why they call me Tracy

sometimes people want to hide behind another name. sometimes they want to portray themselves in a different light from what the world currently knows them as. people will make up a whole new character to present to the world. alter egos have been around forever, wouldn't you say? from the early days when Samuel Clemens wished to be author Mark Twain, to comic book characters such as Clark Kent and a super version of himself, Superman. nowadays they seem to be popping up everywhere in the celebrity world. Beyonce has Sasha Fierce, GaGa has Joe Calderon, Nicki Minaj has Roman Zolanski, Martha Zolanski, and The Harajuku Barbie among other alter egos. and hell, she isn't even really "Nicki." she was born "Onika."

for those of us who aren't celebrity or have no real reason to have an alter ego, it seems silly to make up a fake name just for the fun of it. but as a woman i think it's fair to have a going-out-name. these days people can take your name and in an instant figure out your life story by sifting through everything on the internet and i find it's important to protect yourself from creeps and crazies. i think it's pretty common for a group of chicks to make up fake names for when they go out and aren't looking for anything but a good time with the girls. a random guy asks you for your name and you're far from interested? good thing you have your very own semi-alter ego to freely blurt out because you sure as hell don't want to be found the next day.

my friends, as i've alluded from the title of this post, my alter ego-esque name is Tracy. it'd be easy to come up with a random name or a different name every time i went out, but it's so much better to have a solid standing name. you might wonder how i got that name. see, when i was a wee little one in elementary school there was a classmate tyke of mine named Tracy. i don't remember anything about her or think there was anything particularly awesome about her but somehow i recall really liking her name. in my little kid mind i somewhat cursed my parents for having not thought to name me Tracy. i even asked my mom if i we could make it my middle name, as i don't currently have one. for some reason i always thought that i was meant to be a Tracy. then one day i came home from school with a note from my teacher attached to my backpack. the note read:

Mrs. Choy, Regina can no longer write her name down as "Tracy." it isn't acceptable for her to use a different name than her own.

Thank you,
Dream-Name Killer




okay, the note wasn't exactly signed by "Dream-Name Killer," but i can't remember what teacher it was and it's not really important. my mom obviously hadn't been looking at my homework because for weeks i'd written Tracy Choy as my name. she then told me i couldn't be Tracy anymore and all hopes and dreams went out the window.

fast forward to current day and i've adopted Tracy as my going-out-name, though i don't go out that often so it's not used much in terms of avoiding random guys. however, upon hearing my elementary school story, my coworkers have begun calling me Tracy whenever we go out for drinks and get a bit tipsy. they have even brought it to the workplace for days when i get overly sarcastic or sassy. i'll say something blunt and i'll hear "where's Regina? all i see is Tracy!" haha!!!

so there it is. i introduce you to my alter ego, Tracy!

hey, uhhh nice to meet you!