Hi all! I think like a lot of my fellow alchemists, I'm feeling the struggle in the lull that was last week. I did, however, want to mention my excitement for the upcoming month, and I'm really interested in where our journey will go as we create our alchemical identities and enter the "mirror world"...
I wanted to put some thought into the online alter ego that we are building. I tried the Alchemy Name Generator, and even the Rot-ify program; however, none of the names seemed all that appealing to me. I didn't find myself connecting with any of variations of them, so I started to look elsewhere. My next idea was to try finding my alchemical name through an anagram generator of my actual name - while I liked some of the versions of my scrambled name better, I still wasn't able to envision a character in any of them. I hate to be cliche, but I think it's important to remember Shakespeare during this creation process, and to really consider what is in a name, because it really does give shape to the character.
I thought back to other characters I have created over the years. I used to play an MMORPG called Furcadia, where I had a few original characters. I loved to explore these characters by drawing them and writing small stories to flesh out their existence; even though I don't know how "in-depth" this next month will be, I still wanted to imagine an alternate identity that had the potential for me to envision different dimensions of their character, as well as to be able to have a creative drive when thinking about them.
I went thinking about what was meaningful for me in this character. I wanted to add a "foreign" spin, namely a Ukrainian one, to my persona. Thus, I chose the name "Ketsunya," a cute nickname for something can pretty much be translated as "kitten." As I'm thinking about alchemy and who I want this online part of me to be, I always find myself relating to cats, as unoriginal as that sounds - I wanted Ketsunya to have that witchy side, maybe have a cat familiar or some similar relationship to the species, but that's something for me to think about more as we are introduced more to the game we're playing in this next month.
And speaking of mirror worlds...
Ocz "vmbvizz" xjyz cvn wzzi ymdqdib hz xmvut ajm v azr rzzfn ijr. D omdzy xmvxfdib do, wpo ajpiy htnzga ampnomvozy. D fizr ocvo "izoivmm" viy "vmbvizz" rzmz ocz nvhz rjmy, viy D ocjpbco ocz fzt ajm ocvo rvn i = v / v = i, m = z / z = m, viy o = b. Cjrzqzm, do ydyi'o rjmf rczi D omdzy oj vkkgt do oj v orzzo ocvo @yjbomvs cvy rmdoozi di mznkjinz oj njhzocdib @MzwzbHvznomj cvy nvdy. D bjo ampnomvozy, wvnczy ht czvy vbvdino ocz fztwjvmy v azr odhzn, viy pgodhvozgt bvqz pk... WPO! Oczmz cvqz wzzi mzxzio yzqzgjkhzion!
Vn rz rzmz diomjypxzy oj Mjo13 ocdn rzzf, Hvmdnnv hvyz vi diozmznodib xjiizxodji ocmjpbc ocz xjydadzm. Mjo# omvingvozn rcvozqzm rjmy tjp otkz di oj mzkgvxdib do rdoc gzoozmn ocvo vmz kmjbmvhhzy oj wz # vhjpio ocvo tjp rvio. Ocpn, Mjo13 mzkgvxzn oczh rdoc rcvozqzm xjhzn 13 kgvxzn vaozm ocz gzoozm. Cjrzqzm, ocvo nodgg ydyi'o hvfz yjbomvs'n orzzo hvfz vit hjmz nzinz. Rczi rz mvi do ocmjpbc Mjo13, do nodgg rvn bdwwzmdnc - wpo rczi rz hznnzy vmjpiy rdoc do viy kpo do ocmjpbc (D ocdif) Mjo6, do hvyz nzinz! Vgnj, jiz ja ocz qdyzj diozmxzkon amjh ocz rzzf gdozmvggt cvy v yznxmdkodji rdoc ocz rjmy "mjo" mzkzvozy di do, nj do vghjno rzio jqzm jpm czvyn.
Zdoczm rvt, do nodgg yjzni'o zskgvdi njhz ja ocz kjnon ji ocz Vmbvizz Rjmgy ocvo vmz epno ziodmzgt iphwzmn. D ocdif ocvo'n rczmz ht vgxczhdxvg ajjo ymvrn ocz gdiz, da D'h wzdib cjizno! D rjiyzm da do'n vijoczm Mjo kmjbmvh, jm njhzocdib ziodmzgt ydaazmzio? D gjqz xjyzn, wpo iphwzmn epno hvfz ht wmvdi ncpo jaa! Cjkzapggt rz'gg gzvqz gjon ja iphwzmn wzcdiy vn rz novmo oj ziozm jpm hdmmjm rjmgy... zqzi "Fzonpitv" vbmzzn rdoc hz! (;
