Name found
Finding a domain name for a blog is not as easy as one might imagine. It is, after all, to be a reflection, an image of what and who one wants to project. The first impression. It should impel people to want to read, to follow, to like what is on/in the page /screen/blog.
More difficult is the task, even, when one wants the name to have a bilingual flair. To be just as “parlant” in French as in English.
To find a name, I must ask myself, what will my blog be about? How will the name represent what I wish to express? And what am I expressing? In sum, I will be ruminating and delving into my journey, as much inner as outer. With that in mind, I have been playing with derivations of words such as; ExplorationsVal (sounds wee too pornographic) or incorporating my last name in the title; RingmyBell, or Laclochesonne, (not bilingual and doesn’t speak as to content). Ah, stumbling block, writer’s block.
And then, a flash! Yes, an idea! Why not choose a Latin word or phrase? Latin is, after all, the root, the fundamentum of our languages. And it would fit the criteria of not being either too English or too French yet understood by all. So, I search the Web for inspiration…
Bingo!
How come I didn’t think of it earlier?
Veni, vidi, vici
And! It just so happens to be the phrase tattooed on my left leg.
Excitement and shivers, as a smile grows so wide as to compete with the length of the Fleuve St Laurent River.
valvenivididivici.com is my new domain name!
So why, you may ask, does a self-proclaimed pacifist as myself have a warrior’s phrase inked on myself, and wanting to use it as my domain name?
Flashback to around ten years ago….
It’s a beautiful sweltery august day at the gay pride parade…. I catch a glimpse and then my eyes are riveted toward this tall, tanned, brawny shirtless man, with this phrase emblazoned on his abdomen. I am struck by him, his brazenness, and oh my, these words!! Big, bold, beautiful! Veni-I came-Vidi-I saw-Vici-I conquered.
O Julius Caesar, when you
Pronounced those words
Looking down from your hilltop
Saddled on your horse
After having massacred many
Brave young men, Gaul
Would you have imagined
2000+ years later that
A strange pacifist woman
Would be tatting her leg
With your warrior words.
I had never imagined that one day I would want to have a tattoo. So exactly how does one go about finding a reputable and safe parlour? I jog my memory bank for some inklings of information on inkers, but I come up dry. And then I remember that my son got tatted not too long ago, so I call him up.
“Hey there, where did you go to get tattooed?”
“Um, why, mom?”
“Cause I just saw the most amazing thing, and I just have to put it on myself permanently!”
“Really! When?”
“Tomorrow latest.”
“Cool! I’ll go with you, I was wanting to get a dragon on my back, and I’m free tomorrow.”
So off we went tothe tat parlour the next day, to do a mother/son activity. (“You know, youcould have just gone to the movies together, for yourmom/son activity” says a friend…).
For the record, Yes, I screamed, and Yes, I cried. It was twenty-five minutes of sheer agony and blood-curdling pain. And yet, my son, who can be at times a complaint machine, stoically endured over two hours of a needle jabbing his flesh over and over again.
A couple of weeks later, my leg had healed up. And proud was I (still am) to display these glorious almost undecipherable warrior words meandering down my calf.
**********************
Back to today….
Val (is me) Veni (I came/come/ will come) Vidi (I saw/see/will see) Vici (I conquered/conquer/will conquer).
Mantra words that I live by…
Yet;
I do not slay men or dragons
I do not aspire to ruling the world
I will not reign over a parade.
I do, I will;
Look at fear straight in its eyes
Forge ahead
Seek out
I am here
Facing life
Naked with my inner armour
Warts and all (mine, yours, ours)
I breathe, smell, search, touch, taste
All of it, all of me
You/me cannot stop me
I am at one with the wind.
And there you have it. My domain name is conquered. My journey with this blog, and with you, starts for real.
Welcome aboard!