Yes, I Changed My Nickname!
After much thought, I decided to share some small and not-so-interesting things from my life here rather than in the clown section or the blog section.
If you have read my article "Talking about Nickname" before, you might know this story:
The older I get, the more I like my Chinese name. I think my parents are really skillful in giving me such an elegant, high-end, and pleasant single character name. So even though nicknames don't necessarily have to be related to real names, or only a few can be related, I suddenly wish that my nickname could be one that others would see and know where it came from.
I wrote this article in mid-March with the intention of discussing a possible idea for the future. In the past few months, intentionally or unintentionally, I have been leaning towards this direction regarding my nickname. For example, you will notice that words like Meow or Miyu, which sound like "Miao [mjau]," have appeared more frequently in my various competitions, or on my social media accounts. However, in reality, in these past few months, I have still not decided whether I will change my nickname or, if changed, what word would be better to use.
Following the idea from the previous article, my original intention was to use Miyu or Miu according to the pronunciation of "[mjau]" in Japanese, which also brings up the question of whether I need to provide a corresponding Chinese character writing? For example, I once tried using a self-made character like "水羽亜 (MiUA)," due to my limited Japanese skills, I find it hard to say if this counts as a good attempt or if it would be a joke. But setting aside this factor, there is another factor that such names appear too feminine to me. Maybe in the future, there will be an opportunity to write about my specific thoughts on sexual identity or gender identity.
Subjectively speaking, it seems that names related to "水" in Japanese are more feminine, maybe because I've seen too much in anime.
Next, there is Meow, which I personally quite like, it's very cute, and the pronunciation is closer to my name. But perhaps because it's too cute, it might not be suitable as a nickname for the future, but it can indeed be an alternative.
I have also considered words like Mayo (mayonnaise), but they were rejected for various reasons. The biggest problem with these words is that they do not look like a name. Clearly, a nickname doesn't need to conform to the norms of a regular name, but my idea is that my nickname only needs to be "Nova," and the rest of it can be an embellishment, whether at the front or at the back. Therefore, I prefer it to be directly associated with my real identity (in other words, something that can be used in formal occasions).
If you happen to play mobile games, you may know of a character like this:
To be honest, this type of cheerful girl is not my Tier0 (I may write an article on this later, haha, but you should be able to guess what my Tier0 is), but maybe you already know what I'm going to say.
Muel probably solved the pain points I mentioned above and can be associated with my waifu. This is great! Not to mention that Miu is a water spirit, which coincides perfectly with my character "淼."
However, despite having this idea, I have not immediately changed my nickname. The key reason is probably the "sunk cost." Things like domain names are not easy to change, not to mention that changing my nickname means that my n.ova.moe and novanoir.dev are also limited (although I have renewed them until 2025). It's fine with ova.moe, but I am still considering whether I should get muel.moe. The most troublesome part is proving the association between NovaNo1r and myself, which will not be an easy task anymore. Although the chances of this happening will decrease over time. Redirecting things like repositories on GitHub will be a hassle, but many other known and unknown issues have deterred me from changing my nickname.
June 2023 marks a new beginning for myself, so as you can see, I have made up my mind. I consider myself a person who lives in the past and has never been good at abandoning it, even a little fearful. Let me quote a phrase from a cat, although I dare not say whether referencing the latest episodes of Mercury's Witch is good or not, it is quite appropriate here: "Going for two when advancing, and seeking one when retreating." If the birth of NovaNoir represents my growth from immaturity to youth, then I hope MuelNova can be like water, ever-changing yet always true to itself. Like the deep ocean, filled with endless possibilities and depths, and like a small stream, full of vitality, resilience, and going with the flow.
"Old beliefs and habits are like waves driven by the wind, about to be ripples stirred up by new thoughts. At this critical moment, he is like the ocean preparing to face the challenge of the wind, stirring up ripples that belong to him, setting sail towards an unknown new world."
On a side note: I have consciously reduced the anime elements in my social platform profiles recently, hoping that this will change the first impression of people who are not familiar with me. (But the LOGO of 孤星 really has a strong design sense.)
This Content is generated by ChatGPT and might be wrong / incomplete, refer to Chinese version if you find something wrong.