My name is Jason
Yeah, not very original. According to my mother, it was virtually unheard of back when she named me after the character from a movie she enjoyed which had recently come out: Jason and the Argonauts. My guess is she wasn't the only one to think that, because I grew up surrounded by strange adults with like-named children calling out my name everywhere I went; it didn't take too long for me to practically stop answering to it, unless I immediately recognized the voice.
Looking through my high school senior yearbook you can find 26 Jasons; it's no wonder that during my time there almost none of the teachers used that while calling roll. The frustrating thing is, they didn't have a consistent alternative: some teachers used initials or last names, and some asked if you had a nickname, but some numbered alphabetically based on the number of Jasons in that class...which meant in a given year I could be expected to answer to Jason 4 in 1st period, Jason L in 2nd, Jason 5 in 3rd, my last name in 4th, Jason 3 in 5th, and perhaps last period I would need to learn the name of the person just prior to me on the roll, and answer to the next call for "Jason" after that. Pretty early on I learned to write what I was to answer to at the top of each period's folder...
Because of this, most Jasons either went by a nickname or, if they didn't have one, just exclusively by their last name. I still recall Alexander, Bone (which did eventually turn into the nickname Boner) and Chay...I have a crappy memory tho, and no more are coming to mind. Anyway, so if an opportunity for a nickname ever presented itself, people didn't hesitate applying it to one of us.
Which is why, after coming back to school for my senior year with a beard and over 6" of additional hair growth, people starting trying to apply nicknames like Moses and Grizzly Adams, but nothing ever stuck...
Until one day when I was trying to get to my locker, and said "excuse me" to a bunch of kids who were crowded around in front of it, that the guy nearest me turned around and saw me and exclaimed "Pardon me, oh Lord!!!" and backed away while bowing, eliciting an eruption of laughter from the group. From then on I was referred to as Jesus.
Now I'm sure there'll be some of you that will throw your hands up and wail "blasphemy!" upon reading this, but bear in mind:
- A person doesn't just get to choose their own nickname; it doesn't work that way
- The more you reject a nickname, the more it's going to stick anyway; especially if
a) you were not a part of the popular crowd, which I was not, and
b) the popular crowd was the one spouting the nickname, which they were - There are a great number of individuals whose legal name is Jesus, although they may be found in greater numbers in the Latin American countries than here in the US (and yes, I answer to that particular pronunciation also)
As luck would have it, 7 people from my senior class selected the same college as I, so it took no time at all for that nickname to follow right along. Total strangers would shout out "hey Jesus!" and wave to me from across the campus quad all the time. ;)
Personally, I never had an issue with the nickname, and I consider myself Christian; I mostly felt sort of honored to be compared to a Caucasian representation of Christ. My father was cool about it too, and he's seriously an avid Christian and one of the senior deacons of his church.
Sometimes he'd call my dorm and someone else would get the phone, and he'd say "This is God, can I speak with my son, please?" _
Speaking of college: I went to Tennessee Technological University (also referred to as TN Tech, or TTU), and received a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineer was often abbreviated as Mech. Eng'r, which is where that part of my username comes from. And yes, that 'r is necessary: abbreviating it as just "Eng" was a big no-no, as that stood for English which, based on my few years of experience in the engineering workforce, is feared and loathed by engineers at large due to the fact that they suck so badly at it (as evident in all the God-awful technical documentation I had to proofread and correct during those years).
Unfortunately I graduated in 2000 right at the start of a recession, and after being hired just in time for last-in, first-out staff cuts at several companies, I could no longer work in that industry -- I was told by two different headhunters that statistically a person with a record of short job stints often gets used to not being anywhere for long, and so after a while of being at a company they're likely to grow restless and start looking for another job elsewhere.
You know, statistically...it didn't matter that I was recently married and had a toddler, and desperately wanted to find a long-term job where we could settle down before he started going to school; no, best to just trust the numbers and not give me a shot, eh?
Heh; perhaps I'm just a little resentful. ;) I mean hey, I finally managed to finish paying my school loans off last year, and at least my schooling expanded my enjoyment of making/fixing things.
After a mere decade of menial clerical work, I finally managed to stumble my way into the IT field; I may no longer be working on tangible objects, but it still fulfills my desire to make/fix things, so I can't complain.
Wait, this weirdo looks familiar; where've I seen him before??
Imagine my surprise when I agree to check out this Steemit and Discord thing that a couple of my old college buddies are raving about, and discover that apparently an old picture of me has been going around as a meme! :D
Yeah, those are some, um, unusual outfits; but hey, it was a fashion show for a thrift store.
I know, seems odd eh? But half the town was college students, so thrift stores were a big deal!!! :P
Ok, but what about a current pic?!?
Well, I started this post yesterday so the pic I made for it is already a day old, but it's terribly cumbersome for me to write things like this...my Asperger's communication difficulties exacerbated my ADD distractability, causing me to walk off from working on this at least a half a dozen times today alone!
But as grueling as writing may be, I don't anticipate doing any dTube videos anytime soon: sometimes I no mouth words good, especially when I don't have time to contemplate and formulate a response.
At least yesterday my distractions were of legitimate importance; I had to make some shelves for a cleaning closet which had the worst case of sporadic stud syndrome I've ever seen:
And with my car stereo flaking out a lot recently, I finally had no choice but to find time to install the new system I've had laying around in a box for about 10 months:
Well, I have no idea how to wrap this up, so I think I'll just distract everyone with cats! We have a DOZEN, 2/3 of which was due to rescuing a pregnant mother and two kittens that an ex-neighbor just abandoned when they moved out in winter...spay and neuter your pets!!! The odds of getting all 12 in a single pic are exceedingly remote (you know, herding cats and all), so here's probably the most I've ever gotten into one image:
Happy New Year!
JLLMechEngr