What's in a Name?

According to Wikipedia immortality is eternal life or the ability to live forever.

I know that at this point in time this is a human impossibility.

But if I were a jellyfish.....

Turritopsis dohrnii, the immortal jellyfish, is a species of small, biologically immortal jellyfish found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the waters of Japan. It is the only known case of an animal capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary individual.

I've certainly mastered the sexually immature part.

I always thought that living in the hearts and minds of others gave a person a sort of immortality.

This from Dictionary.com: immortality, enduring fame.

So this begs the question. If a writer uses my name in his book am I immortal?

I don't have enough confidence in my ability to do him justice so I'll not attempt a review.

You may not turn pages, or in the case of a Kindle, swipe a screen for hours at a time in reading enjoyment, but I have. So I urge you to take a few minutes and check on his link.

Douglas E. Richards has been widely praised for his ability to weave action, suspense, and science into riveting novels that straddle the thriller and science fiction genres. He is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of WIRED, its sequel, AMPED, THE CURE, MIND'S EYE, QUANTUM LENS, BRAINWEB, and six critically acclaimed middle-grade adventures enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

Last week I mentioned I was reading Doug's latest book when I came upon a character named Chuck Shulak. I was thrilled.

Look, I'm not stupid, I know he isn't me but it was nice to see the name in print.

So I wrote Mr. Richard's and thanked him for giving me, according to Dictionary.com, a slice of immortality. I told him I would much rather have been a main character as opposed to someone who was dead after a page and a half but in life occasionally you must take what you get.

BrainWeb is going to be recorded and released as an audio book soon. Doug contacted me on the proper pronunciation of Shulak.

This reminded me of a story.

In 1998 I bought my first computer. Older Daughter Jennifer suggested my Email address; rncshulak and I used it, in that form, for many years.

The reason Jenn started with the rn is because I am or was at the time an R.N.

It took a long while before I noticed, depending on font, how similar the rnc and mc look. I had no idea how many people confused the two since I didn't get the wrong mail. I eventually saw the problem when I got a receipt via snail mail from a travel agent. She had my Email address on paper as mcshulak.

If I was a rap person or a record scratching D.J. (not sure if both positions qualify) I could use mc like MC Hammer or MC Jin.

Several years ago I started using the capitalization RNCshulak to end any confusion.

I have two accounts, Gmail I often forget about and the Comcast I regularly use.

I recently checked Gmail. I had 45 Emails, none remotely important. 

Forty were from the same place. Someone really wants me to use coupons to buy hygiene and skin products. With just one click I sent all of them to the trash folder where they can reside for a while. 

Maybe later I'll change my mind about the pantyhose.

This morning my Comcast Email has several notices from FaceBook. 

When I first starting getting information like Harriet Fishstairus commented on Victor Conswaylos new hat it bothered me. Not so now since they are the best way to keep up with everyone.

I get very few personal Emails. Communication between family and friends seems to now be assigned to short text messages.

I receive an overabundance of spam and unsolicited information. I also receive regular updates from the National Train Association, AARP, Probiotic Monthly and American Farmland.

Every so often I unsubscribe from things. It works about as well as my home phone do not call list.

I could change my Email address but it would feel like changing my name. What if someone I haven't communicated with in several decades tried to contact me? I would be O.O.L (out of luck) or worse U.T.C.W.A.P (up the creek without a paddle).

It could be a long lost relative with a large bequest of money. I think I should keep what I have been using all these years.

I am the youngest of three. Both of my brothers changed their names. Perhaps I should have changed mine? 

My deceased brother was born Boris Fredrick and changed it to Fredrick Boris, less Russian. The middle brother changed Shulak to Shulakoff. I'm still trying to ascertain his reason for this, the name was originally Shulakovsky.

When I was very young I regularly went to a speech class. I had, and still do depending on circumstances, a speech impediment. My parents were told the problem was palate structure and the positioning of my teeth.

I had a lateral lisp. I couldn't properly pronounce words beginning with J, CH and SH. Air would pass under my tongue, escape from the side of my mouth and cause me to sound like a cross between Donald and Daffy Duck.

The J wasn't an issue but my name begins with CH for Charles or Chuck and SH for Shulak and that was a huge problem. I couldn't pronounce my name. I took speech therapy lessons and practiced talking hours on end. 

The King's Speech won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2010.

It was a film about a man who also had a speech impediment.

When my Cousin Lynn told me she had seen it I thought she said The King's Feet which brings my hearing difficulty into the mix.

See what happens when you're the King of England. I get a page and a half mention in a book and he gets an entire movie. 

After all the classes and lessons and practice I wasn't improving. Eventually I went to a specialist who suggested I have orthodontics. The cost was just over two thousand dollars. 

Two thousand dollars then would get you a full tank of gas...and a car.

Irving, my father, and again that's debatable, decided that was too much money and suggested going the way of my older brothers. He could spend $10 and have my name changed.

I paid for orthodontics when I was twenty two and it helped. 

When I'm in a hurry, or tired, I slip and the lisp is noticeable and now that I have this horrible partial it is worse.

So I'm half deaf, developing cataracts and have missing teeth but my name is in a best selling book.

It's a good thing a professional is doing the audio recording.

It's pronounced Shoe-lack.