SybilVane

Nothing too complex. I come from a culture where you take one last name from each parent. No hyphen. Just FirstName LastName1 LastName2.

Some systems put LastName1 as my middle name and shortened it to one letter. Some excluded LastName2. Some squished both last names into one name, sometimes with a hyphen, sometimes not.

But because every system did its own thing, no one could ever find me. I had 2 different credit scores at one point. I received 3 voting cards every election, all of them wrong, despite the fact that every election cycle I would take the hours it takes to report the errors and get them to “fix” it. I was enrolled twice in one class in grade 4 under two separate wrong names. And whatever name my high school used on their system, I wasn’t showing up when universities searched for my records, so I kept getting rejection letter after rejection letter with no explanation and it took me months to track down the cause and have it fixed, by which point it was too late to get into several schools. I also couldn’t buy certain things online because some stores’ paymentet methods wouldn’t let me put in the name of my credit card as it was written. Oh, and the government couldn’t get the name on my social insurance card and the name on my taxes to match. This affected my online logins, so I would need to call on the phone to verify myself for each tax-related transaction, including simple address changes.

I’m from a different culture than my husband and my last name was a bureaucratic nightmare. Almost didn’t make it into university because of computer mix ups, have had issues filing taxes, voting, getting a passport, settings basic IDs, getting insurance… It’s endless. Changed my name as soon as I could, and even THAT process was hindered by my original name.

Bonuses: Distance myself from social media I had as a child. Harder for former stalkers to locate me if they decide to rekindle their previous obsessions. Don’t need to upset one set of grandparents when you name your children one parent’s last name and not the other. People stop asking me where I’m from and making racist assumptions about me. Everyone seems a lot friendlier now that they assume I’m [insert European white race here] instead of [insert non-white race here] and that’s despite the fact that I’m clearly white. Racism is wild. My signature is way shorter.

Not saying this should be the norm, but I was happy it was a socially acceptable option for me.

I was thirteen years old when I went to the doctor by myself because a cut on my eyelid wasn’t healing. I was asked about my birth control, sexual activity, and whether I thought I could be pregnant (after saying I’ve never had sex) then pushed out of the examination room after NOT having my eye examined at all.

As an adult, I realize now how terrible that was and I would have done something about it if it had happened to me today. But at the time I was so embarrassed and hurt, I just pushed all thought of it away until years later.

If you live in Canada, absolutely do not do this. It can affect how much severance you’re entitled to.

Journey is one of my favorite games of all time purely because of how it made me feel. It was so hopeful and positive. And it made me feel connected to a complete stranger. I’m still impressed at how the communication is limited in a way that makes people bring out only the best in themselves. It’s beautiful.

I was an only child and I just wanted someone cool to play with me who I could look up to. Also all my older cousins picked on me and I wanted defence lol

I wanted an older sibling as a child and I remember trying to convince my parents they should have another baby. In my mind, if I just waited (my age +1) years, I’d then have an older sibling. It never ocurred to me that I would also age during that time…

e. e. cummings did this for me with poetry. True masters of their craft know exactly the right ways to break the rules.

I hadn’t even considered that. I usually wet it first. I’ll try not doing that and see if i have a better experience.

Toothpaste that foams too much. Which is most toothpaste.

I’m halfway through reading Nona the Ninth right now and I’m absolutely loving it! Her perspective is hilarious

Hard cheeses, yes. Soft cheeses, no.

The next generation. They seem to be standing up for themselves more, they’re speaking up about their issues, they’re refusing to just roll over and be obedient little wage slaves. Millenials like me might be beyond hope, but the next generation gives me hope.