He is not just me anymore, and he hasn't been me for a long time. Andy and Eaglie are essentially separate people, if people haven't figured that out by now. Same body, same voice, but different personalities, sometimes in great conflict with each other's opinions... self-deprecation at its weirdest. I lie when I still use my current AIM handle, since I am not EaglieHappyToo. Eaglie is EaglieHappyToo. I am simply Andy.

Sorry I wasn't funny like I promised I'd be for this day. I ended up downright sentimental.

Labels: Longer Stuff