My trademarks

Lately I realise that I've created quite a heap of aliases and trademarks in the internet that I think it is necessary to elaborate how and why I pick every single one of them.

1. Toshi.

It used to be Toshihiko Atsuyama until I truncated it in favour of a catchier name (think of it, Titi DJ is much catchier than Titi Dwijayanti, right?). The origin of the name Toshihiko Atsuyama was explained a couple of months back; you may dig my archives if you like to.

2. Missing Samurai.

This is the ID of my MSN and Gmail. To be honest, I actually regret the choosing of this ID because I don't think it is in anyway relevant to my persona or alter ego as a whole.

3. Kansai2Kansas.

I use this alias for a few of my accounts, and my Friendster account is one prominent example. Kansai is a region in Japan while Kansas is an American state. I choose to combine them together because I've always adored Japan for its culture and America for its marking as my birthplace. The number "2" in the middle is of course nothing relevant: it merely serves as a liaison between the both of the similar-sounding names.

4. Foreign Prophecies.

The "Foreign" part is attributed to the fact that no matter which country I go to in any part of the world, people would always find a way to treat me as a foreigner. Or rather, it is me who often feel as such. I always feel that I am Indonesian just as much as I am an American, and this should pretty much explains everything. On the other hand, "Prophecies" holds no special value whatsoever, and this is due to the fact that I was heavily influenced by Harry Potter, Narnia, and Eragon literatures back when I picked the name in 2005 that I came to choose a fantasy/wizardry-sounding name.

5. 48th Ronin.

Do you know of the legend of the 47 Ronins? Well, this 48th Ronin is just one thing I made up myself, but I think a lot of people out there have patented this trademark earlier than me, so I guess I won't very much use this trademark.

* An Ethereal Shard (deleted).

Used to be the title of this blog until I decided to obviate it due to the fact it holds no special significance whatsoever. It was a totally random pick when I took this name in mid-2007, really.

* The Cursed Knight's Lost Fragments (deleted).

This was the title of this Foreign Prophecies blog during my Singapore days (from 2005 till 2006). This title; though quite magical/fantasy-sounding, could bring a real harm upon me if I stick with it, and hence the change to "An Ethereal Shard".